Your quality of sleep is your quality of life

Your quality of sleep is your quality of life

Those who live to be 90 years sleep about 32 years of their lives. So, you spend one third of your life in bed, with your eyes closed. If we sleep that much, sleep must be very important, right? According to sleep expert Annemieke Deiman of Sleep Wellness Consultancy, yes. The fact that we sleep less and less hours and less and less well today is a bad sign. How does poor sleep affect your life and vice versa? You can read it in our latest blog.

Sleep has been neglected for years. Most problems were directly linked to a poor lifestyle. Less alcohol, quit smoking, move more and eat healthier. But the effects of sleeping problems on the quality of life were often not discussed. Annemieke Deiman wants to change that. As a sleep expert, she helps people wake up. Figuratively, of course, because she wants people to sleep as well as possible.

Many people to this day are not aware of the fact that their sleep is bad. As a result, they underperform in life. That sounds intense and it is. Poor sleep affects both the quality of the night and the day. During the day you experience problems such as reduced concentration, more stress, being less happy and a bad memory, while at night you get frustrated again when you can’t fall asleep again. It’s a vicious circle. Other common consequences of poor sleep are dementia, cardiovascular disease and the development of other disorders. Major problems that directly affect your quality of life.

Changes in the world, such as digitization but also a corona crisis, have a direct impact on the quality of sleep and therefore on the quality of life. That is something that is being raised more and more, but you still see that people still find it difficult to solve their sleep habits. Low-threshold short-term solutions such as a sleeping pill or taking melatonin (a body’s own hormone) are often advertised because people want quick results. However, sleeping problems must be solved properly at the core. That is sometimes difficult, but for most people a sleeping problem appears to be relatively easy to solve.

Poor sleep and therefore experiencing problems in daily life is something that occurs in both the elderly and young people, Annemieke also acknowledges. That is why it is good to see that more and more (vitality) programs at work or at school are paying attention to sleep. Do you also want to get started with solving your daily sleeping problems and finally feel happy and rested again? Then you can start with these three simple tips:

 1. Give yourself an evening ritual

Rest, cleanlinessand regularity. A mantra from grandma’s time but still relevant. Parents schedule evening rituals for their children to prepare them for bedtime. An accessible and safe way to prepare body and mind for a night’s sleep. But somehow, we stop doing that when we get older.

 2. Stop scrolling

If I may give one tip for optimizing your sleep; don’t take your phone or tablet to bed. Our primal brain is not yet used to absorbing so many stimuli and information and the blue light from the LED screen inhibits our melatonin production. Do you still choose to scroll through your social media just before going to sleep? Then that directly affects the quality of your sleep.

 3. Ask for help

Problems with sleep affect the quality of life, but also the quality of your work or school. That is why it is important that employers and school leaders pay attention to healthy sleep. Many companies have already gone so far as to include sleep in their vitality programme. But not everyone is that far yet. Help yourself, your colleagues or your classmates by making sleep a more important topic. In the end, everyone benefits!

Do you experience problems with sleep or do you experience problems during the day that affect your sleep? Then you might like to talk to someone who can point you in the right direction. Annemieke has sleep coaching packages and a masterclass Sleep & Vitality especially for everyone with sleeping problems developed. You learn to deal with your problems in an accessible way and you can ask all your pressing questions.

Do you want to know more about online sleep coaching or do you want an online inspiration session or masterclass Sleep & Vitality? www.onlinesleepcoaching.nl / www.sleepwellness.nl