As you get older, it can become increasingly difficult to get the recommended amount of quality sleep every night. Whether that’s down to health conditions, your sleeping environment, stress, or even a poorly planned routine, there’s no doubt that tiredness can have a dire impact on the hours that you are awake.
If you’ve been experiencing trouble with your sleeping routine, it’s important to try and get back on track before your tiredness begins to affect your lifestyle. To help you understand just how much of an impact tiredness can have on your daily life, we’ve highlighted seven key symptoms that signal the need to improve your sleep quality as soon as possible.
1. You’re underperforming at work
When you’ve spent years of your life working hard to grow as an employee and boost your career prospects, it can be very concerning and confusing when you begin to slow down or underperform. Many career-driven individuals share the same concerns as yourself and a sudden change in your performance could be a sign that you’re not getting enough sleep to enjoy a productive day at work.
2. You no longer want to do the things you once enjoyed
An active social life is a key part of a healthy and happy lifestyle, so if you begin to find yourself cancelling plans or limiting the number of events you go to, it’s likely that your mind and body is calling out for some quality sleep.
Tiredness can make it difficult to keep up with conversations and understand facial expressions, so it’s no wonder why you might become irritable and less likely to spend time with friends and family.
3. You’re struggling to keep up with your exercise routine
A solid exercise regime can take years of dedication to develop, so it can be extremely disappointing when tiredness affects the hard work and results you have worked on over time.
A lack of sleep can greatly impact your exercise abilities, because your mind and body both need the time to rest and recuperate in order to work at their best. When you’re overly tired, you’ll soon find yourself lacking the motivation to push yourself during exercise, or to even make it out of the door in some cases.
4. You thought mood swings were a thing of the past
With prolonged periods of poor quality sleep, you’ll soon become short-tempered and very negative in many situations. You won’t take the same amount of time to process information as you once did, which will cause you to snap at others, even at those closest to you.
Mood swings are a major symptom of tiredness, especially in older adults, so if you find yourself more easily angered than normal, it’s most likely your body’s way of telling you to catch up on sleep.
5. You’re making poor judgements about yourself and others
If you’re physically and mentally exhausted, it’s likely that you will begin to judge yourself in a negative light as well as others around you. A lack of sleep can affect your ability to assess and judge situations and interactions correctly, so what might seem like a negative situation will most likely be relatively normal, or maybe even positive to others who aren’t suffering from tiredness.
6. Your diet begins to suffer
After endless nights of little to no sleep, your healthy diet is going to go downhill. When you’re tired, your body craves food that is high in fat and carbohydrates and thus begins the vicious circle of trashy eating and exhaustion.
A bad diet can make you feel even more exhausted, what with the high levels of sugar found in highly processed foods. You might feel better for a while, but when your blood sugar levels crash, so too does your entire body. All of this could be avoided with plenty of quality sleep and the maintenance of your healthy diet.
7. You’re struggling to concentrate on even the simplest things
A quality night’s sleep consists of allowing your body to pass through the three different stages of sleep multiple times throughout the night. If you don’t get enough REM sleep, you will wake up feeling sluggish and fuzzy, and will struggle to concentrate on the majority of tasks throughout the day. Not only that, you’ll be forgetful or will struggle to remember what’s been said to you, so without a decent night’s sleep, the next day is probably going to be a washout.
These are just some of the ways in which tiredness can affect your everyday life, but the longer you leave it to work on improving your sleep, the more serious your symptoms will be over time. If you begin to notice the symptoms of how your tiredness if affecting your day to day life, it’s vital to take the time to work on improving your sleep pattern before you begin, to develop the other more serious symptoms that lie ahead.
If two or more of the above points sounds familiar and are concerning you, then fill out the enquiry form opposite for a FREE no obligation home visit to discuss how our beds can help improve sleep.