How to avoid the effects of bad sleeping habits

A bad night's rest can wreak havoc on the next day. As a young person myself, sleep is often a footnote on a busy schedule for me. But there are some pretty compelling arguments for keeping better sleeping habits. One of the first steps for getting on that bandwagon is to be aware of the health threats.

Decreased alertness and performance during normal day activities is just one of those hazards from prolonged inadequate sleep. We're talking about a 32% reduction in daytime alertness from just an hour and a half less. These decreases can affect you even worse though. As the article states, extreme sleepiness during the day can damage memory and cognitive abilities!

So how do you combat bad sleeping habits? First of all, get on a schedule. We have internal clocks for a reason, and unless you keep a regular pattern it will remain in limbo. Working out is also another great suggestion from the article. I can personally attest to this one, having taken up cycling years ago for that very purpose! Another one is to avoid daytime sleeping. In other words, napping more than 20 or 30 minutes can affect your sleeping pattern for that night causing you to feel overly awake. This just barely touches all the information available, but you can find more here if you want to look into it.