Mood and rest, how to improve both

Considering that yesterday was the“saddest day of the year“, today we want to dedicate this space to talk about the relationship between mood and rest. Because it is not surprising that if you have had a bad day you will find it hard to sleep once you are in bed. Or maybe a nightmare is what disturbs your sleep and makes you wake up in the middle of the night. So it’s no wonder that scientists relate these moods to the quality of our sleep. In today’s blog we will give you the keys to know how it can affect our rest and some tricks to improve and thus achieve a peaceful restful sleep night after night.

How does our mood affect our rest?

Stress

Almost everyone has experienced the feeling of not being able to sleep because of stress or anxiety. The reason behind it is usually an increase in heart rate and blood pressure due to the noradrenaline your body generates.

Anger

It is also important never to go to bed angry. The main reason is because going to bed having argued with another person can cause those feelings to flare up. The study, published in Nature Communications, suggests that negative memories are reorganized and stored differently while you sleep. In this case, when you come face to face with that person again, it is much more difficult to disassociate the negative feelings generated during sleep. If you argue or get angry with someone, try not to go to sleep thinking about it. This way, the next morning you will wake up in a better mood and the negative thoughts will not flood your thoughts throughout the day.

Happiness or emotion

You may be surprised to learn that going to bed in a state of extreme bliss is not ideal either. When this happens, your brain produces a type of hormone called Orexin that eliminates sleep and causes you to wake up. Strangely enough, it’s not exactly the best thing for a restful night’s sleep.

Tips to improve your mood before going to sleep

Stress, anger or even extreme happiness are factors that are difficult to change consciously. Therefore, at bedtime, the best thing you can do is to prevent your mood from affecting your sleep by doing some relaxation exercise before going to bed, for example with a guided meditation. You can also spend more time with your family and friends before going to sleep. Plan in your schedule a short break before or after dinner in which you can spend more time in society. Some activities you can do with friends are: go to the movies, have a drink at a bar you haven’t been to in a while or a new one, or simply invite them over to your house to chat and tell them about your day. Another trick is to immerse yourself in other worlds. By this we mean enjoying a relaxing read in bed, just before going to sleep. It is said that reading is living a thousand and one different adventures from your bedroom. So a good trick is to enjoy reading so that once you fall asleep you can keep dreaming. Finally, another tip to improve your mood before going to sleep is to exercise. In case you did not have it very clear, the answer is yes, doing any physical activity helps you to disconnect and de-stress. The scientific reason is that when you exercise your body releases endorphins, also known as the hormones of happiness. This generates a sense of well-being in your system that helps your nervous tension decrease and negativity and worries disappear.

If we combat negative moods , we will achieve a better and more pleasant rest.