22 Ways to a Good Night’s Sleep

How many of you consider the importance of sleep in relation to stout-loss, injury prevention and recovery, lack of focus, and overall health and vitality?

According to a study published in the Lancet Medical Journal (1) chronic sleep deprivation may speed the onset or increase the severity of age-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and memory loss.

Just one week of sleep deprivation altered subject’s hormone levels and their capacity to metabolize carbohydrates.

During sleep deprivation the researchers found that the men’s blood sugar levels took 40% longer to drop following a high-carbohydrate meal, compared with the control group (well rested group).

Their ability to secrete and respond to the hormone insulin (which helps regulate blood sugar) dropped by 30%.

Additionally, the sleep-deprived men had higher night-time concentrations of the hormone cortisol, (hormone released in response to stress), and lower levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone.

These raised cortisol levels mimic levels that are often seen in older people, and may be involved in age-related insulin resistance and memory loss.

So with that in mind here are some helpful tips to getting a excellent night’s sleep:

1. Get to sleep by 10.00 pm if possible – as most of the physical repair in your body takes place between 10 pm and 2 am. For example the gallbladder dumps toxins during this period. If you are awake then your liver is being overworked and perhaps sending toxins into your bloodstream.

2. Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath and then reading a book or listening to soothing music. Some studies suggest that soaking in hot water before retiring to bed can ease the transition into deeper sleep, but it should be done early enough that you are no longer sweating or over-heated.

3. Make a sleep-conducive environment that is dark, silent, comfortable, cool, and without interruptions. Design your sleep environment to establish the conditions you need for sleep. Also make your bedroom reflective of the value you place on sleep. If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin (growth and immune boasting hormones).

4. Avoid arousing activities before bedtime like working, paying bills, engaging in competitive games or family problem-solving.

5. Avoid exposure to bright light before bedtime because it signals the neurons that help control the sleep-wake cycle that it is time to awaken, not to sleep.

6. Keep the light off when you go to the bathroom at night. As soon as you turn on that light you will immediately stop all production of the vital sleep aid melatonin.

7. Eating a high-protein snack several hours before bed works for many (but not all as it depends on metabolic type). This can provide the L-tryptophan needed to produce melatonin and serotonin. Also eat a small piece of fruit. This can help the L-tryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier.

8. Avoid foods that you may be sensitive to. This is particularly right for dairy and wheat products, as they may have effect on sleep, such as causing apnea, excess congestion, gastrointestinal upset, and gas, among others. Additionally grains will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.

9. Exercise regularly. It is best to complete your workout at least a few hours before bedtime. In general, exercising regularly makes it simpler to fall asleep and contributes to sounder sleep. But, exercising sporadically or right before going to bed will make falling asleep more hard. In addition to making us more alert, our body temperature rises during exercise, and takes as much as 6 hours to start to drop. A cooler body temperature is associated with sleep onset.

10. Wear socks to bed. Due to the fact that they have the poorest circulation, the feet often feel cold before the rest of the body does. A study has shown that this reduces night waking.

11. Remove the clock from view. It will only add to your worry when constantly staring at it… 2 am…3 am… 4:30 am…

12. Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex to strengthen the association between bed and sleep. It is best to take work materials, computers and televisions out of the sleeping environment.

13. Using dimmer switches in living rooms and bathrooms before bed can be helpful.

14. Journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful keep a journal and write down your thoughts before bed.

15. Avoid caffeine (e.g. coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate) close to bedtime. It can keep you awake as caffeine is a stimulant, which means it can produce an alerting effect. Caffeine products remain in the body on average from 3 to 5 hours, but they can affect some people up to 12 hours later. Even if you do not reckon caffeine affects you, it may be disrupting and changing the quality of your sleep.

16. Avoid nicotine (e.g. cigarettes, tobacco products). When smokers go to sleep, they experience withdrawal symptoms from nicotine, which causes sleep problems.

17. Avoid alcohol close to bedtime. Although many people reckon of alcohol as a sedative, it really disrupts sleep, causing nighttime awakenings. Alcohol will also keep you from falling into the deeper stages of sleep, where the body does most of its healing.

18. Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on the body to be awoken suddenly. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, they should be unnecessary.

19. Avoid drinking any fluids within 2 hours of going to bed. This will reduce the likelihood of needing to get up and go to the bathroom or at least minimize the frequency.

20. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows. Make sure your mattress is supportive and have comfortable pillows. Make the room attractive and inviting for sleep but also free of allergens that might affect you and objects that might cause you to slip or fall if you have to get up during the night.

21. Listen to white noise or relaxation CDs. Some people find nature sounds like rainfall or ocean waves, or white noise soothing for sleep.

22. Herbs including chamomile and valerian are regarded as natural relaxants.

Pleased Sleeping!

Your 3d Coach

Craig Burton

Reference

(1) The Lancet October 23, 1999, 354:1435-1439

Sleepless Nights: How To Successfully Tackle Insomnia

Insomnia is a condition in which a person finds themselves having distress sleeping at night because of physical or mental health problems. People with insomnia find themselves getting small or no sleep on a regular basis which leads to tiredness, irritability and depression throughout the day. Insomnia can also lead to distress concentrating while driving or performing other daily tasks making you less alert to your surroundings.

Insomnia Causes

Here are some of the more common causes of insomnia…

Anxiety: Everyday troubles or an anxiety disorder may end up keeping your mind racing with your troubled thought deep into the night, causing you to be too alert to want to sleep.
Stress: Worried about a project due at work or school, or stressed out about a health related condition? These types of concerns can also keep your mind whirring past your bedtime.
Depression: Depression is one of the most common factors in cases of chronic insomnia and can be closely linked to both stress and anxiety.
Learned insomnia: This is the case of worrying yourself into having sleeping troubles simply by thinking about having them. Perhaps you are having distress sleeping and started to worry about how you are going to function on no sleep the next day. This can end up setting off even more worried thoughts, causing even more sleep loss.
Hormonal changes: Changes in a woman’s body including menstruation, menopause and pregnancy can end up triggering sleepless nights.
Decreased levels of melatonin: Melatonin is a natural sedative produced by your hormonal gland which produces the feeling of sleepiness. Not having the right levels of melatonin in your body can lead to insomnia.
Health Problems: Certain health problems can disturb your sleep pattern and keep you up to the wee hours in the morning. These include sleep apnea in which a person experiences abnormal breathing while asleep and prostate problems which can keep a person up with frequent trips to the bathroom. Other health problems related to insomnia are asthma, hyperthyroidism, tinnitus, arthritis, heart problems and indigestion.
Pain: Pain in the muscles, bones or organs can also keep a person awake all night.
Traveling: Frequent travelers often find themselves having distress sleeping. Whether it is because of jet lag or simply distress sleeping in a weird place.
The late shift: Current studies indicate that 60 to 70% of all swing shift workers develop distress sleeping.
Certain Drugs: Certain medications might contribute to sleeplessness including decongestants, beta blockers, antidepressants, appetite suppressors, and amphetamines. Insomnia may also be linked to withdrawal symptoms from certain drugs including amphetamines, cocaine, and marijuana.
Caffeine: Having that soda or cup of coffee after your meal may be the reason why you are still up. Caffeine blocks chemicals that help promote sleep.
Cigarettes: Nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant that can lead to restless nights.
Alcohol: While having a small something something before bedtime may initially help you get some sleep, in the long run, those nightcaps do not help you out. Alcohol can end up raising the levels of epinephrine in the body making it hard to relax into slumber and after the liquor wear off you may find yourself waking up. Alcohol also affects breathing disorders like snoring, making sleep hard for both you and your partner.
Noise: You can also blame you insomnia on your noisy neighbors who like to keep things rocking into the wee hours of the night.  Living next to a busy street also does not help.
Hot Weather: Sleeping during those hot summer nights can be a challenge.
Napping: if you find yourself taking long afternoon naps, you might have distress getting to sleep later on.
Late Dinners: Eating right before bedtime can cause indigestion and keep you up. Especially if you eat something heavy or spicy or loaded with sugar.
A sedentary lifestyle: Not expending energy during the day, can lead to a restless night as your body tries to relieve itself of all of its bottled up energy.

Things that can help you sleep

Sure, you can try to take sleeping pills in order to sleep, but these pills come with their own host of complications including dependency and other health problems. Here are some things that you do to get yourself to sleep without resorting to a pill,

Stick to a sleep schedule: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every single day. Even if you have a wild night out, do your best to get up at the same time you usually do to keep your schedule intact. This will help train your body and mind to sleep.
Develop a ritual: Every time you go to bed, try to follow the same routine. For example, have a light snack, listen to some music, drink something warm, watch half of Conan. Let your body know that it is soon time to settle down,
Do not overstay your bed time: Get out of bed once you are awake. Spending to omuch time in bed just relaxing and not sleeping might cause disruptive sleep in the future.
Lay off the heavy late night snacking: Eating a heavy meal at night can really interfere with your sleep. Instead east something light, preferably with tryptophan (milk, turkey) which can naturally induce sleep.
Limit the coffee, cigarettes and booze: Coffee and cigarettes are both stimulants that can end up keeping you up. Alcohol might knock you out, but it could also cause you to wake up too early. Alcohol can also make you snore which leads to a poor night’s rest for both you and your partner.
Lay off the fluids: Nothing can disturb your sleep more than a full bladder.
Lay off the mental and physical activities: Do not get yourself all amped up before going to sleep.
Make your bedroom more sleep friendly: Keep your bedroom well ventilated and at a proper temperature. Also, keep it dark and free of the blinking lights of computers, fax machines and other equipment.
The bed is for sleeping: Do not watch television or read in your bedroom. Doing so may end up causing your brain to link your bedroom with other things than sleeping.
Wait until you feel tired: Do not go to bed if you are feeling restless. Go into another room and do something else (not too stimulating) until you feel tired then go to bed,
Light: your brain works better at making the chemicals that induce sleep when it is dark. Keep the lights off and take the brightly lit things out of the bedroom.
Avoid napping: Napping after work will make you less sleepy at night.
Avoid clock watching: Looking at your alarm clock to see how much sleep you are not getting will only make it harder to sleep.
Exercise regularly: While it is unwise to get all amped up before bed, exercising early in the evening can make it simpler to get to sleep.
Relax: Find ways to wind down before bed time. Take a bath, read a book, listen to some music.

Insomnia: The Sleepless Nights That Invade Your Dreams

Insomnia is the nightly battle that is played out in many bedrooms across America each and every night. When you are unable to either fall asleep or stay asleep and this pattern continues night after night you may be suffering from insomnia.

If it has never been properly diagnosed before, you might consider having a conversation with your health care provider before deciding to treat yourself with over-the-counter medication.

The most commonly used over-the-counter sleep aids are known as antihistamines. Typically used for those suffering from allergies, antihistamines do have an effect which causes them to help you sleep.

Some sleep aids also contain pain relievers, such as Tylenol PM, which contains both Benadryl, which is an antihistamine, and Tylenol which is a pain reliever. You must also remember that even though you can buy over the counter sleep aids, they should never be used without your physician’s approval.

It can be perilous to your health. Also you must remember that’s sleep aids should never be used in conjunction with alcohol. It exacerbates the effects of both making a perilous situation.

Besides over-the-counter antihistamines, you might also consider taking melatonin supplements which have been reported to help provide more restful sleep. This naturally occurring hormone is produced in the body as day turns into night essentially preparing the body to sleep.

Melatonin helps to lower the body temperature and trigger other chemical changes within the body that signals the body it is time to rest for the night. But, you must be aware that there are currently no regulatory controls in place to test nutritional supplements and so they must be used with extreme caution and only on the advice of your physician.

Other natural sleep remedies also include herbal preparations such as lemon balm, valerian root, chamomile, and even St. John’s Wort. Just like nutritional supplements there are no regulatory agencies or research studies that can back up the sometimes outlandish claims of these insomnia cures.

If you are the one of the millions battling insomnia, your initial step is to take a deep breath and make the phone call to your health care provider to schedule an appointment to discuss the issue.

Insomnia should not be tolerated nor is it something that you simply must hard to live with. There are many options available for insomnia treatment including natural sleep aids such as herbal and natural remedies, prescription medication and over-the-counter medications. It may take a few weeks to determine which combination of therapies will work best for you.

After all, isn’t it time that you reclaim your nights and win the war on insomnia.

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