How to sleep better? Faced with a sleep problem such as insomnia, how to preserve your sleep, a prerequisite for staying in shape and in good health? While sleeping well is essential, a quarter of French people say they have sleep problems. However, simple actions and some habits can be enough to find sleep. Some tracks to find a restful sleep ...

Understand the sleep cycle

In order to achieve restful sleep, one must still understand how the human body functions when it is at rest. To know first of all: we are not all equal in the face of fatigue. If for some of us, 6 hours of sleep a night is enough, others need to sleep 8 to 9 hours to feel rested. The average duration of a restful sleep is around 8 hours of rest per night.

Another element of understanding sleep: a long night of sleep is not counted in hours but in cycles. Each cycle corresponds to approximately 90 minutes, a good night's rest consists of 4 to 6 sleep cycles. During the first two cycles of the night, we speak of "slow sleep": it is a heavy sleep that allows to recover physically. At the end of each cycle there is another form of sleep: paradoxical sleep. Very short at the beginning of the night, it is longer and longer during the sleep cycles. Essential, REM sleep can recover psychologically and psychologically, acting directly on our mood and our level of stress .

Sleep: how to sleep well?

Sometimes, certain simple gestures are enough to find a restful sleep. Thus, to sleep better, for example, avoid too heavy meals in the evening (such as dishes in sauce difficult to digest) as well as sugary or exciting drinks (coffee) and cigarettes. Prefer soft activities like reading during the two hours before bedtime. To proscribe before going to sleep: the screens (television and computer) as well as the physical activity.

Sleep well: the virtues of a restful sleep

In everyday life, sleep disorders cause us chronic fatigue and nervous fatigue . The lack of sleep makes us less effective during the day but also stressed and often victims of small memory problems . But the consequences of restless sleep do not stop there. Indeed, according to several studies on sleep, not getting enough sleep would tend to increase the appetite as well as the risks of being overweight.

To help you finish once and for all with your insomnia or your lack of sleep, the editors give you their advice to find a restful sleep and (re) learn to sleep better.