Winter is a beautiful time of year. With winter comes snow, turtleneck sweaters, hot chocolate and marshmallows around the fire.
However, it also brings cold weather, very little light, indulgent eating habits and often bad sleeping habits. Sleeping allows us to recover from a long day and also allows the body to rest and repair itself. Without proper sleep, we don’t give our body the chance to properly prepare for the functions of the day.
The amount of sleep we require varies depending on multiple factors like our age, size, and gender. However, it is recommended that we get between 7 - 8 hours of sleep each night. Here are some ways winter is affecting your sleeping habits and how you can sleep better during the cold winter nights.
Loss of Light
During winter is gets colder and darker earlier. The lack of light we experience during winter can have a big impact on how long you sleep for and also the quality of sleep you get. Daylight is limited during the winter months and this can impact our bodies cycle. Without enough light, during the day we can tend to feel sluggish and tired. If you tend to feel a little down during winter, it probably has a lot more to do with the weather than you realise.
The Winter Air
As winter hits so do the utility bills, temperatures drop and the heaters go on. When the air is so cold, we can wake up with a sore throat and dry skin. An air humidifier can really counteract the cold air by putting moisture back into the air, helping your skin stay hydrated and improving sleeping habits.
Our Eating Habits
During summer we all love some delicious watermelon or some juicy oranges that bring forth natural sugars. However, our winter foods of choice are not as healthy. With an array of comforting foods to choose from our hormone levels are going wild from all the sugary and high-calorie foods. Eating these foods can affect not only our hormone levels but our sleeping habits.
How to counteract the effects winter has on your sleeping habits.
It’s important to try and get into a routine so your body can adjust to a set time to go to sleep and wake up. Another great way to get a better night's sleep is by controlling your sleeping environment. It can be extremely hard to go to sleep or get back to sleep if you are woken up by the cold. Warming up your bed before you climb in is a great way to send yourself off to sleep. You can even find a king electric blankets so you don’t have to purchase two singles.
Bedding is so important from you bed sheets to you pillows, there is nothing better than climbing into a fresh and comfortable bed. You can find sheets for any size bed online including king single bed sheet sets as well as soft pillows online.
Don’t let winter get the best of you. Create a warm and cosy sleeping environment to send you off to sleep and repair your body, so you’re functioning at your best every day!
