Sleep
What can someone do to ensure the best possible nights sleep? How significant are dreams? Is it possible to wake up and fall asleep easier?
Sleep is a powerful method to heal the body and maintain health. Many of the body's organs and systems are maintained during sleep. Chronic lack of sleep is associated with dementia and cardiovascular disease. It is important to understand what is happening during sleep and what should and should not be done for high quality sleep.
Sleep happens in 4 distinct stages:
Stage 1 is the period between wakefulness and sleep and usually lasts more than 10 minutes.
Stage 2 lasts about twice as long as stage 1, as blood pressure and breathing rate drop. The body begins to recover.
Stage 3 is the deepest stage of sleep with a further drop in blood pressure and heart rate. Restoration deepens
Stage 4, or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is where dreams occur. These stages repeat roughly on a 90 minute cycle with a normal sleep pattern being 4 to 6 patterns a night.
Insufficient or low quality sleep leads to greater appetite, lower endurance and reduced memory and cognition. The list of negatives seems endless. High quality sleep every night should be the goal of anyone trying to become healthier. Fun cannot be found without rest; any damage caused during training is repaired during sleep. What steps can be taken to ensure high quality sleep every night?
How to get higher quality sleep
Good breathing is the foundation of good sleep. Slowing down exhalation in the hours leading up to bedtime will lead to relaxation and a higher chance of restful sleep. Relaxing activities trigger this type of breathing naturally. While it can also be done consciously, it takes great concentration to truly be able to slow the breath down. Breathing should be slow, softer and smaller than during the day.
Alcohol, drugs, food all can negatively affect sleep and should be reduced or avoided to improve sleep. Even too much water can cause a premature wake up. Sleep, for many, is temperamental and inconsistent. How consistent is the average time you go to bed? High variance usually results in lower quality sleep, and sticking to a routine is shown to improve sleep quality. As your time to sleep approaches, slow down and do less. Engage in activities that trigger the body into a relaxed state and aid the transition from wakefulness.
Some relaxing activities, like reading, require light that is detrimental before sleep. Use red light to read or buffer the reading time using activities that can be done in the dark. Exercise is generally a bad idea before bed, but can aid sleep if done at a low enough intensity. Stretching, journaling, reading and meditation are what I enjoy before sleep. The activities decrease in intensity, with stretching being the most intense and meditation the least intense. As I engage with each activity, I am trying to enter a relaxed state through calm, slow, nasal exhales.
Sleep aids, like eye masks and mouth tape, are shown to help with sleep. Eye masks almost completely block out light, enhancing the restorative properties of sleep. Exposure to light at night is shown to decrease sleep quality. Mouth tape ensures nasal breathing during sleep; mouth breathing leads to lower quality sleep. Sleep apnea is complete loss of breathing repeatedly while sleeping due to constriction of the windpipe. Many people have this condition without realising and are not breathing multiple times a night. If you are worried about your sleep quality, record yourself and check for snoring.
For optimum sleep, try to ensure your room is very dark, quiet, cool, and comfortable. Engage in relaxing activities as you wind down for the day, avoiding blue light, food and drink, especially alcohol and caffeine! Stick to a routine for bedtime and when rising; a lie-in is often tempting but it can’t make up for poor quality sleep during the week