Many of us struggle with disturbing sleep patterns and are always looking for how to sleep better at night. The right solution to come out of this problem is to change some unhealthy habits and follow the right ones.

Nowadays, late-night working hours, scrolling over our social media accounts till late at night, and eating unhealthy food are a few reasons for poor sleep quality. 

So, get ready to hop into the details of improving your sleeping patterns or habits at Stay Fit Healthy Lifestyle.

Following are the evidence-based tips on how to improve your sleep quality

1. Comfortable Bedding And Room Temperature

Always choose comfortable bedding and perfect body temperature as it makes you feel relaxed, and you can sleep better. It also helps to avoid any body aches or spine-related issues. A room with an adequate temperature of around 70°F (20°C) is usually considered comfortable for better sleep quality. However, it can vary from one region to another. Additionally, choose the suitable fabric for bedsheets and blankets to maintain an appropriate temperature during the night.

2. Prefer Dim Lights

Try to sleep in dim lights, as bright lights lead to distractions and disruptions to sleep. The reason why bright light should be avoided during sleeping time is that it misaligns the circadian rhythm, due to which a person may experience mood swings, mental health issues, and several seasonal disorders sometimes. Meanwhile, preferring dim lights or dark rooms helps raise melatonin hormone levels. It helps in facilitating quality sleep. While using dim lights, you can use specific colours of lights such as yellow, orange, or red.

3. Avoid Long Daytime Naps

Short power naps are beneficial for our body and mind. However, prolonged or irregular naps can disturb your sleeping pattern, and you usually struggle to sleep at night. If you take long daytime naps, try to reduce this habit to experience better sleep quality.

According to research, around 30 minutes or less of an afternoon nap is helpful to relax our brain and body functioning. Ensure not to exceed the napping time more than this for improved sleep quality.

4. Avoid Late-Night Dinner

Having your meal late at night may imbalance the release of HGH and melatonin, which play a crucial role in quality sleep. Make sure to have your dinner at least 4 hours before going to bed. If you have a high-carb meal at night, try to go for a 10-minute walk before bed.

5. Keep Your Mobile or Other Electronic Devices Aside in The Hour Before Bed

Nowadays, we all are addicted to scrolling over our phones and tablets and working late at night on laptops. Because of this, your melatonin production is suppressed; thus, you find it hard to sleep properly at night.

6. Follow Relaxation Techniques

A clear mind is the best way to sleep better. Therefore, to shoo away your day’s stress or body fatigue, you can follow relaxation techniques such as listening to music, reading a book, deep breathing, meditation, and a hot water shower. Try the best technique to experience how to sleep better at night naturally.

7. Limit Caffeine, Alcohol, And Smoke

Many of us are used to having caffeinated drinks in excess amounts, which disrupts the sleeping quality somehow. These drinks are mainly coffee, tea, and sodas, which leads to long-term sleep deprivation. Hence, reduce the intake of such drinks for better sleep quality. Besides this, you need to be mindful of the consumption of alcohol and smoking. These are among the sleep barriers affecting the brain, leading to various sleeping problems.

8. Set A Definite Or Fixed Wake-up Alarm

A simple mantra for improving your sleep quality is to stick to a particular or fixed wake-up time. Our bodies can’t easily get used to different waking times, and if your morning alarm is not fixed, it may lead to poor sleep and poor health.

9. Consult To A Doctor

If you are facing severe issues with sleeping, go for your doctor’s advice. Worsening sleep problems need immediate consultation to avoid any further health risks. Make sure to discuss it to get the proper guidance and treatment to come out of this disturbing sleeping pattern.

Conclusion

A sound sleep and a healthy body are interlinked to each other. Thus, it’s vital to look after your sleeping habits for better health and simultaneously adopt healthy eating habits and exercise for improved sleep quality. All in all, if you feel that your body is not active, disturbing sleep is one of the main reasons. Usually, we ignore our habit of waking late at night, and because of this, our cycle of at least 8 hours of sleep is not completed; thus, our overall health is affected. Hopefully, you get help to improve your sleep quality through these points, as mentioned above. For more healthy life tips, keep reading at Stay Fit Healthy Lifestyle.

For a diabetic person, it is important to manage their diet to keep their blood sugar levels under control. Some foods and drinks cause instant increases in sugar levels, and that’s why you need to be careful about what should be avoided in diabetes and what should be consumed.

Hence, to keep diabetes under control, the consumption of sugary and highly refined foods is restricted. Also, there are several other diabetes diet tips you need to follow along with prescribed medications for good health. 

So, to know more about a healthy diet for diabetes, keep reading at Stay Fit Healthy Lifestyle. Have a look at the foods for a diabetic person (type 1 and type 2) mentioned below:

Leafy Vegetables

No one denies the fact of how beneficial green leafy vegetables are. And yes, for diabetic diet tips, this one is the first thing you need to include in your routine diet. These are rich sources of potassium, vitamin A, and calcium, and they also have a good amount of protein and fiber. Also, these are extremely nutritious as they have antioxidant and fiber content. So, do not forget to consume spinach, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and other leafy vegetables.

Whole Grains

Whole grains are low on the glycemic index and, hence, healthy for a diabetic person. As compared to refined white grains, whole grains contain a good amount of fiber, and fiber helps to slow the digestion process, so the blood sugar of diabetics is not affected much.

Examples of whole grains one can include are:

• brown rice
• whole grain bread
• whole grain pasta
• buckwheat
• quinoa
• millet
• Bulgur
• Barley
• rye

Fatty Fish

Fatty fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which promotes good health for people with diabetes. Certain fishes like Salmon, sardines, herring, anchovies, albacore tuna, and trout contain polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. These are good for reducing the increased risk of heart attack or stroke as the DHA and EPA protect the cells present in the blood vessels, improve the overall functioning of arteries, and stabilize blood sugar levels.

Beans

Beans contain a high content of soluble fibers, which are good for our digestive health. These are an excellent source of plant-based protein, low on the GI scale, and popular for effective blood sugar regulation.

There are several types of beans you can have:

• kidney
• pinto
• adzuki
• black
• navy

Adding beans to your diet is totally affordable as they are cheap and super nutritious.

Walnuts

Make sure to add walnuts to your routine diet as they are an excellent source of omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which helps lower the incidence of diabetes and heart health risks.

Also, these are key nutrients of protein, vitamin B6, magnesium, and iron.

Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, and lemons are the powerhouse of vitamins and minerals essential for good health. Mainly, these fruits are rich in flavonoid antioxidants (hesperidin and naringin), which may exhibit antidiabetic effects and hence, be beneficial for people with diabetes.

Berries

Power-packed with antioxidants and other necessary vitamins (Vitamin C and Vitamin K), and minerals which keep oxidative stress away. Hence, berries are good to consume to improve several health conditions, such as heart disease, some cancers, and high blood sugar levels.

There is a wide range of berries options for you:

• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Strawberries

Sweet Potatoes

As compared to white potatoes, sweet potatoes are listed among the foods for a diabetic person. These are lower on the GI scale and, hence, do not raise blood sugar.

Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber, vitamins A and C, and potassium.

Probiotic Yogurt

For people with type 2 diabetes, probiotic yogurt is healthy. It has essential bacteria that live in the human gut and help to improve digestion and overall health. Thus, having it in a daily routine keeps the blood sugar levels under control.

Chia Seeds

It is one of the best foods for a diabetic person, as these are great sources of omega-3 and antioxidants. For type 2 diabetes, chia seeds are helpful to manage their weight and blood sugar levels.

Besides this, they have a good amount of protein and fiber as well.

Conclusion

An uncontrolled sugar level may increase the risk of several health issues, such as heart disease and stroke. However, following diabetes diet tips can prevent the risk of complications. For your controlled blood sugar level, it is important to plan a healthy diet for your diabetes problems. According to the American Diabetes Association(ADA), one of the reasons behind the raised level of blood sugar is sugary and starchy carbohydrates. Foods with a low glycemic index and a diet rich in insoluble fiber, vitamins, lean proteins, and minerals are best. All you need is to include wholesome food items such as green vegetables, citrus fruits, walnuts, probiotic yogurt, chia seeds, beans, and several other healthy foods.

For more healthy life and diet updates, remain active at our website: Stay Fit Healthy Lifestyle.

A healthy heart is a much-needed thing for the overall functioning of our body. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is a primary concern, and hence, following heart-health tips, such as eating a healthy diet, having an active body, and avoiding harmful things, are helpful. So, to prepare yourself to change a few things in your daily life, Stay Fit Healthy Lifestyle has some powerful tips to improve your heart health. Let’s read and practice these.

What is Heart Disease

When the coronary arteries get blocked or narrow due to cholesterol and fatty material, this is known as Coronary Heart Disease(CHD) or coronary artery disease (CAD). In this situation, blood flow is restricted to the heart and, hence, leads to heart attack or heart stroke.

The main reasons for plaque building inside the arteries are:

• High blood pressure 
• High Cholesterol level in the blood
• Increased sugar level in the blood
• Smoking and Alcohol (too much)
• Obesity and more

Heart Health Tips to Defend Yourself from the Heart Diseases

There are several healthy lifestyle choices you need to make to protect yourself from the risk of heart disease. Have a look at these below.

Say No To Smoking Or Tobacco.

Your habit of smoking can damage your heart health as it lowers the level of oxygen in the blood. Due to this, the blood pressure and heart rate rise, which leads to the risk of heart disease such as heart attack or stroke. Thus, for improved heart health, try to quit smoking as soon as possible.

Perform Daily Physical Activity

Physical activity is a must for lowering the risk of heart disease. It helps to control your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Hence, stay active; you can walk briskly for at least 150 minutes daily. Besides this, other strength training exercises, running, gardening, and yoga poses can be performed to improve heart health.

Eat Healthy

Follow a heart-healthy diet to control your blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol levels. You can include:

• Vegetables and fruits.
• Beans or other legumes.
• Lean meat and fish.
• Dairy products(Low-fat or fat-free)
• Whole grains.
• Healthy fats include olive oil, chia seeds, fatty fish, etc.

On the other hand, try to limit the consumption of the following too.

• Salt or high-sodium meals.
• Sugar or sweetened beverages( but you can have dark chocolates in moderate amounts)
• Highly refined carbohydrates.
• Alcohol.
• Highly processed food, such as processed meats.
• Saturated fat and trans fat food items.

Maintain A Healthy Body Weight

Your overall body weight needs to be maintained to avoid further risk of heart disease. Any person with extra weight is considered obese. Hence, an obese person has a higher chance of high BP, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. 

In short, you must maintain a healthy body weight per the BMI. Remember, a higher BMI, i.e. 25 or above, is considered overweight. Additionally, manage waist circumference, as belly fat increases health risks.

Sound Sleep

Quality sleep is a simple mantra for a healthy heart. People who don’t get at least seven hours of sleep mostly have some health problems such as obesity, depression, heart attack, blood pressure, etc.

Thus, remember to set a good sleeping pattern to stay healthy.

Avoid Stress

Typically, we all feel stressed out in many situations of life. But we need to cope rightly to avoid its severe health issues. Try to engage yourself in any physical activity, any hobby of yours like painting, meditation, and more, to stay away from anxiety or stress. On the other hand, if you have difficulty dealing with stress, consult the health experts about your problem instead of ignoring it.

Health Screening Tests

For improved heart health, prioritize the health screening tests. Many of us only go for thorough body check-ups once a year. It is a blunder we are doing with our health. Regular screening tests help you to monitor your overall health by knowing the numbers of your BP, cholesterol, sugar level, blood count cells, and others. So, prioritize yourself and go for routine check-ups.

Maintain Hygiene

Whether it’s your body or surroundings, proper hygiene is necessary. Meanwhile, keeping your body clean looks good and protects you from disease. For instance, cleaning teeth, nails, hair, ears, and other body parts is the basics of cleanliness. Besides this, a clean house or space lowers the chances of getting sick. Also, stay updated regarding certain viral vaccines such as the Yearly Flu vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine, Pneumococcal vaccine, and others to stay protected from your existing heart problems.

Limit Alcohol Intake

Consumption of alcohol in excess amounts can ruin your heart health. Hence, try to consume in moderation.

Laugh As Much As You Can

You do not need to be a professional to do some dancing steps. Music is good for your health whether you love soulful or dancing beats. Also, moving a little or dancing raises your heart rate and helps your lungs pump blood smoothly.

Conclusion

Many of us visit the doctors for several health issues and take medications to improve our health. Instead of this, try to follow healthy tips by Stay Fit Healthy Lifestyle; these are helpful for the overall wellness of your body and mind. Therefore, adapting to better heart health tips is beneficial for you. 

Stay happy, active, and positive in life.