This article will teach you how to get better rem and deep sleep
The older I get, the crappier I feel if I don’t get a good night's sleep. And I’m getting older, and you are too, and if you don’t learn how to sleep like a pro, you’re getting older faster. And many people in America and the world don't get deep sleep.
Insomnia affects up to 70 million Americans every year. Insomnia symptoms occur in approximately 33% to 50% of the adult population, while Chronic Insomnia disorder associated with distress or impairment is estimated at 10% to 15%. Oct 15, 2020 (Cleverland Clinic)
Constipation gets a lot of attention, but only four million people suffer from it. And although constipation is no fun, not getting our beauty sleep can devastate your physical and mental health. It’s funny how you only realize how bad you’re sleeping and how bad it makes you feel once you have a good night's sleep, and you realize how good you feel after it. There is nothing like it.
They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing
There are lots of critical physiologic functions that need to occur when you sleep. Many biological processes happen during sleep: The brain stores new information and eliminates toxic waste. Nerve cells communicate and reorganize, which supports healthy brain function. The body repairs cells, restores energy, and releases molecules like hormones and proteins. (Healthline)
And we will spend 229,961 hours, 9 456 days, or 25.5 years sleeping during our lives! Let that sink in for a minute. Think about it. If you only sleep well during all these years, you have just wasted these precious hours of sleep. Hours that you needed but didn't use it for the right purpose of restoring yourself. So, in the end, you didn't enjoy your sleep, and you didn't enjoy your awake hours.
But in the end, it doesn’t matter how many hours you sleep. Because it’s the quality of your sleep that matters, you can take thirty minutes nap and feel refreshed, but you can also sleep for eight hours and feel like crap. You need to invest in the art of sleep, and that’s what most people don’t do.
You must teach yourself how to get better r.e.m. and deep sleep, and everyone will have a different approach to it. I used to be a terrible sleeper, but today, I’m doing fine because I taught myself how to sleep. In a way, sleeping is like practicing Yoga.
There is a distinct method; you must learn the rules and the ropes. You must teach yourself how to get there and enter this process. Your body knows how to do it, but without the intent and the practice, you’ll continue to have mediocre sleep
You can't force yourself to deep sleep, drugs wont do it. You can only create an environment, both in you and your bedroom, that will promote deep rem sleep
According to the NCO (National Council of Aging)
Good sleep supports your brain performance and mood and can decrease your risk for many diseases and disorders, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, and dementia.
Among adults older than 18, 13.5% reported feeling tired or exhausted most days.
More than a third of Americans report getting less than seven hours of sleep in a 24-hour period.
About 30% of adults have symptoms of insomnia, with 10% having insomnia that impacts their daily activities.
Sleep apnea impacts 9%–38% of the general population.
how to get better rem and deep sleep
First, you need to be tired, and I mean physically tired. This is a problem in older people who don’t need much sleep. And that is because their level of physical activity is very low—the more strenuous your work physically, the better. The harder you work your legs, the heavier you’ll sleep.
How to you get better rem and deep sleep? You have to work on it. It is like any other practice in which you engage with your body. Like learning martial arts or building your body at the gym. This realization alone will help you sleep better.
Learn how to take naps. Taking naps is a training skill that will yield wonders for your sleep. Naps are like the perfect training ground for a big night's sleep. Some people have no trouble taking naps, but others can’t nap at all. Learn how to take naps. Power naps, for that matter.
You are getting closer to becoming a better sleeper when you can sleep on airplanes or on the sofa while everyone is talking. You can sleep during the day or in uncomfortable chairs. Challenge yourself; try to sleep everywhere. Please don’t sleep while you are driving.
Things that you can do during the day that will help you sleep
Exercise vigorously. Walk a lot and hike uphill to give your legs the maximum workout. But don't work out too close to going to bed.
Be relaxed before you go to bed. Do some light stretches, especially around your neck.
Go to bed with an empty stomach. Not hungry but also not with a full stomach
Invest in a good mattress and pillow. It is very common to have neck pain due to a pillow that does not support your neck. Finding a pillow that works for you takes some time and multiple trials.
Keep your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet. Most research supports sleeping in a room around 65 to 68 degrees.
Things not to do during the day or before bedtime
Don't drink coffee. (this is very important; I dedicated a section below)
Don't drink alcohol before you go to bed. Alcohol will make you fall asleep, but it makes you wake up in the middle of the night and disturbs your deep sleep
Don't use the computer before you go to bed
Don't watch violent and action-packed movies
Don't nap for more than 20 minutes
Avoid any supplement that has stimulants such as Ginseng, sage, Guarana, Rosemary, Rhodiola rosea, Ashwagandha, gotu kola, Maca, Horny goat weed, and Damiana. They will not prevent you from sleeping, but they will interfere with your ability to sleep deeply.
Don't eat a heavy meal and go to bed.
Don't argue with your wife (good luck with that)
Do this right before you go to bed.
There are things you can do right before bed that will increase your chances of a deep night's sleep:
Drink chamomile tea. It sounds simple, and it is, but chamomile will calm you down and give you that first wave of drowsiness that will prepare you for your sleep journey.
Magnesium regulates GABA in the CNS: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter in the brain that calms the nervous system by stopping specific signals from transmitting. Magnesium may play a role in regulating GABA, which could help promote calm and act asTrusted Source a sedative, to promote sleep.
Relaxing muscles: Magnesium may also inhibit another neurotransmitter, called the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, which could promote muscle relaxation. This could help improve general relaxation and sleep.
Promoting melatonin: Studies have found that people who are deficient in magnesium also have decreased melatonin, a hormone that maintains the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm causes changes in the body according to the day-night cycle, such as feelings of sleepiness and wakefulness.
Decreasing cortisol: Cortisol is a stress hormone that contributes to functions such as the fight-or-flight response. A decrease in cortisol could promote calm and help improve sleep.
Take one of two tbs of extra virgin olive oil.
Drinking oil before bed can improve digestion, leading to better sleep. The hormones in the oil can create a feeling of fullness, making your stomach feel lighter at bedtime.
Coffee and other caffeinated stimulants
I can tell you from my own experience that after I stopped drinking coffee after almost 40 years of consuming it daily or multiple times a day, I started to sleep like I was a kid.
Quitting coffee altogether was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I had problems with high blood pressure and quitting coffee took care of that. I know this is not for everybody but if you're serious about getting into deep sleep I recommend quitting coffee. And you say, no way!
Of course, you can only have one cup of coffee in the morning and none during the day. But the sad news is that it only takes a few molecules of coffee flowing around your brain to interfere with deep sleep. And that goes for caffeinated drinks like tea, energy drinks, and even chocolate.
Adenosine is the neurotransmitter that causes drowsiness and makes us fall asleep. We produce adenosine throughout the day, and at a certain point, there is so much adenosine that we can't resist it and fall asleep.
Caffeine molecules are similar to adenosine and attach themselves to the adenosine receptors, thus blocking adenosine from doing its work. That makes us feel awake, but the production of adenosine never stops, so at a certain point, adenosine overwhelms us. That is called the caffeine crash.
Coffee does not give you energy. It just borrows from the future. I discovered that the restoration created by deep sleep is better than any stimulant of earth. The best caffeine is sleep. Funny.
If you don't want to quit coffee and want to sleep too, watch this video below
Sleeping supplements and aids
Yes. Why not? Sometimes, we need a little help from our supplement friends. Some days are more stressful than others, and a little supplement might do wonders if you don't always need it to fall asleep. Here are two that I recommend.
Passion Flower Extract
I love this herb extract for its anti-anxiety properties. One factor that could be in the mix of not being able to sleep is a little bit of anxiety.
Some people can't sleep because they are anxious, and nervousness does not help them to fall asleep.
Take about half dropper or a full one. It also takes about one hour to have effects. Passion Flower extract will leave you less drowsy in the morning than melatonin.
Melatonin
Melatonin is a natural hormone and not a sleeping pill. It releases, guesses what? Melatonin is the hormone that makes you drowsy. Taking melatonin fools your body into thinking it’s night.
With melatonin, less is more. Take 1mg or even half mg. Too much can make you very drowsy the next day.
The trick is to begin to feel drowsy before you jump in bed. Take one pill about two hours before you plan to go to bed.
Deep sleep is what we want, and a few have. There are many sleep state levels, and we should strive for the deepest. But to get there, we need to learn how to sleep. Only you can teach it to yourself. No matter the method you choose, there will be one that will work for you. Your work will yield fantastic returns. They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing.
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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
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