All You Need To Know About The Clean Sleeping Practice

When the celebrated actor and life coach Gwyneth Paltrow’s brought the term clean sleeping to the world’s attention, almost all of us gasped wondering what that could be. Clean sleeping advocates the adoption of some mindful practices to ensure that one gets sound sleep. As important as the awareness around clean eating is, proper sleep hygiene is equally important for the overall well-being of any human being.

Harmful Ways Lack Of Sleep Can Affect You

Most of us can’t remember the last time we slept like a baby with absolutely no worries about demands in our personal and professional lives. Many of us still view the idea of sleeping for 7—8 hours as an elusive concept. Here’s how the lack of enough sleep can affect you.¹

• Sleep deprivation leads to poor decision-making and improper judgment.
• It slows down your learning capacity by lowering attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.
• A majority of sleep-deprived individuals suffer from any of the following conditions like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension and mental health issues.
• An absence of adequate sleep causes energy depletion and libido to fall in most people.
• Aging processes speed up when you don’t sleep enough due to high cortisol and low growth hormones that break down the elasticity of skin causing it to sag.
• Not getting enough sleep can make you more vulnerable to obesity due to a rise in the hormone ghrelin that stimulates the appetite for fatty and high-carb foods.

Importance Of Clean Sleeping In Recent Times

Our waking hours are getting longer due to increase in screen time and diminishing boundaries between personal and professional lives. Most of us resort to using intoxicants or sedatives to get some well-rested sleep. Several studies have proved that many individuals are already experiencing health issues that develop due to inadequate sleep and chronic stress.²

Lack of good quality sleep is as devastating to the body as being on a bad diet. Rather than whining about not having time for sleep, practicing clean sleeping can mold our habits to ensure we make time for sleep for our own sake.

Benefits Of Clean Sleeping

A glance at the benefits of clean sleeping and you are more likely to be tempted to at least give it a try.³

• People who slept well were more likely to gain weight due to rise in leptin hormone that makes you feel full.
• Good sleep can maximize problem-solving skills and enhance memory.
• Clean sleeping involves banning all kinds of devices at bedtime. Studies have proven that excess blue light exposure messes the internal circadian clock leaving the brain alert even during night time. No electronics means no blue light and reduced chances for brain stimulation.⁴
• A sound sleep can heal and reduce the symptoms of chronic inflammation in the body.

Ways To Practice Clean Sleeping

Here’s how you can inculcate the practice of clean sleeping from today.

• Try and get about 7 to 10 hours of sleep every night.
• Follow the same time to go to bed and get up on a daily basis
• Avoid all forms of electronic devices at least an hour before you go to bed instead read a relaxing book or take a bath.
• Don’t take caffeine in any form after sunset and if you really want coffee, choose decaf.
• Indulge in mindful meditation and breathing techniques to relax your body.
• Kiss and makeup with your loved ones before sleeping. More importantly, don’t indulge in any activity that could excite or frustrate you if you want a good night’s rest.

Now that you are aware of the next best thing in sleeping right, it’s high time you prioritize your sleep as a basic need and practice it consciously. Go on and take a snooze minus the distractions and you will be pleasantly surprised at the way your life changes holistically.