Sleep better methods that work....

Today's Post:  Tuesday, 1-19-2016

1.  Introduction:

Enough good sleep makes you feel better, enables your body to repair itself including building exercised muscles better than they were before – and of most importance, it literally enables your brain to clean itself.  (We now know your brain actually shrinks and the cleaning channels between the parts open up to facilitate this cleaning during deep sleep.)

The growth hormone release that does all the other repairs happens most during deep sleep. 

So you want to get enough deep sleep each night you can do so for both reasons.

This cleaning substantially prevents Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia we now know. 

If you get less than 6 hours of sleep a night or average much less than 6 and a half hours, this doesn’t work as well.

If you have trouble falling asleep when you go to bed it doesn’t work as well.

If you have trouble staying asleep it doesn’t work as well.

Or if you sleep poorly with too little deep sleep, it doesn’t work as well.

Worse, if you feel this is happening when you can’t control it, your mental health and your sleep suffer for it.  You don’t feel as good as you would like.  And you will have poorer health.

Worse yet, if you take the hypnotic sleep drugs all this gets worse instead of better.  And worst of all, they are addictive and hard to stop taking plus your chance of dying goes up enormously from dying while sleep walking to much higher chances of cancer and more.

2.  The much better news is that there are an enormous amount of effective things you can do to solve these problems and sleep better.

a)    Exercise that is vigorous and early in the day.

This can be a brisk 7 minute walk.  It can be 9 to 21 minutes of high intensity cardio, either with rests in between for you to catch your breath or an easier pace so you can,  It can be a 10 minute to 30 minute session of slow rep strength training.

And, to make it easier to do almost every day, there are ways to do most of these or all of these at home.

This causes your body to release BDNF which grows new nerve and brain cells and makes repairs. 

And the data show that your body automatically assists this process by causing you to fall asleep much faster and more easily most of the time and to get more deep sleep also.

b)  Cool off as much as you can at bedtime.  Even a small cooling effect at bedtime helps people fall asleep quickly.  Conversely, if you body doesn’t cool off this may delay going to sleep. 

Turn down the heat to as low as 60 degrees as much as a half hour before going to bed.  Wear less to bed initially or use much lighter covers.  And if you can, use air conditioning or a fan or heat proof your bedroom so you can have your body cool enough at bedtime.

If you wake later and are a bit cold, that’s a good sign; and you can put on more bedclothes or add blankets.

c)  Avoid blue light from computer or TV screens after about half an hour before you go to bed.

If you can, have your bedroom really dark.  Get blackout curtains for the windows if you can.

  

 d) Find ways to watch less TV in general and in the last hour before you go to bed for sure.

AND, never have a TV in your bedroom!

e)  Write down what is bothering you or has your mind racing.  Plan when you will DO something constructive next about these things AFTER you are rested from sleep.  Visualize hitting an OFF button vividly.  And if you aren’t drowsy yet, close your eyes and think of a fun or pleasant day dream of some kind.  If you stay a awake a few minutes it’s enjoyable. But usually you fall asleep after just a bit of such daydreams.

f) If you are jet lagged or are over about 45 or 50 take a sublingual melatonin lozenge about half an hour before bedtime.  This induces sleep and cutting the light and blue light helps your body turn on melatonin itself.

Also, take cherry extract each morning and about half an hour before bedtime.  This boosts your natural melatonin release

-- AND by actual test adds a full hour of sleep each night even for people with bad insomnia

g)   The herbal supplement valerian has a double positive effect on sleep.

Because it can cut anxiety and severe stress it has value allowing you to sleep even if you are quite stressed; but the active ingredient has a very pungent almost stinky smell. 

I had some I was saving for really bad situations only.  And, I had the supplement bottle in a larger jar with a lid I could close when I wasn’t taking it.

(The Jews and other people in Europe during World War II took Valerian to be able to sleep with continuous war zone and bombing threats.  So it does work for that!)

THEN I found out that taking Valerian at bedtime much increased the amount of deep sleep you get and the growth hormone you release!  Now I take two capsules at bedtime every night.

Exercise works for this also.

And, another supplement that may help among many is to take 100 mg a night at bedtime of a supplement called GABA.  Most of the effect is in the first 100 mg and larger amounts can cause side effects.  So I think 100 mg or 150 mg of GABA each night is enough to get a useful amount more deep sleep without side effects.

h)  The new information I got from the sleep doctor that I was able to do AND which has worked!

Since I began using it every day, I HAVE slept better and had less daytime sleepiness!!

It’s not complicated but it DOES work.

Caffeine and alcohol in moderation do have value.  And many people including me and maybe including you, LIKE their effects.

But if you have to much of either too close to bedtime you sleep less, have more restless sleep, and get less deep sleep!

None of that is a good idea!!

Here are the two things she told me to do.  I’ve found them doable AND effective!

*Drink any caffeine you use before 1:30 pm or even better before Noon.  This includes tea, green tea, Oolong tea, and coffee.  These are wonderful for mental alertness and proven effective.

But they take something like 6 to 8 hours to wear off!  So, if you stop them every day that early, by bedtime they won’t keep you from falling asleep, wake you up early, or prevent you from getting deep NOT restless sleep.

**Drink any alcohol you drink, preferably just one or two BEFORE dinner only.  Your body can process about one an hour.  And by only drinking before dinner, you drink less overall but still enjoy the effects at dinner.

AND, by the time you go to bed 90% of their sleep disruptive qualities are gone!

I never thought the first one was needed.  And I didn’t think the second one was either.

But I found each of them surprisingly easy to do.

Best of all, they are EXTREMELY effective!  Do them; and you WILL sleep better in every way.