How to sleep better from tonight (without having to go to bed earlier)
Do you feel exhausted in the middle of the day? When you wake up
do you feel like you didn't get enough rest?
We all know that sleep is extremely important for the health of
the body. The problem is that even knowing this, it is difficult for you
to fall asleep. You just can't sleep soundly to get your energy back.
In this article, you will find the best solution to your lack of
rest. You will be able to apply 3 easy tips that will help you sleep as
you always dreamed of tonight.
"You have to work eight hours and sleep eight hours, but
not the same ones." Woody Allen
I have two little nephews and they are a mess.
I recently had a mission to care for them overnight. My
only task was to prepare them to go to bed and turn off the light.
It was easy ( in theory ). But I was
surprised at how difficult it really was.
These little ones live in Germany and the children in this
country have very marked resting habits. Most have to go to bed at 8:00 pm
(even if it is still daylight).
Very sure of my skills as a babysitter, at 8 o'clock I told
them: - « Let's go to bed, it's time to sleep »
There was no reaction, they kept jumping and playing everywhere.
All my attempts to get them to bed went on for another 2 hours. Time
in which the mother of the little ones arrived and they were still rowdy.
It was all chaos.
It was then that I learned the secret so that they could sleep
at the indicated time. The mother of the little ones has to prepare them
to sleep from an hour before!
During that hour before sleeping, they do what I
call: " the ritual of Morpheus "
( Morpheus is the son of the god of dreams in Greek
mythology . )
This ritual has the following steps:
1. Children have to stop
playing. Of course, the-last-5-minute-more becomes 20 minutes.
2. Once the stop gambling
agreement is settled, the fight to put on your pajamas and brush your teeth
begins
3. Then you need a bottle
with warm milk while reading a story.
4. Before giving them a good night kiss, you have to bring them their teddy bear and turn off the light
What I learned
from these little ones are these 3 things:
1. Children also have
habits
2. The pre-sleep ritual
is necessary for them to relax and agree to go to bed
3. Babysitting is
definitely an impossible mission
If you look at us something similar happens to us. Our
tiredness and heaviness become the babysitter trying to put the little ones to
bed. While our brain refuses to sleep and wants to continue playing.
The sleeping problem appears when we do not give importance to
our night habits
So like my nephews, it is very important to have a
"Morpheus ritual". In which we stop being doing anything and
relax to go to sleep.
Proper
transition habits allow you to sleep better
Our transition habits allow us to move from one activity to
another.
Think about all the transition habits you have during the day
...
Maybe before going to work you listen to music or drink coffee
while reading the news. Surely when you return home, you take off your
uncomfortable shoes and kiss your family.
The same is true at night. If you have a good transition
habits, these will allow you to sleep better and take advantage of all the
benefits of sleep.
In this image, you can find just a few of the thousands of
benefits of deep sleep:
In adults, it is necessary to sleep between 7 -8 hours to
obtain all the benefits1.
It is not necessary to sleep more, but simply to cover this rest
period. And to achieve this you have to pay more attention to your night
transition habits.
How to get up earlier and earn extra minutes in your day with 5 steps
The problem is
your night transition habits
Let me ask you something: What do you usually do before
bed?
Your night transition habits can be your best allies or your
worst enemies to achieve better sleep.
You are probably on the computer checking the latest details of
your work, maybe you are on the mobile chatting with your friends or watching
funny videos on youtube. Some people tend to watch the
midnight newscast or the romantic soap opera at 9.
And this is where things get complicated ...
Because even if you want to sleep, it is impossible to go to bed
earlier. During the night you find your only moment to do these activities
that you enjoy.
Recently, a blog reader wrote this to me:
" I want to get enough sleep. I wake up tired
like I haven't slept at all and during the day I'm in a bad mood. This is
affecting my decisions at work and my relationship with my wife. I have no
energy to play with my children as I should. I feel that is why I tend to
eat a lot of sugar and coffee. And I know I have to sleep more.
The problem is that when I get home, I have even more things to
do. When it is all over it is already too late.
Although I know I must sleep at that time, I refuse to go to
bed. Because then you wouldn't have any time for me. All my time
would be for work and home activities. I would be forgetting about myself
"
A terrifying and totally true reality.
When the children fell asleep, you sent the last email, finished
studying, or washed the last plate of dinner, that's when your moment begins.
During this time you can finally do something you
like. Like watching TV, spending time with your partner, or listening to
your favorite music.
Surely you don't want to waste these hours for anything in the
world. So, in your daily routine, perhaps it is not realistic to
go to bed earlier.
The good news is that if you can do something about
it: you can continue to enjoy this valuable time and also get restful
rest time.
You just have to adopt a Morpheus ritual that fits your routine
and allows you to enter a bedtime mode.
3 tips (+
extra) to design your own Morpheus ritual:
Everyone is different and the routines are also unique. So
I cannot give you a Morpheus ritual that is a perfect fit for you.
But, I am sure that these 3 tips ( + extra )
will help you design your own Morpheus ritual and fall asleep easily.
1. Avoid anything that emits light. At least 30
minutes before going to bed
Close the curtains and try to have only soft lights at
home. It is important that you stop watching your computer, mobile phone,
and television for at least 30 minutes before going to bed.
Night activities such as: sending last-minute emails, being on
Facebook until late, watching the midnight newscast or playing " Candy
crush" on your mobile phone are not helping you sleep better.
The light emission of these devices alters the sleep pattern. Our eyes
detect light and trigger signals to stay awake.
Speaking in more detail, in our eyes, we have photoreceptors that are in charge of detecting light. If this photoreceptor receives this light, it cancels the production of melatonin (the sleep hormone) and stimulates the alertness of your nervous system.
If you are watching an exciting cowboy movie before bed, you
can't sleep soundly afterward.
Give yourself limited time for these evening activities. If
possible, decrease the light intensity of the device (in the case of
mobiles, I recommend this application for brightness control)
2. First, get ready to sleep and then enjoy your night time
Have you ever been so tired that you can't get off the couch to
go to bed?
It is a paradox: you are too tired to go to sleep, which makes
you postpone bedtime.
If you enjoy your moment at night, it is not realistic to try to
avoid it to go to sleep early. So the solution is simple.
Get ready to sleep first: put on your pajamas, brush your teeth,
take off your makeup, and everything you always do before bed. Then just
enjoy your night time, but try to limit the time.
When you are sleepy you will only have to go to bed, without
giving it much thought and without shortening hours of rest.
3 Adopt a habit that relaxes you
These are some activities that we usually do during the night
and that interfere with our rest:
- Drink
alcohol before sleeping. A study showed that alcohol interferes with deep sleep ( rem sleep ) in such a way that your rest will not be adequate.
- Do
intense exercise. Physical
activity participates in the secretion of certain hormones that allow us
to be alert to react but does not help us sleep
- Dine
in abundance. Digestion in a completely horizontal position can cause reflux and upset stomach,
preventing you from sleeping well.
- Drink
coffee or tea in the afternoon. The effects are maintained
between 3 and 9 hours depending on the sensitivity of the
person. Which makes you stay alert and awake at night.
Instead, the following SI activities are very
relaxing: Adopt at least one of them as a transition to sleep habit:
- Read a book
- A
warm shower
- A
tea (without theine) like chamomile or rooibos
- Meditate for a few minutes
- Dine
light and healthy
In this guide, you will receive the best tips for a better sleep
and also delicious recipes for a light and healthy dinner.
My Morpheus
ritual
Before, I had no night transition habits.
He had just finished dinner and continued with more
activities. I used to work even a little while longer. As expected,
the next day I felt unbearable fatigue, and also ironically I had a harder time
sleeping (remember the paradox).
I had an "accumulated old dream". It
was funny how I tried so hard to have an ideal morning routine, but I didn't
care much about my evening routine. I even saw her as those overtime-hours
to finish work.
Also, at night she was so tired, she had a terrible
mood. It was a few hours in which I was bothered by anything (very absurd
in general). Simply because my willpower was totally drained.
Having a number of transition habits have made a big difference
in my days.
My Morpheus ritual is like this:
1. I eat light dinner (so
as not to feel heavy) I generally like to eat vegetables with a little hummus
or a tuna salad.
2. I wash the dishes and leave everything tidy (I feel that
order motivates me tomorrow)
3. I brush my teeth
immediately (I've noticed that this way I avoid munching on something else
after dinner)
4. I relax on the sofa in
my pajamas and with a book
5. I enjoy my night time
and try to go to bed in a usual time range
Now when I wake up, I feel full of energy and fully recovered
from the day before.
You too, adopt your own Morpheus ritual and manage to sleep better from tonight.
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