2pm and the giant lunch and that beer I had in my break have certainly made me feel like curling up I a ball under my desk.This week has been busy, not just with things to do but also with a lot of mental activity in my down time.
Last night I even feel asleep at 8pm in front of the TV.
For a few months now I have been on a quest to get more quality sleep. I have discovered it is not about quantity. Lots of sleep can just make you feel worse. (which I think is common knowledge) I have been monitoring my sleep with the iphone Sleep cycle app . And I have noticed a direct correlation between the amount of deep sleep I get and how I feel the next day.
I have not mastered, the art of deep sleep yet, but what I have done is made some improvements, here are a few tips so you too can feel like the King or queen of your sleep.
- Just sleep in the bedroom. Your brain make associations with places and what it is doing. Watching Tv, studying or even reading in your bedroom is brain stimulation, and the opposite of sleep. So try and do these things outside of the bedroom
- Keep it quiet. I live in a noisy street, and have two cats that sleep inside. Even though you don’t remember waking up in the night, I noticed from my sleep app that I was waking up a lot in the night. I have started wearing foam ear plugs at night.
- Relax.. A bath before bed, is a great way to start to relax before bed.
- How dark is your room? Your brain is wired to wake up when it is light. Invest in black out curtains, and turn all digital clocks, or other light sources, away from your face. Also if you can an hour before going to bed dim the lights in your house.
- Try some natural sleepy drugs. I wouldn’t recommend sleeping pills, unless you have experienced some sort of trauma recently. Here are alternatives. Chamomile tea before bed is a good start. Also Rose Hips Extract, Valerian extract are two great relaxers.
- Brain chemicals, if you have a lot of brain chatter or mild depression You may want to increase your serotonin and/ or melatonin. 5Htp can be purchased in health stores and improves your levels of Serotonin, but melatonin is only available on prescription in the UK.
- It is believed that some smells can aid your sleep too. Lavender is a common one that you can buy in a spray bottle to spray your room before bed.
With these points I seem to achieve more deep sleep than I did before, but I sometimes feel that sleep is just something you can not expect to have great every time.
Hope these tips help you to achieve better kip time, in turn turn improving your awake time.
