If you’ve been waking up tired day after day and you don’t know what’s happening with your body, then you might be interested in reading these 5 things you didn’t know mess with your sleep. And if you thought sleeping five hours on weekdays and twelve hours on weekends balances everything out, you might want to think again. Not only you can’t make up for sleep deprivation, but sleeping more than you need can also affect your body and your overall performance. Keep reading to find out why.
5. Time Zones
You might know that we have an internal clock that depends on Sun’s schedule. This translates into the mind-boggling fact that our bodies are already scheduled to fall asleep and wake up at certain times, practically dancing to the tune the Sun is playing. But we have evolved and learned to ignore the Sun and replace it, instead, with artificial light.
If you thought going to bed at 3 am after a “Game of Thrones” marathon won’t throw you off, you should know this can easily lead to social jet lag. You’ll probably wake up the next day at 11 pm, feeling like you have a hangover. What can you do to avoid transforming into a sleep-deprived Grinch? Avoid watching TV or using any other gadgets half an hour before going to bed. If you feel sleepy don’t ignore your body. Likewise, you should stop using alarm clocks to wake you up and if you feel refreshed at 6 am, don’t give in to temptation and linger in bed for five more hours. You’ll feel much worse by then.
4. Peppermint Toothpaste
We all love the fresh, minty aftertaste of toothpaste. But recent studies show that the peppermint flavor might actually prevent you from falling asleep. Since peppermint oil works as a stimulant, it’s easy to see why it can keep you awake. What happens, exactly? Apparently, it can make you more alert by stimulating your central nervous system. And that’s not really something you want when you jump in your pajamas and then in your bed. Suggestions? Try to switch to a different brand or flavor and pay attention to what happens to your sleep schedule.
3. A Full Moon
There are studies that unearthed another enemy of deep sleep and restful eyes: the full Moon. There are many people who grow restless when the Moon shines proud in the sky. And if you suspect your wide windows of helping the full Moon to sabotage your sleep, researchers are already a step ahead of you. They’ve conducted an experiment in which the subjects were closed in a windowless room, not knowing if the Moon was full or not. The results showed they still didn’t sleep well, with their sleep quality being reduced by thirty percent. There’s no logical explanation for why this is happening, so we still haven’t figured out what we can do about it.
2. Your Race
It has been scientifically proven that black people struggle more than others when it comes to falling asleep and resting. What numbers are we looking at? After testing different subjects, researchers found out that white people sleep better by eleven percent than black people. Results show that the decreased levels of slow-wave sleep work against African Americans and keeps them awake when they’re rather be sleeping.
1. Being In Love
If love is in the air, then you’re probably not sleeping too well. Love actually triggers some chemical reactions in your brain and the levels of serotonin decrease, while dopamine levels spike. And it gets even more romantic. If you sleep next to someone whom you love and they are having sleeping problems, you risk having trouble yourself out of empathy.
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