Sleep
A slightly different article on sleep this week. The single most important thing for your overall health. The thing we spend a third of our lives doing yet typically give the lowest priority. Infact, two thirds of adults throughout the world aren’t getting the 8 hours we so dearly need. Children are also increasingly struggling; last year the NHS recorded 10,000 sleep disorder admissions for U16s.
Sleep still remains a bit of a biological mystery but scientists are starting to get a much clearer idea of it now. Matthew Walker, the don of sleep, writes all you need to know on the subject in his book ‘Why we sleep’. The results are in, its not 6 hours, not 7 but 8 and probably a nap in the afternoon as well, but the nap comes after you’ve mastered the 8 (we appear to have a natural biphasic sleep pattern). That’s reserved for the professionals. If you happen to be one of these professionals then keep doing what you’re doing. I’m always impressed with people who can get into bed and fall asleep within 15 minutes, in-fact a good friend of mine recently told me that his brother could get into bed, say the words ‘Go to sleep now’ and literally fall asleep immediately; he must be a a true mystic if you ask me.
The ability to get to sleep seems to the problem for the majority of us at the moment, as opposed to staying asleep, which can be more of a common problem later in life (although equally frustrating). A typical night for someone struggling to sleep might go as follows, including myself occasionally. Gets into bed, pulls the duvet over, big yawns, closes eyes, ready to go. Except I don’t ‘go’ anywhere and out of no where, the mindless thoughts pounce. It’s as if they’ve been storing themselves up all day, ready to unleash themselves upon you. Perhaps this is the bi-product of our fast paced lives where we never take a minute to just stop and observe our thoughts, so when we finally chill out in bed, we get taken to the cleaners by them with topics like:
What did I actually achieve today (shouldn’t take too long)
What needs to be done tomorrow and maybe I’ll go out this weekend (now we’re in the future, lots to be concerned here)
Did I do anything embarrassing last weekend or come to think of it, at any point during my life (a real classic, you know nothing good can come of this)
I’m going to stop doing that ‘thing’ as its not good for me (a poor attempt to be productive while trying to sleep)
That’s a great made up scenario (literally meaningless)
One more, slightly different (as you were)
Pure anxiety from the fact that the above has taken 3 hours to mull over and I’ve just calculated on my hand the number of hours left to sleep (time to punish oneself)
After a good couple of hours of this, your brain decides its stuffed full of fairly useless thoughts. It’s like going to an all you can eat restaurant, it’s a free for all, no food group is safe, you will get your moneys worth and you will pay the price. Now if you’re like this in any regard, you’re not alone. Millions of us suffer from insomnia and there often it can feel like there’s no escape. Every morning, an immediate reminder of how little sleep you have had, waking up feeling all groggy. But alas, there are some things you can do. You just need to give it the priority it deserves. Routinely not getting enough sleep destroys your immune system, doubling your risk of cancer and reducing your life expectancy drastically. In fact, there’s barely any areas of your body that are safe from lack of sleep, let alone your mind, which we need to keep in tiptop condition given our very stressful lives. Forget trying to have any productive or positive thoughts on life when you’re wrecked, leave that until the days when you feel rested.
That being said, all is not lost. I’ve listed below some things you can do if you’re struggling under two categories. No brainers and Worth a try.
No brainers
We’ve all heard it before, go to bed and wake up at exactly the same time every day, even on the weekend. Drastic measures require drastic action. The morning part being the most important. This is numero uno for people struggling to sleep. Your body craves that regular rhythm.
No alcohol or caffeine after 3pm. I’m not going to go into detail about the latter but caffeine can stay in your system several hours after drinking it. Alcohol on the other hand is a bit more mis-understood. The night cap might deceive you into thinking you get to sleep quicker but your quality of sleep is very different. Your body doesn’t naturally fall into deep REM sleep when you’re intoxicated and you don’t get nearly as much because you will drift in and out (without even knowing it) as you’re more sedated than actually asleep. That’s what alcohol is, a sedative. We need that deep REM sleep for good health. So if you do want a drink, it might be better to have one early afternoon and keep the late evening drink free as Walker suggests.
If you can’t sleep after 20 minutes, go to another room and sit or meditate (not with the lights on full blast). Your mind works by association and every time you lie in bed awake, not sleeping, your mind will associate your bed with not sleeping. This isn’t fun at first, but it’s a good practice to let your brain know the score. You want to get to the point where even the mere sight of your bed sends you into a deep sleep, like those fainting goats who KO every time they get scared. Be the goat.
Do some form of exercise everyday. It’s the oldest trick in the book, if you’re physically tired, you will naturally want to rest. That doesn’t mean go and do hit training before bed as this will wake you up, but something gentle will definitely help like a walk or yoga.
Two hours before bed, reduce your screen time. Not the easiest thing to do in this day and age but you can’t expect your brain to suddenly go to sleep after staring into an bright screen. As far as its concerned, its still day time when it sees any form of light. It suppresses the production of melatonin which you need to sleep. If you really can’t forgo the screens, make sure to have a filter on your device reducing the blue light and even better, buy some special ‘blue light blocking glasses’. They’re bright yellow and you’ll probably get a few laughs from your family or friends for wearing them but don’t you worry, you’ll be having the last laugh.
Worth a try
Invest is some comfortable bedding. You’re spending a whole lot of your life asleep, you may as well enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be some super expensive plush bedding but it needs to work for you.
Don’t eat after 6pm. Digestion slows down in the evening as you’re body gives priority to general upkeep. Lying in bed with a full stomach isn’t comfortable and won’t do you any good when you’re trying to sleep. Also, you will probably wake up starving if you do, why is that?
Take a natural supplement to aid your sleep such as CBD oil, Ashwagandha powder (also known as Indian ginseng) or magnesium. CBD oil comes from the cannabis plant. You’re not going to get blazed don’t worry, that comes from the other compound THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). Many people use it to sleep as its calms the brain, helping with things like anxiety. It’s a bit of a controversial area as you can imagine, Infact I don’t think you’re even allowed to write the benefits of such compounds. There’s many more you can try and I recommend doing your own research around these. Far better to use a natural supplement than sleeping pills.
When you get into bed, count down from 20 doing the following: 20 Inhale in, 20 inhale out, 19 inhale in, 19 inhale out, this isn’t working in, this isn’t working out. If you go adrift and lose count, simply start again. This is a great practice for those who have a particularly wondering mind. Make sure to do this as soon as you get into bed and be prepared to start again, many many times.
Before you get into bed, take a minute to write down all the things that you imagine you would think of if you got into bed. Get the pen to the paper out (no screens as thats counterproductive). Once done, put it out of sight and out of mind. On that note, It’s a good practice when you get into bed to ask yourself whether what you’re thinking about is actually important right now and whether it can wait. Bedtime is for sleeping and not for constructing your next business (avoid self help books before bed). Unless of course you have a real ‘aha’ moment, In that case, it’s probably best to write it down.
I’m sure there’s many more things you can try to help you sleep so go and experiment if you’re struggling. The important thing to remember is that an hour before bed you need to start making preparations by winding down and reducing your light exposure. Make your sleep routine the crème de la crème.
Matt Jarosy