Alex Shalman.comPractical Personal Development

There have been times I’ve woken from a full night’s sleep feeling like a train wreck – drowsy, groggy, and running on zero energy. I’m not an insomniac, I don’t have sleep apnea, anxiety, nor do I have any other kind of sleeping disorder. After analyzing my lifestyle, I’ve come up with some very effective methods for energizing sleep.

“There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.”
~Woody Allen

Effects of ‘Bad’ Sleep

1. Problems Concentrating
2. Slow Metabolism
3. Low energy levels, fatigue
4. Irritability, behavioral problems
5. Infections
6. Blurred Vision

Cures for Sleeplessness

The truth is that every person has a very unique biological clock and circadian rhythm. I can outline some helpful tips for you, but essentially it will be up to you to find your ideal medium, the amount of hours you need to sleep, and the best sleeping conditions for you. These tips are geared towards the general public and if you’re a bat that needs to sleep upside down I’m not sure there’s anything we can do to help you except turn off the lights!

“Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.”
~Thomas Dekker

1. Don’t Go To Sleep. It might seem counter-intuitive that an article about getting quality sleep would tell you not to go to sleep. What I’m referring to is going to sleep before you feel tired. This causes a pointless waste of time, during which we lay in bed dreading the wakefulness. The key is to wait until we’re feeling drowsy, and think we’ll be able to fall asleep within the next 15 minutes or so.

2. Cool Room Temperature. Nothing makes sleeping harder than obnoxiously high temperatures. If you’re in a hot area, get yourself an A/C or a fan. If it’s winter and your heating system if super high, crack open the window just enough to cool your room — Then snuggle under those blankets and pass right out!

• I find it helps to wear socks to sleep as to not let out any body temperature through this vulnerable limb.

3. All Day Hydration. Make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day. This will replenish and invigorate every cell in your body, speeding up your metabolism, and restoring your natural body cycles. You may want to tone down the water drinking towards the evening if you have a weak bladder.

• Stay away from sodas, concentrated juices, coffee, and other caffeinated and sugary beverages. They overwhelm your digestive and circulatory systems as well as throw off your natural cycles (including the sleep cycle!).

4. Ease Your Mind. Our world is so full of stimulation, from hard work, internet surfing, games, great conversations, children, and the stresses of life. This could lead us to think too rapidly and be too anxious in order to fall asleep. It helps to ease our mind for at least 30 minutes before going to bed.

• Play music that is soft and repetitive, such as classical, or perhaps some background white noise.
• Schedule tomorrow. This will help relax your mind because you won’t be worrying about remembering what’s important.
• Take it easy. Do not do work, listen to fast music, watch tv, or exercise close to bedtime as it will keep you up-and-atom!
• Read. It helps to have some easy reading (no textbooks!) such as fiction in order to engage your mind in an interesting story. As soon as you feel the drowsiness setting in you can just put the book down and roll over into bed.

5. Sleep in the fetal position. When in doubt refer to the small, untainted and pure among us — kids. They’re naturally inclined to sleep in the fetal position, and doctors would agree that it’s the healthiest position from proper spinal alignment. This means you’ll be able to sleep comfortably, see what kids are doing.

6. The Lap of Luxury. If you’re going to spend money on something expensive, or treat yourself in any way, consider making the first treat one which will improve your life — the gift of comfortable and luxurious sleep. Get yourself an expensive mattress with memory foam, and some high-thread count sheets, and day dream about going to sleep all day. The truth is, if you’re exhausted enough it won’t matter where you fall asleep, but the quality of your sleep depends largely on the mattress.

7. Take Naps. If you feel lethargic or drowsy in the middle of the day, take this opportunity to nap for 30-60 minutes, but no more. Napping will actually train your body to quickly enter deep sleep — a skill you’ll be able to use in the evenings. Be careful not to nap later in the day, or too close to your bedtime, as the extra rest may keep you from falling asleep quickly.

8. Soak Up The Sun. Our brains have a center known as the supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN) that controls many aspects of our metabolism, such as body temperature and hormones. This area of our brain is triggered by the amount of sunlight we get. Experiencing sun first thing in the morning releases melatonin, increases our body temperature, and generally makes us more alert. It’s important to get a sufficient amount of sunlight during the day, in order to keep the sleep-wake cycle functioning correctly.

9. Known Yourself. Whether it’s nature vs. nurture, or genetics vs. habit, it’s very important to get to know your own sleeping patterns and how they fluctuate with the seasons. You can do this by experimenting with when you go to sleep, when you rise, and how many hours you sleep per night. Also, experiment with different variations of nap times. Once you find the sweet spot of your sleeping cycle you can get back to this happy-medium whenever you want.

• Schedule. Keeping a strict schedule is a huge benefit to having great quality sleep. If you’re in school, or work a 9-5 job, you’re already benefiting from a set schedule (as long as you don’t mess it up by staying up way too late).
• Freelancers. As a freelancer you may design your own schedule as you see fit. This has the pros of flexibility, but the cons of no set schedule. Even if you don’t have anyone to answer to, see if you can create a schedule where you sleep, eat, and exercise at the same time each day in order to boost your circadian rhythm and get great quality sleep.
• Web workers. The computer monitor does not count as sunlight. This means that if you’re cooped up in front of a computer all day long, you’re going to have to pull yourself away and get some sun.

10. Avoid Alarm Scare. It’s never good to be scared out of your sleep by a noisy alarm clock. Sure it does the job by waking you up, but it scares you in the process. I recommend waking up the way nature intended — with the sun. Obviously this isn’t always possible depending on living conditions and when we actually have to rise. Luckily there is a solution.

• Biobrite Sunrise Clock. This clock brings the sunlight to you, no matter where you are, and no matter what time.

11. Perfect Bedtime Foods. It’s important to eat (or not eat) the proper foods before bedtime.

• Low Glycemic. Having a small amount of low glycemic foods before bed will allow your body to mildly digest and keep the energy reserves from depleting. Often leading to a better, more refreshing sleep.
• Gassy Foods. Whatever you’re intolerant to, whether it be milk, red meat, or beans, avoid these foods before bed. An upset gassy stomach is a sure way to stay awake at night.

Common Sleep Myths

When it comes to myths about sleeping, ignorance is not bliss. It’s important to dispel some of these urban legends in order to avoid making decisions based on wrong information.

1. Sleep More If You’re Tired. If you’re already getting the recommended amount of sleep each night, and you feel tired on top of that, you shouldn’t necessarily seek more sleep to remedy the fatigue. You might have a medical condition that is preventing you from getting high-quality sleep, eating an unhealthy diet, or not exercising enough during the day. You might even be depressed. Try to find the real source of fatigue instead of sleeping away your day.
2. Sleep More On Weekends. Many of us have a hectic week schedule and we make the mistake of sleeping off the weekly sleep deprivation during the weekends. This is a poor decision because it alters the regular sleeping schedule and come Monday you’ll have to readjust once again, becoming susceptible to more low-quality sleep.
3. Lost Sleep? No Problem! People think that running on less sleep, in order to get more done, won’t have a huge toll on them. On the contrary, a chronic sleep deprivation can cause serious illnesses as well as lower our metabolism and certain cognitive abilities. It might seem like you have more hours in the day, but you won’t be getting as much done!
4. Sleep Less When You’re Older. I often hear older people say that with age you do not need to sleep as much. This is true when you go from being an infant to an adult, but between different stages of adulthood you need the same exact amount of sleep. If you’re older, and you can’t sleep as many hours as you used to, you should seek medical advice as to the cause of this problem.
5. Turkey Makes You Sleepy. True enough, turkey contains tryptophan, but there are very comparable levels of this amino acid in other meats and poultry. I think the problem lies in the fact that most people heavily overeat on thanksgiving (as well as have some alcohol on top), and as you know over eating often leads to lethargy.
6. Snoring Does Not Reflect Sleep Problems. This may not necessarily be true. One should look into the sources of sleeping. If sleep apnea or another sleeping disorder is the culprit, then it is essential to treat this sleep-quality-destroying and possibly fatal disorder.

What To Do Upon Waking

The last thing we want to do as soon as we wake up is think. The best way to remedy that is to work up a morning routine that we can stick to and execute without hesitation. Here are some ideas from my own morning routine.

“If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.”
~Dale Carnegie

1. Take Notes. Some of our best ideas, and more exclusive stories come to us during our slumber. Unfortunately, just moments after we wake we become preoccupied with life and lose all recollection of what our dreams had in store for us. By keeping a small note book by our bed side we are able to capture some of these great ideas before they have a chance to whisk away.
2. Drink Water. There’s nothing better than a glass of water to restart the metabolism after about 8 hours of fasting and hibernation.
3. Exercise. Within the first hour or so of waking up proves to be the best time to exercise. Exercise maxes out and restores your energy levels, so that you can go through the day at full power without even needing a cup of coffee.
4. Read. It’s easy to get sidetracked on our self-improvement goals, such as reading, but by adding as little as 30 minutes of reading time to our morning routine we are able to learn and grow on auto-pilot and make leaps and bounds in our reading goals.

Additional Resources

• Sleeping Fun. Take this seven question sleep-survey in order to see how deep you’ve dug yourself into the insomniac hole. It’s quick and fun so you have nothing to lose.
• Sleeping Aid. If after trying this advice you still have a hard time falling asleep, then I recommend you try out the End Tiredness Program. It has proven, expert supported tools to get you into tip-top sleeping shape in no time.
• Meditative Audio. Not only will meditating help you feel more calm throughout your day, but listening to a soothing voice is more certainly very instrumental to dozing off peacefully. For this I recommend Inner Peace Audio by Adam Kayce.

“Sleep is pain’s easiest salve, and doth fulfill all the offices of death, except to kill”
~John Donne

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