Great tips to avoid feeling tired after a sleepless night
Lack of sleep or insomnia for one night also makes you lethargic all the next day.
There are days when you are so engrossed in the last few episodes of a great movie or can’t bear to miss a classic football match… that you stay up late to finish watching it before going to bed. As a result, you feel extremely uncomfortable when you wake up the next morning to go to work early. Luckily, there are some good tips shared by health experts to help you quickly overcome that feeling of exhaustion, according to Health.com.
Don't sleep in.
"Don't hit the snooze button on your alarm clock to sleep in a few more minutes, because doing so will change your morning wake-up routine, and that's not good at all. You should wake up at your normal time, even if it's a weekend morning," said Dr. Sonia Ancoli-Israel, director of education at the UCSD sleep medicine center (California, USA).
Waking up at the same time every morning is key to maintaining your circadian rhythm, a vital factor that affects everything from your energy to your immunity, metabolism, and even your creativity.
Besides, sleeping in for a few more minutes won't give you more energy or refreshment, but will have the opposite effect.
Don't sleep in even if you stayed up late last night. |
Sun exposure
“If you can eat breakfast outside, that’s a good start after a bad night’s sleep,” says Dr. Ancoli-Israel. And if you have time to take a short walk, that’s even better, and it doesn’t require sunglasses, says Dr. Ancoli-Israel.
"Get some natural sunlight to prevent your body from producing melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy. You'll end up feeling more alert," Dr. Ancoli-Israel advises.
Exposure to early morning sunlight will help prevent drowsiness. |
Plus, sunlight can help improve your mood. That's because natural sunlight triggers the release of the happy hormone serotonin, which can make you feel less grumpy during your busy mornings.
Skip afternoon coffee
If you’re a morning coffee drinker, go ahead and drink it, but cut back on your midday coffee. That’s because midday coffee can make it harder to fall asleep at night. A small 2013 study published in the journal Clinical Sleep Medicine found that drinking coffee within six hours of bedtime can make you more likely to stay awake.
People who have trouble sleeping should not drink coffee in the afternoon because it will keep you awake at night. |
Surfing social networks, eating and drinking, staying up too late... are things to avoid doing close to bedtime.
25 minute nap
If you don’t get enough sleep at night, take a nap the next day. But don’t nap for more than 25 minutes, as this will disrupt your sleep-wake cycle. Napping for too long will make you feel more tired when you wake up.
Climb stairs
A recent study published in the journal Physiology and Behavior found that taking 10 minutes to take the stairs can boost your energy more effectively than caffeine. So if you’re feeling sleepy after staying up late the night before, take the stairs down to the ground floor and back up to your floor to boost your alertness.
Keep the same nighttime bedtime
No matter how early you feel sleepy, you should try to wait until your usual bedtime to go to bed. "Because your body is used to the same bedtime every night, if you go to bed early, you will be more tired when you lie down and wait until you are sleepy," said Dr. Michael Breus, a sleep specialist in Los Angeles (USA). You should also avoid eating too much or drinking alcohol or coffee too close to bedtime.
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