You may be used to sleeping for 4-6 hours in a night, but it’s only because your sleep-cycle is a bit muddled. You require some 7-9 hours of sleep, and you may have to increase your sleep time, gradually, until you get to the 7 hours.
Sleep is so good for our bodies. However, lack of sleep (insomnia) can be detrimental to the brain.
As a rule, if a person goes for more than 72 hours without sleep, he may experience “sleep delirium” that can cause a nervous breakdown, exhaustion, hallucination and even sudden shutdown of the brain.
Here are a-few tips on how to maintain a proper sleep-wake cycle!
Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule Develop a regular bedtime and go to bed at the same time each night. If it’s 10 pm, let it be around 10 pm every night. You must also have a regular wake-up time 5 am.
By training your brain to sleep and wake up at the expected cycle, your brain finds sleep daily at that time, and rest is more assured.
If you really must, use an alarm clock to remind you it’s bed time, as well as to wake you up. Attempt to go to bed earlier every night. Most of us sleep at midnight, and we have to be up between 5-6 am.
Go to bed earlier to ensure that you get enough sleep. Start with 30 extra minutes, and keep increasing it until you meet the required 7 hours.
This training will help you to keep track of your sleeping time daily.
Try and wake up without an alarm clock. Being independent of an alarm clock helps you to adapt to your natural biological clock (circadian cycle).
It improves our sleep habit even in the absence of any clock. You probably know of those people who will sleep at 11am and by 6 am they are awake, ever day and without a clock!
These alarm clocks literally disturb us out of our sleep. If you use an alarm clock, please ensure you wake up to a relaxing tone/tune, not sounds that get you jumping out of bed from shock!
You could literally get a heart attack; a nurse in the Uk died from the shock of her alarm clock, it was heart failure.
Treat the bedroom with dim lights, and sell the bedroom TV. Dimmed red lights helps to sedate the brain and ease the body to sleep in REM.
Some of our bedrooms have the type of lights that are found in surgery rooms: change your lights and soothe your eyes and brain.
This habit of having televisions and computers in the bedroom interrupts our sleep. The bedroom is for making love and sleeping.
If you have a bedsitter, you can actually organize the room in a way that makes your sleeping area all about sleep. But the right lights, and separate the sleeping and living area.
Reduce the noise in the room and have some slow blues playing in the background. It helps to transit you into REM sleep.
Regulate the temperature in your room. You cannot sleep well when the temperature is too high. Regulate the temperature in the room, make it comfortable for your sleep.
Don’t drink or eat caffeine four to six hours before bed. Caffeine is a psychostimulant that helps to keep the brain alert and can lead to insomnia. These stimulants increase the activity of your central nervous system before bed. You’re nervous system needs a rest too, don’t increase its activity before bed. Excess coffee or tea before bedtime will truncate your sleep schedule.
Don’t smoke, especially near bedtime or if you awake in the night. That one last cigarette before bed is not advisable. Just like coffee, cigarettes contain nicotine that is also a psychostimulant and can keep you awake during your bedtime.
Avoid alcohol and heavy meals before sleep. While alcohol is a good sedative and can aid sleep, when drunk together with a heavy meal it can promote “heartburn” (regurgitation) during sleep. This condition can be so uncomfortable and can cause people to wake from sleep several times. It prevents deep sleep, that can lead to insomnia.
Get regular exercise. Research shows that exercise promotes good sleep
Eat healthy foods. Eating healthy foods in a timely way is the key to maintaining a proper sleep-wake cycle. Foods that is rich in calcium, magnesium and Vitamin B6 help to improve sleep since they have tranquillising effects.. Also, eating a light evening meal is good for better sleep at night.
Let us know how it worked with your sleep: and if you have better tips, send us a message! And don’t forget to Sign Up for Lishe Living membership, we have real strategies for you to apply, once you sign up!
