Healthy Sleep Habits: The Key Benefits

Sleep has a major impact on people’s health and overall well-being. Moreover, night is the only effective time period for the brain “to remove toxins during sleep” and to take time to digest the information without any new inputs (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2021). Therefore, maintaining healthy sleep habits is necessary in order to process information more easily and feel generally well-rested.

One of the most important parts of building healthy sleep habits is to create a persistent sleep schedule. When a person goes to bed and wakes up approximately at the same time every day, brain gets used to these actions. Therefore, it would be easier for a person to fall asleep and wake up, which would create a negative loop of each action affecting each other and maintaining the balance.

The sleep routine is very important due to the inefficiency of discontinuous sleep. If someone tends to not get enough sleep on certain days, but then “compensate” for it on days-off, it does not have a positive effect on their health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2021). The brain cannot define specific time boundaries for deep night sleep, which results in the general worsening of the quality of sleep.

In general, it is better not to take naps during the day. Even if it is not an everyday occasion, day sleep seriously affects the perception of time. Hence, quite often after the day sleep people wake up feeling tired and even confused, and then during the nighttime they have distinctive troubles falling asleep, as the brain already took a rest before. Therefore, a sleep routine without the naps during the day is way better for the overall functioning of the brain, as it directly affects the maintenance of a healthy sleep schedule and sleep quality.

Lastly, it is important to reduce the amount of screen time before going to sleep. Electronics affect the level of melatonin, which is crucial for a good night sleep. Instead, it is better to do something calming before going to bed (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2021). This way, the overall quality of sleep would be impacted positively as well.

In conclusion, the main benefit of maintaining healthy sleep habits is its impact on the quality of sleep. These habits help to build a sleep schedule, which ensures a good deep sleep and the feeling of being well-rested in the morning. Therefore, the main purpose of following healthy sleep habits is to create a good sleep routine for better well-being.

Reference

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2021). Good sleep for good health. National Institutes of Health.