Gaming can have a harsh impact on your sleep as discussed in last week’s article. Today we’re sharing secrets that might help you get right off to sleep. Some of them aren’t as obvious as you think!
Find out which chronotype you have to improve your schedule
There are genetic factors that help improve sleep quality. A chronotype is a component of that. It affects how alert you are, your typical mood throughout the day, and your performance quality. You may either be an owl (Evening person) or a Lark (Morning person). (1). Learning which chronotype you have helps you:
Understand when you should be awake and when you should sleep
This allows you to sleep for a longer amount of time and to get better sleep at night. It improves the cognitive function you need and recovery for your gaming performance. Identify when you function at the top rate. You need to understand when this is optimal both mentally and physically. If you’re an owl person like myself, it may be time to start planning what’s most important to you at night. Your training regimen should be done at a time when you are most alert to enable you to reach maximum performance.
Find the right time to exercise
Understanding your Chronotype identification allows you to know when your energy’s at the right peak to begin your daily exercise. Having the right amount of energy may mean training harder and getting more of it in when the time is right. We’ve all had too many moments of fatigue that have kicked our brains to the curve. We need to plan our training when our energy is at its highest to minimize unwanted thoughts that lead to brain fatigue.
Try and get as much natural sunlight as needed to maximize your morning
We often avoid the morning hours and the outside when gaming to avoid glare on our computer screens. While it may seem entirely obvious, we need natural sunlight to help improve our mood and energy levels. It also helps holster sleep.
A hormone called serotonin, which sunlight helps us produce, helps us feel calm and relaxed and improves our mood so that we may game at a higher level. Serotonin positively affects our ability to sleep and wake up, meaning more restful sleep.
Try using a sunlight lamp when needed to improve your serotonin levels. It makes it easier to get to sleep during daylight hours if you’re an owl person or at night if you simply don’t tread out of doors. It uses a brighter bulb than what’s found at the grocery store to help mimic the effects of sunlight. These lamps help those who live in harsh winter climates get the sleep they need when the minimal amount of sunlight they get simply isn’t enough. It’s always best to get as much sunlight as possible for as long as possible when it’s possible. Those who think 5 minutes is long enough often suffer from vitamin D deficiencies and exhaustion. Getting that extra 15 minutes in helps us improve brain strength as nothing else can. Gaming sessions aren’t everything life has to offer, so we recommend taking an eventual break and heading outdoors to help get your mood in check.
Making sure you’re following the right routine can help you avoid the stress that comes with life, improve your concentration, and keep your mood balanced. Read more about Few Ways to Fall Asleep Naturally.
Try and avoid technology at bedtime
As gamers, we’re always busy and juggling work, school, and gaming can be harsh on the body and mind. It’s common for us to be staring at a screen until day’s end.
Making sure that you’re following a regular sleep routine can help improve your ability to concentrate and lead to better mood quality.
Try getting rid of your technology before you retire for the night
It’s difficult to balance work, school, and gaming. This can be especially true when you’re staring at a screen for a long amount of time.
Because of this, gamers often face the issue of an overactive mind that makes it difficult to thought block. This leads to a reduction in brain processing speed. Try instating a technology-free period at least a few hours before bed to help aid in relaxation. Having anything to do with technology right before bed has been shown by research to prevent us from sleeping and lead to poor quality of sleep. Altogether, those who use mobile phones, computers, or tablets right before it’s time to go to bed can expect to have a lower quality of sleep than those who don’t.
Looking at social media feeds is so common with our generation. Out of all the technological tools available to us, social media has the most detrimental effect on sleep quality. We often experience a reduction in melatonin when exposed to this type of technology. This can absolutely inhibit sleep. You get a lot of blue light exposure, which comes with screen abuse, which is responsible for a serious drop in your brain’s ability to make this hormone. A recent study has proved that the reduction of blue light exposure certainly aids in our ability to catch some snooze. Those in the group saw that they had 27 minutes more sleep than those in the control and were also able to get to sleep 24 minutes earlier. Make sure all electronic devices are on and power off before bed. Try relaxing things like reading a book, doing some nice stretches, or taking an evening bath.
Try doing a ‘brain dump’ to make sure your brain isn’t active before bed. It’s a simple writing exercise where all you do is take notes about the things you’re thinking about, such as the work you enjoy doing, your plans for the week, and failures you might encounter. Likewise, ensure that your bedroom is comfortable, your mattress should be supportive to aid a good night’s rest. Read this article to see why hybrid mattresses are so popular.
