How to: 5 Tricks to Get a good nights sleep 7 days a week

Sleep is important. Here are 5 tips on how to get it when you need it.

1. Rhythm
Have you ever heard a CD skipping? It drives you nuts because of a lack of rhythm. Rhythms are appealing to our mind in more ways than one. Try to go to bed and rise at the same time at least 6 days a week. The sleep you get will be more restful and you will be more alert during the time you spend awake.

2. Ritual
Try and set a bedtime ritual. This can be very simple. Do the things you do leading up to hitting the sack in the same order every night. For instance:

1. Go through the house and turn off lights and make sure doors are locked.

2. Go into the bedroom and check/set your alarm clock.

3. Go into the bathroom and brush your teeth, floss, wash your face and use the toilet.

4. Go into bedroom, lay down and read something for a few minutes.

5. Turn off the light and go to sleep.

It doesn’t need to be anything complicated, it just has to be consistent. Your mind will eventually recognize this sequence of events. When you start the “countdown” it will start subconsciously preparing itself for sleep while you’re preparing your environment and body for the night.

3. Wear Yourself Out
What did you do today? If you’re total physical exertion for the day looked like this:

1) Walk to car.

2) Walk to cubicle.

3) Walk to car.

4) Walk into house.

Why WOULD you be tired at the end of the day? Studies have shown that some people take as little as 100 steps throughout the entire day! Get out and do something hard for at least a few minutes. Do this early in the day if possible. If your schedule won’t let you get some exercise early, do some light exercise (like a walk) in the evening.

4. Chemistry
Ah yes, better living through chemistry. I’m not talking about sleep aids. They can be addictive and create anxiety, one of sleep’s primary enemies, when you stop using them. I’m talking about that turkey-coma you slipped into last Thanksgiving. About 2 hours before bedtime eat something that contains tryptophan. It’s an amino acid that facilitates your body’s production of seratonin, which relaxes you. Peanuts, milk and turkey are all tryptophan-rich foods. A piece of whole-wheat bread will help your body absorb the tryptophan faster.

Also make sure you’re getting enough iron. People with an iron deficiency often complain about trouble sleeping. You can get iron through supplements or red meat in your diet.

5. Environment
Face your bright digital alarm clock away from you. It’s a source of light, which will make your body chemistry unsure of whether it’s actually time to sleep. Absolute darkness is an environmental trigger for the body to start its sleep process. Looking at that clock while trying to get to sleep can also create anxiety about how long you’ve been laying there, etc. Get the clock out of your face.

Don’t pay bills or do any sort of “work” in your bedroom. This will help your mind recognize this a a place for rest and relaxation. Leave the day at the door. If you have lots of trouble doing this (I know I do), make a to-do list for the next day before you go to bed. Or just journal for a few minutes before bed. This helps some people get their thoughts “out” of their head and onto paper. Now you can relax, knowing that you won’t forget about something you need to do tomorrow.

What not to do:
-Heavy exercise in the evening. This revs up your metabolism and it can take hours to return to normal.
-Eat a heavy meal within 2 hours of bedtime.
-Drink alcohol just before bed. It acts as a sedative initially but it messes with your sleep patterns and does not lead to restful sleep.
-Turn on bright lights if you get up in the middle of the night. Most people do this when they get up to go to the bathroom. This starts your body’s “wake-up chemistry” and it can be a fight to get back into a restful mode.
-Ingest caffeine within a few hours (several hours for some people) of bedtime.
-Oversleep to make up for a late night. This is a terrible idea that sounds good. It will actually work against you, though, because it messes with your natural clock. If you have a late night, force yourself to get up at the same time as normal. You’ll be tired that night for sure and then you’ve isolated the shock your biological clock got form the late night, instead of doubled it.
-Take long naps. Keep it under 30 minutes if you absolutely have to nap. Any more than that and you run the risk of re-setting your internal clock.

[tags] sleep, aids, relax, insomnia, nap [/tags]