When designing an overall fitness program, most people focus mostly on two components: nutrition and exercise.

While there is no denying that these factors will probably affect your shape more than any other, you should spend some time thinking about how you sleep. Getting a good night’s rest will help you recover from exercise faster, give you more energy for exercise during the day, and help you establish a hormone balance that helps you process food better. While for most of us, there is nothing that we can do to actually increase the number of hours we sleep, there are a few steps that you can take to enhance the quality of your sleep every night.

Get on a Sleep Routine - Ideally, you should wake up at the same time and go to bed at the same time every night. This will help your body get accustomed to a routine, which can make your sleep at night a bit deeper. Now, this might mean that you have to forgo sleeping in long hours on those lazy Saturday mornings. But if you stick to a good schedule over time, you will probably discover that you have more energy and have an easier time falling asleep at night.

Turn off the TV – Try to avoid watching television for about half an hour before you decide to hit the hay. Studies show that this extra stimulation can actually decrease your quality of sleep. When you stare directly at any bright light, like a television screen, it tells your brain that it is still light out. When you do something a bit more calming before you go to bed, like read a book or listen to music, it can prepare your body for sleeping, just like warming up can prepare your body for exercise.

Spend Time Making Your Bedroom Sleep Friendly - If you have to contend with a bright street light coming in through your bedroom window, there just is not any way that you are going to sleep well. Make sure that your blinds can block out any light that might come in, and that your room stays at a comfortable temperature. The next time you want to do a redesign of your bedroom and want to make it more sleep friendly, try choosing darker and earthy colors rather than bright primary colors.

Don’t Schedule Your Exercise Right Before Sleep – Generally speaking, exercise improves the quality of your sleep. It physically exhausts your body so that your sleep in deeper and most restful. But if you do that exercise right before you go to bed, you stimulate your body to a degree that makes it difficult to go right to sleep. If night time is the only time you can exercise then you should of course do it anyways. But if you have an option, it’s better to get your workouts done in the morning.

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大多數人在計劃整個健身進度表時，會主要關注兩大元素：營養與運動。

營養和運動無可厚非會影響你的身材，然而你應該多花些時間好好想想你的睡眠到底如何。一夜良好的睡眠能幫助你更快地從運動中恢復，在白天為你提供更多運動所需的活力，同時還能幫你建立荷爾蒙的平衡，有助于你更好地吸收食物。但是對大多數人來說，我們無法實際延長我們的睡眠時間，這里我將給你一些建議，可以幫助你提高每晚的睡眠質量。

遵守良好的睡眠規律--理想的做法是，每天早上你在同一個時間醒來，每晚在同一個時間上床就寢。這能使你的身體建立一個良好的睡眠規律，有助于讓你在夜里睡得更熟。那么現在看來，這就意味著你得放棄在懶散的周六上午睡懶覺的習慣了。但是只要你長時間堅持良好的睡眠習慣，你很有可能會發現你的活力更加充沛了，而且在晚上也更早容易入睡。

關上電視機--在睡前半小時里盡量避免看電視。研究顯示這種額外的刺激實際上會降低你的睡眠質量。當你直接盯著任何像電視機屏幕那樣的亮光時，亮光會告知你的大腦說它仍在運作。當你在睡前做一些更加平靜的事像是讀書、聽音樂時，會幫助你的身體為睡眠做好準備。這和你在運動前做熱身準備的原理是一樣的。

花時間布置你的臥室讓它更適宜睡眠--如果臥室的窗戶中總有強光進入，那么無論如何你都會睡不好覺的。確保你的窗簾能阻隔任何光線進入，室內溫度適宜。下一次你再要重新設計臥室時，記得要把它裝修得更適宜睡眠，盡量選用深色和簡樸的顏色，而不是鮮艷的三原色。

睡前不要安排進行運動--一般來說，運動能提高你的睡眠質量。它能消耗你的體力，讓你睡得又熟又香。但是如果你在睡前做運動，你會刺激你的身體使其處在一個不太容易入睡的狀態。如果你只有在晚上才有時間鍛煉身體，那當然你也只有這么做了。但是如果你有別的選擇的話，還是最好在早上做運動。

克里斯多夫·威廉姆·麥肯是一名個人訓練師，他在加州的橘子郡經營一家健身訓練營。他在減肥方面有他獨特的方法。克里斯還是一名健身訓練市場專家，幫助全世界的健身訓練師縮短一半的工作時間，實現收入翻三倍。