7 Habits that RUIN your SLEEP

5. Exercising too late in the day

It is a well-known fact that exercising during the day can help promote a night of deeper sleep, but an evening workout may very well have the opposite effect. Although a good workout can indeed make you exhausted afterward, exercising causes your heart rate to rocket and makes your body produce adrenaline, meaning you will feel alert most likely for a good few hours afterward. Though researchers have indicated that it all depends on the individual, insomniacs should take note.

6. You try to “catch up” on sleep by sleeping in on the weekends

One of the most common mistakes people make with their sleep is sleeping in on the weekends to “catch up” on sleep and pay off their “sleep debt.”

Although it seemingly makes sense to try for a few extra hours rest on the weekends or your days off to make up for less sleep during the week, such attempts are both misguided and almost never worth the costs.

Contrary to the pop psychology we hear in media, there’s no scientific evidence that people actually build up any kind of meaningful long-term sleep debt, even after significant losses in normal amounts of sleep.

Consequently, the benefits of sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday morning to catch up for lost sleep during the week are slim to none. But, there are important downsides that go along with sleeping in and trying to play sleep catch-up.