Tips for getting a healthy dose of sleep

Sleeping disorders can manifest in different ways: from difficulties for falling asleep to waking up several times a night and not being able to fall asleep again, waking up way too early, sleeping restlessly, having nightmares or heavy night sweats.

Here are a couple of advices for getting a good nights sleep:

• Go to bed every night around the same time and get up in the morning around the same time as well. This way you bring some structure to your day/night rhythm.
• Do not eat anything at least two hours before going to bed (especially not a heavy meal or something sweet). And don’t drink too much to prevent having to go to the toilet in the middle of the night.
• Do not drink alcohol as a night cap. This might help you fall asleep but after a couple hours you will wake up again.
• Make sure the room is dark, without too much light getting in.
• Sleep on a bed and mattress of good quality. A mattress lasts about 10 years. If your mattress is older than 10 years think about replacing it.
• Make sure the air in your bed room is fresh.
• The ideal temperature for your bed room is 18C.
• Remove electrical appliances like televisions and clock radios that can cause high and low frequency radiation (gsm, wifi, dect-telephone, babyphone) from your bedroom.

A natural aid to improve the quality of sleep and tackle sleeping disorders is melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally made by your body when it gets dark and it released during the night.

The older you become, the less melatonin your body makes. Many people have sleeping disorders because they have a shortage of melatonin.

Research has shown that taking daily melatonin supplements is a very effective way to combat sleep problems. It is preferred to take supplements that are released slowly into the blood stream (time-released).

You can take a tablet before going to bed and sleep the whole night quietly. The most effective dose of melatonin is around 1,2 milligrams.

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