Three Key Habits To Help You Live Longer
The best tips for living a longer and healthier life are related to developing good sleep habits like creating a sleep sanctuary, avoiding consuming caffeine or alcohol before bed, and not exercising right before bed to give your heart time to slow to a normal pace.
If we all had one wish that would be granted many of us would all wish for the same thing, to live longer and have a healthy life. There might not be a genie in the bottle to grant us that wish for sure but there are habits we could use that will at least give us the best shot at achieving that wish. The one area that can make the biggest impact on your overall health and life longevity is forming great habits around your sleeping routines.
It is no secret that sleep is one of the most important things we do every day of our lives. Unfortunately, some people either ignore the importance of it altogether or believe they are getting the right amount of sleep nightly but in reality, they are not getting the right type of sleep. There are some very important functions that happen while we sleep, and it is important to understand what they are.
Some of these functions that the brain will undertake nightly are it forms new neural pathways improving cognitive functioning and consolidating memory improving recall and understanding. Sleep also gives the body the much-needed time to repair itself from the rigors of the day. According to cnet.com, “sleep helps your body repair itself, including muscles, organs, and cells. It also grows tissues and releases hormones that aid in body growth and restoration.”
There are three habits that are highly recommended to ensure you are getting the most out of your sleeping time and aid your ability to live longer. The first habit is to make sure you get seven hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Not that is easier said than done, but here are some tips some of which you might have heard of before but they all will help with achieving that seven-hour duration goal.
Avoiding caffeine consumption at least six hours before your planned bedtime is crucial. Never drink alcohol before going to bed, you may think your sleeping better, but alcohol actually excites the nervous system making it difficult to rest. You will want to invest in the sleep essentials to provide a sleep sanctuary, like a quality mattress, blackout curtains, and a comfortable pillow.
You want to exercise a few hours before bedtime to ensure your heart rate has time to get back to a normal pace which is necessary to fall asleep. If you suffer from anxiety you will want to take steps to reduce it as much as possible so you can fall asleep quickly like using a meditation app, sleeping with a weighted blanket, or listening to calming music.
The next habit that many of us need to address but ignore due to it not being the most comfortable thing to address or the bothersome noise it makes for our partners is our sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is the number one reason why people wake up during the night, which disrupts their sleeping cycle unknowingly. If you do have sleep apnea you could be waking up anywhere from a couple of times a night to hundreds of times and you would not ever know it. Sleep apnea is known to contribute to an older biological age, accelerated aging, high blood pressure, stroke, and other chronic health conditions.
The last habit that is essential to help you have a restful and positive sleep cycle is keeping the timeframe of your sleep consistent. Do the best you can to go to sleep every night around the same time and wake up around the same time. Yes, that does include weekends which are the days of the week when people will usually not adhere to a standard sleep time.
If these three habits are mastered by you then it will help you live longer. Of course, life is unpredictable, and we certainly cannot guarantee that being a definitive result. However, at the very least it can set you up for success and we hope you get your genie’s wish to come true.
