The cortisol level in my bloodstream caused serious concerns for my health care professionals in the past. It was so high that they asked me to take urgent actions.
The culprit was inadequate quality sleep.
I solved the problem with a single trick consists of seven simple habits.
In this story, I want to introduce the positive impact of sleep quality on reducing elevated cortisol levels and keep it at optimal levels.
Until I started monitoring my sleep quality using my smartwatch, I believed in having eight hours of sleep each day. Unfortunately, my smartwatch proved me wrong. Analyzing the sleep logs through my smartwatch, I noticed that, even though I was sleeping eight hours, the quality sleep was sometimes under six hours. It was evident in my overall feelings. Something was not right.
It was elevated cortisol levels detected in my blood checks.
Lack of quality sleep was the major cause.
Understanding the root cause was an excellent start for creating the solution.
An insightful conversation with my doctor motivated me to re-architect my sleep habits.
I reviewed the body of knowledge using the PubMed and identified the key factors affecting quality sleep. Based on my findings, I took several measures to improve the quality of my sleep.
I want to share seven relatively minor adjustments which made a real impact on increasing the quality of sleep.
1. Dark Room
I ensured my bedroom was dark enough. To maintain the darkness, I started using an eye mask which enabled absolute darkness during the sleep hours. Silk was the best material which helped me feel comfortable.
2. Noise Cancelation
I am very sensitive to noise. Even the smallest noise can wake me up prematurely.
To overcome this hurdle, I used silicone earplugs to block noise.
This simple trick reduced my waking times dramatically.
3. Room Temperature
We need a cool room for comfortable sleep.
After learning this important fact, I kept my bedroom temperature around 18 Celsius degree.
This temperature was optimal for a comfortable sleep.
4. Alternative Temperature Showers
I knew the importance of showers on muscle and cooling effect on the body.
Therefore I started having three to five minutes of showers before bed.
However, I learned a special shower technique to reset the nervous system. It was 30 seconds cold and 30 seconds hot shower. This helped me reset reduce my nervous tension and reset the circadian rhythm.
5. Refraining From Blue Lights
I ensured not to expose my eyes to blue lights at least an hour before sleep time.
I also ensured that my bedroom had no blue lights.
Studies show that exposure to blue lights before going to sleep can adversely affect sleep quality.
6. Optimal Magnesium In Bloodstream
I applied magnesium cream or spray to my lower body parts especially in the forms of sulphate also known as Epsom Salts. Sometimes taking a magnesium tablet also helped.
The increased level of magnesium in my body reduced muscle pain and prevented cramps. I experienced that magnesium provided a pleasant sense of relaxation which was essential for sleep.
I ensured to have clean air in my bedroom. For this, I introduced two useful tools. One is an air cleaning machine and the other one is Himalayan salt-based lamps. There is no established research on this but these lamps are believed to spread negative ions, attracting positive toxic molecules in the air.
Conclusion
By using these seven simple hacks, I experienced substantial improvement in my sleep quality which was noticed in the logs of my sleep monitoring smartwatch app.
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