3 tips for anyone who experiences problems with sleeping through the night

Before we go to the tips for staying asleep, we want to tell you why why staying asleep is so important. Together with falling asleep and sleep efficiency (the number of hours you really spent sleeping in bed) staying asleep is the most important indicator for your sleep quality. This three indicators determine how energetic, happy, and healthy you feel the next day.

Especially as you get older, staying asleep can become a problem. Namely, if you are over 65 years old, your melatonin production decreases and you spend less time in REM sleep. As a result, you wake up more often at night. Over 18% of men and no less than 25% of women over 65 suffer from staying asleep problems.

There are many factors that can cause you to have difficulty sleeping through the night. Below you will find the most common:

• You have to urinate (often)
• Your partner snores, and once awake you stay awake because of it
• You experience stress, and once awake you cannot fall back asleep
• You are too warm
• Your child needs nutrition during the night
• You are restless and tense and cannot find peace
• You are afraid and listen to every little sound
• You had a scary dream and keep dreaming this dream repeatedly

There are many causes that lead to through-sleep problems. Fortunately, the tips below help to to make sleeping through the night easier.

Your diet may seem harmless, but it has a big impact on your night's rest. The first tip: at least one hour before you go to sleep, have your last meal or snack take.

It is also important to carefully choose the type of food what you eat just before going to bed. Specifically, avoid spicy, too much, or too fatty food, but go for a cup of yogurt, a piece of fruit, or a handful of nuts. These products are easy digestible and contain the substances tryptophan and magnesium. Tryptophan promotes the production of melatonin and magnesium help you relax. Very nice, because your body can produce these substances less well later age produce less well themselves. And melatonin just happens to be the substance that helps you fall to fall asleep AND to sleep through the night.

Many people swear by a “nightcap” before going to bed. Still, not a good idea. Alcohol helps you fall asleep faster, but you sleep more lightly because of it. This can cause restless sleep and frequent waking. It can therefore be the cause of problems for sleeping through the night.

The same goes for smoking. Do you smoke? Then light your last cigarette or cigar at least an hour before you go to sleep.

Deep and uninterrupted sleep is only possible if your bedroom has the right environment is suitable for. This means your room has a temperature of 16 to 18 degrees and is well is ventilated. Also make sure to keep light out of the room, for example by invest in blackout curtains. This way you create a dark space where you can sleep undisturbed sleep.

Also invest in a weighted blanket. A weighted blanket applies subtle pressure on your body, which keeps this relaxed. This promotes sleeping through the night.

We hope these tips help you sleep well again. Do you have questions about sleeping through the night or using a weighted blanket for sleep maintenance problems? Feel free to contact us. We are happy to help you.