9 things you shouldn’t do before you sleep, if not you’ll have panda eyes the next day

Last Updated on 2016-05-18 , 3:20 pm

Falling asleep can be tricky for some people. While for some, it can be serious enough to warrant the use of medication, for most of use, it is as simple as avoiding certain activities before bed. Are you committing these sleep-inhibiting crimes?

Intense exercise
Exercising is good for your body, obviously, and it can certainly help you sleep, as long as you don’t do it before bed. Depending on your recovery rate, the time before bed that you should avoid exercise varies. Exercise causes you to increases your heart rate and your body temperature to raise, making it difficult to fall asleep. We have to emphasize intense here, because if your workout consists merely 20 sit ups, then it probably wouldn’t have that much of an impact.

Taking a hot shower
Similarly, it raises your heart rate and body temperature. Change it to a cold bath instead!

Surfing the net
And watching tv, and texting, or anything that involves screens. The blue light from these screens hinder the development of melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep. So close that laptop and turn off that TV about an hour before bed.

Drinking too much water
This is a tricky one. Drink too much and you’ll find your sleep interrupted by the dreadful night pees. Drink too little and you’ll feel thirsty in the middle of the night. Balance is key.

Drinking coffee
Now, before you slap us for treating you like an idiot, please read on. The amount of time you should avoid coffee before sleep varies according to individuals, and for some, coffee at lunch can still affect sleep at night. So you need to understand your body and avoid coffee appropriately!

Rushing work
It puts your brain in overdrive and the anxiety can keep you from falling asleep. No matter how busy you are, always take an hour off to relax before your bedtime and use the time to read or meditate!

Consume alcohol
You might fall asleep faster, but that is not quality sleep at all. You wake up groggier and unable to concentrate. You will also need to wake up and pee and alcohol is diuretic.

Fight
Never go to bed angry. Not only does it affect your sleep, the anger is likely to stay longer if you go to bed with it. Always settle your arguments before sleeping!

Do something drastically different
If you have a routine to follow every night before bed, don’t break it. Breaking the habit can send wrong signals to the brain that keeps you awake. So stick to your routine!