Sleep has always been troublesome for many people. Not getting good wholesome sleep affects us both psychologically and emotionally. Here are five points to that will help getting a good nights rest:

1. Do not sleep more than eight hours and no less than six.

2. Set your biological clock.  Your body has an internal clock that can be set for sleep-time and awake-time. If your bedtime and awake-time are different everyday, the effectiveness is undermined. You will find yourself tired or alert at inappropriate times. The key is consistency.

This is the main reason why many people experience difficulty waking up on Monday mornings. If you have a specific wake-up time during the week, you will find that by Friday morning you are waking up before your alarm clock. When Monday morning arrives, you are exhausted when your alarm goes off. What has happened is that by the end of the week your biological clock has taken control because of your consistent wake-sleep schedule during the week. But on the weekend, we push our bedtimes later, and we sleep late in the morning as well. This effectively cancels the setting on our clocks, and by Monday we have to start all over again. 

This imbalance is easy to fix. A consistent sleep plan is the tool to the biological clocks efficiency. Choose a specific bedtime and time to wake-up, and adhere to it as closely as possible, seven days a week. Your sleep will be more refreshing, you will be more energetic and most importantly you won’t miss your fajr prayer or even your tahajjud prayer.

 3. Avoid caffeine late in the day. Caffeine contains a chemical that causes hyper-activity and wakefulness. Tolerance levels however, vary; which is why it is good to experiment. Avoid all drinks such as, tea, coffee and cola. Better choices are warm milk, malt drinks and herbal teas that will help you relax.

4. Eat right and light before sleep. You will sleep best with your stomach neither too full nor too empty. A large meal will make you feel tired but will keep your body working to digest it. An empty stomach can keep you up with hunger pains. Have a light snack two hours before bedtime. Avoid gassy, fatty, spicy foods.

5. Make exercise part of your day. Regular exercise reduces insomnia and improves the quality of sleep.

Shazad Khan