How to Sleep Faster Better
Smarter Naturally
An Essential Easy Guide for Your
Best Life
VINH NGUYEN
Copyright © 2021 Vinh Nguyen
All rights reserved
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The content within this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult a licensed
professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book.
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Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS SLEEP?
Sleep versus rest
The different stages of sleep
How does the brain make you fall asleep?
Fun facts about sleep
CHAPTER 2: WHY YOU NEED GOOD SLEEP
CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING SLEEP DISORDERS
What causes sleep disorders?
The symptoms of sleep disorders
Common sleep disorders
How are sleeping disorders diagnosed?
CHAPTER 4: THE SECRETS OF GOOD SLEEP
Turn your bedroom into a sleep haven
Help your body and mind go to sleep
Develop and maintain a bedtime ritual
Make daytime choices that foster quality sleep at night
Eat and drink to promote quality sleep
CONCLUSION
AUTHOR NOTE
INTRODUCTION
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the national public
health agency of the United States, says that we are having a dangerous
epidemic: the SLEEP Epidemic. And the statistics support this declaration.
35% of people get less than seven hours of sleep each night in the US.
Approximately 70 million Americans have a sleeping disorder.
10% of all adults suffer from chronic insomnia.
Poor sleep costs the US economy 411 billion dollars.
More and more people are finding it hard to get quality sleep in adequate
amounts. And as a result, our physical and mental abilities are taking a
direct hit as a race. Why?
The human brain is the most sophisticated and efficient biological
complex on the planet. Our brains are designed to analyze thoughts and
sensory inputs, create memories, generate reactions, analyze outcomes, and
keep us at optimal levels. Our brains do this effectively, which is why we
are the dominant species on Planet Earth. Equipped with our super brains,
we have conquered the land, water, and air on this planet, and even space.
But despite its limitless processing power, the human brain is not
indefatigable. It never stops working, but it needs to rest and recharge. And
the only way for our brains to recharge is through sleeping. When we sleep,
brain activity reduces and is switched towards recharging our mental and
physical state. Memories are processed and analyzed; tissues and cells are
repaired, and we are generally being prepared to wake up fresh.
Unfortunately, this vital process has been hit badly by our most common
lifestyle choices. Yes, life on this planet has never been this fast or hectic.
Since the turn of the millennium, the development of social media and an
invasive pop culture are two examples of how our brain is now tasked with
analyzing more input than before. Everybody in the world is literally one
click away from yelling their opinions in your ears. Most people are also
addicted to the frenetic demands at work and the domestic responsibilities
they must complete. The bottom line is that most people do not have
enough time for what they want to do in a day.
An average human should sleep for eight hours each day and spend the
remaining 16 hours chasing their worldly targets. However, the pace at
which we live now means that most people find that they need more time in
their day to complete their daily goals. So, what do they do? Most people
steal from the time allotted for sleeping. Day after day, they continue to
deprive themselves of the correct amount of sleep.
For another category of people, they sleep for the correct amount but in
the wrong manner. From blue screens on televisions to the wrong kind of
mattress, certain factors dictate that they do not get good sleep. Sadly, most
sufferers from bad sleep do not even know the source of their problems.
Rather, they wrongly attempt to diagnose the persistent unproductivity,
stress, fatigue, and illnesses they have. The end result is the sleep epidemic
that the CDC declared a few years ago.
Where does that put you? Are you suffering from a chronic lack of
sleep? Do you have problems falling asleep? Do you almost always wake
up feeling stressed? Do you feel sleepy and lethargic during the day? Do
you have a hard time getting up in the morning? Do you want to sleep
better?
If you have answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then this book is
for you. I know just how bad things can get when you are not getting the
correct amount and quality of sleep. The effects of bad sleep ripple through
your life and affect every part of your life. I know because I once suffered
from these effects, too.
As a young adult, I slept at irregular hours. In fact, I had very terrible
sleeping habits. Some nights, I stayed up late playing video games. Other
nights, I genuinely had pressing issues or work to complete. Other times, I
just stayed up late as a habit. I drank and ate without considering what
could affect my night’s rest later. The nightcap, coffee, and confectioneries
featured heavily after my dinner and shortly before my bedtime.
Sometimes, I was too tired to get to my bed before sleeping. So I slept on
the couch, folded and uncomfortable.
Of course, my mornings were always miserable. For someone trying to
create his own business, I always woke up exhausted in the morning with a
nasty headache that gave me a permanent short temper. I woke up a
defeated man each day. It was an uphill battle to get ready for the day, and
most times, it took me hours to start running in the right gear. During the
day, I had drowsy moments and periods of inattention. Some days, I found
it hard to concentrate on discussion, and fatigue became a permanent part of
my life.
And then, ironically, one night, as I was lying on my bed surfing the net,
I read an article that changed my life. The author said insufficient sleep
could affect my life, and suddenly, I had all the threads in my hand. I knew
what was wrong and how I was damaging my health. And since that day, I
began to sleep intentionally. I changed my sleep routine with the tips I will
share in this book and became a newborn man, productive and always fresh.
I know you can make a similar swap. I know because I have done it with
the knowledge in this book and because I have helped other people improve
their sleeping habits. This book will save you from avoidable wear-and-tear,
help you sleep better, and wake up alert. When you get the right kind of
sleep in an adequate amount, your life will change. Chronic stress will
disappear, and all the little niggles will be gone. You will be able to process
information faster, recall things better, and live a healthier, happier life.
What is the only thing I need from you to make that possible? 100%
commitment to implementing the tips and actions contained in this book.
Bad sleeping habits are hard to break. Some of them have been with you
since you were a teenager. But it’s time for you to break the yoke of bad
sleep and tap into the limitless potentials you have been given as a human.
CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS SLEEP?
Up until the 1950s, people still believed that sleeping was like shutting
down a computer. They may not have computers back then, at least not in
the ways we do now, but you get the idea. Back then, people thought of
sleeping as shutting down the body and mind for the next few hours. But
today, we know that is not true. If the body and mind become inactive when
we sleep, how do we explain dreams?
As experts look more into the science of sleep, there is a lot more that
we don’t know yet. But we can be certain that the body and mind don’t call
it a day when we fall asleep. Instead, they take on a whole new
responsibility, performing functions that are crucial to psychological and
physical health and quality of life.
The brain performs these processes when you go to sleep because it
understands that they could interfere and impair other functions you need
while awake. Brain activity doesn’t end the moment you fall asleep. At
some stage, it may even be higher than while you are awake. The ability to
wake up when you want is not the only thing that differentiates sleep from
death or coma.
That brings us the question: “If sleep is supposed to rest, reenergize, and
restore your body and mind in preparation for the next day, why then do
you sometimes feel tired and low in the morning?” The answer lies in the
difference between good and bad sleep. Or, more appropriately, restful,
restorative sleep and restless, non-restorative sleep.
Sleep versus rest
Sleep is an advanced type of rest. Experts define rest as the state of
reducing physical and mental activity, while sleep is the state of suspended
consciousness. In other words, sleep is rest on steroids, with the body and
mind being a lot less sensitive to the environment.
For example, when you are lying down, you relax by reducing your
attention and reaction to your surroundings. This type of rest is known as
passive rest. At the same time, low-intensity relaxation techniques like
massage and meditation are known as active rest. In either of these types of
rest, you are less aware of your environment, but the level of detachment is
nothing compared to when you are sleeping.
That is why sleep and other modes of resting perform the same basic
functions of conserving and recovering energy and functionality. As the
mind and body become relaxed and less active, the number of calories
needed reduces, and the processes and parts that have been working up to
that point (to allow you to function) get the chance to rest, refresh, and be
repaired.
But the other types of rest can’t offer the same degree of restoration and
renewal that sleep offers, simply because they don’t allow the body and
mind to have that same level of detachment. Or I should say that “Nothing
compares to a good, quality, and restful sleep.” Its restorative effects can’t
be compared to the other types of rest. It allows repairs and recovery at a
cellular level.
It is crucial to learn how to maximize the quality of your sleep to take
advantage of its restorative effects.
The different stages of sleep
When you fall asleep, your brain starts a journey, traveling between two
types of sleep at intervals until you wake up. These two types of sleep are
called rapid eye movement (REM)/active sleep and non-rapid eye
movement (NREM)/quiet sleep, and four stages (three of NREM sleep and
one REM). As the brain fluctuates between these stages, activities change
as signaled by the different brainwave patterns associated with each stage.
1. NREM Stage 1
This is the moment when you start falling asleep. As you move from the
state of being awake/conscious to being asleep/unconscious, your body and
mind start to relax. Muscle tone, breathing, and heartbeat increase in
intensity while brain activity slows down to theta and alpha waves.
You are still relatively aware of your environment, so it is easy to disrupt
sleep. If you get woken up during this stage, it doesn’t feel like you have
been sleeping. It takes about 5-10 minutes to pass this stage in the first
cycle.
2. NREM Stage 2
In stage 2, you continue losing awareness of your environment.
Breathing, body temperature, and heartbeat continue to drop, but brain
activity starts to increase and fluctuate. This leads to rapid spikes in
brainwaves called sleep spindles. Eye movements also stop at this stage.
The result is a relatively deeper sleep compared to stage one. You are
going to spend 20-25 minutes in this stage.
3. NREM Stage 3
If the first NREM stage is the transitional point between being awake
and asleep, this NREM stage plays the same role for light sleep and deep
sleep. However, you are already pretty deep in sleep by this stage. Your
awareness and response to the things happening around you are much lower
than the remaining NREM stages.
This time around, the muscles of your body are fully relaxed, and your
breathing, heartbeat, and blood pressure are at their lowest. Your brain starts
to produce delta waves, which are strong and slow wavelengths that give
this stage the name “Delta sleep.” But there are still no eye movements.
The brain and body conduct some processes in this state to repair,
regenerate, and grow tissues. These actions restore functionality and boost
the immune system. It is also in this stage that sleepwalking and bedwetting
are more common, although recent research shows that the latter is also
present in other stages of sleep.
This stage is the longest in the sleep circle. This is one reason why some
experts divide it into two stages. But even then, they are rarely ever treated
as separate individual stages.
4. REM Stage 4
At about 90 minutes into your sleep, you will enter the final stage.
Although your heartbeat and breathing increase markedly from stage 3,
stage 4 is the deepest sleep stage. By now, you are most detached from your
environment. The brain disables non-essential body movement functions
leading to what we can refer to as paralysis but with occasional twitches.
While the body muscles are relaxed and inactive, brain activity
increases. This is the reason for the increase in respiration. This increase in
activity is why we have dreams in this stage and why the eyes move rapidly
under their lids. This is also why the REM stage is called paradoxical/active
sleep.
Your first foray into the REM stage usually lasts for about 10 minutes. It
increases with each cycle until the final foray, which can last for about 60
minutes. You would have spent around 20% of your sleep time in the REM
stage by the time you awake.
After falling asleep, you don’t simply move through all the four stages in
a sequence, never returning to the previous one for the night. On the
contrary, the mind breaks this journey into cycles to ensure that we have
more than ample time in each of the four stages because they are all
important to restoration.
So you progress from stage 1 to 4 to complete the first cycle, then go
back to a previous stage (usually stage 2) to start again, moving gradually to
the REM stage. Each circle lasts for about 90 minutes, and there are usually
about 4-5 cycles every night.
How does the brain make you fall asleep?
The brain makes us fall asleep or awake through a network of
neurotransmitters that transmit messages between various tissues in various
parts of the brain. The specific processes in charge of this are the sleep
drive/homeostasis and circadian rhythm.
The circadian rhythm uses the amount of light in your surroundings to
inform your brain when it is night or day. In other words, it is a biological
clock that tells you when to wake or go to sleep. Experts believe that most
people have a 25-hour internal clock, but the rhythm evolved in our
ancestors to associate itself with the 24 hours of the day.
Since they didn’t have much control over the lighting in their
surroundings, their biological clock evolved to rhyme with the periods of
daybreak and nighttime. That way, they could conserve energy and prepare
to hunt for food when the day breaks again.
As the day wears on and the evening arrives, the circadian rhythm picks
up the light changes in our environment. It tells the brain to promote
melatonin production, a chemical that makes you sleepy. This is why it is so
easy to fall asleep in a dimly lit room, no matter what time of the day it is. It
is also why people with total blindness or jet lag have difficulty falling
asleep at the right time. The brain needs the circadian rhythm to tell it when
to start to stop producing melatonin. Anything that prevents it from sensing
those light cues at the right time disrupts your sleep rhythm.
The other way the brain regulates sleep and awakening is through the
sleep drive. When the brain determines that it is daytime and you need to be
alert and awake, the neurotransmitters signal the production of hormones
that will keep you alert. This includes hormones like norepinephrine and
serotonin.
As the day goes on and your body uses up its energy and those stay-alert
hormones, you start to tire, and a new set of chemicals and metabolites start
building up in your bloodstream. These chemicals cause sleepiness, and one
of the functions that the body performs when you sleep is to remove them
from your bloodstream.
You can fight this urge. Of all the mammals, humans are the only ones
who refuse to sleep when the urge hits us. The others give in right away.
But humans can only hold on for so long. We know to stop ourselves from
falling asleep. For example, we can take caffeinated drinks, power naps, or
simply rely on the power of our will. But it gets to a stage when the urge
becomes overwhelming, and we give in to sleep.
Fun facts about sleep
Since the day that REM sleep was discovered, there has been an increased
interest in sleep. Long gone are the days when we ignorantly believed that
sleep was like death. Still, we get the occasional false or incomplete
information in all the excitement of new research. So we will look at some
facts about sleep and your sleeping habits to determine the effect they have
(if any) on your daily life and health.
1. It is normal not to remember your dreams
You are not the only one having difficulty remembering dreams. Experts
believe that it only takes about five minutes of being awake to forget more
than 50% of what happens in your dream. By the time you reach 10 minutes
of being up, you may remember less than 10% of that dream.
There are two ways to explain this. First, Sigmund Freud theorized that
since dreams are born out of repressed thoughts, the brain deletes this
memory to prevent you from accessing them. But the modern explanation is
that as the brain resumes the functions of keeping you awake, it lets go of
those memories to prevent them from taking up necessary processing
power.
2. The color of your TV influences the color in your dreams
Do you have black-and-white or color dreams? Experts believe that it is
possible to have both, depending on the screens and images you mostly
look at. People who look at black-and-white television are more likely to
have black-and-white dreams, while those looking at color screens and
pictures are more likely to dream in color.
3. Sleep is more important than food
Food, water, and sleep are all vital for you to function as a human being,
but one is more important than the others, at least on a short-term basis. The
average person can survive eight to 21 days without food and three days
without water but starts to show side effects if deprived of sleep for three to
four days.
You can hold on for much longer, but the side effects make you a danger
to yourself and others. That is why the brain has the power to override
everything else and put you to sleep. Imagine if someone refuses to sleep,
gets behind the wheel of a truck, and dozes off.
4. The influence of your chronotype
Your chronotype is how your brain interprets the circadian rhythm.
Some people respond early to the light cues, so they go to bed early. Others
respond later, so they don’t sleep until late in the night or early in the
morning. We refer to these people as night owls.
We can say that your chronotype is the time of the day that you feel
sleepy or awake. For most people, it affects the length and quality of sleep
that they get every night. It is safe to say that someone who goes to bed at
9:00 pm is more likely to get more sleep than someone who stays up until
around 2:00 am. Of course, that is assuming that they both have to wake up
at around the same time.
Apart from the time of the day when you feel alert and probably the
amount of sleep you get every night, your chronotype can also influence
your physical performance, body temperature, and appetite. The chronotype
is influenced by genetics, environment, predisposition (do something for
long and your brain normalizes it), and age.
5. Yes. Your sleeping position matters.
The one thing that rarely ever changes in everyone is the sleeping
position. We may sleep at different times, places, and lengths, but the
sleeping position is almost always the same. It is a matter of instinct. We get
on the bed and take up the comfortable and familiar position without giving
it much thought. Guess what? Your favorite sleeping position may benefit
or impair your quality of sleep and health.
About four out of 10 people sleep in the fetal position. This is when you
lie on your sides with legs bent like a fetus, and it is good for sleep quality
and overall health. Another sleeping position is the log when you lie on
your sides with hands and legs stretched along your body like a log. It is
also a good position.
Another position is the freefall when you sleep on your stomach.
Although it aids digestion, it can cause back and neck pain. The soldier is
when you sleep on your back with arms on your sides, increasing the risk of
snoring. The final position on this list is the starfish with limbs stretched out
to the sides. It also encourages snoring.
6. Are you sleeping alone or with someone in your bed?
Both of these scenarios have their advantages and disadvantages. It all
depends on you, the other person, and the relationship between you two.
Some people enjoy cuddling while others don’t. Remember that by bringing
another person into your sleeping environment, you introduce more body
heat (for good or bad) and disturbances like snoring and kicking while also
reducing available sleeping space.
On the plus side, sleeping together improves intimacy and romantic
bonds. If you are on good terms with that person, sleep improves
significantly. Cuddling in sleep promotes the production of the love
hormone “oxytocin” and reduces the production of the stress hormone
“cortisol.”
7. Sleeping naked has its advantages
Sleeping naked keeps your body temperature cool without having to do
much about your environment. Without clothes to protect it, your skin loses
heat and keeps you cool through the night, making sleep better and longer.
Sleeping naked also triggers the body to store white fat and produce
brown fat. The first process allows your body to retain more heat, while the
second enables it to burn more glucose. In addition, sleeping naked can also
improve attraction and sex life. So your relationship may also benefit from
this.
8. Sleeping with “socks on” has its advantages
Sleeping in your socks helps regulate body temperature. It reduces the
exchange of temperature between you and your surroundings. Sleeping with
socks is especially good for people who get cold feet. It protects that person
and anyone sleeping next to them. It also protects your body from
palpitations and sudden heat intake (also called hot flashes).
9. Are you getting enough sleep?
There are recommendations for how many hours of sleep the average
person needs every night. But all these depend on different factors. Some
people do well with just five hours of sleep every night, while others can’t
function well without up to 10 hours.
It is possible not to get enough sleep or get too much sleep, but it
depends on such factors as your health, daily workload, heredity, or age.
For example, a baby needs more sleep than an adult; a pregnant woman
needs more sleep until after three months of pregnancy, and a person who
works at a construction site may need more sleep than someone behind a
desk.
At the end of the day, the average person spends ½ - ¼ of their lifetime
sleeping. But since we are talking about recommendations, experts say that
babies need about 16 hours of sleep, teenagers need nine hours, while adults
need 7-8 hours. All of these vary even for the same person. For example,
we sleep longer when we are tired. And as we get older, we get tired more
often and need more sleep, but by then, we can’t sleep for as long or as
deeply as our younger selves.
CHAPTER 2: WHY YOU NEED
GOOD SLEEP
A lot goes on in your brain and body when you go to sleep. Think of your
body as a factory with different units that work together to allow you to
function properly. From the moment you shut down work for the day and
go to bed, the brain starts performing what we can call the maintenance
process to assess what happened the day before. It repairs the various
elements to get you back in form to return to work when you wake up.
Some of these so-called maintenance processes include the processing,
analyzing, and storage of knowledge that you acquired in that day, the
removal of waste products and toxins from the previous day, the repair and
restoration of cells and tissues that power the processes that allow you to
function, and finally, the creation of new cells, tissues, and neural pathways
to make those processes more efficient.
Sleep is the brain's way of repairing, restoring, and upgrading itself.
Without these processes that can only happen when we sleep (when the
brain is free from our attempts to control it), we won't function normally in
our daily lives. We wouldn't be able to survive.
Scientists used lab rats to test just how much we need and depend on
sleep. The average rat lives for up to three years. When prevented from
going through REM sleep, these test rats couldn't stay alive for more than
five weeks. When they were prevented from having any form of sleep, that
lifespan reduced further to three weeks. That is over a 98% reduction in
lifespan in both cases.
The human body and brain are much more complex than those of rats,
but you get the picture. Every living creature needs sleep to survive and
function optimally.
The effects of quality restorative sleep resonate all over our body and
mind in the following ways.
1. Sleep is essential for growth
During sleep, the body produces and retains more protein. We know
from biology that protein is the building block of our cells. By keeping and
producing more protein and breaking down less of it, sleep increases the
number of resources that the body has to build more cells and tissues.
This is why children, teenagers, and sick people need more sleep since
the first two groups are still growing, and the third needs to repair or replace
damaged cells. When we are asleep, the body has more time and resources
to grow new cells and tissues.
2. Sleep saves energy
Staying awake takes a lot of energy. If you are on the heavy side (either
with muscles or fat), your body will burn calories much faster to perform
the different functions that allow you to think and act.
You don't need all those functions when asleep, so metabolism slows
down, and the body's energy supply lasts for much longer. It is why people
who are engaged in extreme physical activities lie down or sleep to
conserve energy and strength until needed. In either of these states, you are
less active, so you save energy.
3. Sleep is crucial to maintaining your weight
There are many ways that sleep can influence body weight. For
example, someone who doesn't get enough sleep is more likely to make
wrong decisions and avoid physical activities. Both of these can add to
weight gain. But the main way that sleep influences your weight is by
controlling appetite and energy consumption.
Sleep quality affects the hormone production that makes us feel hunger,
ghrelin, and the hormone that makes us feel full, leptin. When you don't get
enough sleep, it offsets the balance of the hormones in the bloodstream in
favor of ghrelin, making you eat more than necessary.
4. Sleep promotes brain functions and productivity
Sleep deprivation in all forms (poor or short sleep) is bad for the brain
and mental functions. If mental functions are impaired, you cannot be
productive to the best of your abilities. In a study of medical interns on a
regular work schedule and others working for longer hours in 24 hours with
little to no sleep, the latter groups made over 36% more serious mistakes.
The reason is simple. We need sleep to process the information we have
collected during the day and free up space to acquire more knowledge and
improve brain functions. When someone is deprived of sleep, the effects are
similar to another under the influence of alcohol. Essential brain functions
that allow you to learn, make decisions, and do your job are impaired.
Without adequate sleep, it becomes much harder to concentrate, think, gain
knowledge, and find creative answers to your problems.
5. Your body needs sleep to perform physically optimally
Several studies are proving the power that sleep has over the body. A
study of athletes showed that the amount of sleep they get directly
influences accuracy and speed. But don't forget that sleep quality also
affects mental functions. So it affects both the body and mind and can
improve or reduce performance.
A different study on older women shows how it affects speed and grip in
the limbs. Without enough sleep, those subjects tend to be slower. Their
grips are much weaker, and overall performance in any physical activity
suffers.
This is the same for anyone. When you don't get enough sleep during the
night, it feels like walking and lifting stuff takes a lot more effort.
Combined with the mental effects, your performance in anything that takes
intense physical and mental effort will dip significantly.
6. Quality sleep improves your social skills
Social skills depend on reading other people's intentions and controlling
the emotions that people or situations make you feel. For example, when
you approach someone at a party, you read the person's facial expressions
and body language as much as you listen to the words coming out of their
mouth. Sleep affects your ability to do this properly to know when to push
in or step back from people. We also can't ignore the fact that sleep
deprivation makes us irritable and easily angry. A short fuse is not a good
asset in a social setting. You will be more likely to end up in disagreements
and misunderstandings.
Sleep also allows the brain to create new neural pathways and exercise
the parts of the brain responsible for regulating emotions and our stress
reaction. Two prominent examples are the amygdala, which triggers “the
fight-or-flight response,” and the prefrontal cortex, which moderates our
reaction to that stressor. Our brain improves these two during sleep, leading
to better and more mature stress responses.
The positive effects of sleep on parts of the brain that control emotions
bring us to the next benefit, mental health.
7. Sleep improves mental health
Several studies have discovered the link between poor sleep and mental
health issues like depression and anxiety. Back in the days before the legal
clampdown on heavy-handed interrogation techniques and detention centers
like Guantanamo Bay, some interrogators drove their prisoners mad by
depriving them of sleep. They simply locked the prisoners in a small,
brightly lit room and put some loud music on repeat.
Sleep issues and mental health issues contribute to each other. People
with depression and anxiety have a high risk of developing conditions like
insomnia and sleep apnea. This also works in the other direction. The
conditions usually get worse. Medications like sleeping pills and
antidepressants may work for a while, but they later become ineffective.
The only solution is to address the underlying mental health and sleep
problems. Getting good sleep and taking care of your mental health
improve the parts of the brain that help you get your emotions under
control, such as the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and stratum.
8. Sleep improves the central nervous system
The central nervous system is the most crucial system in our body. One
can argue that every system in the body is crucial. However, if you are
made up of different elements working together to create the beautiful
music called living, your central nervous system is the conductor.
It serves as a network that maintains these complex connections of
various cells, organs, and functions, passing information from one to
another. If something makes a sound in your surroundings, your eye collects
the information and sends a signal to the brain to process and make sense of
it. Then the brain transmits signals to other organs in your body, telling
them how to react. For example, it tells the eyes to find the source of the
noise and the limbs to prepare to fight or run. All these exchanges of
information are possible because of the central nervous system.
If this function is impaired and the signals arrive too late or don't arrive
at all, you are in trouble. You can be looking at problems like poor physical
reaction (impulsive behavior) and poor mental reaction (anxiety and
depression) to stress. This could blow up into paranoia, hallucinations, and
suicidal thoughts, especially in someone who has an underlying health
condition.
Good sleep benefits the central nervous system in many ways. First, it
allows the brain to take its foot off the gear, pull back, relax, and reset itself.
This stops it from overworking and making mistakes. Once the brain is
tired, sleep is its ultimate way of recovering. No matter how hard you try to
hold back sleep, your brain will find a way to get that rest.
That is the reason behind microsleep—those moments in which you
doze off without knowing. It is your brain's way of saying, “I need a break.”
The worst part is that microsleep doesn’t help the central nervous system
rest and recover. The timing is too short to enjoy the benefits of sleep. They
are more likely to endanger your life and the life of people around you.
Think of dosing while operating heavy machinery.
Sleep also allows the brain to remove the waste of processes it ran
during the day, repair damages, and create new neural pathways. These
combine to make the central nervous system more effective, leading to
faster transmission of signals and better stress response. A good night's rest
puts your brain in great shape to learn, concentrate, analyze problems, come
up with creative solutions, and make decisions.
9. Sleep improves immunity
Sleep improves the immune system and healing. The immune system is
our natural defense system against the foreign invaders that cause illnesses.
Sleep allows the immune system to produce antibodies and a particular type
of protein called cytokines. These compounds are crucial in the fight
against infections and germs.
Apart from that, sleep also allows the immune system to rebuild,
conserve energy, and function faster. Healing is faster when you sleep.
Healthcare providers encourage patients to rest and sleep because they
understand this effect. Cytokines contain compounds that make us sleepy.
Generally, the effects of sleep make you less susceptible to illness.
However, when you do get ill, sleep improves the speed of healing and
recovery.
10. Sleep improves breathing
People with breathing problems usually have problems sleeping, while
those with sleeping problems engage in things that negatively impact their
respiratory system. But sleep can also directly improve respiration by
allowing the brain to heal and repair cells in the respiratory system. There is
also the fact that by boosting immunity, sleep reduces susceptibility to and
increases recovery from respiratory infections.
To best describe the relationship between sleep and breathing, we can
say that a problem in one can lead to or aggravate a problem in the other
one. Let's use the example of someone suffering from sleep apnea, a
condition in which the windpipe collapses during sleep, making it difficult
to breathe. Sleep is disrupted as the brain wakes the person up (slightly) to
reopen the windpipe and take in oxygen. This ultimately prevents them
from healing properly and becoming more immune to the infections. As
apnea gets worse, sleep quality suffers, and that person becomes more
susceptible to other respiratory problems.
11. Sleep aids digestion
Getting enough sleep doesn't just protect you from overeating. It also
helps digest food better. To get the complete picture of how sleep aids
digestion, we have to look at three stages—consumption of food, digestion
of sugar, and usage of that energy.
For the first stage, we already know how getting enough sleep maintains
the balance between ghrelin and leptin hormones. This balance ensures that
you eat just the right amount of food. It puts you in touch with when you
are hungry and when that hunger has been satiated. We can trace this effect
to how people tend to eat a lot more food when they stay up late into the
night. It's all about the balance that allows you to know when you are
hungry or full.
On the second level (that is digestion), sleep makes digestion better,
faster, and more complete. It prevents the body from developing resistance
to insulin, a hormone that we need to digest glucose. On the other hand,
eating right before going to sleep is not good for digestion or sleep. These
two functions disrupt each other, although the digestion can get better
during the REM stage of sleep.
Finally, getting enough sleep motivates you to move your body and
engage in more physical activities. This allows you to use up your calories,
reducing the risk of building up extra weight. Getting better sleep doesn't
just improve your physical performance, but it also improves your
willingness to do more physical activities, thus limiting weight gain.
So, like many other ways in which sleep affects your body and mind, its
effects on your digestive system are expansive and resounding.
12. Sleep keeps the heart hale and healthy
There are many ways that sleep affects the condition of your heart. For
example, people suffering from insomnia are at a high risk of developing
heart problems. This is mainly because the processes occurring when we
are sleeping are essential to the health of the arteries, blood vessels, and
heart.
These processes may also directly or indirectly affect your heart. The
process of replacing and repairing damaged cells during sleep also applies
to the heart and arteries. This promotes healing and keeps them healthy.
Other processes during sleep also contribute, such as reducing toxins, stress
levels, inflammation, insulin resistance, blood pressure, and blood sugar
levels. All of these have some influence on heart health.
There are so many moving parts that it is difficult to pinpoint a single
way sleep affects heart health. But there is no denying that not getting
enough sleep increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases like stroke and
heart attack.
13. Sleep prevents cells from building resistance to insulin
Our cells need insulin to convert sugar into energy. So being resistant to
insulin creates two problems. First, the cells can't generate enough energy.
Secondly, there is an unhealthy level of sugar in the bloodstream.
Insulin resistance is caused by the cells becoming intolerant to glucose.
Normally, as blood sugar level increases, the brain triggers insulin secretion
to help break down those sugars. If the cells become more tolerant of sugar,
the brain doesn't trigger insulin secretion, and the blood sugar levels
continue to rise.
This leads to high blood sugar levels, which ultimately results in
diabetes. When we are asleep, we use less energy. By regulating our need to
convert sugar into energy, sleep reduces the risk of developing a tolerance
for glucose and building up resistance to insulin.
14. Sleep improves hormonal balance
The body produces and releases hormones into the bloodstream
throughout the day. But the endocrine system, which is in the change of this
process, is most active during two periods: when we are engaged in intense
physical activities like exercise and when we are asleep.
You can only maintain physical activity for a limited time, but you can
sleep for much longer than that. These moments when we are sleeping are
crucial to maintaining hormone balance.
For example, one way that sleep improves growth is by promoting the
production of growth hormones. These growth hormones work on the
protein in the body to repair and build cells and tissues. They are crucial to
developing (especially in people still growing) and rebuilding muscle mass.
Another way that sleep affects the endocrine system is by influencing
the secretion of the hormones that control hunger and satiety. We discussed
this earlier in this chapter while talking about weight maintenance.
Sleep also affects the secretion of reproductive hormones. It usually
takes about three hours of sleep for the body to create enough testosterone
(in males) to get you through the following day. That is two hours of
extended and uninterrupted sleep, not a cumulative of disrupted sleep. If it
takes about 90 minutes of continuous sleep to get to the REM stage and
complete one sleep cycle, which means you need to complete two cycles for
sleep. Anything less, and the hormones are out of balance.
It is also when you are sleeping that your brain detoxifies your body. It
triggers the expulsion of hormones that have built up during the day and can
affect your mental and physical health if allowed to remain in the
bloodstream in large quantities. Another example is the stress hormones
like cortisol and norepinephrine. An imbalance of those hormones can
either make you extremely docile or hyperactive. The brain works on
maintaining this balance during sleep.
CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING
SLEEP DISORDERS
A lot of people have trouble sleeping. The stats are so bad that a study
indicates that one out of every three adults gets inadequate sleep, but not all
of these people have a sleeping disorder. There are clear differences
between sleeping difficulties and sleeping disorders. Both are caused by the
same factors and have closely related effects. However, of those “one in
three,” only 70% have what qualifies as a sleeping disorder at any point in
time.
So, what exactly is a sleeping disorder? A sleeping disorder is an illness
that makes it challenging to fall asleep, stay asleep, and stay awake at
appropriate times. It disrupts sleep, makes it short and light, and prevents
the brain from completing the process of repair and restoration that takes
place during sleep.
In simple terms, sleeping disorders prevent you from getting enough
sleep at night/when you should be asleep, making you sleepy during the
day/when you are supposed to be alert and awake. In some cases, the
difficulty of staying awake during the day could persist even after getting
the recommended 7-8 hours at night.
That seems like the same way one would describe sleeping difficulties,
right? What exactly is the difference between these two? Well, a sleeping
difficulty becomes a sleeping disorder when your health provider says so.
Yes, it is crucial to see a professional before diagnosing yourself with
anything. However, we can’t deny that the situation could sometimes go
undiagnosed, maybe due to the inability to seek professional help or some
mistake on the part of the health provider.
We can go a little further to say that when sleeping difficulties become
regular and recurrent, and when it starts to affect your ability to function
properly every day, it becomes a sleeping disorder. Therefore, a sleeping
disorder is when sleeping problems become recurrent with regular effects
on your daily mood, focus, and energy, impacting your health,
career/education, relationships, and personal life.
Whether we are dealing with a sleep disorder or sleep difficulties, the
situation could also be the symptom of a different illness. In that case, the
disorder will likely subside when the illness is treated, although it is also
possible to treat the various symptoms, such as sleep disorders, separately.
Whatever the decision is, the only thing guaranteed is that the problem will
most likely deteriorate if left untreated.
What causes sleep disorders?
There are many factors that can cause sleeping disorders. Disorders disrupt
the natural cycle of sleepiness and wakefulness, so you don’t have to look
too hard to point fingers. Anything that can affect that cycle, be it
emotional, physical, or environmental, is a potential cause. But let’s make it
clearer by looking at some examples.
Ulcers: Gastric ulcers upset the stomach to cause pain. If it flares up
at night, sleep is going to be affected. Episodes can be mild or very
serious and can certainly keep patients up for extended periods.
Allergies and asthma: They affect breathing. When you have
difficulty breathing while sleeping, your brain will keep startling you
into semi-consciousness.
Nocturia: It is, as the common name goes, excessive urination at
night. It could result from urinary tract infections, hormonal
imbalances, diabetes, excessive water consumption, or old age. But
one thing is certain: Nocturia doesn’t allow a good night’s rest.
Chronic pain: Back pain, persistent headaches, arthritis, or any other
form of pain—whether due to an injury, illness, or old age—can keep
one up at night.
Worries, anxiety, and stress: Any of these can make it difficult to fall
asleep. Even when you manage to get some sleep, they ensure the
sleep is restless and plagued with troubles like sleepwalking, sleep
talking, and nightmares.
Irregular sleep time: Whether due to shift work or jet lag, going
against the natural sleep cycle can cause significant sleep problems.
The solution is to try as much as possible to build a sleep routine and
good habits that promote better sleep quality.
Genetics: Some disorders like narcolepsy can be inherited. Sleep
latency can also be a function of genetics.
Environment factors: Issues like heat, noise, and smell in the sleeping
area can affect sleep. Blue light and disturbances can stop you from
having a good night’s rest.
Medications: Medications of any form, prescribed or not, can
interfere with sleep. You have to be sure of the side effects of a drug
before using it.
The symptoms of sleep disorders
Anyone displaying some of the following symptoms probably has a sleep
disorder. The emphasis is on “probably” in this situation. Only a trained
professional can provide a conclusive diagnosis. You don’t have the training
or tools to diagnose yourself. So if you suspect anything or identify with
any of the following symptoms, it may be time to talk to your primary
healthcare provider.
To start, do the following symptoms apply to you?
Do you often doze off while driving or operating heavy machinery?
Do you often fall asleep while engaging in activities that are not
physically intense, like reading or watching TV?
Do you have a problem with concentration and productivity at school
or work?
Do you have a problem remembering things?
Do you wake up from sleep feeling tired and unrefreshed?
Do people often comment that you look tired and sleepy?
Are your reflexes and responses slow?
Do you nap daily or almost daily?
Common sleep disorders
We are only going to look at six sleep disorders in this book. There are
more than 80 types, so it is more appropriate to look at the most common
ones. Here we go.
1. Insomnia
Insomnia robs you of sleep by making it difficult to fall and remain
asleep. It is a rampant disorder among adults, with about 50% of whom
suffering from it at least once in their lifetime. It is especially common
among women and older people.
Insomnia can be categorized into different groups, depending on the
prevalence, length, and if it exists along with other illnesses. There are three
different types. The first is referred to as transient/short-term/acute. As the
name indicates, it only lasts for a few nights before disappearing. The
second is called intermittent/periodic insomnia, a median group between the
first and next insomnia group. The final category of insomnia is called
chronic/long-term insomnia. This is when the disorder lasts for one month
at the rate of three sleepless nights a week. About 10% of people suffering
from insomnia fall in this category.
The causes of insomnia vary as much as the severity. These include daily
stress, hormonal imbalance, health problems, indigestion, jet lag, and
anxiety. For the less severe cases, insomnia may be the result of emotional
struggles (due to loss of a loved one, job, and financial stability) and
environmental factors like heat, noise, and light. The more severe cases of
insomnia are most likely to result from chronic physical and emotional pain
(back pain, chronic stress, and depression).
The severity of the disorder is usually a function of its cause and the
sufferer's situation. However, the longer the person suffers from insomnia,
the more likely they are to make choices and behave in ways that aggravate
the disorder.
So it becomes even harder to fall asleep at night, and the little sleep they
have is punctuated with disruptions that keep getting worse. They look
more and more tired; concentration, irritability, and mood worsen;
performance, mental health, and weight management decline.
2. Restless leg syndrome (RLS)
7-10% of people in the US suffer from RLS/Willis-Ekbom disease, a
disorder that creates a tingling sensation in the legs, urging you to move and
shake it. This urge usually happens when the legs have remained in the
same position for a long time. The feeling is intense and irresistible. It calls
your attention away from whatever you are doing at the time—working,
driving, resting, or sleeping.
Restless leg disorder is more prone to happen in the evening. Every time
the sensation starts, and you try to move your legs to find comfort, sleep
suffers. It stimulates your mind, disrupting its attempts to shut down and go
to sleep. The effect is powerful enough to wake you even when you have
fallen asleep.
Although experts don’t know what causes RLS, they know that it is
more prevalent among those with Parkinson’s disease and hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD). RLS prevents you from getting the restorative sleep you
need and deserve. It affects your alertness, concentration, and mood the
next day. The sleep debt comes for you, making you irritable and sleepy.
3. Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea happens as a result of the windpipe collapsing during sleep.
The brain doesn’t get enough oxygen leading to a situation that can best be
described as “breathing pause.” To rescue the situation and restart
breathing, the brain triggers awakening.
Every time the windpipe collapses, your brain disrupts sleep to save
your life. Therefore, sleep is light and restless—almost like you are
struggling to catch your breath, resulting in snoring. After the day breaks
and throughout the day, the lack of quality sleep leaves you tired,
unfocused, and irritable.
There are two types of sleep apnea, namely obstructive sleep apnea
(OSA) and central sleep apnea (CSA). The difference between these two
types is the first word in their names. OSA occurs because of a physical
obstruction (collapse in the windpipe) to breathing. In contrast, CSA
happens because the brain forgets to tell the central nervous system to
continue breathing in and out.
4. Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a disorder characterized by falling asleep at wrong times
and places due to a loss of control over the state of awakening and
sleepiness. One thing that sets us apart from other mammals is the ability to
delay or bring about sleep. When we feel inconvenient, we can delay sleep
and stay awake. Likewise, when we feel it is better to sleep, even when we
are not tired, we have some power to make sleep come. Narcolepsy is an
attack on this quality.
Taking away this ability makes you prone to falling asleep without
warning. A person suffering from narcolepsy is often uncontrollably tired
and sleepy during the day, when such an individual should be awake,
energized, and alert.
The result is a sudden loss of control over sleep in sessions that often
last a couple of minutes. These sessions are referred to as sleep attacks.
They can happen at any time, anywhere, and multiple times in a day. It
doesn’t matter whether you are engaging in an intense physical activity like
operating heavy machinery or watching TV. The attack could still happen.
Narcolepsy also magnifies the impact of emotions on mental and
physical strength. These emotions seem to run out of controlling, zapping
energy at alarming rates, making you more susceptible to sleep attacks.
Narcolepsy can make it harder to coordinate your limbs and movement
immediately after waking. This is called sleep paralysis and can last for a
few moments. The symptoms of narcolepsy usually start to show from the
ages of 15-20, but people of all ages can be affected. Most victims never
receive treatment because it is often undiagnosed.
5. Parasomnias
Parasomnias are disorders that cause people to behave and move in
abnormal ways while asleep. There are different disorders placed in this
category, and children are the most common sufferers. These disorders
include abnormal behaviors in a sleeping person: groaning, bedwetting,
sleep talking, sleepwalking, nightmares, jaw clenching, and teeth grinding.
6. Shift work disorder
As the name “shift work” implies, this is more prominent among people
who work late night and early morning shifts. Their cycle of waking and
sleeping is not in sync with the natural internal clock. They work when the
body naturally expects sleep and sleep when the body expects work. Their
circadian rhythm is confused about when the night is and when the day is.
Therefore, people in this situation may be fighting their brains for
control over sleep and awakening. When they want to sleep during the day,
the brain is doing something else, and sleep is difficult. Likewise, when
they want to stay awake at night, the brain is busy trying to keep them from
falling asleep.
This happens to people with irregular work hours and jet lag. It affects
about 26% of people working rotating shifts and 32% working night shifts.
How are sleeping disorders diagnosed?
After reading through the symptoms, effects, and types of sleep disorders, if
you believe you have any of them, the next step is to seek a professional
opinion. And that advice is not just about the diagnosis. Truthfully, only a
trained professional can give you a conclusive diagnosis, but you also need
the help to discover the best line of treatment.
Treatment is mainly about making some behavioral changes and taking
medication. Still, the knowledge from the tests that your doctors conduct
can help pinpoint what changes to make and medications to take.
Remember that sleep disorders may be a symptom of another sickness.
A professional will approach diagnosis from all these angles to eliminate
options and develop the correct diagnosis and line of treatment. They will
inquire about your symptoms and measure your sleeping vitals and habits
before coming to a diagnosis.
However, there is something you can do. Start keeping a sleep diary!
The data will be valuable to you and your health provider. Record the data
for at least two weeks. Keep tabs on timing, patterns, behaviors, and quality.
It is better to collect too much data and have your doctor tell you they have
more than enough. Then, on your visit to the doctor, it may help to bring
information that answers the following questions.
The quantity (in hours) of sleep that you get every night
How often you take naps
How easy or hard it is to fall asleep
How often you wake up in the middle of the night
Your working hours (especially for shift workers)
How awake or sleepy you usually feel during the day
If the doctor suspects a sleep disorder, they will recommend sleep tests
to be performed either at your primary care center or by a referred
specialist. The test aids diagnosis and treatment. There is nothing to be
afraid of. You may be asked to take any of the following.
Polysomnography (PSG): It is a test that collects data on brainwaves,
oxygen levels, and physical movements during sleep.
Home sleep study (HST): This is like the homemade version of the
PSG. The doctors instruct you on how to perform it at home and
return with the data.
Electroencephalogram (EEG): The ESG is usually conducted as part
of the ESG. It focuses on brainwave activity during sleep.
Multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT): MSLT is a napping/daytime
version of the PSG. They are often used together.
CHAPTER 4: THE SECRETS OF
GOOD SLEEP
It goes without saying that everything we have been doing up to this point
was leading up to this chapter. This is where I provide you with premium
tips to improve the quality of your night’s rest. Some you may already
know about, while others will surprise you. You are also about to learn how
to integrate these natural solutions into your life without feeling
overwhelmed.
Before we start, let me remind you why the work you are about to do is
worth it. Sleep is underrated. We take it for granted. When we have an
urgent goal or deadline to make, we push our bodies and minds so hard, not
allowing them to rest and relying on medications to keep going. The body
and mind get used to this type of overstimulation. It comes to believe that it
is normal not to sleep early, worry into the dead of the night, and rely on
caffeine to get through the day.
That is why many people have difficulty getting quality sleep. We have
taught our body and brain to live in a way that is not healthy for our mental
and physical health. Surveys show that one in every three persons has their
share of sleeping problems. Just like you and my former self, a third of the
population often wake up tired, drag themselves into the shower, and
struggle to find the car keys and get out of the house in the morning.
To get through the day, they need an unhealthy intake of sugar and
caffeine and the occasional microsleep, but these people are missing the
point. The problems started because we didn’t allow our minds and bodies
to relax and recover in their own way.
Using medications to stay awake or help sleep is not a viable solution.
One could say that they are part of the problem. I am not saying that drugs
don’t work. But you run the risk of them interfering with any other
medication you might be taking at that point. There is also a high chance of
developing a tolerance for the medication. Many sleeping pills become
ineffective after a few weeks of regular usage unless you up your dosage.
If you have a big problem stopping you from functioning in your daily
life, it is better to see a doctor and follow professional advice. Otherwise, if
you are like the majority whose sleeping problems are caused by an
inability to unwind and optimize the power of good sleep, then these tips
are going to knock your socks out. We are talking about all-natural
solutions here.
The problem is that you don’t realize how much power you have over
your body and mind. Or you don’t realize how your choices throughout the
day affect the amount of sleep you will get at night. Once you recognize
this power, you will start using it for your good, making choices specifically
intended to make you sharp and alert early in the day and tired and sleepy
as evening draws near.
That is why these all-natural solutions have been divided into categories.
These include:
Turn your bedroom into a sleep haven
Learn how to help your body and mind go to sleep
Develop and maintain a bedtime ritual
Make daytime choices that foster quality sleep at night
Eat to promote quality sleep
You only have to integrate these changes into your lifestyle. Don’t make
all changes at once. That is part of the problem. Even trying to make a few
changes could overwhelm some people if they are already wedded to the
way of life responsible for their sleeping problems. So, start gradually. Take
one or two tips, apply them, make adjustments, and see how they go before
moving on to the next. Soon, you will see the changes. Your sleep will get
better, and you won’t need alarms to tell you to get up. For the next part,
you will take on the day fresh, energized, well-rested, and confident.
Turn your bedroom into a sleep haven
What is your idea of the perfect sleep haven? How do you think your
bedroom and sleeping areas should look, feel, and smell? Despite our
differences, most of us want the same thing, albeit with slight variations. I
don’t know a lot of people who like sleeping in the middle of Times Square,
with the sun shining bright and hot on them and pedestrians and commuters
blaring their horns. Do you?
We all want a comfortable and relaxing bedroom and bed, a place that is
the opposite of the situation that I just described above. Like me and
everyone else, you want your bedroom to be free from distractions, whether
in the form of sound, light, or heat. You can start with the following tips and
make adjustments based on preferences.
1. Get comfortable bed and beddings
Of course, you want your mattress, bed sheets, and pillows to be as
comfortable as possible. For now, you can focus on how they feel and how
well they support your body weight, but the main goal is to get something
that is comfortable and doesn’t flare up any allergies.
The priorities are a well-supported mattress and comfy sheets and
pillows at this stage. You can decide if you like the mattress soft or firm.
Regarding pillows, it all depends on your favorite sleeping position. I hope
you remember enough about sleeping positions from our conversation in
chapter one.
If you like sleeping on your back or stomach, go for lower pillows. This
prevents straining the neck and spine, thus avoiding back pain. If you prefer
sleeping on your sides, a bigger pillow will be more appropriate. It provides
enough height to avoid positioning the head at an irregular angle.
2. Clean and arrange your bedroom
I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to relax when there is clutter
around me. It stresses me out, making it difficult to relax, sleep, or think.
The only solution is to get rid of that clutter. It is simple. A clean space
relaxes the mind. Your eyes don’t have to wander around all the disorder,
stressing your mind and making it harder for it to unwind. You don’t even
have to see the clutter. Knowing what is in your room is enough to trigger
your mind. Avoid all these by cleaning your room, and you will see just
how much of an impact this simple trick can have on your sleep, mood, and
productivity during the day.
3. Keep your bedroom cool
When it is time for bed, you want your bedroom to be at 60-67°
Fahrenheit. Now, there is no need to set up a thermometer. Take control of
your fan or AC unit to reduce the temperature until it is cool enough. It is
easier to fall and stay asleep in a cool environment.
4. Keep your bedroom dark when it’s time to sleep
There are no specific recommendations for how dark the room should
be. The aim is to tell your biological clock that it’s time to fall asleep. Plus,
it prevents bright lights from disrupting your sleep. The first thing you need
to do is control the lighting in your bedroom. Some people like to turn off
the lights when ready to sleep.
I think it’s more efficient to set up dim lighting for use in the evenings.
This ensures that you aren’t bombarded with sleep-disrupting bright lights if
you wake for a bathroom break. To do this, you can buy lights that include
dimmers or set up a different light to use in the evening. Or you can get a
sleep mask.
The next thing is to reduce lights coming from outside into your
bedroom to prevent them from ruining all the work that you have put in up
to this point. Heavy shades will get the job done.
5. Keep things peaceful and quiet
Noise is another factor that can prevent you from getting a good night's
rest. I will assume that you have probably made measures to get rid of noise
when trying to sleep. But instead of simply trying to cut out these
disturbances, there are extra measures you can take. That includes getting
headphones or earplugs.
But you can go the extra step by actually introducing the right kind of
noise into your sleeping area. Try an ambient or white noise machine. If
you don’t have a lot of cash to burn, play something on your phone or
stereo system. It could be sleep-inducing music or sounds. Remember to
keep it soft and calming. You can also set it for 30 minutes or an hour, so it
stops playing sometime after you have fallen asleep.
Help your body and mind go to sleep
After all the stimulation that your brain has had throughout the day, you can
forgive it for not knowing how to relax. That is where you come in. An
essential part of improving your sleep and life quality is telling your mind
and body when to be hypersensitive and when to unwind.
You can try as much as possible to keep aware of triggers from your
sleeping environment and time, but it is also crucial to know how to make
your brain stop looking at and for those stressors. Do that, and you may
become like an efficient marine who can shut down despite knowing that
the enemy is not so far away. It is all about learning to relax, whether at the
beginning of the night when you are trying to fall asleep or when trying to
go back to sleep in the middle of the night.
1. Play some soothing music
One of the many terms that people call music is “the food for your soul.”
The right music can put you to sleep, motivate, or trouble you in a matter of
minutes. Music helps you unwind, lowering blood pressure and pushing
troubles away. It can be of great help when sleep doesn’t seem to want to
take you on a journey.
Turn to slow, soothing music. Think of it as a lullaby to clear your mind.
Some people prefer blues while others prefer classical music. It doesn’t
matter much about the kind of music that you play. As long as the playlist
gets the job done. Remember to arrange it so that the songs end during your
sleep.
2. Try relaxation techniques
One of the reasons it can be difficult to fall asleep is that you focus too
much on trying to sleep. If I know anything, it is that focusing on a problem
usually makes it worse, especially if there is no solution in sight. So, instead
of lying on your bed trying to sleep every night, you could try to relax
instead.
Better still, you could turn to relaxation techniques like meditation,
progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, guided imagery, body scan,
yoga, or tai chi. Let them channel your focus away from your worries.
Using any of these techniques during the day can help you manage daily
stressors and improve sleep at night. According to the National Center for
Complementary and Integrative Health, yoga can relieve stress up to 85%
and improve sleep by up to 55%.
In the middle of the night, you may not want to engage in exercises that
require getting out of bed. That is understandable. However, you can try
some relaxation techniques without getting off your back. All you need is to
focus on the moment, your breathing, and happy thoughts.
3. Take a warm shower
The warm water raises your body temperature by a few notches,
lowering blood pressure and loosening the tension in your muscles. Take
your shower at least two hours before bedtime to give your body time to
relax completely and cool down. Remember that a cool temperature fosters
sleep.
4. Cut down on late-night television
If it feels like a good idea to doze off to your new favorite Netflix
offering, then think again. Experts believe that late-night television can
aggravate sleeping problems by 98% or steal over two hours from your
sleeping time.
While hanging out with your favorite fictional characters or TV hosts is
comforting, the stimulation it gives to your brain and the blue light coming
from the screen mess up your internal biological clock. It is time to do
something about that habit.
5. Read in bed
Believe it or not, reading is more relaxing than watching TV. Reading a
nice book, fiction or otherwise, can help the mind relax. Something is
comforting about the way a book feels in your hands. That’s not to say that
you cannot read eBooks, too. When you don’t feel like reading, an
audiobook, podcast, or sleepcast can do the job just as well.
6. Say good night to your gadgets one hour before bedtime
This is the cold hard truth. As much as you love your phone and need to
stay updated with everything on the internet, you cannot deny that it is one
of the main causes of sleep difficulties. Is it the constant stimulation from
new updates (good or bad), worrying about missing out, or the blue light
coming right at your face from the back of the screen?
We can keep going on about how gadgets disrupt sleep, but it doesn’t
make it any easier to do what needs to be done. If you want to use your
phone in bed (at your sleeping time), adjust the brightness to the lighting in
your bedroom. This is one thing you should do every time for the sake of
your eyes. Most smartphones have this feature, but many people don’t use
it.
7. Don’t underestimate the power of a soothing scent
Aromatherapy has a proven record of helping people relax. Why not
give it a try? You can use scented candles, oils, peels, or anything that offers
soothing aromas. When using candles, don’t forget that they are fire
hazards. Some nice scents that can help with relaxation and sleep include
lavender, valerian, and citrus. They can put you in a relaxed mood and
boost the quality of sleep you get.
8. Stop forcing it
If you adhere to the tips in this book but still find it difficult to fall
asleep after 20 minutes of getting in your bed, then it’s time to take a
different approach. Get up and do something. Find a chore to complete.
Make sure it is something that doesn’t stimulate you. You can even engage
in the task mindfully. Take some time before coming back to bed. Don’t
forget to choose a relaxing task.
Develop and maintain a bedtime ritual
The human body and mind thrive on routine and consistency. If you do
something the same way for a while, you will get better at it, and your body
and mind will automate and normalize it. By adopting and sticking to a
bedtime ritual, you teach your body and mind a new way of doing things.
Every bedtime ritual should start hours before bedtime, but it can start
way before then. For example, the process of laying your bed after waking
up in the morning is essentially a part of the ritual. No matter what time of
the day it starts, the point is to prepare you and your sleeping environment
for a good night's rest. It is about plotting to ensure quality and quantity of
sleep.
1. Start preparing for bed 30 minutes early
Plan for 30 minutes to apply some of the tips in the section about
helping your body and mind go to sleep. Take this time to actively and
passively engage in the act of relaxation and relieving stress. You can play
soothing sounds, meditate, or do some stretching to loosen up. Do anything
that will help you fall asleep, but above all, try to account for the 30
minutes.
2. Listen to expert-recommended sleep duration
There is the obvious question of how many hours of sleep per night are
recommended and how many you can afford. It may seem that your life is
busy, and you can’t afford to spare too much time for sleep but hear me out.
You can get more time for work and be more productive while still getting
the right quantity and quality of sleep. That is what I am trying to help you
with. If you are still confused about the hours of sleep you need per night,
you can go back to the last parts of chapter one.
3. Create and stick to a sleep schedule
After discovering how much sleep the experts recommended for you, the
next step is to adopt a schedule that allows just that. I generally prefer
starting with a preferred wake time and working backward.
For example, if you want to start the day early, around 5 am, you have to
be in bed at least half an hour before bed to get up to seven hours of sleep.
That is also counting the extra 30 minutes for relaxation. Another person
may decide to work with a sleeping time. In this instance, it is better to set a
bedtime when you usually feel tired and sleepy.
Sticking to the schedule is more important than making it. You have to
be conscious of adhering to it during weekdays and weekends. It might be
tempting to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays, but don’t give in. This will
disrupt any rhythm you might have built up to that point.
If you are tempted (maybe because you slept late or still feel sleepy by
wake time), it is better to get out of bed and get a nap later in the day. That
also goes without saying that you should try sticking to sleep time. Avoid
sleeping before or after. If you feel sleepy before it's time for bed, you could
find an activity to keep you up until the right time. Avoid deviating from
either bedtime or wake time.
4. Treat your bed as an altar
Anytime you come close to your bed, you want your body and mind to
be thinking of two things only, relaxation and comfort. That means you
have to reinforce that opinion by only doing activities that bring about those
two feelings. It means your bed is reserved for only sex or sleep. Everything
else has to happen somewhere else. Anything stimulating, like chatting,
watching TV, or eating, has to happen elsewhere.
Make daytime choices that foster quality sleep at night
These days it feels like there is something around every corner or even
inside your pocket waiting to stress you out. There is always something to
stimulate the brain on your phone, work, relationship, or commute. The
more stressed you are during the day, the harder it will be to relax and fall
asleep at night. A significant part of trying to improve sleep quality has to
focus on maintaining your stress levels throughout the day.
1. Get some sunlight more often
Sunlight is the most effective source for resetting your biological clock.
The circadian rhythm evolved in our ancestors long before we knew how to
make indoor lighting from electric bulbs or fire. Even today, the sun
remains the best natural cue for your body.
From the moment you wake up to start the day, get some time in the sun.
Expose yourself to natural light. Tell your body that it's morning, time to be
alert and prepared for the day, so it tires at the right time (later in the day).
Move your desk closer to a window at the office, and open the blinds to
let the light in. Don’t depend on indoor lighting alone. You can also use
your breaks, closing time, or workout sessions to get some time in the sun.
It’s not just about the circadian rhythm. Sunlight is also good for your skin
and health.
2. Be wary of daytime naps
As you go through the day, use up your energy and accumulate the waste
product of different essential processes in your body, the natural reaction is
to be tired and sleepy. The height of that sleepiness is supposed to fall
sometime in the evening, so you can call it a night. However, when you take
naps during the day, your body and mind get time to refresh and push back
the sleep time, making it more difficult to fall asleep at night.
Sometimes, that is what you want. But if you are not careful, power naps
will disrupt your sleep rhythm and make it harder to fall asleep at night.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t rest your eyes in the afternoon. But take
care to keep the naps between 15 and 20 minutes and around lunch time or
latest early in the afternoon.
3. Don’t forget to exercise
Work out. Do so regularly for several times a week because the benefits
are extensive. In relation to sleep, exercises use up your energy and reduce
body temperature. Both of these are good for quality sleep. It means that
you will be tired and cool by bedtime.
Exercises also increase the length of deep restorative REM sleep, and
the effect is directly proportional to the intensity of the exercise. The more
intense the physical activity is, the longer you spend in REM sleep.
However, intense workouts make you alert, raise stress levels, and increase
body temperature. It takes time for all of these parameters to drop and
accommodate sleep.
It’s better to push intense physical workouts to early afternoon or
morning. Less physically demanding exercises like yoga can be undertaken
much closer to nighttime. I should issue a fair warning: Although there is
no denying the impact of exercising, it takes time and consistency to reap
the benefits, especially when it comes to sleep.
Eat and drink to promote quality sleep
What you eat and drink can be your best friends or enemies. They can help
you stay awake during the day and fall asleep at night, or vice versa. You
have to make choices that encourage the result that you desire. For instance,
it is not very smart to eat heavy foods just before bedtime. Apart from
possibly keeping you awake for longer, the food may not be easily digested,
and you might find some discomfort in your favorite sleeping positions.
1. Late meals are a no-no
As stated in the last point, digestion and sleep aren’t the best friends.
You want one to be done before the other starts. So two ways to sleep better
are to eat dinner earlier in the day and prioritize light meals. Foods that take
longer to digest (heavy and rich meals) and those that can upset the stomach
(acidic and spicy foods) can impair quality sleep.
It’s better to have at least two hours between dinner and bedtime. If you
find yourself craving night snacks, it’s better to go for light foods like milk,
banana, cereal, and yogurt. But be wary of taking too much fluid in the
evening to avoid subjecting yourself to multiple bathroom breaks. All the
on-and-offs don’t bode well for sleep quality.
2. Cut back on alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes, especially in the evening
These three substances have their uses. They can help take the edge off,
handle anxiety, or help you stay awake, but their contribution to sleep
quality is less than savory. For one, the effects of caffeine on the body can
last for the next 10 to 12 hours. So you need to watch out for how late in the
evening you take coffee. Excessive caffeine usage also has a negative longterm effect on sleep, and I am not just talking about coffee. Caffeine is also
present in several sodas and teas. Watch what you drink. If it has caffeine,
don’t take it within three to five hours of bedtime.
Then there is alcohol which can calm the nerves and help you fall
asleep, but the sleep is probably going to be short and light, not the deep
restorative kind. Alcohol reduces the time that the brain spends on REM
sleep. So the occasional nightcap might not be the best idea. Alcohol
generally messes up your water balance and urine routine.
Finally, let’s talk about smoking, which also affects sleep negatively.
Smoke (whether direct or second-hand) makes it harder to fall and stay
asleep. It increases the time it takes you to get some shut-eye and can
negatively influence your sleep.
3. Ask your doctor about melatonin supplements
You have come across melatonin several times in this book. It is the
hormone that induces sleep by controlling the circadian rhythm. When the
circadian rhythm senses that the lighting in your surrounding is
diminishing, it signals the brain to trigger the secretion of the hormone. If
you are having difficulty sleeping, it may be because your brain is not
secreting enough melatonin. This is highly likely when the circadian
rhythm/biological clock is out of sync or unable to sense light cues
properly. This may be due to jet lag, sleep work, illness, and old age
(because the mechanism is weakening).
At the recommendation of your health provider, melatonin supplements
may work for you. Just make sure that you take it or any other sleep aid two
hours before bedtime. Such sleep aids may include lemon balm and
valerian, both of which help relieve stress and anxiety, making them ideal
for this situation.
4. The right food is important
I guess you might have been expecting my next point. I am going to take
some shots at refined flour and processed foods. They seem to have a bad
reputation with sleep, and deservingly, too. This is because we take too
much of them, leading to weight and health issues. These issues affect sleep
quality in the long run. In the short term, sugary foods increase blood sugar
and energy levels—two things you don’t want in the evening when trying to
sleep.
Protein-rich foods are better for sleep, especially the ones that contain
tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid that promotes sleep. It is present in
peanuts, eggs, soy products, and milk. However, you don’t have to cut out
carbohydrates entirely. Take protein with carbohydrates to serve as a
vehicle to help the brain assimilate the tryptophan.
In conclusion, the only way to make lasting improvements to sleep
quality is by adopting behaviors that encourage REM sleep. You have to
change your habits and start by gradually adopting the tips in this book.
Then, make adjustments until you discover what works for you.
If you want to know if you have sleeping problems, to determine what
the problem is, and to see if your modes of treatment are working, try
tracking your sleep. It is a common practice these days, and there are more
than enough technologies to help. There are wearable and non-wearable
sleep trackers that track your sleeping parameters and vitals. Examples
include Beautyrest, Oura ring, and Fitbit Versa.
But a good old-fashioned sleep diary still works. Just ensure it includes
information like what you ate and drank before bed, significant last activity
before bed, the time you went to bed and woke up, and nap time.
CONCLUSION
Thank you for reading this book to the end. I hope you now better
understand the need for good sleep. But, more importantly, I hope you are
armed and ready to create a great sleep routine.
Sleep is an essential biological process that allows our bodies and minds
to recharge and stay in optimal conditions. Good sleep cuts across every
single phase of our life. It can give you a great lift and put a bounce in your
steps. It can set you apart and ahead of the competition.
On the other hand, when you do not get enough sleep, you start the day
on a losing note. You will likely be unable to call upon your full total
physical and mental resources. Your moods and emotions will suffer as a
result, and you are at risk of burning out.
In this book, I have explained the three most important things you must
do to promote the quality of sleep you get.
First, you need to track your current sleeping pattern and habits to
determine how to improve. You need to pay attention to the time you go to
bed and the conditions. You can decide just how good or bad your sleep
habits are from the data you get.
The second thing to do is to build a nighttime routine or ritual. What
time do you want to go to bed? What should you do in preparation? When
should you stop eating for added comfort? When do you want to get up in
the morning? Answer these questions to build your nighttime routine.
The final thing is to build supplementary habits and conditions that
improve your sleep. This includes customizing your bedroom for maximum
comfort and keeping gadgets out of your bedroom. Think of making your
bedroom a bat cave—silent, dark, and just a bit cold.
By being mindful of your sleeping habits and routine, you can finally get
your body in sync with the normal circadian rhythm, sleep better, and wake
up as a healthy and happy individual.
AUTHOR NOTE
I see myself as the “happiest author on earth.” My life goal is to help as
many people as possible to learn to be happy. Getting good sleep is one of
the pillars of a happy, healthy life.
So, starting today, ask yourself, “What can I do to improve my sleep
pattern and habits?” As long as you keep asking yourself this question
every day and following the tips in this book, you are not far away from
relearning how to sleep deeply and wake up satisfied and recharged.
I also want you to do something for me. If you have found value in this
book, kindly spread my message to your friends, acquaintances, and family
members.
And finally, along the same lines, it would be awesome if you could
spare a moment to leave your review for this book. I promise I will read
every review, and it will make me very happy to know that you are sleeping
better.
Thank you! Gracias!
Vinh Nguyen
PS: This book is part of the series Life Skills Essential Guides. You will
also love the other books if you enjoy this book.
Start Your Exercise Routine and Keep the Motivation Forever: A
Simple Guide for Your Life Fitness
10 Proven Ways to Relieve Stress Now: An Essential Hack for a Better
Life
Meditate for Life: A Simple Guide to Start Your Daily Meditation
Journey and Love It Forever
PPS: Get the Free eBook "7 Golden Rules of Happiness" at vinhbooks.com