Tying it All Together to Increase Sleep Quality and Reduce Sleep
Your ultimate goal with this program is to reduce the amount of time you spend
sleeping. However, we haven't talked about reducing sleeping because I wanted you
to firmly understand:
In order to reduce the total amount of time you spend sleeping, you MUST
increase the quality of your sleep first.
There's a popular myth out that you can simply gradually reduce your sleep and this
will work fine. This may work for some people, and I'm willing to bet they already do
some of the things which we've talked about in this book to increase the quality of
their sleep, albeit they're not aware of it. But it doesn't work for others.
If you simply reduce your sleep without making the proper life style changes we
talked about before, chances are you will only reduce your energy levels and your
immune system, which could lead you to getting sick or getting into a car accident
because of drowsiness! This definitely isn't the way to go.
As the saying goes: You must learn to walk before you run.
You must increase the quality of your sleep and your daily energy levels by using the
techniques we talked about so far in this book before proceeding to cut down on your
sleep.
Does this mean you have to change your WHOLE life around drastically to simply
cut down on an hour or two of sleep? No. In fact, just creating some small changes
in your life style will have a difference on your sleep. The two most important aspects
of your life-style that affect your sleep are
1) Light exposure
2) Daily activity level
Both light exposure and your activity levels affect your body temperature rhythm in a
very big way.
Your first step is to design a plan to incorporate these lifestyle changes into your life,
and increase the quality of your sleep. To help you do this, I've included my personal
Sleep Evaluation Worksheet in this book. As you fill the worksheet out, you will gain
a better overall understanding on the obvious areas you need to improve on.
Once you complete the worksheet, we'll talk about reducing sleep. Then you'll create
your personal strategy to increase the quality of your sleep, increase your energy,
and reduce your sleep. Here we go:
Your Personal Sleep Evaluation
You will find a printable version of this entire sheet in the downloadable package that
came with this e-book. The best idea would be to print it out and fill this out in pen,
this way you will be able to look back on this sheet and see how much you've
changed your sleeping habits!
Your Basic Bio-Rhythm Evaluation
Your first step is to evaluate your body temperature rhythm, or circadian rhythm.
In the appendix section of this e-book you will find a method to do is precisely by
doing a little body temperature experiment. Print out the graph in the appendix
section labeled “My Body Temperature Rhythm” and follow the instructions.
However, if you do not want to go to the extent of doing the personal body
temperature experiment, you can simply estimate the progress of your body
temperature by answering the following questions:
1. At what time do you wake up? _______________
2. Do you feel really drowsy in the early hours of the morning? If so, how long
does it take for this drowsy feeling to go away? __________________
3. At what point during the day do you feel the pressure to sleep or take a nap?
Note: This is most likely the time at which you experience your regular body
temperature “slump.” This is most likely sometime in the afternoon.
_________________
4. At what point of the day do you feel MOST energetic, alert, awake, and “on
the go!”?
___________________
5. At what time during the day do you start to feel tired and drowsy?
__________________
6. At what time during the day do you feel the pressure to sleep most intense?
____________
This should give you an ideal estimate of what your current temperature body rhythm
looks like. You should know when your body temperature rises and when it falls, this
way as you apply the methods in this e-book to optimize your sleep, you will be able
to notice the changes. Here is an explanation on how to use the answers from the
above questions to determine your body temperature rhythm.
1. If you feel you need an alarm clock to RIP you out of your sleep in the morning
and you have difficulties getting out of bed and feel lethargic in the early morning
hours, chances are your body temperature levels are still at a low and haven't began
to rise very quickly.
2. By the time you're feeling more alert and awake, your body temperature has risen
past the low it was in while sleeping.
3. When you feel the pressure to sleep or take a nap during the day, this is when you
experience your body temperature slump.
4. The point at which you feel most energetic and alert is your body temperature
peak point.
5. The point at which you begin to feel drowsy and tired is when your body
temperature begins to fall.
6. When you feel the pressure to sleep becoming really intense, this is when your
body temperature is beginning to fall quickly. This is the ideal time to go to bed.
Here again, for your reference is the body temperature rhythm graph (this is the
general shape your body temperature rhythm usually takes)
Your Sunlight Intensity Exposure Evaluation
As you've learned so far, high intensity light has a huge effect on the strength of your
sleeping system. If you expose yourself to light during the day, your body
temperature rhythm will “peak” at a higher point and will fall at a later point. You'll
experience better sleep and will be able to lower your amount of sleep.
If you get inadequate light exposure your body temperature will be closer to
“flat-lining”, preventing quality sleep and lowering your energy levels throughout the
day. Lack of sunlight also inhibits melatonin hormone secretion, this further promotes
lower energy levels and sleep difficulties.
1. When you're outside, do you wear sunglasses?
Circle One: Yes / No
Note: You should limit your use of sunglasses in the morning and evening. If you live
near the equator wearing sunglasses in the mid afternoon IS a good idea to protect
your eyes from UV radiation. Limit your use of sunglasses as much as possible, and
as much as feels comfortable. UV radiation is lowest at sunrise and sunset.
2. When you wake up do you instantly get sunlight into your eyes?
Note: If you press the snooze button on your alarm or lie in bed for a few minutes,
circle “No.”
Circle One: Yes / No
3. On average, how much time do you spend outside at sunrise / Early Morning
Hours?
Check one:
__ 1. 10 minutes
__ 2. 10-30 minutes
__ 3. 1 hour
__ 4. 2 hours
__ 5. 3 hours or more
4. On average, how much time do you spend indoors?
Check one:
__ 1. 10 minutes
__ 2. 10-30 minutes
__ 3. 1 hour
__ 4. 2 hours
__ 5. 3 hours
__ 6. 4-5 hours
__ 7. 5-7 hours
__ 8. 7-10 hours
__ 9. 10-13 hours
__ 10. 13-16 hours
5. On average, how much time do you spend outside from 12 PM to 6PM?
Check one:
__ 1. 10 minutes
__ 2. 10-30 minutes
__ 3. 1 hour
__ 4. 2 hours
__ 5. 3 hours or more
6. On average, how much time do you spend outside around Sunset?
Check one:
__ 1. 10 minutes
__ 2. 10-30 minutes
__ 3. 1 hour
__ 4. 2 hours
__ 5. 3 hours or more
Understanding Light Exposure
Indoors, we experience an average of 1-500 luxes of light.
At sunrise, we experience an average of 5,000 to 10,000 luxes of light.
During noon and the early afternoon we experience an average of 50,000 to 100,000
luxes of light.
At sun-set we experience 5,000 to 10,000 luxes of light.
If you currently spend less than 1 hour getting high-intensity light, you're suffering
from light deprivation! Remember, for your eyes spending the day indoors is the
equivalent of spending it in total darkness. The more “darkness” you expose yourself
to during the day, the poorer the sleep you'll receive in return.
Now that you have an idea of how much light you get, make plans to get as much
sunlight during the day as possible. However, don't go out hard-core and try to get
16 hours of sunlight in one day, you're going to get sunburn! Use your common
sense.
If you live near the equator then light is pretty intense all year round, and you
shouldn't have problems. However, if you live further from the equator then it will
naturally be more difficult for you to obtain light during the winter. This is why most
people are lower on energy and usually sleep longer during the winter.
If you have difficulty obtaining natural sunlight because of your work schedule or
because of the winter season, you may consider purchasing an artificial light
generator.
Are You Currently Strengthening Your Sleep System or Are You
Weakening it?
The rest of these questions will help you determine if you're currently following sleep
system strengthening habits or not. By the end of filling out this sheet you should
have a general idea of obvious areas you can improve on! Make sure to look over
this e-book again and re-learn the key concepts of optimizing your sleep.
1. Do you smoke?
Circle One: Yes / No
Note: If you smoke, quitting smoking would be the first step if you want to achieve
quality sleep and reduce your sleeping time.
2. How often do you drink alcohol?
Check one;
__ 1. Never
__ 2. Rarely, and on occasion
__ 3. On most occasions
__ 4. Very Frequently.
Note: If you chose 3 or 4, your alcohol intake is definitely affecting your sleep
system.
3. Do you currently drink coffee?
Circle One: Yes / No
Recall: Coffee is one of the biggest enemies of our sleep system!
4. Do you drink any other caffeinated beverages?
Circle One: Yes / No
5. Do you currently eat heavy meals 3-4 hours prior to sleeping?
Circle One: Yes / No
6. How much water do you drink during the day?
You should be drinking AT LEAST 1.5 Liters of water per day! (8 cups or more)
Check one:
__ 1. None, I drink pop, juice, and other crap all day
__ 2. 1 cup
__ 3. 2 cups
__ 4. 3-4 cups
__ 5. 4-6 cups
__ 6. 8-10 cups
__ 7. 10 cups or more
7. Do you need an alarm clock to wake you up? If so, do you often press the
snooze button and lie in bed for a while after waking up?
Circle One: Yes / No
8. What sleeping position do you sleep in most often? What position is most
comfortable in putting you to sleep?
Check one:
__ 1. On my back
__ 2. On my side
__ 3. One my front
9. During the Weekend, do you “sleep-in” or follow an irregular sleeping
pattern?
Com’on... Be Honest :o)
Circle One: Yes / No
10. Do you currently or have you ever taken sleeping pills to induce sleep?
Circle One: Yes / No
11. Do you exercise regularly?
Circle One: Yes / No
If so, what time do you usually exercise at?
Check one:
__ 1. In the morning
__ 2. In the afternoon
__ 3. Early evening
__ 4. Late evening
Note: Exercising in the late evening can cause insomnia and will prevent you from
sleeping deeply as your body temperature will not drop as low. However, if it is only
light exercise then this isn't something to worry about.
12. Do you Currently have a Regular Sleep and Wake Time?
Circle One: Yes / No
13. What time do you currently go to sleep at? _________
14. What time do you currently wake up? _______
15. On average, how much sleep do you currently get per night? ________
hours
If you currently don't have any sleeping problems, skip the next 2 questions
16. How long does it take you to fall asleep? ______
17. Do you frequently wake up during the night and can't go back to sleep?
If so, how often do you wake up? ______
How long does it take for you to fall back asleep once you wake up? _______
18. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of your sleep?
Circle one. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
19. On a scale of 1 to 10, how rested and energized do you feel when you wake
up?
Circle one. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20. On a scale of 1 to 10, how energetic do you feel every day?
Circle one. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
21. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much stress do you have in your life? Health /
Finances / Social Life, etc.
Circle one. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
22. Do you currently take regular naps? If so, how long do these naps usually
last?
Check one:
__ 1. Around 10 minutes
__ 2. 10-45 minutes
__ 3. Around 1 hour
__ 4. 1-2 hours
__ 5. More than 2 hours
Note: as you remember, you should keep your naps minimal, at a maximum of 45
minutes to avoid entering deep sleep and lowering your body temperature.
23. How long do you currently stay awake during the day? _____________
If you take naps, this counts as sleeping, so subtract the time you spend napping
away from your total awake time.
24. Do you currently do any of the following?
Check all that apply to you:
__ 1. Use your bedroom as an office
__ 2. Watch TV in your bed during the day or before sleeping
__ 3. Read books in your bed during the day or before sleeping
__ 4. Talk on the phone while in bed or lying on the bed
__ 5. Use the bed to do lots of thinking
__ 6. Use your bed to do paper work.
__ 7. Use your bed as a storage area during the daytime
Note: You should use your bed only for sleeping and sex. This will create a good
association in your mind that the bed = sleep; decrease the amount of time it takes
for you to fall asleep, and the chance of insomnia.
Reducing Your Sleep
As you recall, during jet lag we travel over several time zones. If we travel 2 time
zones to the West, our body temperature rhythm will still be set to 2 hours ahead. In
response we feel out of place and it takes a while for our body temperature rhythm to
adjust to the new time zone.
In the same way, when we try to reduce the amount of time we spend sleeping, it
takes a while for our bodies to adjust to the new sleeping time. The main challenge
with reducing sleeping is understanding how sleep works, which we have over-come
by going through all this information together.
The second challenge is people tend to misread their bodies. If you feel tired and
drowsy during the day ask yourself this question:
“Am I tired right now because I need sleep? Or is it because of the way I'm living my
life or acting at the current moment?”
Even if you take a highly energetic person and place them in front of a TV for 2 hours,
they WILL GET TIRED!
This is why it's important to realize that increasing your daily energy levels is as
important as decreasing your sleep, they work together.
A Little More About Body Temperature
As you've learned, your body temperature is really an internal clock that keeps us
awake and sleeping at certain times.
It's also extremely important to understand that the rise and drop of body
temperature is a cue for the body to produce feelings of awakeness or tiredness.
Whenever your body temperature begins to fall, you will feel tired, lethargic, and
drowsier. Whenever your body temperature rises, you will feel more energetic, alert,
and be able to focus better.
Don't mistake the fall of body temperature at certain times during the day as the
need to sleep. Your body temperature may rise and drop several times in the day as
a response to the activities you're doing at the time.
Whenever you put big physical demands on your body, your body temperature will
rise above the norm. In response to intensive physical activity body temperature
drops for a while when you stop the activity.
For example, if you work an 8 hour shift at a job that requires intense activity, you
may feel totally wiped and ready to sleep when you come home at around 4 PM.
What you'll actually find is that this feeling of tiredness is not a sincere desire to
sleep, but rather a response from your body due to the drop of body temperature.
If you resist sleeping at this moment and provide a “wind-down” period for your body
after this period, body temperature will return to a normal and you will feel alert
again.
In your Powerful Sleep plan I suggest that you take a 10-45 minute nap during your
day to physically recharge yourself, it's ideal to take this nap when you experience
this body temperature drop as it will help you sleep. Always limit your naps to 45
minutes to avoid entering deep sleep.
When you wake up from your power nap it's usual to feel a bit lethargic and drowsy,
this is because your melatonin levels are high. Get as much high intensity light as
possible the moment you wake up, and make sure to MOVE your body to get your
body temperature up and running again.
If you currently live a very sedentary lifestyle, your body temperature will drop very
often when you're sitting around on your butt or watching TV, so if you feel tired
during the day understand it’s not because you need more sleep. It's because you
need LESS SLEEP and MORE MOVEMENT!
How Much Sleep Should I Aim at Getting?
Everyone has a minimal amount of sleep on which they can function properly during
the day; this minimal amount of sleep is called your core sleep. The amount of core
sleep needed to function properly varies from person to person. It also depends on
the strength of your sleeping system, and on the lifestyle you currently have.
The amount of core sleep you need will change if you employ the behaviors and
strategies we've talked about so far in this book. If you incorporate the power nap
system, your core sleep will change as well.
A recent study by the University of California has shown that people who sleep less
than 8 hours a day live longer! The study also shows that the optimum sleeping time
is about 6 hours. Does this mean you should sleep 6 hours?
No. The amount of time you eventually reduce your sleep to will be up to you and
your body. The amount of sleep you need for optimum performance will vary.
Sometimes the amount of sleep is genetic.
It will also be easier for you to sleep less the older you get, this is because melatonin
production decreases as we age. That’s why elderly people sleep an average of 5 to
6 hours.
As you apply the techniques of this program, you will have to do a little trial and error
testing to determine how much sleep is just right for you.
How to Reduce Your Sleep
The best way to reduce your sleep is to do it gradually and go at a pace that is
comfortable to you. Do not try to reduce your sleep cold-turkey. If you reduce your
sleep by two hours right away your body temperature rhythm will not adjust
immediately. Although it has been known to work, I do not recommend it.
The first challenge with reducing your sleep comes with sleep cycles. As you know,
during the last sleep cycle the period of REM sleep is the longest. This is naturally
when most of us wake up as it's easiest to get up from. The last period of REM sleep
lasts for about 1 hour, but this varies from person to person.
If you begin reducing your sleep it's possible that you might start waking yourself up
in the deep sleep phase. If you wake yourself up during deep sleep it's relatively hard
to get up and you will feel very tired, slow, and lethargic. If this happens, experiment
by reducing your sleep by another 20 to 30 minutes to wake yourself up in REM
sleep instead of deep sleep.
Another reason why getting up in the morning may be difficult is because of the lack
of sunlight. When you reduce your sleep, make sure that you get up at around
sun-rise so you can instantly exposure your eyes to high intensity light. If you
purchase a light box generator, this challenge can be easier over come.
Lets move on to your Powerful Sleep plan where we'll discuss how you'll put this
system to work in your life, and the specific techniques you might want to use to
decrease your sleep.
Your Powerful Sleep Plan
Did you fill out your Personal Sleep Evaluation yet? If you didn't go back, and do the
sleep evaluation, a printable copy of the evaluation is available with the
downloadable package this e-book came in.
After filling out the personal evaluation you should have a greater idea of the areas
you could improve on in your life-style to increase the quality of your sleep.
If you filled out the body temperature rhythm evaluation or if you did the body
temperature experiment, you will have a very good idea of how your body
temperature rhythm operates right now, and will see the changes take place as you
apply this program.
We'll now go over the most important aspects of this program.
1. Sunlight Exposure
Getting Sunlight into Your Eyes the Instant You Wake
You must get sunlight into your eyes in the first few minutes you wake up. This will
instantly give your body temperature rhythm the message that it's day time. Your
body temperature will begin to rise and melatonin levels will drop.
This is why it's such a good idea to exercise in the morning hours.
When you reduce your sleep time it's a good idea to set your “awake” time at
sunrise.
Getting High Intensity Light during Long Indoor Times
If you are forced to spend a lot of time indoors because you work in the office or at
home, this is the time that is most detrimental to your body temperature rhythm.
Ask yourself: What can I do to get the most sunlight possible during work?
Are you going to move your desk next to a bright window?
Are you going to take your lunch break outside in the sun?
Are you going to convince your boss to buy some artificial bright light generators?
Reducing Your Use of Sunglasses
Do you currently use sunglasses?
Reduce your use of sunglasses as much as possible. If you live near the equator,
use sunglasses with common sense. UV radiation is harmful to your eyes, and is
highest during when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. Avoid wearing your
sunglasses just for style.
2. Activity Level
Have at least 15 minutes of intense cardio vascular exercise
15 minutes is the minimum. You must provide enough physical demand on your
body to raise your body temperature. Any kind of physical exercise will help your
body temperature rise to a higher point, delay the body temperature drop, and allow
you to sleep deeper.
Exercise in the Morning if Possible
Exercising in the morning is perhaps the best idea as it will get your body
temperature to rise quickly. If you exercise in the morning you will easily beat the
early morning zombie phase everyone else goes through.
If you exercise outdoors this is a double benefit as you give light exposure to your
eyes as well!
A short 10 minute jog around the block at sunrise is ideal to raise your body
temperature.
Avoid Exercising 2 hours prior to sleeping.
The rise of body temperature after exercise can continue for a considerable time. As
you recall most of our deep sleep happens within the first 3-4 hours of sleep. If you
exercise before sleeping the body temperature rise may prevent you from sleeping
deeply.
3. Power Naps
The real important part of this program is to take power naps during the day. A
power nap consists mostly of Stage 1 and Stage 2 sleep which is very beneficial to
your physical energy. You must avoid making your naps longer than 45 minutes or
you may enter deep sleep.
It is natural to feel lethargic and tired after a nap as your body temperature might
begin to drop a bit more and you will have a higher level of melatonin in your body.
This period of drowsiness after a nap is only temporary, so when you wake up, make
sure to get lots of movement and some sunlight.
The ideal time to take these naps is when you experience your natural afternoon
body temperature slump, or when your body temperature drops after a hot bath or
exercise. Body temperature drops 60-90 minutes after a hot bath and about 4 hours
after intensive exercise.
If you take your naps for about 30 to 45 minutes and you feel extremely lethargic and
drowsy, it's possible that you entered deep sleep. The amount of time required to get
into initial deep sleep varies from person to person. If this happens, make your nap
time even shorter to avoid entering deep sleep.
The best idea to make sure you don't over sleep these naps is to get one of those
cheap $1 watches with a timer on it. Don't worry, the beeping noise should wake you
up as Stage 2 sleep is very light sleep and we're very wakable during this stage.
Take only 1 nap per day. If you feel the need to take another nap, keep it really
short.
Don't underestimate the power of taking these short naps. If you want to succeed at
reducing your sleeping time, these naps will help you tremendously at giving you
more energy during the day. They will restore your physical energy as well as allow
you to clear your mind and concentrate better.
4. Reducing Your Sleep Properly
Set a goal to what you want to reduce your sleeping time to. Understand that this
amount will not be exact and that you must find the “hot spot” for waking up in the
proper stage of sleep.
Many people who try this program report that they achieved instant results by simply
increasing their sunlight exposure and cutting down an hour on their sleep right off
the bat.
Other people who try reducing their sleep feel really tired when they wake up.
Remember that your energy levels during the day depend more on what you do
during the day and your body temperature levels. Don't blame the amount of sleep
on you right away if you haven’t implemented completely the whole new sleep
system.
Reduce your sleep gradually in 20 or 30 minute periods. When you feel comfortable
with one sleep setting, you can push the time back a bit more. How quickly you
reduce your sleeping time is up to you. The most important thing to remember is that
you need to be consistent with your sleeping schedule. If you're not consistent
with your new schedule you will not give your inner sleep clock enough time to adjust
to the new schedule, and your body temperature will not align with your new wake up
time. You must provide enough time for your body temperature rhythm to adjust to
your new sleep and wake up time, this will reduce morning feelings or drowsiness
and provide you with better sleep.
Remember that reducing your sleep isn't just about waking up earlier in the day. You
may reduce your sleep by going to sleep later in the day. As you implement this
program you will find that it becomes easier to stay awake longer and fall asleep
later in the day, as your body temperature will drop at a later part during the day.
Once you get to a point where you find you can't function properly throughout the
day, you have trouble concentrating and fatigue hits you at random times, this may
mean you've reached your core sleep amount. At this point it’s a good idea to not
push it any further. Increase your sleep a bit until you can function properly and set
this as your optimized sleep time.
Reducing your sleep at first may seem challenging, but just like with everything in life,
it gets easier as you do it consistently.
And remember, you MUST make the proper lifestyle changes to increase the quality
of your sleep and your energy levels first. If you try to skip this step, reducing your
sleep may make you feel extremely tired during the day. You may experience
nausea, headaches, and stiffness in your muscles when you wake up.
5. Proper Hydration
Proper hydration to your sleep system is like engine oil to a car. If you truly want to
optimize your sleep and increase your daily energy through the roof, take the steps
explored in the earlier section of this book to hydrate your system.
Proper hydration allows our body temperature rhythm to rise and fall easier. Your
body temperature rhythm will adapt to the new schedule you set for yourself much
easier.
Those are the 5 most important points of this program. If you're still unsure about
what changes you need to make in your lifestyle to increase the quality of your sleep
and your daily energy levels, refer back to the self evaluation sheet you filled out and
skim over this e-book to re-learn some of the important concepts.
To summarize, let’s look at an example of two people who work at the same job but
have two completely different sleeping systems:
Bob
Bob gets up in the morning at 8 am and lies in bed for 30 minutes to “rest” before he
heads off to the office. In the car he drinks a star-bucks cup of coffee which gives
him 500 mg of caffeine, at work he spends 7 hours indoors. Once he gets home he
sits on the couch and watches 2 episodes of Friends, he feels drowsy during the
show so he doses off for about 2 hours. He wakes up at 8 PM feeling hungry. He
sticks some microwavable dinner in the oven and watches the news as it cooks.
After dinner, Bob takes a stroll around his apartment and decides to vacuum his
living room, and organize some shelves. Bob heads to bed at 12:30 AM after
sending a few e-mails, sleeps for 7 hours and 30 minutes, and wakes up un-rested
and drowsy.
Hehe, that may be an over dramatization, but is it Bob's sleep clock that is controlling
his feelings of drowsiness? or is it his actions?
1) Bob doesn't get any natural sunlight during the day. This contributes to very high
melatonin levels which make him sleepy, and un-motivated during the day
2) He stays awake for only 14 hours, only 4 more hours than he slept. He's
practically sleeping 50% of his life away - This puts little pressure on his sleep
system to give him quality sleep.
3) He doesn't put any physical demands on his body at all, which decreases his
body's demand for deep sleep.
4) Because of the low variance in body temperature and melatonin levels during
Bob's day, it's very difficult for Bob to obtain sufficient deep sleep to feel rested.
Over all the message he is sending his sleep clock is: “ I LIVE IN A CAVE and I
HAVE LITTLE ROOM TO MOVE.“
As you recall, the sleep clock will adjust to whatever demands you put on it. In this
situation Bob's sleep clock will naturally produce a “timer” for his body to follow, to
keep Bob sleeping the same way every-day.
Is Bob's sleep clock working against him? Is it Broken? No. In reality this is simply
his body's way of keeping him alive. If Bob DID live in a cave, this sleeping system
would keep him alive.
Jane
Now, let's took at Jane, who works in the same office as Bob, but has an optimized
sleep system for maximum daytime performance.
Jane wakes up at 6 AM, and bolts out of bed, she instantly opens the drapes in her
bedroom to let the sunlight in. She puts on her shoes and goes for a 30 minute jog
outside to absorb as much sunlight as possible. During her jog her body temperature
rhythm raises. At work, Jane feels energized and focused, during lunch break, she
makes sure to go outside to get more sunlight for at least 30 minutes. During this
time she goes for a walk with a friend. When Jane gets home from work, she takes a
short 15 minute nap on her couch. When she wakes up she heads to the gym to do
her 1 hour of exercise, this prevents her body temperature from staying low and
making her drowsy and tire. Jane eats a meal out in her yard, in the sun at around 5
PM. When it finally gets dark, Jane visits a friend across town, her friend lives only 8
blocks away, so Jane decides to walk instead of taking her car. After an evening of
sharing a few good laughs, Jane gets home by 8 PM. She spends the rest of the day
actively moving about her home, and she also takes the dog for a walk. Jane finally
goes to bed at around 12 AM, excited about the next day to come.
1) Jane gets as much sunlight as possible during the day
2) She takes a power nap that recharges her physical energy
2) She stays awake for 18 hours which puts a lot of demand on her sleep system
3) She puts many demands on her body, as well as her mind.
The message she's sending her body is “I am an active Individual, I need energy,
make sure I stay awake!”
Jane's body temperature rhythm starts at 6 AM, when sunlight hits her eyes first
thing in the morning, her melatonin levels begin to drop rapidly. As she goes for a
short jog, her body temperature is pushed to rise faster, as she is putting a higher
demand on staying active during the day. Jane gets extra sunlight during the day;
this delays her drop of temperature, and enables her to stay more active during the
day.
When Jane finally goes to bed, she sleeps for only 6 hours, during which her body
compensates for all the activity by lowering her body temperature quickly and
making sure she gets enough deep sleep to prepare her for another 18 hour day.
Conclusion - How Are You Going to Use This Program?
I created this program with the best intention of helping you get the most out of your
life, by providing you with the knowledge I have had the privilege of learning in my
life :o)
However, I understand that not everyone who reads this book will follow through with
this program 100%. This is only natural as most people who invest in
self-improvement programs never use the information! Is it because they're lazy?
No! It's because most people are AFRAID of change in their lives. You've got to ask
yourself: Is the result this program promises for your life worth putting in the time to
make it work for you?
Also, we all have very different daily schedules and challenges, which might make it
difficult for certain people to follow through with this program 100%.
I have done my all to give you my balls-out best in this book, I have spilled my beans
and given you all the scientific knowledge you need to know to be your own personal
sleep expert.
However, if you find yourself at a challenging time when you're not quite sure if
you're following through correctly, you're stressed, or just plain down on yourself.
Remember the two key most important parts of this program!
#1) Get Sunlight
#2) MOVE YOUR BUTT!!!
I'm not going to suggest that you get up off your butt right now and sign up for a
membership at the nearest gym, and start a daily exercise routine. You can come to
that conclusion only as naturally and easily as you let that sense of motivation in you
to grow.
However, do note that in almost every case of poor sleep, physical inactivity has
something to do with it.
•
Fact: More than 50% of people who experience insomnia are inactive, and live
a very sedentary life style.
You MUST MOVE during the day, get off that butt, and use your body. The more you
use your body, the more your sleep clock will put the incentive on to giving you more
restful and energizing sleep!
What's the point of sleeping and re-energizing your body if you're
NOT going to use it?!
I hope you enjoyed this information, as I enjoyed sharing it with you! Remember, in
order to increase the quality of your sleep, you MUST to INCREASE THE QUALITY
OF THE DEMANDS ON YOUR LIFE AND YOUR BODY.
Wishing you Sweet Dreams,
Kacper M. Postawski, the insomnia terminator
PS. If you've got any questions regarding sleep, insomnia, or anything else about our
website and this program, email them to: with text:
“powersleep question” in the subject line. This lets us know you've purchased this
program and will guarantee a prompt reply.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Can't Fall Asleep?
Methods to Battle Insomnia, and What Else Could Be Preventing
You From Getting Powerful Sleep
Have you ever had trouble falling asleep? Or perhaps you frequently wake up at
night and can't fall back asleep? As you may already know, my initial work deals with
helping people with chronic insomnia cure their sleeping disorder at
http://www.wonderfulsleep.com/. If you've ever suffered from Insomnia, you're about to get
a crash course on what causes it and how to deal with it. You'll also be able to use
this information to increase the quality of your sleep.
There are three types of Insomnia:
Type 1) Sleep Onset Insomnia
When you cannot go to sleep, and usually have to lie in bed from 30 minutes to 3-4
hours (or more) before you finally go to sleep, after much anxiety, stress, tossing and
turning. You usually wake up with a massive headache, feeling drowsy, or with your
whole body aching.
Type 2) Sleep Maintenance Insomnia
You go to sleep normally, but you wake up during the night, once or several times,
and you can't go back to sleep, or it takes a long time for you to go back to sleep.
Type 3) Sleep Disturbance Insomnia
You go to sleep normally, you sleep for a normal amount of time (7-8 hours for adults,
5-6 hours for the elderly), but you wake up un-rested, with a headache, aching,
feeling drowsy, dizzy, etc.
Most Insomniacs suffer from a combination of type 1 and 2, if you suffer from type 3,
you are most likely suffering from Sleep Apnea, or PLM (period limb movement), or
other underlying sleep disorders. Also, if you are pregnant it is very common to
experience type 3 Insomnia, especially in the last tri-semester of pregnancy.
You've already learned about what makes sleep and qualitative sleep possible. You
might already have an understanding as to why most people can't sleep, or sleep
poorly. You've also learned some basics about the conscious and subconscious
mind. What you'll learn here is that there's a very interesting mechanism that actually
prevents people with insomnia from sleeping!
Types of Insomnia
Short Term Insomnia
There are two types of Insomnia, short-term insomnia and chronic Insomnia. Short
term Insomnia IS quite common, everyone in their life suffers from Insomnia at some
point or another, and it is in reflect to the natural occurrences in our lives, stress,
family and relationship problems, finances. Depression, medical and health problems
are also very common causes of short term Insomnia.
Here's where the real important thing you must understand comes into play. For
most people, short term Insomnia lasts only a few days, afterwards their normal
sleep patterns return.
For others, that period never ends, short term Insomnia becomes a part of their daily
lives, perpetuated by the Insomnia Cycle Effect, which turns short term insomnia
into:
Chronic Insomnia
If you have regular sleeping problems, then you have chronic Insomnia. Regular
drowsiness, headaches, depression, and low energy is now a daily part of your life,
falling asleep is pure torture. Don't worry, I've been there, and I know how it feels.
The Natural Sleep Response
What is the difference between someone with sleeping problems and someone who
can fall asleep easily?
The answer lies in the natural sleep response.
As you recall, the first stage of sleep is Stage 1 Sleep. It's in this stage that our brain
waves lower from beta waves to alpha and theta waves, and we enter an Alice in
Wonderland day dream stage that takes us deeper and deeper into sleep. For most
people this response is automatic after they lie in their bed for a few minutes, I call
this response the natural sleep response.
Most of the time, when we lay our head on that pillow, when we feel the warmth of
the blanket around us and close our eyes, our mind gets the signal and says: “Okay
guys! This is it! Sleep time... lower the heart rate, lower brain waves, we're going for
a riiiiiiiiideeee!.” By now, if we simply get out of the mind's way and let it go on its
own, we will naturally enter Stage 1 sleep and proper sleep follows.
Chronic insomnia happens because of a diminished natural sleep response. It's
possible for your natural sleep response to be completely erased by a process called
“negative anchoring”, this is how chronic insomnia develops. Usually people with
chronic insomnia also live a life-style that involves all the bad sleeping habits we've
talked about before, which makes sleep even harder to obtain, and when they do
sleep, the sleep is very unfulfilling.
We will not talk about chronic insomnia anymore in this book, however you can
download a great free e-book I wrote on the topic right at:
http://www.wonderfulsleep.com/
If you're like most people, then you've most likely had a time in your life when you
experienced short term insomnia. Something happened, and you couldn't sleep,
perhaps this went on for a few days or weeks at a time. What prevents us from
sleeping at these times? and how can we battle short term Insomnia?
Short term insomnia happens when our natural sleep response is interrupted, and
we can't enter Stage 1 sleep. Despite the fact that we're in bed and our eyes are
closed, our brain waves stay in the beta brain wave stage.
The Racing Mind
You're lying awake, and you can't sleep because your mind just won't stop thinking!
Why can't your mind just shut up!?
Actually, as this is happening, your inability to sleep is NOT the result of your racing
mind. It's actually the fact that you're lying awake that's making your mind race!
That's a pretty interesting concept isn't it? Haha… Okay, allow me to explain.
Our thoughts work in the same way as a snowball that's rolling down a hill. The snow
ball gradually gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Our thoughts work in a momentum
like fashion, meaning that when you apply focus to one thought, you usually keep
thinking about that thought, and that thought leads to other thoughts of that nature.
Wow? Make sense? Probably not, let me make it a bit clearer.
Don't Do this.
Don't picture a bright blue mini van driving down a long road with two trees on the
right side of it.
Did you picture what I just said? Naughty Naughty! Told you not to!
Ha! My point is, our mind works by continuously taking in data and processing it.
This process is often outside of your control. You cannot NOT think about a bright
blue mini van because whenever I mention it your mind has to picture a mini van to
even think about it. Often times our mind has a “mind of its own” and it will move in
directions without you being even aware of it. If what you're thinking about requires
too much conscious thinking, this prevents you from entering Stage 1 Sleep.
The Rule is:
“Wherever focus goes, thought flows.”
Most of us are conditioned to just think about nothing when we go to sleep, our mind
naturally just shuts off after a while and we go into Stage 1 sleep. However, during
stressful times, our focus is entirely different, and our thoughts continue to flow in
very un-sleepy directions. Let me give you an example, suppose you're trying to
relax when you're a bit stressed...
Your thoughts:
Hmm.... It would be nice to just be in a big park right now.
With the birds,
and the bees.....
and all the happy little trees...
I'm walking in the park, lalala... Look, there's a bench in the park,
Lets sit on it....
Hey... I'm sitting.
You know... I sit like this all day in the office too...
I don't like my job, why on Earth did I choose to work there, what was I thinking?
You know, my boss is a real jerk.
I can't believe he assigned me that project.
Oh No! The deadline is in a few days!
What if I don't make it?
What will the people think of me in that conference room?
The Conference Room... There's a coffee machine in there.
I drink too much coffee.
I had all these goals for proper nutrition and I failed to keep up with them.
Why am I always a failure?
This is like that time in High School when I failed my exam.
High school - there was that girl in high school I really liked.
She didn't like me!
This feels so awful! Why didn't she like me!? Is something wrong with me?
WHY CANT I SLEEP?! There's got to be something wrong with me!
Our thoughts can easily turn from a walk in a park to re-living stressful situations
over and over again, simply because of this momentum concept. So what's the
solution?
It's simple: You must focus your attention on relaxing, and not trying to *FORCE*
sleep to come.
Of course, relaxing is a challenge for most people too...
Okay, ahhhhhhh,... time to relax.
Wow! This feels good.
Mmmmmmm....
Okay, I'll just turn my head to one side there.
Yup... Relax.
Hold on, Gotta move my arm... There...
Okay you know what, I think I like the other side better.
You know, relaxing is a bit harder than I thought
Why Can't I just relax?
Okay... Just Relax...
RELAX DAMNIT!
WHY CANT YOU RELAX! AHHHHHHHHHH
Again, often the momentum concept takes over and a simple adjustment of position
leads to hours of tossing and turning! We'll deal with how to combat tossing and
turning soon.
The answer lies in focusing all your attention on getting relaxed, and focusing your
imagination on something very pleasant, that you can easily enjoy, without having to
think about it. Your goal shouldn't be to fall asleep, but to simply relax. The reason
for this is simple: The more you focus on trying to fall asleep, the more frustrated and
stressed you will become about the concept of not falling asleep, this will push your
thoughts into a very negative direction. When you completely relax your mind and
body, your brain waves lower - this has been proven scientifically by doing studies
on meditation. As you know, lower brain waves lead to Stage 1 Sleep.
Another reason why a lot of people tend to think forever when they go to bed is
because they engage in very thought provoking activities during the evening, such
as entering arguments with other people or working on the computer. You should
always allow yourself to have a wind-down period before you go to bed.
There are many methods to relax your mind and body. In the bonus of this book you
will find a body & mind relaxation section to guide you through this process in a few
simple ways. For now, lets look at just a couple of methods to quiet your mind in
times that you can't fall asleep.
The Science of Counting Sheep - Alternatives That Work
Why does counting sheep NOT work?
Well, if you were to think about it... a horde of hyper active sheep sporadically
jumping over a fence isn't very calming to the mind! The whole concept is also
ridiculous, when's the last time you saw sheep jumping high in the air over a fence?
Sheep are naturally very lazy animals that spend most of their day eating and
sleeping. If you're HELL BENT on counting sheep, count a bunch of sleeping sheep
with a bunch of ZZzzs forming in bubbles around their heads, on a peaceful green
meadow, this should work better :o)
Here are a few better techniques to slowing down your thoughts, when your mind
just keeps racing.
Thheeee sllooowwwwwwwww mmeeeetthoooodddd
This technique works very well. What you do is hear your thoughts as if you were
saying them out loud, or if you're a more visual person, you can visualize your
thoughts as if they were being written on paper or on a screen right in front of you.
Afterwards, begin to consciously hear/see your thoughts as if they were being played
in slow motion.
So for example, if this was one of your thoughts:
My boss is such a jerk, I can't believe what he did last day at work, I can't believe I'm
working at that company, what was I thinking!
Once you notice you're thinking this way, stop, and replay the thought in your head
very slowly:
Mmyyyy boss, izzzz , suuuuch, aaaahhh, jeeeerrrkkk........ eeeeeyyeeeee, caaan't
beelliieeeve....
After you replay the slowed down thought, you can play it over and over again even
slower, making it shorter and shorter every time, until it fades completely. ie:
My boss is such a jerk...
My boss is such a...
My boss is...
My bo.....
M....
....
..
.
This method is very effective for two reasons:
1) It gives you something else to concentrate on rather than being frustrated.
2) It puts focus on relaxing your mind, which will drive your thoughts into a positive
direction, and prevent your thoughts from sporadically racing around everywhere.
As you try to do this, you will notice a little resistance from your mind, from time to
time thoughts will come racing into your mind. Simply apply the same technique to
them over and over again, and you will find yourself relaxed and asleep in no time.
The Chalk Board Method
This technique works well if you're a highly visual person. If your mind is racing, you
can visualize your thoughts as if they were being written on a black chalkboard at the
same time. Whenever a new thought arrives, for example:
Oh no, what am I going to wear tomorrow?
Visualize your slowly wiping the thought off the chalk board, leaving it completely
blank.
This method will have the same effect as the previous one.
Battling with Tossing and Turning
We've all had those nights that we just couldn't find the comfortable part of the bed
and spent hours tossing and turning till the break of dawn. Why does this happen?
Well, your desire to “toss and turn”, really isn't the result of you not being comfortable,
it's the result of you not feeling relaxed. On a deeper feeling our mind wants us to
relax, but most of the times we interpret the message as “find a comfortable spot on
the bed.” True relaxation comes from within you, and has to be triggered by your
inner thought process.
For example: You could be in a hammock on a hot summer day in Hawaii, but if
you're thinking about whether the stock market will rise or fall, and you've got a 100
million dollars on the line and it's REALLY bothering you, it won't matter what
position you're in that hammock, you won't relax!
If you're lying in bed and you get the urge to toss or turn, wait it out, you'll be
surprised how quickly it fades! When you get the urge to toss and turn, ask yourself
“How can I focus on something else right now to feel more relaxed?” As you lie there
for about 15 seconds, you'll be surprised at how the urge to toss and turn simply
fades, and you realize that all you really want to do is relax.
Understand that if you do start tossing and turning, it will not end with just ONE toss
or turn, because of the momentum effect, you will just keep tossing and turning till
the break of dawn!
Sometimes the urge to move is really intense, or maybe you really are in a very
painful position on your bed. If you absolutely MUST move, do it in this way:
1) Move, but move very slowly. Remember what it feels like when you wake up in the
morning and you're very sleepy, do you move very quickly then?
2) As you move very slowly, put a big bright smile on your face, and take a deep
breath.
Another reason why tossing and turning keeps us awake is because we do it very
quickly, and the more we do it, the more it agitates us! So do it very slowly, and
make sure to smile and breath deeply, you will feel the difference :-)
Sleep Restriction
Sleep restriction is perhaps the most powerful technique to battle short term
insomnia and chronic insomnia. The rule of sleep restriction is simple:
If you can't fall asleep and you lie awake in your bed for longer than 30 minutes, get
out of bed! Stay out of bed until you feel a tired sensation coming over you, and then
go back to bed.
This works because it interrupts your pattern of thinking. If you've been lying awake
in bed for longer than 30 minutes, your mind is racing, and you can't relax. Chances
are you're not going to suddenly get hit over the head and relax instantly. You've
simply created too much negative momentum and it's keeping you awake! This is
why getting up and out of bed is the best way to interrupt this. Getting out of bed is a
great way to clear your mind, and get the feeling of drowsiness back in you.
Sleep Restriction will also help restore proper bed associations (see below)
Poor Bed Associations
Have you ever had this happen to you?
It’s the end of the day, and you feel tired... perhaps you're even yawning a little. You
get into your pajamas, turn off the light, climb into the bed, and all of a sudden you're
wide awake and you don't feel tired anymore?! This is a very common experience for
anyone with sleeping problems. It's a result of poor bed associations.
As we're going through our day, our minds link certain experiences to emotions or
states of mind, this happens without us even being aware of it. In hypnosis and NLP
(Neuro-Linguistic Programming) this is referred to as state anchoring.
An anchor is an experience, a taste, touch, smell, or sound that instantly recreates
an emotional state in your body. For example, do you have a favorite song that
makes you feel a certain way? As you're reading this, try to remember that song.
Doesn't it seem that whenever you hear the song those emotions just come flooding
right into you? This happens because at some point in time you heard that song for
the first time, at that point you were feeling that way, and those emotions became
anchored to that song.
Often when people can't sleep they try reading a book or watching TV in bed to
induce sleepiness, these actions actually make insomnia even worse. Not only does
watching TV keep your conscious mind awake and racing, it anchors feelings of
wakefulness to your bed. This gets your mind to associate that your bed is a place
where you “think,” not sleep. This completely disturbs the natural sleep response.
Your bed should ONLY be used for sleeping and sexual activity, nothing else.
A lot of people use their bed and their bedroom for a variety of purposes. People
also tend to have heated emotional arguments with our spouse/significant other in
the bedroom, this is a huge no no, as you link major feelings of frustration to the bed!
(this isn’t good in any way!)
Avoid using your bedroom as an office, a workout room, or a storage area. Stay off
your bed during the day, don't lie on the bed when you're talking on the phone, use
your bed only for sleeping or sex.
Taking a Warm Bath or Shower
Another reason why you may have trouble falling asleep at night is because your
body temperature simply isn't dropping! If this is the case, it could either mean:
You're not getting adequate sunlight or exercise during the day. Or... you simply
need less sleep! Stay awake longer and this won't be a problem :-)
If this problem still persists, you taking a hot shower before going to sleep can help
drop your body temperature, however, you must do this right. A lot of people have
conflicting opinions whether taking a hot shower or bath before sleep actually helps
you fall asleep.
If you take a hot bath or shower, you must take it at least 60-90 minutes before going
to sleep, not less. When you take a hot shower, your body temperature rises very
quickly. This is why you feel so refreshed and awake after a hot shower in the
morning. However, after this quick rise, the body temperature rhythm begins to fall
quickly in response after about 60 minutes. This is why we usually feel tired and
lethargic in the first hour in the morning (unless you exercise in the morning.) Most
people choose to battle this drop of body temperature with caffeine...yuck!
A hot bath or shower can help put you to sleep, only if you take it 60-90 minutes
before you sleep. If you try to sleep right after a hot bath or shower, chances are the
body temperature rise will make it harder.
The drop in body temperature is a natural trigger for your mind to relax your muscles,
lower your brain waves and enter Stage 1 Sleep.
Room Temperature
Your room temperature can also affect your sleep. It can affect your ability to fall
asleep, as well as the quality of your sleep.
If you currently sleep in a very hot or humid room, you may experience trouble with
sleeping deeply as your body will have difficulty lowering your body temperature.
Naturally your body temperature will not fall as quickly either and your natural sleep
response may be interrupted.
Studies show that falling asleep in a cool room with an easy atmosphere is much
easier than falling asleep in a hot environment. You also sleep more deeply when
you're in a cool environment.
Take this advice, but not to an extreme! Obviously, if turn your temperature down to
the point where you're FREEZING, falling asleep might be difficult, as your body tries
to raise your temperature in order to survive.
How Light Creates Insomnia
As you recall, melatonin is a hormone in your body which controls your sleep, and is
regulated in reaction to the amount of light available to you. Melatonin is produced
when you're exposed to darkness. The more melatonin in your body, the easier it is
to fall asleep and to sleep deeply. If you have too much light in your room while you
sleep, your melatonin levels will be affected!
Recent studies show that melatonin is even affected by light touching our skin, not
just coming into our eyes. This is why it's so important to sleep in total darkness, and
again, why you should GET MORE SUNLIGHT!
If you currently have a nightlight in your room, or sleep in a room with street light
seeping in through the windows, light could be making your sleep worse. Try to
change your environment so it's as dark as possible.
Sleeping Pills - The Death Rattle to the Sleep System
Sleeping pills are complete poison to your sleeping system. Sleeping pills often turn
short term insomnia into chronic insomnia.
During the mid 19th century the only type of sleeping pills available were
Barbiturates. These pills were very dangerous and only an over dose of about 10
was enough to kill you. Marilyn Monroe died of over-dosing on Barbiturates.
Currently there are about 4 different types of sleeping pills.
1) Benzodiazepines (commonly referred to as BZs)
2) Anti-Depressants
3) Over the Counter Drugs
4) Synthetic Melatonin
We will not go over the details of how these pills work, and the side effects of each
one as it would go beyond the scope of the ebook.
Sleeping pills may put a person to sleep; however, they have many side effects and
leave chemicals in your body which can stay in your blood for up to 6 days! The side
effects of these chemicals are often day-time drowsiness, nausea, blurred vision,
weakness, loss of appetite, and in some cases very frequent urination.
The National Institute of Health recommends that sleeping pills be prescribed to
patients for a maximum of 4-6 weeks as the body does become habituated to
sleeping pills after a few weeks, and they lose their effectiveness. However, most
doctors prescribe them for months! or in some cases even YEARS! Sleeping pills
perpetuate insomnia because they support the belief that insomnia is a ”disease”
that has to be cured with pills. As you know by now, sleeping is an inner system that
is very easily corrected if you know the mechanics of it! The main reason why
doctors prescribe sleeping pills is because they simply don't want to deal with the
patient's sleeping problem, as most doctors only receive about 1 hour of training on
sleeping problems, prescribing pills seems like a very easy solution. Patients often
become psychologically dependant on the drugs and end up taking them for years;
enduring the side effects which make their lives more miserable than BEFORE they
had sleeping problems.
Most sleeping pills work by depressing the activity of the brain, and forcing lower
brain waves. Because of the nature of how sleeping pills work they deprive you of
deep sleep. While you may get a full 7 or 8 hours of sleep, the sleep will be of very
low quality, leaving you with side effects that can last for days.
Sleeping pills are completely detrimental to your sleep system, and your health! A
recent study by Dr. Daniel F. Kripke (M.D) of the University of California shows that
people who use sleeping pills regularly to induce sleep have a much higher mortality
(death) rate than people who don't.
You may get full details on this study right here: Click Here for a Complete Study of
Sleeping Pills
In conclusion, if you're currently using sleeping pills, get rid of them! Not only are
they depriving you of quality sleep, they are depriving you of your day-time energy!
It's a myth that you can take a sleeping pill to get quality sleep and feel energized the
next day.
One final note about pills: Never mix sleeping pills with alcohol, if you do, you
are risking your life!
Insomnia is a “Symptom,” not a Problem
Insomnia is often mistakenly looked at as a “problem” that has to be solved, when in
fact it is simply a symptom of a weak sleeping system. If your sleeping system is
weak insomnia is very likely to occur, and the only way to cure it is by strengthening
your sleep system through using the methods in this book! Inversely, insomniacs
often have very unbalanced wakefulness systems as a result, which is why they
wake up many times during the night and have trouble falling back asleep. These
periods of nighttime awakenings usually happen at the end of a sleep cycle in Stage
2 Sleep. If someone has a weak sleep system it is very difficult for that person to
sleep deeply, therefore they experience a lot more Stage 2 sleep, and awakenings
are even more likely to happen. You can see how this results in an endless loop of
poor sleep and day-time fatigue!
In the next section, we'll wrap up all the information you've learned so far to create
your own Power Sleep plan, to increase the quality of your sleep, decrease your
sleeping time, and get way more energy in your life!
Section Summary
Take this short quiz to better learn and remember what you've just read.
1. The natural sleep response is...
a. A channel that comes with a recent HBO package on TV
b. A natural response that lowers brain waves, relaxes the body, and prepares us for
Stage 1 sleep.
c. A part of your subconscious mind.
d. A point in the day where your body temperature drops.
2. Short term Insomnia is...
a. A common effect of trauma in our lives.
b. A leading cause of death in America.
c. A great movie with Al Pecino.
d. A & C
3. Sleeping pills are detrimental to the sleep system because
a. They are expensive and the stress of having to spend money prevents deep
sleep.
b. They work by limiting brain activity, thus depriving you of deep sleep.
c. They have long term negative side affects that make you drowsy and tired.
d. B & C
4. A sure way to battle insomnia is to
a. Watch TV or read a book in your bed.
b. Strengthen your sleep system and practice relaxation exercises instead of
focusing on forcing sleep to come.
c. Count hordes of hyper-active sheep jumping over fences.
d. Sleep on your back.
5. To minimize the chance of insomnia, you should always use your bedroom...
a. As an entertainment room for guests
b. As your office.
c. For sleep and sex only.
d. For settling very important arguments with people over the phone.
You From Getting Powerful Sleep
Have you ever had trouble falling asleep? Or perhaps you frequently wake up at
night and can't fall back asleep? As you may already know, my initial work deals with
helping people with chronic insomnia cure their sleeping disorder at
http://www.wonderfulsleep.com/. If you've ever suffered from Insomnia, you're about to get
a crash course on what causes it and how to deal with it. You'll also be able to use
this information to increase the quality of your sleep.
There are three types of Insomnia:
Type 1) Sleep Onset Insomnia
When you cannot go to sleep, and usually have to lie in bed from 30 minutes to 3-4
hours (or more) before you finally go to sleep, after much anxiety, stress, tossing and
turning. You usually wake up with a massive headache, feeling drowsy, or with your
whole body aching.
Type 2) Sleep Maintenance Insomnia
You go to sleep normally, but you wake up during the night, once or several times,
and you can't go back to sleep, or it takes a long time for you to go back to sleep.
Type 3) Sleep Disturbance Insomnia
You go to sleep normally, you sleep for a normal amount of time (7-8 hours for adults,
5-6 hours for the elderly), but you wake up un-rested, with a headache, aching,
feeling drowsy, dizzy, etc.
Most Insomniacs suffer from a combination of type 1 and 2, if you suffer from type 3,
you are most likely suffering from Sleep Apnea, or PLM (period limb movement), or
other underlying sleep disorders. Also, if you are pregnant it is very common to
experience type 3 Insomnia, especially in the last tri-semester of pregnancy.
You've already learned about what makes sleep and qualitative sleep possible. You
might already have an understanding as to why most people can't sleep, or sleep
poorly. You've also learned some basics about the conscious and subconscious
mind. What you'll learn here is that there's a very interesting mechanism that actually
prevents people with insomnia from sleeping!
Types of Insomnia
Short Term Insomnia
There are two types of Insomnia, short-term insomnia and chronic Insomnia. Short
term Insomnia IS quite common, everyone in their life suffers from Insomnia at some
point or another, and it is in reflect to the natural occurrences in our lives, stress,
family and relationship problems, finances. Depression, medical and health problems
are also very common causes of short term Insomnia.
Here's where the real important thing you must understand comes into play. For
most people, short term Insomnia lasts only a few days, afterwards their normal
sleep patterns return.
For others, that period never ends, short term Insomnia becomes a part of their daily
lives, perpetuated by the Insomnia Cycle Effect, which turns short term insomnia
into:
Chronic Insomnia
If you have regular sleeping problems, then you have chronic Insomnia. Regular
drowsiness, headaches, depression, and low energy is now a daily part of your life,
falling asleep is pure torture. Don't worry, I've been there, and I know how it feels.
The Natural Sleep Response
What is the difference between someone with sleeping problems and someone who
can fall asleep easily?
The answer lies in the natural sleep response.
As you recall, the first stage of sleep is Stage 1 Sleep. It's in this stage that our brain
waves lower from beta waves to alpha and theta waves, and we enter an Alice in
Wonderland day dream stage that takes us deeper and deeper into sleep. For most
people this response is automatic after they lie in their bed for a few minutes, I call
this response the natural sleep response.
Most of the time, when we lay our head on that pillow, when we feel the warmth of
the blanket around us and close our eyes, our mind gets the signal and says: “Okay
guys! This is it! Sleep time... lower the heart rate, lower brain waves, we're going for
a riiiiiiiiideeee!.” By now, if we simply get out of the mind's way and let it go on its
own, we will naturally enter Stage 1 sleep and proper sleep follows.
Chronic insomnia happens because of a diminished natural sleep response. It's
possible for your natural sleep response to be completely erased by a process called
“negative anchoring”, this is how chronic insomnia develops. Usually people with
chronic insomnia also live a life-style that involves all the bad sleeping habits we've
talked about before, which makes sleep even harder to obtain, and when they do
sleep, the sleep is very unfulfilling.
We will not talk about chronic insomnia anymore in this book, however you can
download a great free e-book I wrote on the topic right at:
http://www.wonderfulsleep.com/
If you're like most people, then you've most likely had a time in your life when you
experienced short term insomnia. Something happened, and you couldn't sleep,
perhaps this went on for a few days or weeks at a time. What prevents us from
sleeping at these times? and how can we battle short term Insomnia?
Short term insomnia happens when our natural sleep response is interrupted, and
we can't enter Stage 1 sleep. Despite the fact that we're in bed and our eyes are
closed, our brain waves stay in the beta brain wave stage.
The Racing Mind
You're lying awake, and you can't sleep because your mind just won't stop thinking!
Why can't your mind just shut up!?
Actually, as this is happening, your inability to sleep is NOT the result of your racing
mind. It's actually the fact that you're lying awake that's making your mind race!
That's a pretty interesting concept isn't it? Haha… Okay, allow me to explain.
Our thoughts work in the same way as a snowball that's rolling down a hill. The snow
ball gradually gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Our thoughts work in a momentum
like fashion, meaning that when you apply focus to one thought, you usually keep
thinking about that thought, and that thought leads to other thoughts of that nature.
Wow? Make sense? Probably not, let me make it a bit clearer.
Don't Do this.
Don't picture a bright blue mini van driving down a long road with two trees on the
right side of it.
Did you picture what I just said? Naughty Naughty! Told you not to!
Ha! My point is, our mind works by continuously taking in data and processing it.
This process is often outside of your control. You cannot NOT think about a bright
blue mini van because whenever I mention it your mind has to picture a mini van to
even think about it. Often times our mind has a “mind of its own” and it will move in
directions without you being even aware of it. If what you're thinking about requires
too much conscious thinking, this prevents you from entering Stage 1 Sleep.
The Rule is:
“Wherever focus goes, thought flows.”
Most of us are conditioned to just think about nothing when we go to sleep, our mind
naturally just shuts off after a while and we go into Stage 1 sleep. However, during
stressful times, our focus is entirely different, and our thoughts continue to flow in
very un-sleepy directions. Let me give you an example, suppose you're trying to
relax when you're a bit stressed...
Your thoughts:
Hmm.... It would be nice to just be in a big park right now.
With the birds,
and the bees.....
and all the happy little trees...
I'm walking in the park, lalala... Look, there's a bench in the park,
Lets sit on it....
Hey... I'm sitting.
You know... I sit like this all day in the office too...
I don't like my job, why on Earth did I choose to work there, what was I thinking?
You know, my boss is a real jerk.
I can't believe he assigned me that project.
Oh No! The deadline is in a few days!
What if I don't make it?
What will the people think of me in that conference room?
The Conference Room... There's a coffee machine in there.
I drink too much coffee.
I had all these goals for proper nutrition and I failed to keep up with them.
Why am I always a failure?
This is like that time in High School when I failed my exam.
High school - there was that girl in high school I really liked.
She didn't like me!
This feels so awful! Why didn't she like me!? Is something wrong with me?
WHY CANT I SLEEP?! There's got to be something wrong with me!
Our thoughts can easily turn from a walk in a park to re-living stressful situations
over and over again, simply because of this momentum concept. So what's the
solution?
It's simple: You must focus your attention on relaxing, and not trying to *FORCE*
sleep to come.
Of course, relaxing is a challenge for most people too...
Okay, ahhhhhhh,... time to relax.
Wow! This feels good.
Mmmmmmm....
Okay, I'll just turn my head to one side there.
Yup... Relax.
Hold on, Gotta move my arm... There...
Okay you know what, I think I like the other side better.
You know, relaxing is a bit harder than I thought
Why Can't I just relax?
Okay... Just Relax...
RELAX DAMNIT!
WHY CANT YOU RELAX! AHHHHHHHHHH
Again, often the momentum concept takes over and a simple adjustment of position
leads to hours of tossing and turning! We'll deal with how to combat tossing and
turning soon.
The answer lies in focusing all your attention on getting relaxed, and focusing your
imagination on something very pleasant, that you can easily enjoy, without having to
think about it. Your goal shouldn't be to fall asleep, but to simply relax. The reason
for this is simple: The more you focus on trying to fall asleep, the more frustrated and
stressed you will become about the concept of not falling asleep, this will push your
thoughts into a very negative direction. When you completely relax your mind and
body, your brain waves lower - this has been proven scientifically by doing studies
on meditation. As you know, lower brain waves lead to Stage 1 Sleep.
Another reason why a lot of people tend to think forever when they go to bed is
because they engage in very thought provoking activities during the evening, such
as entering arguments with other people or working on the computer. You should
always allow yourself to have a wind-down period before you go to bed.
There are many methods to relax your mind and body. In the bonus of this book you
will find a body & mind relaxation section to guide you through this process in a few
simple ways. For now, lets look at just a couple of methods to quiet your mind in
times that you can't fall asleep.
The Science of Counting Sheep - Alternatives That Work
Why does counting sheep NOT work?
Well, if you were to think about it... a horde of hyper active sheep sporadically
jumping over a fence isn't very calming to the mind! The whole concept is also
ridiculous, when's the last time you saw sheep jumping high in the air over a fence?
Sheep are naturally very lazy animals that spend most of their day eating and
sleeping. If you're HELL BENT on counting sheep, count a bunch of sleeping sheep
with a bunch of ZZzzs forming in bubbles around their heads, on a peaceful green
meadow, this should work better :o)
Here are a few better techniques to slowing down your thoughts, when your mind
just keeps racing.
Thheeee sllooowwwwwwwww mmeeeetthoooodddd
This technique works very well. What you do is hear your thoughts as if you were
saying them out loud, or if you're a more visual person, you can visualize your
thoughts as if they were being written on paper or on a screen right in front of you.
Afterwards, begin to consciously hear/see your thoughts as if they were being played
in slow motion.
So for example, if this was one of your thoughts:
My boss is such a jerk, I can't believe what he did last day at work, I can't believe I'm
working at that company, what was I thinking!
Once you notice you're thinking this way, stop, and replay the thought in your head
very slowly:
Mmyyyy boss, izzzz , suuuuch, aaaahhh, jeeeerrrkkk........ eeeeeyyeeeee, caaan't
beelliieeeve....
After you replay the slowed down thought, you can play it over and over again even
slower, making it shorter and shorter every time, until it fades completely. ie:
My boss is such a jerk...
My boss is such a...
My boss is...
My bo.....
M....
....
..
.
This method is very effective for two reasons:
1) It gives you something else to concentrate on rather than being frustrated.
2) It puts focus on relaxing your mind, which will drive your thoughts into a positive
direction, and prevent your thoughts from sporadically racing around everywhere.
As you try to do this, you will notice a little resistance from your mind, from time to
time thoughts will come racing into your mind. Simply apply the same technique to
them over and over again, and you will find yourself relaxed and asleep in no time.
The Chalk Board Method
This technique works well if you're a highly visual person. If your mind is racing, you
can visualize your thoughts as if they were being written on a black chalkboard at the
same time. Whenever a new thought arrives, for example:
Oh no, what am I going to wear tomorrow?
Visualize your slowly wiping the thought off the chalk board, leaving it completely
blank.
This method will have the same effect as the previous one.
Battling with Tossing and Turning
We've all had those nights that we just couldn't find the comfortable part of the bed
and spent hours tossing and turning till the break of dawn. Why does this happen?
Well, your desire to “toss and turn”, really isn't the result of you not being comfortable,
it's the result of you not feeling relaxed. On a deeper feeling our mind wants us to
relax, but most of the times we interpret the message as “find a comfortable spot on
the bed.” True relaxation comes from within you, and has to be triggered by your
inner thought process.
For example: You could be in a hammock on a hot summer day in Hawaii, but if
you're thinking about whether the stock market will rise or fall, and you've got a 100
million dollars on the line and it's REALLY bothering you, it won't matter what
position you're in that hammock, you won't relax!
If you're lying in bed and you get the urge to toss or turn, wait it out, you'll be
surprised how quickly it fades! When you get the urge to toss and turn, ask yourself
“How can I focus on something else right now to feel more relaxed?” As you lie there
for about 15 seconds, you'll be surprised at how the urge to toss and turn simply
fades, and you realize that all you really want to do is relax.
Understand that if you do start tossing and turning, it will not end with just ONE toss
or turn, because of the momentum effect, you will just keep tossing and turning till
the break of dawn!
Sometimes the urge to move is really intense, or maybe you really are in a very
painful position on your bed. If you absolutely MUST move, do it in this way:
1) Move, but move very slowly. Remember what it feels like when you wake up in the
morning and you're very sleepy, do you move very quickly then?
2) As you move very slowly, put a big bright smile on your face, and take a deep
breath.
Another reason why tossing and turning keeps us awake is because we do it very
quickly, and the more we do it, the more it agitates us! So do it very slowly, and
make sure to smile and breath deeply, you will feel the difference :-)
Sleep Restriction
Sleep restriction is perhaps the most powerful technique to battle short term
insomnia and chronic insomnia. The rule of sleep restriction is simple:
If you can't fall asleep and you lie awake in your bed for longer than 30 minutes, get
out of bed! Stay out of bed until you feel a tired sensation coming over you, and then
go back to bed.
This works because it interrupts your pattern of thinking. If you've been lying awake
in bed for longer than 30 minutes, your mind is racing, and you can't relax. Chances
are you're not going to suddenly get hit over the head and relax instantly. You've
simply created too much negative momentum and it's keeping you awake! This is
why getting up and out of bed is the best way to interrupt this. Getting out of bed is a
great way to clear your mind, and get the feeling of drowsiness back in you.
Sleep Restriction will also help restore proper bed associations (see below)
Poor Bed Associations
Have you ever had this happen to you?
It’s the end of the day, and you feel tired... perhaps you're even yawning a little. You
get into your pajamas, turn off the light, climb into the bed, and all of a sudden you're
wide awake and you don't feel tired anymore?! This is a very common experience for
anyone with sleeping problems. It's a result of poor bed associations.
As we're going through our day, our minds link certain experiences to emotions or
states of mind, this happens without us even being aware of it. In hypnosis and NLP
(Neuro-Linguistic Programming) this is referred to as state anchoring.
An anchor is an experience, a taste, touch, smell, or sound that instantly recreates
an emotional state in your body. For example, do you have a favorite song that
makes you feel a certain way? As you're reading this, try to remember that song.
Doesn't it seem that whenever you hear the song those emotions just come flooding
right into you? This happens because at some point in time you heard that song for
the first time, at that point you were feeling that way, and those emotions became
anchored to that song.
Often when people can't sleep they try reading a book or watching TV in bed to
induce sleepiness, these actions actually make insomnia even worse. Not only does
watching TV keep your conscious mind awake and racing, it anchors feelings of
wakefulness to your bed. This gets your mind to associate that your bed is a place
where you “think,” not sleep. This completely disturbs the natural sleep response.
Your bed should ONLY be used for sleeping and sexual activity, nothing else.
A lot of people use their bed and their bedroom for a variety of purposes. People
also tend to have heated emotional arguments with our spouse/significant other in
the bedroom, this is a huge no no, as you link major feelings of frustration to the bed!
(this isn’t good in any way!)
Avoid using your bedroom as an office, a workout room, or a storage area. Stay off
your bed during the day, don't lie on the bed when you're talking on the phone, use
your bed only for sleeping or sex.
Taking a Warm Bath or Shower
Another reason why you may have trouble falling asleep at night is because your
body temperature simply isn't dropping! If this is the case, it could either mean:
You're not getting adequate sunlight or exercise during the day. Or... you simply
need less sleep! Stay awake longer and this won't be a problem :-)
If this problem still persists, you taking a hot shower before going to sleep can help
drop your body temperature, however, you must do this right. A lot of people have
conflicting opinions whether taking a hot shower or bath before sleep actually helps
you fall asleep.
If you take a hot bath or shower, you must take it at least 60-90 minutes before going
to sleep, not less. When you take a hot shower, your body temperature rises very
quickly. This is why you feel so refreshed and awake after a hot shower in the
morning. However, after this quick rise, the body temperature rhythm begins to fall
quickly in response after about 60 minutes. This is why we usually feel tired and
lethargic in the first hour in the morning (unless you exercise in the morning.) Most
people choose to battle this drop of body temperature with caffeine...yuck!
A hot bath or shower can help put you to sleep, only if you take it 60-90 minutes
before you sleep. If you try to sleep right after a hot bath or shower, chances are the
body temperature rise will make it harder.
The drop in body temperature is a natural trigger for your mind to relax your muscles,
lower your brain waves and enter Stage 1 Sleep.
Room Temperature
Your room temperature can also affect your sleep. It can affect your ability to fall
asleep, as well as the quality of your sleep.
If you currently sleep in a very hot or humid room, you may experience trouble with
sleeping deeply as your body will have difficulty lowering your body temperature.
Naturally your body temperature will not fall as quickly either and your natural sleep
response may be interrupted.
Studies show that falling asleep in a cool room with an easy atmosphere is much
easier than falling asleep in a hot environment. You also sleep more deeply when
you're in a cool environment.
Take this advice, but not to an extreme! Obviously, if turn your temperature down to
the point where you're FREEZING, falling asleep might be difficult, as your body tries
to raise your temperature in order to survive.
How Light Creates Insomnia
As you recall, melatonin is a hormone in your body which controls your sleep, and is
regulated in reaction to the amount of light available to you. Melatonin is produced
when you're exposed to darkness. The more melatonin in your body, the easier it is
to fall asleep and to sleep deeply. If you have too much light in your room while you
sleep, your melatonin levels will be affected!
Recent studies show that melatonin is even affected by light touching our skin, not
just coming into our eyes. This is why it's so important to sleep in total darkness, and
again, why you should GET MORE SUNLIGHT!
If you currently have a nightlight in your room, or sleep in a room with street light
seeping in through the windows, light could be making your sleep worse. Try to
change your environment so it's as dark as possible.
Sleeping Pills - The Death Rattle to the Sleep System
Sleeping pills are complete poison to your sleeping system. Sleeping pills often turn
short term insomnia into chronic insomnia.
During the mid 19th century the only type of sleeping pills available were
Barbiturates. These pills were very dangerous and only an over dose of about 10
was enough to kill you. Marilyn Monroe died of over-dosing on Barbiturates.
Currently there are about 4 different types of sleeping pills.
1) Benzodiazepines (commonly referred to as BZs)
2) Anti-Depressants
3) Over the Counter Drugs
4) Synthetic Melatonin
We will not go over the details of how these pills work, and the side effects of each
one as it would go beyond the scope of the ebook.
Sleeping pills may put a person to sleep; however, they have many side effects and
leave chemicals in your body which can stay in your blood for up to 6 days! The side
effects of these chemicals are often day-time drowsiness, nausea, blurred vision,
weakness, loss of appetite, and in some cases very frequent urination.
The National Institute of Health recommends that sleeping pills be prescribed to
patients for a maximum of 4-6 weeks as the body does become habituated to
sleeping pills after a few weeks, and they lose their effectiveness. However, most
doctors prescribe them for months! or in some cases even YEARS! Sleeping pills
perpetuate insomnia because they support the belief that insomnia is a ”disease”
that has to be cured with pills. As you know by now, sleeping is an inner system that
is very easily corrected if you know the mechanics of it! The main reason why
doctors prescribe sleeping pills is because they simply don't want to deal with the
patient's sleeping problem, as most doctors only receive about 1 hour of training on
sleeping problems, prescribing pills seems like a very easy solution. Patients often
become psychologically dependant on the drugs and end up taking them for years;
enduring the side effects which make their lives more miserable than BEFORE they
had sleeping problems.
Most sleeping pills work by depressing the activity of the brain, and forcing lower
brain waves. Because of the nature of how sleeping pills work they deprive you of
deep sleep. While you may get a full 7 or 8 hours of sleep, the sleep will be of very
low quality, leaving you with side effects that can last for days.
Sleeping pills are completely detrimental to your sleep system, and your health! A
recent study by Dr. Daniel F. Kripke (M.D) of the University of California shows that
people who use sleeping pills regularly to induce sleep have a much higher mortality
(death) rate than people who don't.
You may get full details on this study right here: Click Here for a Complete Study of
Sleeping Pills
In conclusion, if you're currently using sleeping pills, get rid of them! Not only are
they depriving you of quality sleep, they are depriving you of your day-time energy!
It's a myth that you can take a sleeping pill to get quality sleep and feel energized the
next day.
One final note about pills: Never mix sleeping pills with alcohol, if you do, you
are risking your life!
Insomnia is a “Symptom,” not a Problem
Insomnia is often mistakenly looked at as a “problem” that has to be solved, when in
fact it is simply a symptom of a weak sleeping system. If your sleeping system is
weak insomnia is very likely to occur, and the only way to cure it is by strengthening
your sleep system through using the methods in this book! Inversely, insomniacs
often have very unbalanced wakefulness systems as a result, which is why they
wake up many times during the night and have trouble falling back asleep. These
periods of nighttime awakenings usually happen at the end of a sleep cycle in Stage
2 Sleep. If someone has a weak sleep system it is very difficult for that person to
sleep deeply, therefore they experience a lot more Stage 2 sleep, and awakenings
are even more likely to happen. You can see how this results in an endless loop of
poor sleep and day-time fatigue!
In the next section, we'll wrap up all the information you've learned so far to create
your own Power Sleep plan, to increase the quality of your sleep, decrease your
sleeping time, and get way more energy in your life!
Section Summary
Take this short quiz to better learn and remember what you've just read.
1. The natural sleep response is...
a. A channel that comes with a recent HBO package on TV
b. A natural response that lowers brain waves, relaxes the body, and prepares us for
Stage 1 sleep.
c. A part of your subconscious mind.
d. A point in the day where your body temperature drops.
2. Short term Insomnia is...
a. A common effect of trauma in our lives.
b. A leading cause of death in America.
c. A great movie with Al Pecino.
d. A & C
3. Sleeping pills are detrimental to the sleep system because
a. They are expensive and the stress of having to spend money prevents deep
sleep.
b. They work by limiting brain activity, thus depriving you of deep sleep.
c. They have long term negative side affects that make you drowsy and tired.
d. B & C
4. A sure way to battle insomnia is to
a. Watch TV or read a book in your bed.
b. Strengthen your sleep system and practice relaxation exercises instead of
focusing on forcing sleep to come.
c. Count hordes of hyper-active sheep jumping over fences.
d. Sleep on your back.
5. To minimize the chance of insomnia, you should always use your bedroom...
a. As an entertainment room for guests
b. As your office.
c. For sleep and sex only.
d. For settling very important arguments with people over the phone.
Optimizing Your Sleep Clock
Sleeping Less, and Increasing the Quality of Your Sleep
Okay, now that you know the basics of the mechanics of sleep. Let’s talk about how
you can use this new knowledge to sleep less, have more powerful sleep, and have
more energy in your life. I have given you the previous “scientific” information here
because I wanted you to have a knowledge base with the “right” information. Too
often in life we try to achieve something but with the wrong information! I have a
belief in life that there are 3 fundamental steps to achieving anything, whether it is
getting quality sleep, achieving a financial goal, a personal goal, or anything else,
these 3 steps are...
Step 1) Get the right information
Step 2) Make the right plan
Step 3) Take ACTION!
To give you a personal example of how step #1 is so important:
I go to the gym about 3 days per week, and every single time I'm there, I see the
same people relentlessly working out their abs on the ab cruncher machines. And
these people are doing about 10 - 20 sets of 100 to 200 repetitions of ab crunches
and sit ups, for up to 3 hours! Every time I go past them I laugh a little, and I also feel
a bit sorry for them, because they're wasting their time.
The reason why they're doing all the sit ups is because they're desperately trying to
get a 6 pack of abs on their stomach.
I have a 6 pack myself, but is it because I trained hard for 2 years to get it? No,
actually it took me only about 7 weeks. I learned that the only way for your abs to
become visible is to decrease your body fat percentage below a certain point, about
7% for men and 12% for women. This is only achieved by following a specific diet
and working out ALL the muscles of your body, not just one. This way you're working
out every single muscle, and your body fat decreases all over your body, instead of
following the “spot reducing” method, where you work out only one part of your body
and expect the muscles to become visible through all your fat. This is the only way to
get a 6 pack of abs.
That information took me 3 minutes to learn! 3 Minutes of powerful information
prevented me from wasting my time for months, or perhaps years without getting the
result I wanted.
So this is what I meant by “getting the right information” in life. Often people have the
right MOTIVATION to do something, but they have the wrong INFORMATION. A lot
of people want to have more time and energy in their lives, but they don't have the
right information on how to go about getting that result! This is why I have chosen to
write this book for you, and teach you about the mechanics of sleep first.
In this section we'll talk about all the methods and understandings you must have to
optimize your sleep clock for optimum sleep performance. Afterwards we'll talk about
sleeping problems and finally how to tie all this information together to create your
own sleep optimization plan and reduce your sleeping time. After finishing this book
and filling out your Personal Evaluation Plan, you may feel compelled to explore a
more fun part of sleep: Dreams, in the other book that came in the downloadable
package.
Remember, your main goals are to:
1) Increase the quality of your sleep.
2) Increase the level of energy you have every day.
3) Decrease your sleeping time by as much as you can. (We'll explore this in detail in
a later section.)
Getting enough Sunshine
I cannot over emphasize how important this is! As explained earlier, the amount
of natural sunlight that enters your eyes has a drastic effect on your temperature
body rhythm.
•
When we're exposed to high intensity light, our body temperature increases, and
melatonin levels rapidly decrease.
•
Exposure to natural sunlight also delays the temperature drop. This allows you
to stay awake and alert for longer periods of time.
•
Lack of sunlight results in higher melatonin levels, this leads to lower body
temperature levels, feeling very sleepy, and tired through out the day.
Lack of sunlight will create a flat-line effect in your body temperature, because it will
not get a chance to rise high enough, your body temperature won't fall low enough
during the night either. If your body temperature is flat-lined, this could cause major
sleeping problems, and it will be very difficult for you to sleep deeply for long periods
of time. A lot of people who complain about “poor sleep” usually don't get enough
sunlight.
Consider how for the most part of our evolution we were always outside during the
day, it seemed that nature intended us to be this way, then suddenly over the past
100 years we drastically changed our exposure to natural sunlight. Most of us hardly
get any sun today at all! We drive to work in a car, we wear sunglasses, we work in
offices, what kind of effect do you think this has on our sleep clock?
How Much Light Should You Be Getting?
The intensity of light is measured in a unit called a lux. 1 lux is approximately the
light that your eyes receive when you're locked in a dark room with a single candle.
•
In an office lit by fluorescent light bulbs, the light intensity is about 200 - 500
luxes.
•
At sun-rise, the light intensity is about 10,000 luxes.
•
At noon, on a bright sunny day, the light intensity is about 100,000 luxes!
Consider how for most of our evolution we spent most of our time outside, in these
high intensity light environments, and how now we spend so much time in low light
intensity environments. Spending the day indoors is the equivalent for our eyes
as spending the day in complete darkness!
Because our eyes rarely get exposed to “real light”, our eyes can't really tell the
difference between night and day. Also, consider the fact that most of us aren't even
exposed to real “darkness” anymore as most of us are exposed to other sources of
light during the night (street lamps, TV screens, Computers). The result is, our eyes
can't tell the difference between night and day, and our body temperature rhythm
flat-lines. As a result, we get poorer sleep, and can't stay awake and alert for very
long.
There are many miscalculations about how much light actually enters our eyes. A
recent study by Doctor Daniel F. Kripke, of the University of California, shows that
most of the time when people measure light intensity in certain areas, they take the
measurements wrong, by pointing the measurement devices straight at the source!
For instance, during a sunny day at noon, the sun provides us with 100,000 luxes of
light. However, most of us don't look DIRECTLY at the sun! Obviously, this
wouldn't be a “bright” idea. The Sun can be damaging to our eyes in high intensity
amounts.
However, Dr. Kripke states that the light that enters our eyes really depends in the
direction that we're looking at. By measuring light intensity in the directions that most
people look at during the day Dr. Kripke says that most of us get an average of 5,000
to 10,000 luxes of light during the day.
He also says that the same misconceptions come into play when measuring light
intensity indoors. Many people think we get an average of 200 to 500 luxes indoors,
however, these light intensity measurements are often taken by pointing the
measurement instruments right at the light source! And obviously, most of us don't
walk through a super market looking straight at the ceiling. Dr. Kripke says that most
of us experience only about 1 to 5 luxes of light when we're indoors!
So what's the solution? Well, I could hammer this further into your mind by providing
you with more information about light, and the effects of light deprivation, but I think
the best solution to this is just to GET MORE SUNLIGHT! Go out there, and get as
much of it as possible.
If you're working at home and you're doing some thinking, go outside into your yard
and think there instead.
If you work in an office, move your desk near a window.
Plan more activities outdoors
Open the drapes or shades immediately upon awakening.
Avoid sunglasses in the morning and evening. (More on sunglasses below)
Now, let's discuss other strategies for increasing your light exposure...
The Effects of Sunglasses
Sunglasses can block from 20% to 90% of sunlight entering our eyes! Many people
who I've consulted have received a huge boost of better sleep and energy
throughout the day simply from wearing their sunglasses less often, or eliminating
the use of sunglasses completely.
Naturally, sunlight can be damaging to our eyes in certain circumstances. Natural
sunlight is composed of many different types of light, including UV (Ultra Violet) light
which can be very harmful. Over exposure to UV light is a leading cause of skin
cancer and cataract (break down of the lenses in our eyes).
However, most people who wear sunglasses wear them when they don't even need
to. UV radiation depends on the time of day; it's highest in the noon hours. Usually,
the higher the sun is in the sky, the higher the UV radiation. UV radiation is lowest
during sunrise and sunset. Also, the closer you live to the equator, the higher the UV
radiation you're exposed to on a daily level.
Try to minimize your use of sunglasses, and use your common sense as to when
they may be appropriate. If you currently wear sunglasses all day, you are
minimizing the amount of sunlight entering your eyes, which is affecting your body
temperature rhythm.
Artificial Bright Light
If you currently work in an office where light is limited, getting light during the day
may be challenging for you. If you feel really drowsy and tired during the first hours
of work in the office, chances are your body temperature isn't rising fast enough,
most likely because you haven't been exposed to enough light, or haven't had
enough activity!
If you work in an office, or at home, a good idea is to get a “bright light box.” Bright
light boxes are machines that artificially produce light at high intensities, from 5,000
luxes to up to 10,000 luxes. They're a bit pricy, but a great investment if you or your
employer values your energy level while you're at work. If you work in a place where
your employer depends on your ability to function properly and with full energy, you
could give them this book and convince them to invest in a few of them.
They range from $150 to $300 in price, here's a company I would personally
recommend to order these from. (They even offer a minihand-held bright-light generator that you can take with you virtually anywhere.)Bright light therapy also has a connection with our emotions and daytime mood; ithas known to cure depression and other mental disorders. Lack of light in the winteris one of the main causes of winter depression, and why people generally sleep longer in the winter.
Again! I could go on forever about how important light is in our lives, but let’s move
on.
How Exercise Affects Your Body Temperature Rhythm
If you want to instantly increase the quality of your sleep, then start an exercise
program if you don't exercise already. Exercise helps you sleep better in a number of
ways, I'm not even going to mention all the other health benefits! :
•
Exercise will raise your body temperature rhythm, and make your body
temperature “peak” at a higher level. This will increase your energy levels
throughout the day, you'll feel more awake, alive, and motivated.
•
As your body temperature levels will max out at a higher level, your body
temperature will also drop more easily and deeper. This will allow you to sleep
deeply, without interruptions.
•
Regular exercise will prevent your body temperature rhythm from “flat-lining”,
which will allow you to sleep deeply even if you've had a stressful day, or
couldn't exercise on one particular day.
•
Exercise delays the body temperature “drop” in the evening, allowing you to stay
awake and alert longer without feeling tired and drowsy.
•
Exercise is also a great relief of tension and stress, which as you'll later find out,
is a major cause of sleeping disorders.
If you don't exercise yet, GET A MOVE ON IT! and start now. The best time to
exercise is in the morning, as this will promote a quick temperature rise. However,
avoid exercise 3 hours prior to going to sleep, as your body temperature will
probably still be on the rise, and you may find falling asleep / sleeping deeply more
difficult.
If you don't exercise, I'm not suggesting you get up off your butt right now, get a
membership at your local gym and begin a full scale work out program. You can do
that only if you really want to. However, recent study shows that just moderate
exercise during the day has many health benefits. If you can't motivate yourself to
start exercising regularly, you could find a less intensive physical activity that you still
enjoy, like walking briskly, biking, rollerblading, these will still have a substantial
effect at raising your body temperature.
My final point about this would be: What's the Point of Trying to Rejuvenate your
Body, and Increasing the Quality of Your Sleep, if You're Not Going to USE
YOUR BODY?
Power Naps - The Secret to Energy With Little Sleep
If done correctly, taking regular day-time naps will give you a huge boost of
energy throughout the day.
As you may recall, there is a natural “slump” in body temperature during the mid
afternoon. This slump is what makes a lot of people sleepy during the day, and why
so many people feel the need to take an afternoon nap! However, is taking a nap
good for strengthening your sleep system? The answer is yes, and no.
In many siesta countries, taking a regular nap is a normal part of the culture, i.e.:
Spain, Mexico. This has several effects:
As you remember, we sleep through certain sleep stages, and sleep cycles. During
the first sleep cycle, our body enters deep sleep for the longest period of time, it's at
this point that our body temperature begins to drop really low, our respiration, heart
rate and blood pressure decreases.
If you've ever been woken up out of “deep sleep”, you know that it’s almost
impossible to get up. Waking up during or after a major deep sleep phase makes you
feel lethargic, slow, and disoriented i.e.: when you wake up during the night to go to
the bathroom, you stroll in there like a Zombie, and don't even remember it the next
morning.
It takes about 45 minutes to enter the first deep sleep phase. If you limit your nap to
45 minutes, you will sleep mainly in Stage 2 sleep. Stage 2 sleep also plays a major
role in restoring physical energy, as you look at the previous chart, 50% of sleep is
spent in Stage 2 sleep. This is why you may have heard before that a simple 10
minute nap can totally re-charge you. If you limit a nap to 45 minutes, you will wake
up feeling re-charged, and ready to go.
However, if you take a nap for longer than 1-2 hours, you will most likely enter deep
sleep. Your temperature will begin to drop, and you'll wake up feeling very sleepy
and disoriented. Also, when you enter deep sleep during the day, you put your body
temperature rhythm out of whack, it may be difficult for you to go to sleep later on in
the night. You'll have difficulty sleeping deeply at night, which will have negative
consequences for the day ahead, such as poor energy, headaches and nausea.
Most likely resulting in more naps.
As you see, taking long naps is not the way to go as you can enter a cycle of
behavior resulting in poor energy levels and poor quality sleeps. This would affect
your health and your life in big ways. Taking irregular naps is one way that sleeping
disorders develop.
The correct way to take naps is to keep them ultra short. This will prevent deep sleep
and re-charge you physically. Some studies even show that taking short naps can
reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease by as much as 30%.
As part of this book, I would personally recommend that you do take a short nap
during the day, you'll be surprised at how energized you feel for the rest of the day
when you do take one! Limit the nap to 45 minutes, if you still feel tired after the nap,
then shorten the nap time. The amount of time required to enter deep sleep varies
from person to person.
Because everyone experiences the afternoon body temperature slump, we can
assume that nature intended us to have an afternoon nap. Perhaps to keep our
ancestors from the mid-day sun and dangerous predators out for the hunt?
Waking Up At the End of a Cycle
This is the true secret to “waking up energized.”
I'm curious, have you ever had an experience where you woke up in the morning and
you felt ABSOLUTELY GREAT?! With no aching muscles, no lethargic feeling, or
that usual slow and moody state of mind that most of us wake up with? The state of
mind that tells you “grab some coffee or you'll die...”
Before actually learning this information, I had this experience a few times, and it
made me wonder how on Earth it happened. I woke up with a sense that I've already
been awake, and I felt completely ready to go.
As you recall, we sleep through sleep stages in sleep cycles. Each Cycle ends with a
period of REM sleep. During REM sleep our physiology and brain waves are the
closest to the ones when we're awake. The longest period of REM sleep is towards
the end of sleep, during which we usually wake up for the final time.
The challenge is, most of us use alarm clocks to “bolt” ourselves out of sleep. Often,
our alarm clocks wake us up in the wrong sleep stage, making it very hard to wake
up. For instance, if a person is in their last sleep cycle towards the end of a night,
and they're in Stage 3 sleep, if your alarm clock goes blaring off at this point, it might
be very difficult to get up, and feel rested. However, if only the alarm clock went off
30 minutes later, in REM sleep, getting up would be much easier.
Obviously, most of us are limited and don't really have a choice as to when we have
to set that alarm clock to. We have busy schedules, work places to get to, and traffic
to beat which unfortunately will not adjust to our schedule.
So the only way to wake up at the end of a cycle is to do some trial and error testing
with the time we go to sleep at. If you currently wake up feeling horrible, try going to
sleep 20 minutes earlier, or 20 minutes later, 40 minutes earlier, or 40 minutes later
than you usually do. By doing this, you'll eventually find a “hot spot” for waking up at
the end of your cycle.
Remember though, your sleep cycle never depends on when your alarm clock
wakes you up, only on your body temperature levels. As you apply the other
information in this book, your sleep cycles will change as well, so you may want to
try experimenting with this technique when you get a solid sleep cycle pattern
happening.
The Weekend - Your Sleep System's Worst Nightmare
Ahhh, it's the weekend... I'm curious, have you ever heard... SOMEONE say these
lines? (Yeah, I know you'd never say them...)
“It's the weekend! I can finally get some sleep!”
“It's the weekend. I can finally sleep in bed and veg out all day!”
or my personal favorite
“It's the weekend. I can finally CATCH up on some sleep!”
Sleeping in late on weekends is detrimental to the sleep system for the following
reasons.
•
Limits your exposure to sunlight on these two days which results in your body
temperature rising and falling slower.
•
As a result, it's harder to fall asleep on Sunday, which results in the usual
“Sunday night insomnia”.
•
Limits your prior wakefulness before you go to bed again. This weakens the
pressure to go to sleep at night, alters your body temperature rhythm, and
further promotes insomnia.
•
Reduces the ability for your body to sleep deeply.
You should keep your weekend sleeping schedule the same as it is during the week.
This will set your body rhythm in place, and you won't have to “sleep in” to “catch up”
on sleep, as your body will learn to adapt to one sleeping schedule. If you
continuously mix up your sleeping pattern, your body temperature rhythm will be out
of whack, and it will be difficult for you to sleep deeply.
Also, “catching up on sleep” is a myth. As you know by now, It's only during the first
3-4 hours that we experience most of our deep sleep, the rest is comprised mostly of
Stage 2 and REM sleep. If you sleep for 10 hours, this will primarily increase your
REM sleep, which will not be of great benefit to your body.
If you feel the need to re-energize during the weekend, take a 45 minute nap, as
described before! You'll save tons of time by sleeping less, feel more energized, and
your sleep system will be strengthened by this new behavior - making it easier for
you to sleep deeply.
Having a Regular Rising Time & Sleeping Time
This combines with what we talked about above with weekend sleep. If you currently
have a schedule that doesn't require you to wake up at the same time every day
during the week, and you have chosen to get up at different times each day, you're
weakening your sleep system.
Remember, your body temperature begins to rise the moment you get out of bed,
start moving, and allow sunlight to enter your eyes. If you get up at different times
every single day, this is the equivalent of putting your body through jet lag every
morning. If your body temperature rises 2 hours later one day, then it will drop 2
hours later as well, making it harder for you to fall asleep and sleep deeper the next
day if you decide to get up at a different time.
Secondly, I'm sure you've probably heard someone say this before: “I have to wake
up early tomorrow, so I'm getting to bed early.”
A lot of people try to compensate for waking up early by going to bed early the night
before, sometimes lying in bed for an hour or two before actually going to bed, this is
also detrimental to the sleep system, as it reduces your prior wakefulness, which
lowers the pressure of sleep, and makes it harder to sleep deeply.
Although having a regular rising and sleeping time may take some “discipline”, as
you read and reflect on this concept, you may feel compelled to add this simple
strategy into your lifestyle, the benefits of sleeping less, getting better sleep, and
having more energy far outweigh the few extra hours you could spend in bed wasting
your life away in that cozy cocoon of slumber.
How Nicotine, Caffeine, and Alcohol Affect Sleep.
Mmmmmmm Coffee...
Ironically, the substance that most of us chose to consume to help “wake us up”,
keeps us from experiencing proper restful sleep. If everyone simply learned the
secrets to sleeping properly in this book, there wouldn't be a need for coffee!
Coffee contains caffeine, which is also present in a wide variety of junk our bodies
don't need: Cola, Pop, Candy Bars...
Caffeine increases heart rate and blood pressure, it promotes alertness and reduces
fatigue. These effects can last for a few minutes or can last for up to seven hours! If
you're currently drinking caffeine, you're putting unnecessary pressure on your
awake system, which is weakening your sleep system.
Different people have different tolerance levels to caffeine, so caffeine doesn't affect
everyone's sleep in the same way. Also, if you drink one or two cups of coffee in the
morning, it’s unlikely your sleep will be affected. However, seeing how caffeine can
stay in the blood stream for hours at a time, if you drink caffeine at least 6 hours prior
to sleeping, it will affect the quality of your sleep, it will be difficult for your body to
enter deep sleep or spend a lot of time in deep sleep because of the stimulative
effects. You might also experience frequent night time awakenings out of Stage 2
sleep.
Interesting Facts:
Caffeine
People who drink caffeine tend to frequently get up in the middle of the night to
urinate. This is the result of the body trying to detoxify itself.
The energizing effect that caffeine gives you in the morning is only temporary.
Getting just 10 minutes of high intensity light would be 10x more energizing for the
rest of your day, more beneficial to your sleep system, and your health.
Nicotine
If you currently smoke, you might want to strongly consider the following.
Nicotine harms sleep in many ways, like caffeine, nicotine produces faster brain
waves, heart rate, and breathing rate, and an increased amount of stress hormones
in your blood.
Generally, if you smoke you can't expect to get quality sleep, the stimulant effects of
nicotine will prevent you from sleeping deeply, as nicotine is a poison to your whole
body. Nicotine puts your whole system, including your body temperature rhythm,
totally out of balance.
If you want to improve your sleep, your best choice would be to quit smoking. While
in this book I won't give specific methods and information on that, I would like to point
out that I can provide you with some extremely powerful information to help you quit.
If you want to make the decision to quit smoking, contact us at
Questions@WonderfulSleep.com
Alcohol
Some people think that a “night cap” of alcohol will help you sleep; this couldn't be
further from the truth.
While alcohol may temporarily relax some muscles in your body, it's extremely
detrimental to your sleeping system.
Alcohol Suppresses Deep Sleep, and REM sleep!
Alcohol will suppress the 3rd, 4th, and 5th stage of sleep, which will result in a very
light, un-restful sleep. Reduced REM sleep usually leads to a REM sleep rebound,
in the form of intense dreaming or nightmares, which weaken your sleep for days
afterwards.
Considering that most people combine alcohol with coffee to fight hang-over, this is a
deadly combination for your sleep system!
Alcohol also dehydrates your body, so even small doses of it will produce un-restful
sleep. As you remember, your blood vessels dilate during deep sleep to allow more
blood flow to the muscles. If your body is dehydrated this process is much more
difficult because dehydrated blood doesn't flow as well through your blood vessels as
fully hydrated blood.
Note: Never Combine Alcohol With Sleeping Pills! If You Do, You're Risking
Your life! (More on sleeping pills in later section)
Prior Wakefulness
As you learned earlier, there are two systems which really control your sleep. These
systems work together:
1) Your awake system and
2) Your sleep system
Your awake system keeps you awake and your brain waves high during the day, and
naturally loses strength as you get less light exposure, and your temperature level
drops towards the end of the day. When your sleep system takes over, it works to
give you the most refreshing sleep possible. When you get quality sleep, your awake
system benefits from this the next day!
This dual team works in the negative sense as well. If you're doing things in your life
to weaken your sleep system, your awake system will suffer from poor sleep, which
will most likely result in you feeling tired, lethargic, and lead to an even weaker sleep
system. Most people avoid exercise and outdoor activity because they didn't sleep
too well. They're actually depriving themselves of the life force that feeds their sleep
system!
The more demand you put on your awake system, in the proper ways (as we've
talked about so far) the stronger your sleep system will get.
The challenge is, most people try to cope with feeling tired during the day by taking
long naps, or going to sleep early. These actions weaken the sleep system by
lowering natural sunlight exposure, and decreasing physical activity. The body
temperature rhythm adjusts to this behavior by falling earlier, and rising very slowly,
which makes it difficult to sleep deeply, and to stay awake and energized during the
day.
By increasing your prior wakefulness you will increase the pressure to sleep later on,
and increase the strength of the sleep system. While this may seem difficult at first,
in the long run your sleep system will get much stronger, you'll get better sleep in a
shorter amount of time. We'll explore this in detail later on when you design your own
specific plan in the next section.
Hydration and Sleep - We're Dying of Thirst in Our Sleep!
I can read your thoughts right now:
“Oh no... Another guy that's going to talk about drinking 8 glasses of water a day...”
“Yup!”
If you're not drinking at least 8 cups of water a day, chances are you are creating a
water deficit in your body. Here's a break down of how much water your body uses
every day:
•
Your Intestines: about 1/2 cups of water
•
Breathing: about 1 and 1/3 cups of water
•
Your Lungs: about 2 cups
•
Your Skin: about 2 cups of water
•
Your Kidneys: about 5 and 1/2 cups of water!
Under normal conditions, the body loses approximately 12 cups of water every
day!
The main effect of dehydration is seen in your blood, your blood clumps together and
can't carry oxygen to all the parts of your body. As an effect, you'll feel tired, low on
energy, and your immune system will be lowered.
Studies show that most people are so dehydrated, they mistake the body's natural
call for water for hunger! Most people find it difficult to start drinking 8 cups of water a
day, and see it as too much of a “chore”. However, this is usually only because your
body has adapted to chronic dehydration. Once you start drinking more water and
give your body the message that “Hey, we have water! We can have all we want!” it
will get the point, and you will actually get thirsty more often!
Speaking from my personal experience, when I decided to quit drinking all the crap I
was taking in every day (Pop, Coffee, Juice), and drink nothing but water, I saw the
effects immediately. I had dandruff and all kinds of skin problems for years which
disappeared in less than 3 days after I started drinking water! I had more energy,
and decreased my sleeping time by 2 hours.
Interestingly enough, after about 6 months of drinking nothing but water, I
accidentally picked up a cup with Pepsi in it and took a sip. IT FELT LIKE I WAS
SWOLLOWING 20 scoops of sugar! It was absolutely disgusting and I almost
gagged!
The challenge for our bodies that we're constantly presenting is drinking fluids that
aren't part of what our bodies were meant to take in naturally. Our bodies cope with it
and “adapt”. The moment you start giving your body what it really needs and
deserves, it will thank you for it, and it won't want to go back to the other crap!
So how does water affect your sleep?
During deep sleep our blood vessels dilate, and most of the blood which is usually
stored in our inner organs throughout the day travels into our muscles to repair them.
If your body is dehydrated, your blood clumps together and doesn't get to all the
places it needs to, it doesn't carry enough oxygen to all your muscles.
During REM sleep, respiration and blood pressure escalate dramatically, blood flow
to the brain and muscles also increases.
Most people wake up in the morning extremely thirsty. Sleeping without water
in your system is the equivalent of running an 8 hour marathon without a water
break!
Also, a large portion of our energy during the night goes into our digestive system,
which also relies heavily on water! If your system is more hydrated, your body will
spend less energy digesting food during the night, and put more focus into giving you
better sleep. As a result, you'll sleep less, and feel much more ENERGIZED and
REFRESHED in the morning.
Proper hydration also plays a major role in helping your body temperature rhythm
adjust. The more hydrated you are the easier it is for your body to control your body
temperature. Your body temperature is the main underlying clock which controls
when and how you sleep! Proper hydration in your body will help this system operate
at its optimum level, just as motor oil does in a car engine.
It would go beyond the scope of this short e-book to talk about how beneficial water
is to your health, not just your sleep. If you take this message to heart, and decide to
totally hydrate yourself once and for all, here's a quick method:
Buy a 2.0 Liter Bottle of Pop of your choice (Coca Cola, Pepsi, Sprite...), take the
bottle to the bathroom and pour the contents down the toilet, as you do this, say to
yourself “I'm not drinking this crap anymore!”
Clean out the bottle, and fill it with drinking water. This is approximately how much
water you should be drinking every day! Carry this bottle with you around the house,
and whenever you feel like drinking/eating some junk, take a sip of the water. Your
goal should be to finish at least half the bottle in a day.
Also, keep a glass of water by your bed when you go to sleep. When you wake up,
drink the whole glass before you set off on your day.
How Food Affects Your Sleep
There are a small changes you can make to your diet to sleep shorter and more
deeply. While I am not a professional nutritionist, and I do not want to get into talking
about dieting in this book too deeply, here are the facts:
Your digestive system slows down at night, and it becomes harder to digest food.
During deep sleep, a lot of energy is required by our body to pump blood through our
muscles and replenish physical energy. Most of the energy during sleep is sucked up
by our digestive system, therefore, the more demand you put on your digestive
system during the night, the poorer the quality of your sleep will be.
If you currently have any heavy food in your diet, especially food that’s high in
saturated fat, it's most likely diminishing the quality of your sleep.
Other foods that could diminish the quality of your sleep are:
•
Foods high in sugar and simple carbohydrates, which raise blood-sugar levels
and can cause bursts of energy (obviously disturbing the sleep system).
•
Food that cause gas, heartburn, or indigestion. E.g. Spicy, Fatty foods.
Some research also has brought to attention that the lack of vitamin B and folic acid
can impair sleep. Lack of calcium and magnesium can also decrease the quality of
sleep. The brain uses calcium and magnesium to produce a calming chemical in the
brain, lack of these will make it harder to sleep deeply.
Your Sleeping Posture
Your sleeping posture can also have a very significant effect on how deep you sleep.
If you sleep on your back or on your side, you should be fine. However, if you sleep
on your front, or need to lie on your front to fall asleep; this could have some serious
repercussions on your sleep and your back!
Sleeping on your front puts unnecessary pressure on some of your vital organs, like
your stomach, liver, and intestines. You'll also put a lot of strain on your neck and
your back, which makes your sleep very un-restful, and often is a major cause of
back problems. Whenever you're sleeping in a position that puts unnecessary
pressure on your body, it makes it harder for you to sleep deeply.
How Does Stress Affect Your Sleep?
Stress is entirely triggered by our mind when we're faced in a situation that could
mean possible pain. In the cave man age stress was very useful at keeping us from
harm and alerting us to danger, it helped us survive through very intense conditions.
In today's society, stress is often a very annoying habit which has major effects on
our health and keeps us from achieving the things we really want in life.
Firstly, what happens in your body when you're “stressed”?
•
When we're stressed, our adrenalin hormone levels instantly increase. This
gives our nervous system a huge bolt, our level of alertness and muscle tension
instantly increases.
•
Our heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and blood sugar levels increase
drastically.
•
Our brain waves increase for a higher level of alertness and sensory acuity.
Right off the bat you can probably already see how stress can prevent us from
experiencing quality sleep, or even falling asleep! One huge drawback of stress is a
constant high level of brain waves that keep our minds racing all the time. As you will
learn in a later section, this can be very detrimental to your sleep system and can
cause insomnia.
The other reason why stress prevents us from sleeping deeply is because of all the
heightened “stress” hormones. These hormones make our sleep lighter and less
restful. In the cave man ages this would actually be very beneficial, in times of stress
you would be able to awaken quickly and be ready for battle with predators who are
likely out to kill you. However, this isn't the daily situation for us today.
Stress creates a similar sleep pattern as those of mothers with babies, who also
have a higher wakefulness system, allowing them to wake up during the night to the
slightest stir of their kids. However, this isn't always linked to stress.
If we were to go into methods of reducing stress in this book, it would obviously
become a very big book - so we won't explore that much. However, there are a few
simple relaxation methods you can employ on a daily basis that will have a huge
effect on these hormone levels.
It's been proven that practicing daily relaxation can have a very beneficial effect on
the levels of your stress hormones, consequently improving your sleep and your
health. We'll explore mental relaxation in a later part of this book. You can find a
special section on relaxation in the appendix of this book.
Section Summary
Take this short quiz to better learn and remember what you've just read.
1. Getting enough sunlight is important because...
a. We melt if we don't get enough sunlight.
b. Getting a nice tan is good and will attract beautiful people into your life.
c. Helps our body temperature become more balanced, and promotes deeper sleep.
d. It increases our REM sleep.
2. Regular exercise helps the sleep system because
a. Helps our body temperature rise quicker and peak at a higher point and delays the
body temperature drop in the evening.
b. Dehydrates us, and this is good because water is bad for sleep.
c. Relaxes all our muscles which helps you sleep deeper.
d. Deprives you of donuts, allowing you to sleep better as you dream of donuts and
other junk food.
3. What best describes the effects of Sunglasses on your Sleep?
a. Sunglasses help you look more suave and attractive, therefore increasing the
quality of your sleep.
b. Sunglasses prevent light from entering your eyes, which helps sleep because light
is bad for you.
c. Sun-glasses prevent quality sleep because they limit your exposure to sunlight by
20% to 90%.
d. None of the above.
4. Having a regular rising time on weekdays AND weekends is good because...
a. Allows your body temperature rhythm to become more balanced and set in place.
b. It's not good. Kacper is a psychopath who just wants to deprive me of sleep during
the weekend.
c. Allows your eyes to get a normal pattern of light exposure which helps stabilize
your body temperature rhythm.
d. A & C
5. How long should you take your day-time naps for?
a. As long as it takes to feel good
b. 3 hours or more
c. 1-2 hours
d. 10 - 45 minutes
6. Proper hydration is good for your sleeping system because:
a. It makes you go to the bathroom more often and this helps you sleep.
b. Your brain waves make a swimming pool out of the water in your body and have a
fun and relaxing time drinking tequila and pina-coladas all day by the pool.
c. Allows your blood to oxygenate your body better for your deep sleep to be more
physically recharging.
d. Allows your body temperature to adjust easier because of proper hydration in your
body.
e. C & D
7. Alcohol is bad for the sleep system because
a. It dehydrates your body.
b. Deprives you of deep sleep and REM sleep.
c. Creates a REM sleep rebound which results in un-restful and often disturbing
sleep.
d. It's poison to your whole body.
e. ALL OF THE ABOVE.
8. Staying Awake Longer...
a. Makes it harder to fall asleep.
b. Puts more demand on your sleep system and promotes deeper sleep.
c. Gives you a dangerous dose of oxygen during the day which can cause death.
d. Gives you a greater chance to expose yourself to light during the day, and to
increase activity levels during the day; which helps balance the body temperature
rhythm.
e. B & D
Okay, now that you know the basics of the mechanics of sleep. Let’s talk about how
you can use this new knowledge to sleep less, have more powerful sleep, and have
more energy in your life. I have given you the previous “scientific” information here
because I wanted you to have a knowledge base with the “right” information. Too
often in life we try to achieve something but with the wrong information! I have a
belief in life that there are 3 fundamental steps to achieving anything, whether it is
getting quality sleep, achieving a financial goal, a personal goal, or anything else,
these 3 steps are...
Step 1) Get the right information
Step 2) Make the right plan
Step 3) Take ACTION!
To give you a personal example of how step #1 is so important:
I go to the gym about 3 days per week, and every single time I'm there, I see the
same people relentlessly working out their abs on the ab cruncher machines. And
these people are doing about 10 - 20 sets of 100 to 200 repetitions of ab crunches
and sit ups, for up to 3 hours! Every time I go past them I laugh a little, and I also feel
a bit sorry for them, because they're wasting their time.
The reason why they're doing all the sit ups is because they're desperately trying to
get a 6 pack of abs on their stomach.
I have a 6 pack myself, but is it because I trained hard for 2 years to get it? No,
actually it took me only about 7 weeks. I learned that the only way for your abs to
become visible is to decrease your body fat percentage below a certain point, about
7% for men and 12% for women. This is only achieved by following a specific diet
and working out ALL the muscles of your body, not just one. This way you're working
out every single muscle, and your body fat decreases all over your body, instead of
following the “spot reducing” method, where you work out only one part of your body
and expect the muscles to become visible through all your fat. This is the only way to
get a 6 pack of abs.
That information took me 3 minutes to learn! 3 Minutes of powerful information
prevented me from wasting my time for months, or perhaps years without getting the
result I wanted.
So this is what I meant by “getting the right information” in life. Often people have the
right MOTIVATION to do something, but they have the wrong INFORMATION. A lot
of people want to have more time and energy in their lives, but they don't have the
right information on how to go about getting that result! This is why I have chosen to
write this book for you, and teach you about the mechanics of sleep first.
In this section we'll talk about all the methods and understandings you must have to
optimize your sleep clock for optimum sleep performance. Afterwards we'll talk about
sleeping problems and finally how to tie all this information together to create your
own sleep optimization plan and reduce your sleeping time. After finishing this book
and filling out your Personal Evaluation Plan, you may feel compelled to explore a
more fun part of sleep: Dreams, in the other book that came in the downloadable
package.
Remember, your main goals are to:
1) Increase the quality of your sleep.
2) Increase the level of energy you have every day.
3) Decrease your sleeping time by as much as you can. (We'll explore this in detail in
a later section.)
Getting enough Sunshine
I cannot over emphasize how important this is! As explained earlier, the amount
of natural sunlight that enters your eyes has a drastic effect on your temperature
body rhythm.
•
When we're exposed to high intensity light, our body temperature increases, and
melatonin levels rapidly decrease.
•
Exposure to natural sunlight also delays the temperature drop. This allows you
to stay awake and alert for longer periods of time.
•
Lack of sunlight results in higher melatonin levels, this leads to lower body
temperature levels, feeling very sleepy, and tired through out the day.
Lack of sunlight will create a flat-line effect in your body temperature, because it will
not get a chance to rise high enough, your body temperature won't fall low enough
during the night either. If your body temperature is flat-lined, this could cause major
sleeping problems, and it will be very difficult for you to sleep deeply for long periods
of time. A lot of people who complain about “poor sleep” usually don't get enough
sunlight.
Consider how for the most part of our evolution we were always outside during the
day, it seemed that nature intended us to be this way, then suddenly over the past
100 years we drastically changed our exposure to natural sunlight. Most of us hardly
get any sun today at all! We drive to work in a car, we wear sunglasses, we work in
offices, what kind of effect do you think this has on our sleep clock?
How Much Light Should You Be Getting?
The intensity of light is measured in a unit called a lux. 1 lux is approximately the
light that your eyes receive when you're locked in a dark room with a single candle.
•
In an office lit by fluorescent light bulbs, the light intensity is about 200 - 500
luxes.
•
At sun-rise, the light intensity is about 10,000 luxes.
•
At noon, on a bright sunny day, the light intensity is about 100,000 luxes!
Consider how for most of our evolution we spent most of our time outside, in these
high intensity light environments, and how now we spend so much time in low light
intensity environments. Spending the day indoors is the equivalent for our eyes
as spending the day in complete darkness!
Because our eyes rarely get exposed to “real light”, our eyes can't really tell the
difference between night and day. Also, consider the fact that most of us aren't even
exposed to real “darkness” anymore as most of us are exposed to other sources of
light during the night (street lamps, TV screens, Computers). The result is, our eyes
can't tell the difference between night and day, and our body temperature rhythm
flat-lines. As a result, we get poorer sleep, and can't stay awake and alert for very
long.
There are many miscalculations about how much light actually enters our eyes. A
recent study by Doctor Daniel F. Kripke, of the University of California, shows that
most of the time when people measure light intensity in certain areas, they take the
measurements wrong, by pointing the measurement devices straight at the source!
For instance, during a sunny day at noon, the sun provides us with 100,000 luxes of
light. However, most of us don't look DIRECTLY at the sun! Obviously, this
wouldn't be a “bright” idea. The Sun can be damaging to our eyes in high intensity
amounts.
However, Dr. Kripke states that the light that enters our eyes really depends in the
direction that we're looking at. By measuring light intensity in the directions that most
people look at during the day Dr. Kripke says that most of us get an average of 5,000
to 10,000 luxes of light during the day.
He also says that the same misconceptions come into play when measuring light
intensity indoors. Many people think we get an average of 200 to 500 luxes indoors,
however, these light intensity measurements are often taken by pointing the
measurement instruments right at the light source! And obviously, most of us don't
walk through a super market looking straight at the ceiling. Dr. Kripke says that most
of us experience only about 1 to 5 luxes of light when we're indoors!
So what's the solution? Well, I could hammer this further into your mind by providing
you with more information about light, and the effects of light deprivation, but I think
the best solution to this is just to GET MORE SUNLIGHT! Go out there, and get as
much of it as possible.
If you're working at home and you're doing some thinking, go outside into your yard
and think there instead.
If you work in an office, move your desk near a window.
Plan more activities outdoors
Open the drapes or shades immediately upon awakening.
Avoid sunglasses in the morning and evening. (More on sunglasses below)
Now, let's discuss other strategies for increasing your light exposure...
The Effects of Sunglasses
Sunglasses can block from 20% to 90% of sunlight entering our eyes! Many people
who I've consulted have received a huge boost of better sleep and energy
throughout the day simply from wearing their sunglasses less often, or eliminating
the use of sunglasses completely.
Naturally, sunlight can be damaging to our eyes in certain circumstances. Natural
sunlight is composed of many different types of light, including UV (Ultra Violet) light
which can be very harmful. Over exposure to UV light is a leading cause of skin
cancer and cataract (break down of the lenses in our eyes).
However, most people who wear sunglasses wear them when they don't even need
to. UV radiation depends on the time of day; it's highest in the noon hours. Usually,
the higher the sun is in the sky, the higher the UV radiation. UV radiation is lowest
during sunrise and sunset. Also, the closer you live to the equator, the higher the UV
radiation you're exposed to on a daily level.
Try to minimize your use of sunglasses, and use your common sense as to when
they may be appropriate. If you currently wear sunglasses all day, you are
minimizing the amount of sunlight entering your eyes, which is affecting your body
temperature rhythm.
Artificial Bright Light
If you currently work in an office where light is limited, getting light during the day
may be challenging for you. If you feel really drowsy and tired during the first hours
of work in the office, chances are your body temperature isn't rising fast enough,
most likely because you haven't been exposed to enough light, or haven't had
enough activity!
If you work in an office, or at home, a good idea is to get a “bright light box.” Bright
light boxes are machines that artificially produce light at high intensities, from 5,000
luxes to up to 10,000 luxes. They're a bit pricy, but a great investment if you or your
employer values your energy level while you're at work. If you work in a place where
your employer depends on your ability to function properly and with full energy, you
could give them this book and convince them to invest in a few of them.
They range from $150 to $300 in price, here's a company I would personally
recommend to order these from. (They even offer a minihand-held bright-light generator that you can take with you virtually anywhere.)Bright light therapy also has a connection with our emotions and daytime mood; ithas known to cure depression and other mental disorders. Lack of light in the winteris one of the main causes of winter depression, and why people generally sleep longer in the winter.
Again! I could go on forever about how important light is in our lives, but let’s move
on.
How Exercise Affects Your Body Temperature Rhythm
If you want to instantly increase the quality of your sleep, then start an exercise
program if you don't exercise already. Exercise helps you sleep better in a number of
ways, I'm not even going to mention all the other health benefits! :
•
Exercise will raise your body temperature rhythm, and make your body
temperature “peak” at a higher level. This will increase your energy levels
throughout the day, you'll feel more awake, alive, and motivated.
•
As your body temperature levels will max out at a higher level, your body
temperature will also drop more easily and deeper. This will allow you to sleep
deeply, without interruptions.
•
Regular exercise will prevent your body temperature rhythm from “flat-lining”,
which will allow you to sleep deeply even if you've had a stressful day, or
couldn't exercise on one particular day.
•
Exercise delays the body temperature “drop” in the evening, allowing you to stay
awake and alert longer without feeling tired and drowsy.
•
Exercise is also a great relief of tension and stress, which as you'll later find out,
is a major cause of sleeping disorders.
If you don't exercise yet, GET A MOVE ON IT! and start now. The best time to
exercise is in the morning, as this will promote a quick temperature rise. However,
avoid exercise 3 hours prior to going to sleep, as your body temperature will
probably still be on the rise, and you may find falling asleep / sleeping deeply more
difficult.
If you don't exercise, I'm not suggesting you get up off your butt right now, get a
membership at your local gym and begin a full scale work out program. You can do
that only if you really want to. However, recent study shows that just moderate
exercise during the day has many health benefits. If you can't motivate yourself to
start exercising regularly, you could find a less intensive physical activity that you still
enjoy, like walking briskly, biking, rollerblading, these will still have a substantial
effect at raising your body temperature.
My final point about this would be: What's the Point of Trying to Rejuvenate your
Body, and Increasing the Quality of Your Sleep, if You're Not Going to USE
YOUR BODY?
Power Naps - The Secret to Energy With Little Sleep
If done correctly, taking regular day-time naps will give you a huge boost of
energy throughout the day.
As you may recall, there is a natural “slump” in body temperature during the mid
afternoon. This slump is what makes a lot of people sleepy during the day, and why
so many people feel the need to take an afternoon nap! However, is taking a nap
good for strengthening your sleep system? The answer is yes, and no.
In many siesta countries, taking a regular nap is a normal part of the culture, i.e.:
Spain, Mexico. This has several effects:
As you remember, we sleep through certain sleep stages, and sleep cycles. During
the first sleep cycle, our body enters deep sleep for the longest period of time, it's at
this point that our body temperature begins to drop really low, our respiration, heart
rate and blood pressure decreases.
If you've ever been woken up out of “deep sleep”, you know that it’s almost
impossible to get up. Waking up during or after a major deep sleep phase makes you
feel lethargic, slow, and disoriented i.e.: when you wake up during the night to go to
the bathroom, you stroll in there like a Zombie, and don't even remember it the next
morning.
It takes about 45 minutes to enter the first deep sleep phase. If you limit your nap to
45 minutes, you will sleep mainly in Stage 2 sleep. Stage 2 sleep also plays a major
role in restoring physical energy, as you look at the previous chart, 50% of sleep is
spent in Stage 2 sleep. This is why you may have heard before that a simple 10
minute nap can totally re-charge you. If you limit a nap to 45 minutes, you will wake
up feeling re-charged, and ready to go.
However, if you take a nap for longer than 1-2 hours, you will most likely enter deep
sleep. Your temperature will begin to drop, and you'll wake up feeling very sleepy
and disoriented. Also, when you enter deep sleep during the day, you put your body
temperature rhythm out of whack, it may be difficult for you to go to sleep later on in
the night. You'll have difficulty sleeping deeply at night, which will have negative
consequences for the day ahead, such as poor energy, headaches and nausea.
Most likely resulting in more naps.
As you see, taking long naps is not the way to go as you can enter a cycle of
behavior resulting in poor energy levels and poor quality sleeps. This would affect
your health and your life in big ways. Taking irregular naps is one way that sleeping
disorders develop.
The correct way to take naps is to keep them ultra short. This will prevent deep sleep
and re-charge you physically. Some studies even show that taking short naps can
reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease by as much as 30%.
As part of this book, I would personally recommend that you do take a short nap
during the day, you'll be surprised at how energized you feel for the rest of the day
when you do take one! Limit the nap to 45 minutes, if you still feel tired after the nap,
then shorten the nap time. The amount of time required to enter deep sleep varies
from person to person.
Because everyone experiences the afternoon body temperature slump, we can
assume that nature intended us to have an afternoon nap. Perhaps to keep our
ancestors from the mid-day sun and dangerous predators out for the hunt?
Waking Up At the End of a Cycle
This is the true secret to “waking up energized.”
I'm curious, have you ever had an experience where you woke up in the morning and
you felt ABSOLUTELY GREAT?! With no aching muscles, no lethargic feeling, or
that usual slow and moody state of mind that most of us wake up with? The state of
mind that tells you “grab some coffee or you'll die...”
Before actually learning this information, I had this experience a few times, and it
made me wonder how on Earth it happened. I woke up with a sense that I've already
been awake, and I felt completely ready to go.
As you recall, we sleep through sleep stages in sleep cycles. Each Cycle ends with a
period of REM sleep. During REM sleep our physiology and brain waves are the
closest to the ones when we're awake. The longest period of REM sleep is towards
the end of sleep, during which we usually wake up for the final time.
The challenge is, most of us use alarm clocks to “bolt” ourselves out of sleep. Often,
our alarm clocks wake us up in the wrong sleep stage, making it very hard to wake
up. For instance, if a person is in their last sleep cycle towards the end of a night,
and they're in Stage 3 sleep, if your alarm clock goes blaring off at this point, it might
be very difficult to get up, and feel rested. However, if only the alarm clock went off
30 minutes later, in REM sleep, getting up would be much easier.
Obviously, most of us are limited and don't really have a choice as to when we have
to set that alarm clock to. We have busy schedules, work places to get to, and traffic
to beat which unfortunately will not adjust to our schedule.
So the only way to wake up at the end of a cycle is to do some trial and error testing
with the time we go to sleep at. If you currently wake up feeling horrible, try going to
sleep 20 minutes earlier, or 20 minutes later, 40 minutes earlier, or 40 minutes later
than you usually do. By doing this, you'll eventually find a “hot spot” for waking up at
the end of your cycle.
Remember though, your sleep cycle never depends on when your alarm clock
wakes you up, only on your body temperature levels. As you apply the other
information in this book, your sleep cycles will change as well, so you may want to
try experimenting with this technique when you get a solid sleep cycle pattern
happening.
The Weekend - Your Sleep System's Worst Nightmare
Ahhh, it's the weekend... I'm curious, have you ever heard... SOMEONE say these
lines? (Yeah, I know you'd never say them...)
“It's the weekend! I can finally get some sleep!”
“It's the weekend. I can finally sleep in bed and veg out all day!”
or my personal favorite
“It's the weekend. I can finally CATCH up on some sleep!”
Sleeping in late on weekends is detrimental to the sleep system for the following
reasons.
•
Limits your exposure to sunlight on these two days which results in your body
temperature rising and falling slower.
•
As a result, it's harder to fall asleep on Sunday, which results in the usual
“Sunday night insomnia”.
•
Limits your prior wakefulness before you go to bed again. This weakens the
pressure to go to sleep at night, alters your body temperature rhythm, and
further promotes insomnia.
•
Reduces the ability for your body to sleep deeply.
You should keep your weekend sleeping schedule the same as it is during the week.
This will set your body rhythm in place, and you won't have to “sleep in” to “catch up”
on sleep, as your body will learn to adapt to one sleeping schedule. If you
continuously mix up your sleeping pattern, your body temperature rhythm will be out
of whack, and it will be difficult for you to sleep deeply.
Also, “catching up on sleep” is a myth. As you know by now, It's only during the first
3-4 hours that we experience most of our deep sleep, the rest is comprised mostly of
Stage 2 and REM sleep. If you sleep for 10 hours, this will primarily increase your
REM sleep, which will not be of great benefit to your body.
If you feel the need to re-energize during the weekend, take a 45 minute nap, as
described before! You'll save tons of time by sleeping less, feel more energized, and
your sleep system will be strengthened by this new behavior - making it easier for
you to sleep deeply.
Having a Regular Rising Time & Sleeping Time
This combines with what we talked about above with weekend sleep. If you currently
have a schedule that doesn't require you to wake up at the same time every day
during the week, and you have chosen to get up at different times each day, you're
weakening your sleep system.
Remember, your body temperature begins to rise the moment you get out of bed,
start moving, and allow sunlight to enter your eyes. If you get up at different times
every single day, this is the equivalent of putting your body through jet lag every
morning. If your body temperature rises 2 hours later one day, then it will drop 2
hours later as well, making it harder for you to fall asleep and sleep deeper the next
day if you decide to get up at a different time.
Secondly, I'm sure you've probably heard someone say this before: “I have to wake
up early tomorrow, so I'm getting to bed early.”
A lot of people try to compensate for waking up early by going to bed early the night
before, sometimes lying in bed for an hour or two before actually going to bed, this is
also detrimental to the sleep system, as it reduces your prior wakefulness, which
lowers the pressure of sleep, and makes it harder to sleep deeply.
Although having a regular rising and sleeping time may take some “discipline”, as
you read and reflect on this concept, you may feel compelled to add this simple
strategy into your lifestyle, the benefits of sleeping less, getting better sleep, and
having more energy far outweigh the few extra hours you could spend in bed wasting
your life away in that cozy cocoon of slumber.
How Nicotine, Caffeine, and Alcohol Affect Sleep.
Mmmmmmm Coffee...
Ironically, the substance that most of us chose to consume to help “wake us up”,
keeps us from experiencing proper restful sleep. If everyone simply learned the
secrets to sleeping properly in this book, there wouldn't be a need for coffee!
Coffee contains caffeine, which is also present in a wide variety of junk our bodies
don't need: Cola, Pop, Candy Bars...
Caffeine increases heart rate and blood pressure, it promotes alertness and reduces
fatigue. These effects can last for a few minutes or can last for up to seven hours! If
you're currently drinking caffeine, you're putting unnecessary pressure on your
awake system, which is weakening your sleep system.
Different people have different tolerance levels to caffeine, so caffeine doesn't affect
everyone's sleep in the same way. Also, if you drink one or two cups of coffee in the
morning, it’s unlikely your sleep will be affected. However, seeing how caffeine can
stay in the blood stream for hours at a time, if you drink caffeine at least 6 hours prior
to sleeping, it will affect the quality of your sleep, it will be difficult for your body to
enter deep sleep or spend a lot of time in deep sleep because of the stimulative
effects. You might also experience frequent night time awakenings out of Stage 2
sleep.
Interesting Facts:
Caffeine
People who drink caffeine tend to frequently get up in the middle of the night to
urinate. This is the result of the body trying to detoxify itself.
The energizing effect that caffeine gives you in the morning is only temporary.
Getting just 10 minutes of high intensity light would be 10x more energizing for the
rest of your day, more beneficial to your sleep system, and your health.
Nicotine
If you currently smoke, you might want to strongly consider the following.
Nicotine harms sleep in many ways, like caffeine, nicotine produces faster brain
waves, heart rate, and breathing rate, and an increased amount of stress hormones
in your blood.
Generally, if you smoke you can't expect to get quality sleep, the stimulant effects of
nicotine will prevent you from sleeping deeply, as nicotine is a poison to your whole
body. Nicotine puts your whole system, including your body temperature rhythm,
totally out of balance.
If you want to improve your sleep, your best choice would be to quit smoking. While
in this book I won't give specific methods and information on that, I would like to point
out that I can provide you with some extremely powerful information to help you quit.
If you want to make the decision to quit smoking, contact us at
Questions@WonderfulSleep.com
Alcohol
Some people think that a “night cap” of alcohol will help you sleep; this couldn't be
further from the truth.
While alcohol may temporarily relax some muscles in your body, it's extremely
detrimental to your sleeping system.
Alcohol Suppresses Deep Sleep, and REM sleep!
Alcohol will suppress the 3rd, 4th, and 5th stage of sleep, which will result in a very
light, un-restful sleep. Reduced REM sleep usually leads to a REM sleep rebound,
in the form of intense dreaming or nightmares, which weaken your sleep for days
afterwards.
Considering that most people combine alcohol with coffee to fight hang-over, this is a
deadly combination for your sleep system!
Alcohol also dehydrates your body, so even small doses of it will produce un-restful
sleep. As you remember, your blood vessels dilate during deep sleep to allow more
blood flow to the muscles. If your body is dehydrated this process is much more
difficult because dehydrated blood doesn't flow as well through your blood vessels as
fully hydrated blood.
Note: Never Combine Alcohol With Sleeping Pills! If You Do, You're Risking
Your life! (More on sleeping pills in later section)
Prior Wakefulness
As you learned earlier, there are two systems which really control your sleep. These
systems work together:
1) Your awake system and
2) Your sleep system
Your awake system keeps you awake and your brain waves high during the day, and
naturally loses strength as you get less light exposure, and your temperature level
drops towards the end of the day. When your sleep system takes over, it works to
give you the most refreshing sleep possible. When you get quality sleep, your awake
system benefits from this the next day!
This dual team works in the negative sense as well. If you're doing things in your life
to weaken your sleep system, your awake system will suffer from poor sleep, which
will most likely result in you feeling tired, lethargic, and lead to an even weaker sleep
system. Most people avoid exercise and outdoor activity because they didn't sleep
too well. They're actually depriving themselves of the life force that feeds their sleep
system!
The more demand you put on your awake system, in the proper ways (as we've
talked about so far) the stronger your sleep system will get.
The challenge is, most people try to cope with feeling tired during the day by taking
long naps, or going to sleep early. These actions weaken the sleep system by
lowering natural sunlight exposure, and decreasing physical activity. The body
temperature rhythm adjusts to this behavior by falling earlier, and rising very slowly,
which makes it difficult to sleep deeply, and to stay awake and energized during the
day.
By increasing your prior wakefulness you will increase the pressure to sleep later on,
and increase the strength of the sleep system. While this may seem difficult at first,
in the long run your sleep system will get much stronger, you'll get better sleep in a
shorter amount of time. We'll explore this in detail later on when you design your own
specific plan in the next section.
Hydration and Sleep - We're Dying of Thirst in Our Sleep!
I can read your thoughts right now:
“Oh no... Another guy that's going to talk about drinking 8 glasses of water a day...”
“Yup!”
If you're not drinking at least 8 cups of water a day, chances are you are creating a
water deficit in your body. Here's a break down of how much water your body uses
every day:
•
Your Intestines: about 1/2 cups of water
•
Breathing: about 1 and 1/3 cups of water
•
Your Lungs: about 2 cups
•
Your Skin: about 2 cups of water
•
Your Kidneys: about 5 and 1/2 cups of water!
Under normal conditions, the body loses approximately 12 cups of water every
day!
The main effect of dehydration is seen in your blood, your blood clumps together and
can't carry oxygen to all the parts of your body. As an effect, you'll feel tired, low on
energy, and your immune system will be lowered.
Studies show that most people are so dehydrated, they mistake the body's natural
call for water for hunger! Most people find it difficult to start drinking 8 cups of water a
day, and see it as too much of a “chore”. However, this is usually only because your
body has adapted to chronic dehydration. Once you start drinking more water and
give your body the message that “Hey, we have water! We can have all we want!” it
will get the point, and you will actually get thirsty more often!
Speaking from my personal experience, when I decided to quit drinking all the crap I
was taking in every day (Pop, Coffee, Juice), and drink nothing but water, I saw the
effects immediately. I had dandruff and all kinds of skin problems for years which
disappeared in less than 3 days after I started drinking water! I had more energy,
and decreased my sleeping time by 2 hours.
Interestingly enough, after about 6 months of drinking nothing but water, I
accidentally picked up a cup with Pepsi in it and took a sip. IT FELT LIKE I WAS
SWOLLOWING 20 scoops of sugar! It was absolutely disgusting and I almost
gagged!
The challenge for our bodies that we're constantly presenting is drinking fluids that
aren't part of what our bodies were meant to take in naturally. Our bodies cope with it
and “adapt”. The moment you start giving your body what it really needs and
deserves, it will thank you for it, and it won't want to go back to the other crap!
So how does water affect your sleep?
During deep sleep our blood vessels dilate, and most of the blood which is usually
stored in our inner organs throughout the day travels into our muscles to repair them.
If your body is dehydrated, your blood clumps together and doesn't get to all the
places it needs to, it doesn't carry enough oxygen to all your muscles.
During REM sleep, respiration and blood pressure escalate dramatically, blood flow
to the brain and muscles also increases.
Most people wake up in the morning extremely thirsty. Sleeping without water
in your system is the equivalent of running an 8 hour marathon without a water
break!
Also, a large portion of our energy during the night goes into our digestive system,
which also relies heavily on water! If your system is more hydrated, your body will
spend less energy digesting food during the night, and put more focus into giving you
better sleep. As a result, you'll sleep less, and feel much more ENERGIZED and
REFRESHED in the morning.
Proper hydration also plays a major role in helping your body temperature rhythm
adjust. The more hydrated you are the easier it is for your body to control your body
temperature. Your body temperature is the main underlying clock which controls
when and how you sleep! Proper hydration in your body will help this system operate
at its optimum level, just as motor oil does in a car engine.
It would go beyond the scope of this short e-book to talk about how beneficial water
is to your health, not just your sleep. If you take this message to heart, and decide to
totally hydrate yourself once and for all, here's a quick method:
Buy a 2.0 Liter Bottle of Pop of your choice (Coca Cola, Pepsi, Sprite...), take the
bottle to the bathroom and pour the contents down the toilet, as you do this, say to
yourself “I'm not drinking this crap anymore!”
Clean out the bottle, and fill it with drinking water. This is approximately how much
water you should be drinking every day! Carry this bottle with you around the house,
and whenever you feel like drinking/eating some junk, take a sip of the water. Your
goal should be to finish at least half the bottle in a day.
Also, keep a glass of water by your bed when you go to sleep. When you wake up,
drink the whole glass before you set off on your day.
How Food Affects Your Sleep
There are a small changes you can make to your diet to sleep shorter and more
deeply. While I am not a professional nutritionist, and I do not want to get into talking
about dieting in this book too deeply, here are the facts:
Your digestive system slows down at night, and it becomes harder to digest food.
During deep sleep, a lot of energy is required by our body to pump blood through our
muscles and replenish physical energy. Most of the energy during sleep is sucked up
by our digestive system, therefore, the more demand you put on your digestive
system during the night, the poorer the quality of your sleep will be.
If you currently have any heavy food in your diet, especially food that’s high in
saturated fat, it's most likely diminishing the quality of your sleep.
Other foods that could diminish the quality of your sleep are:
•
Foods high in sugar and simple carbohydrates, which raise blood-sugar levels
and can cause bursts of energy (obviously disturbing the sleep system).
•
Food that cause gas, heartburn, or indigestion. E.g. Spicy, Fatty foods.
Some research also has brought to attention that the lack of vitamin B and folic acid
can impair sleep. Lack of calcium and magnesium can also decrease the quality of
sleep. The brain uses calcium and magnesium to produce a calming chemical in the
brain, lack of these will make it harder to sleep deeply.
Your Sleeping Posture
Your sleeping posture can also have a very significant effect on how deep you sleep.
If you sleep on your back or on your side, you should be fine. However, if you sleep
on your front, or need to lie on your front to fall asleep; this could have some serious
repercussions on your sleep and your back!
Sleeping on your front puts unnecessary pressure on some of your vital organs, like
your stomach, liver, and intestines. You'll also put a lot of strain on your neck and
your back, which makes your sleep very un-restful, and often is a major cause of
back problems. Whenever you're sleeping in a position that puts unnecessary
pressure on your body, it makes it harder for you to sleep deeply.
How Does Stress Affect Your Sleep?
Stress is entirely triggered by our mind when we're faced in a situation that could
mean possible pain. In the cave man age stress was very useful at keeping us from
harm and alerting us to danger, it helped us survive through very intense conditions.
In today's society, stress is often a very annoying habit which has major effects on
our health and keeps us from achieving the things we really want in life.
Firstly, what happens in your body when you're “stressed”?
•
When we're stressed, our adrenalin hormone levels instantly increase. This
gives our nervous system a huge bolt, our level of alertness and muscle tension
instantly increases.
•
Our heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and blood sugar levels increase
drastically.
•
Our brain waves increase for a higher level of alertness and sensory acuity.
Right off the bat you can probably already see how stress can prevent us from
experiencing quality sleep, or even falling asleep! One huge drawback of stress is a
constant high level of brain waves that keep our minds racing all the time. As you will
learn in a later section, this can be very detrimental to your sleep system and can
cause insomnia.
The other reason why stress prevents us from sleeping deeply is because of all the
heightened “stress” hormones. These hormones make our sleep lighter and less
restful. In the cave man ages this would actually be very beneficial, in times of stress
you would be able to awaken quickly and be ready for battle with predators who are
likely out to kill you. However, this isn't the daily situation for us today.
Stress creates a similar sleep pattern as those of mothers with babies, who also
have a higher wakefulness system, allowing them to wake up during the night to the
slightest stir of their kids. However, this isn't always linked to stress.
If we were to go into methods of reducing stress in this book, it would obviously
become a very big book - so we won't explore that much. However, there are a few
simple relaxation methods you can employ on a daily basis that will have a huge
effect on these hormone levels.
It's been proven that practicing daily relaxation can have a very beneficial effect on
the levels of your stress hormones, consequently improving your sleep and your
health. We'll explore mental relaxation in a later part of this book. You can find a
special section on relaxation in the appendix of this book.
Section Summary
Take this short quiz to better learn and remember what you've just read.
1. Getting enough sunlight is important because...
a. We melt if we don't get enough sunlight.
b. Getting a nice tan is good and will attract beautiful people into your life.
c. Helps our body temperature become more balanced, and promotes deeper sleep.
d. It increases our REM sleep.
2. Regular exercise helps the sleep system because
a. Helps our body temperature rise quicker and peak at a higher point and delays the
body temperature drop in the evening.
b. Dehydrates us, and this is good because water is bad for sleep.
c. Relaxes all our muscles which helps you sleep deeper.
d. Deprives you of donuts, allowing you to sleep better as you dream of donuts and
other junk food.
3. What best describes the effects of Sunglasses on your Sleep?
a. Sunglasses help you look more suave and attractive, therefore increasing the
quality of your sleep.
b. Sunglasses prevent light from entering your eyes, which helps sleep because light
is bad for you.
c. Sun-glasses prevent quality sleep because they limit your exposure to sunlight by
20% to 90%.
d. None of the above.
4. Having a regular rising time on weekdays AND weekends is good because...
a. Allows your body temperature rhythm to become more balanced and set in place.
b. It's not good. Kacper is a psychopath who just wants to deprive me of sleep during
the weekend.
c. Allows your eyes to get a normal pattern of light exposure which helps stabilize
your body temperature rhythm.
d. A & C
5. How long should you take your day-time naps for?
a. As long as it takes to feel good
b. 3 hours or more
c. 1-2 hours
d. 10 - 45 minutes
6. Proper hydration is good for your sleeping system because:
a. It makes you go to the bathroom more often and this helps you sleep.
b. Your brain waves make a swimming pool out of the water in your body and have a
fun and relaxing time drinking tequila and pina-coladas all day by the pool.
c. Allows your blood to oxygenate your body better for your deep sleep to be more
physically recharging.
d. Allows your body temperature to adjust easier because of proper hydration in your
body.
e. C & D
7. Alcohol is bad for the sleep system because
a. It dehydrates your body.
b. Deprives you of deep sleep and REM sleep.
c. Creates a REM sleep rebound which results in un-restful and often disturbing
sleep.
d. It's poison to your whole body.
e. ALL OF THE ABOVE.
8. Staying Awake Longer...
a. Makes it harder to fall asleep.
b. Puts more demand on your sleep system and promotes deeper sleep.
c. Gives you a dangerous dose of oxygen during the day which can cause death.
d. Gives you a greater chance to expose yourself to light during the day, and to
increase activity levels during the day; which helps balance the body temperature
rhythm.
e. B & D
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