More ways to get more effective sleep….

Today’s Post:  Tuesday, 5-5-2015

Our last post on Thursday, 4-30-2013 was:  How to boost performance without brain stimulant drugs.

One of the most important was the section containing ways to get more restful and effective sleep.

Today, the email I got from health researcher and writer Nick Pineault was about ways to get better sleep.

Between his main strategies and the ones I sent him back and the ones in our last post, there are quite few ways to get better sleep.

A few of these strategies revisit the methods in our last post but say them differently which might make them more useful for you.  And in this post you may find one that works unusually well for you that was not in the post last Thursday.

A good night’s sleep when you got enough effective sleep you feel rested not only makes you feel better it enables you to do more faster and with less effort. Even better, you can solve problems and overcome difficulties with less effort and faster recovery.

(One reasons for that is that researchers found when you sleep, the parts of your brain shrink slightly and the channels around them open up for better fluid access. This allows extra nutrients to enter and wastes to be removed. 

The process is similar to overnight charging of batteries for an electric car.  So when the process goes well and long enough, it’s literally like getting a full brain recharge!)

A.  First, here are Nick Pineault’s first three points.  Then right after that are the ones I emailed him back.

[Nick’s special focus is being unusually well informed about what foods and drinks harm you and which ones help make and keep you well.  He sends out emails that promote other people’s products as many similar people do.  But like Al Sears, MD when he does that he gives extra information about that area too.  So I almost always read his emails.

hello@nickandgenhealthylife.com is his customer service email if you'd like to be on his email list.  

(Gen is his wife and co-author for their book on good tasting recipes using health supporting ingredients and foods.)]

"1) Go to sleep before 11 PM.

In my college days, I used to believe that going to sleep sooner didn't make a difference.

I was satisfied when I got my 7-8 h(ours) of sleep, even if it was between 4 AM and 11 AM.

But in reality, going to sleep before 11 (before 10 is even better!) makes an amazing difference on how you're going to feel the next morning.

Whether you like it or not, your body has an internal clock called the "circadian rhythm".

At around 11 PM, you'll get a surge of cortisol if you're not asleep, which means that you'll have a harder time falling asleep if you stay up later. [This effect is also fattening.]

During the wee hours of the morning, your body also has a complete schedule of processes that happen - including muscle recovery, your brain and liver getting detoxified, and a bunch more stuff.

Skip your sleep; you skip those processes - letting extra toxins accumulate into your system until the next night. That's part of the reason a terrible night of sleep leads to food cravings, moodiness, and brain fog.

2) Sleep in a (very) dark room.  Ideally, you want your bedroom to be so dark that you can't see your hands in front of you with your eyes opened.

This is hard to achieve most of the time, so I personally started using a sleep mask instead.  I may not look too "sexy" at night, but I'm feeling way more refreshed in the morning!

3) Avoid blue lights 2 hours before bed.

Looking at your cellphone before getting your Z's on? You might just be screwing up your entire night of sleep.

Just like our ancestors who rose with the sun and went to bed when it was dark outside, your body's melatonin hormone production is triggered by your exposure to light. 

If you expose yourself to blue light (like the color of a clear sky or a cellphone screen), your melatonin is suppressed, and you're less sleepy. That's why it makes sense avoiding that artificial blue light before bed.” 

B.  I emailed Nick this back:

Thanks!  

If you get enough good sleep, you feel better with a brighter mood and have more energy and are more resilient and productive.

Your health is better and your whole life is better.

So any leverage you can get on sleeping enough or sleeping better is that important!

So thanks again for writing about it!

1.  The dark sleeping room DOES make a big difference.  Your body releases melatonin to help you sleep and I think to start the several night time repair processes; but this only happens when it's dark enough.

My first workaround was a second pillow and by sleeping on my side, I was able to shield my eyes from most of the light by putting the second pillow over my head and eyes.  

More recently, we doubled the amount of our curtains so less than half the light that was coming through is doing so now and the room IS darker.

But some light comes in around the perimeter.  So our next planned step is to add a second higher and wider curtain rod and get blackout curtains to pull over the light leaks and make the new total set of curtains even more light proof.

2.  It's summer here and getting night time A/C or heat proofing your living space so heat doesn't get in to need to be removed both can help you sleep better.

Having your bedroom less than 70 degrees but above about 60 degrees at night, ideally perhaps from 63 to 68 allows for much better sleep than 76 degrees or more.

(What happens to cause this is the space between the roof and ceiling below is closed up and/or there is too little insulation just above the ceiling.  When that happens in hot, sunny weather, that space heats up from solar and outside heating to temperatures between 170 and 190 degrees.  Then that trapped super-heated air acts like an solar heater forcing your bedroom to be too hot all night.

But the triple of extra intake vents to allow enough air intake to that space plus either spinning turbines to allow the hot air to escape or a thermostatically controlled exhaust fan plus more insulation solves the problem dramatically.

Since that space then only goes to a bit above the outside air temperature and then cools off as soon as the sun goes down, this turns off this solar overheating totally.

In our previous house, my wife and I had that done.  The day before it was 95 degrees outside and over 90 degrees all night until just before we had to get up that night.  The day after was 95 degrees again; but even in mid-afternoon it was only 75 degrees inside! And, it then went below 70 degrees as soon as the sun went down.

A HUGE difference and by using the spinning turbines that spin when the hot air rises and no electricity there was zero A/C cost!

And, in places where even the night time temps are too high to do this, it will still slash the A/C bills and make your bedroom more comfortable to have this done!

3.  Another workaround is to get up at the exact same time each morning and do what you can to get to bed 6 or 7 hours before that every night.  Your body can set its bioclock more easily when you give it that consistency to work with.  And, if that time is well before 11 am that solves that problem too.  

(It also helps that having a heat proofed living space allows early sleep times in cool temperatures.  Without it the only cool sleep times tend to run from 4 am to Noon!)

4.  The ap that gets you up when you are in a lighter sleep stage apparently works but doesn't allow you to get up at the same time exactly each day.

Another solution is a way to program better sleep where your lighter sleep is timed to be when you have set to get up.

Just found out that exists using an in-pillow device.  Between helping you sleep better and wake from a light sleep period it sounds very, very helpful and I plan to get one and try it!

Sleep optimizing device with pillow that sounds effective:

You not only wake easily; but you sleep much better before that,

Apparently the company is raising funds on Kickstarter.  So to ensure you can get one consider donating or pre-ordering one today if you can!

http://news.yahoo.com/smartpillow-helps-sleep-better-dont-120000180.html  This is the Yahoo news story about it:

Ultradia co-founder Zimin Hang said, Chrona was developed specifically for people too busy to get better sleep by just sleeping more hours

http://ultradia.co/chrona/

Sleep smarter, not longer. Chrona is a thin memory foam insert that tracks and optimizes sleep using sound. Chrona turns your pillow into a smart pillow

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ultradia/chrona-sleep-smarter-not-longer