Replace Worries With Positive Thoughts
Often times, worries, negative emotions, and thoughts related to stressful events may keep you from falling asleep. Instead of trying to suppress the negative feelings, cultivating positive emotions through mindfulness may help you fall asleep sooner and attain good sleep.20
Mindfulness includes techniques to divert your mind to positive thoughts through focus and meditation.
Up In The Middle Of The Night How To Get Back To Sleep
Waking up in the middle of the night is normal. Most of us experiencemini-awakenings without even noticing themup to 20 times per hour. When itcomes to observable wake-ups, most people have about two or three pernight. But up to one in five Americans have difficulty getting back tosleepa frustrating, sleep-robbing problem that experts call sleepmaintenance insomnia.
While we tend to stare at the clock, toss and turn for hours, or flip on the light and watch TV when sleep eludes us, there are much better ways to cope and help ourselves get back to sleep, says Johns Hopkins sleep expert Luis F. Buenaver, Ph.D., C.B.S.M. Instead, try these six sleeping tips. They can help you get back to sleep tonight and pave the way for sound sleep tomorrow night and beyond.
Ways To Stay Up Late And Avoid Feeling Sleepy
Rony Kampalath, MD, is a board-certified diagnostic radiologist specializing in imaging of the abdomen.
There may be many reasons to stay up late. Perhaps you have a late night planned to celebrate a special occasion or to attend a party. You might go to a concert, attend the theater, or be out late dancing at a club. Children or adolescents may want to stay up at a sleepover.
If so, you’ve likely tried to think of ways to keep yourself alert and awake for those nighttime events. The truth is that some ideas for how to do that may be better than others.
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Develop An Evening Routine
Bedtime routines are a well-documented, effective strategy for improving sleep in children. Incorporating relaxing activities before bed is also recommended for adults to improve sleep habits and get more sleep overall.
Your routine at night can include any number of relaxing activities:
- Taking a Warm Shower or Bath: A shower or a bath can help you destress and relax before bedtime. Plus, research shows that this routine lowers your core body temperature, which can help you fall asleep faster and improve your quality of sleep.
- Meditation: The practice of quiet, concentrated attention has a number of health benefits. Meditation near bedtime may help reduce anxiety that might otherwise keep you awake, limit symptoms of insomnia, and reduce sleep disturbances.
- Reading: Reading a book is another good way to relax and induce sleepiness. It is important to note that some researchers have found that reading on a tablet rather than a book can make you less sleepy and delay deep sleep.
- Listening to Music: Gentle or calming music can also help you unwind before bedtime. Research shows that listening to gentle music induces relaxation and improves sleep quality.
- Journaling: If stress and to-do lists are keeping you up at night, try writing your concerns down in a journal. Studies have found that offloading these mental problems onto paper may help you fall asleep faster.
Create A Consistent Sleeping Pattern
Going to bed at different times every night is a common habit for many people. However, these irregular sleeping patterns could interfere with sleep because they interrupt the bodys circadian rhythm.
The circadian rhythm is a selection of behavioral, physical, and mental changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. A primary function of the circadian rhythm is to determine whether the body is ready for sleep or not.
This is heavily influenced by a biological clock that releases hormones to induce sleep or wakefulness. Going to bed at the same time every night helps the body clock predict when to induce sleep.
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How To Force Yourself To Sleep In 30 Seconds
Are you tired of counting sheep? Does the taste of warm milk make you cringe? Everybody knows a trick or two to fall asleep, but most of them arent nearly as effective as they should be. Sleep is one of the most important factors in maintaining your health . Dont leave it up to chance. In fact, developing a healthy sleep routine should be one of the lessons learned in life as early as possible. Dont you wish you could learn how to make yourself fall asleep instantly? Were positive that one of these methods below will teach you an effective new answer for how to force yourself to sleep. Dont let the incredible benefits of good sleep become an unfulfilled dreamyou can achieve anything with the right tools and practice.
Use A Weighted Blanket
Weighted blankets are heavy blankets used as a form of pressure therapy to create a calming effect and help stimulate the release of serotonin in your brain. The ideal weighted blanket is around 10% of your body weight, since the blanket applies enough pressure that youre calm and relaxed without feeling too restricted.
Whether you use a weighted blanket during your pre-bedtime ritual or throughout the night, your body will surely thank you for it.
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How Poor Sleep Affects Your Health
Its no secret that not getting enough sleep can be detrimental to health. If youve ever woken up feeling groggy and sleepy, you know how much harder it is to motivate yourself and to work on important projects. Not only does lack of sleep cause noticeable changes in mood, it can also be a sign of an underlying problem.
Here are the main causes of poor sleep:
- Sleep disorders, including sleep apnea and oversleeping
- Sleep deficiency, a condition where you dont spend enough time in restful sleep phases, like deep sleep and REM sleep, resulting in poor quality sleep
- Sleep deprivation or not sleeping enough
- Stress and anxiety
- Medical conditions, including Parkinsons and Restless Leg Syndrome
- Poor sleep habits or a poor sleep environment
If your grogginess in the morning is due to a sleep disorder, its a good idea to schedule an appointment with a doctor who specializes in sleep medicine. A doctor can conduct a sleep test to determine your sleeping habits and can determine whether an underlying medical condition is the culprit.
For most mild to moderate sleep problems, tracking your sleep with a wearable and making small lifestyle changes can improve mornings dramatically. Here, well show you what signs to watch out for and how you can make waking up in the morning easier.
Avoid Napping During The Day
Taking naps during the daytime, particularly those that last longer than 2 hours, can also disrupt the circadian rhythm.
One study found that college students who napped at least three times per week and those who napped for longer than 2 hours each time had lower sleep quality than their peers who did not.
After a poor nights sleep, it is tempting to take a long nap. However, try to avoid this, as it can adversely affect a healthful sleep cycle.
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Follow Your Normal Schedule Tomorrow
Dont sleep in, dont nap, and dont go to bed early the next night, Buenaver says. Get up at your usual time and go to bed at your usual bedtime. You may feel a bit more tired than usual during the day, but by increasing your bodys appetite for sleep youre ensuring a better nightand youll put yourself on track for sound sleep after that.
How To Wake Yourself Up
To wake up easier in the morning, youll need to make changes not only in the morning but also throughout the day and the night before. Fortunately, most of these changes are easy to master with a little practice. You wont become a morning person overnight, but you will get better quality sleep and find that waking yourself up becomes easier and easier over time.
If your grogginess stems from a sleep disorder or a medical condition, you may need to combine the following lifestyle changes with medications. Talk to a doctor to get the best treatment plan if you have a sleep disorder or another medical condition.
Here are eight ways to make waking up in the morning a more enjoyable process.
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How To Make A Good Bedtime Routine
If you want to go to bed early, in addition to these good daytime habits, it is recommended that you develop a consistent routine leading up to bedtime to set the mood for sleeping.
An important step is to avoid blue lights before bedtime. Blue light enhances alertness and therefore can disturb the circadian rhythm. Common culprits are cell phones, computer screens, and TVs. It is recommended that such devices not be used in the hours leading up to bedtime. Set a time for yourself to put these devices away, like 30 minutes or an hour before you want to sleep.
Other bedtime routines might be taking a bath, brushing your teeth, and setting your alarm. Consider giving yourself some time to wind down with a relaxing activity, such as reading or meditating.
You will also want to ensure you have a good sleep environment. The place where you sleep should be dark, appropriately cool, and quiet. Take steps to ensure you have a quality space for sleeping. An eye mask or heavy curtains can eliminate unwanted light. You can use earplugs, a fan, or a white-noise machine to eliminate disruptive sounds.
Also, consider the bed itself. Make sure you have a comfortable mattress that meets your needs and prevents unnecessary stress on pressure points. The right pillow or pillows can also affect your ability to fall asleep. Some sleepers benefit not only from pillows behind the head and neck but also from pillows between the knees or under the waist.
Dont Press The Snooze Button
Snooze-button sleep isnt restorative, deep sleep. This means hitting the snooze button can leave you feeling more tired than if youd just gotten up when your alarm went off.
Rather than starting your day feeling sluggish, get up when your alarm goes off. Youll feel more awake and rested which will help you wind down better at the end of the day.
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Make Sure Your Mattress Is Comfortable
The type of mattress that you use can impact the quality of your sleep. 16,17 If you shift positions often, wake up several times, and/or wake up with shoulder or back pain, your mattress may be to blame. If your mattress sagsmeaning that you can see a compression in some part of the mattress, it will almost always create sleep discomfort and can worsen back problems.
ReadSelecting the Best Mattress
A mattress with ergonomic standards and the right level of firmness may help promote better sleep, typically by providing an even surface and reducing body aches and pains.16,17 A medium-firm mattress may provide adequate body support to enhance your sleep quality.17
So What Exactly Is Clean Sleeping
Clean sleeping has nothing to do with showering before bed or slipping into freshly laundered sheets . Instead, its about the habits and behaviors that can improve your quality of sleep and help you feel better rested.
The ideas behind sleeping clean certainly arent new. Clean sleeping is really just a new term for sleep hygiene, and it follows most of the advice weve heard over and over again and generally continue to ignore.
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Breathe With Your Mind
Breathing patterns play a role in our autonomic nervous system, which regulates heart rate, muscle tension, motivation, and other aspects of relaxation or excitement. Whereas rapid, shallow breaths can create a sense of anxiety, deep, slow breaths can be calming.
One technique to try is the 4-7-8 method developed . The process is fairly simple, too. Heres how to do it:
- Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge behind your upper teeth throughout the exercise .
- Exhale completely via your mouth, making a whooshing sound.
- 4: Now, close your mouth and inhale through your nose to a count of four.
- 7: Hold your breath for seven counts.
- 8: Exhale slowly out of your mouth to a count of eight, making the whooshing sound .
Dr. Weil recommends practicing the technique by sitting down with your back straight before trying it lying down and repeating the cycle four times to start until you get used to it.
Train Yourself To Get Into A Deep Sleep Quickly
One of the ways you can get into a deep sleep quickly is to listen to your favourite soothing music before you hit the sack.
Theres evidence to show that taking time out to listen to music you enjoy reduces anxiety and lowers your blood pressure through the release of feel-good chemicals called endorphins.
Also, choosing the right pillow can make a huge difference to the quality of your sleep. The Sleep Council advises using a soft, fairly flat pillow if you sleep on your stomach. If you sleep on your side, use a medium-soft pillow and if you sleep on your back, use a firm one.
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You Can’t Force Yourself To Go To Sleep
By | Submitted On October 25, 2008
This is probably one of the most difficult preconditions of sleep, we need to be calm, relaxed, and serene. We need to be able to turn down the dominance of the alertness center to allow the weaker sleep center to take over. It is important to realize that we can’t force the sleep center to dominate and there is nothing we can do to make ourselves sleepier, in order words.
We simply have to learn to decrease the activity of the alertness center, to make ourselves less awake, less alert. The process of going to sleep is an active one, but the action is all directed toward minimizing the power of the alertness center, not increasing the power of the sleep center. For example, many insomniacs try too hard to fall asleep. They lie in their beds, eyes tightly closed, teeth clenched, and focus their thought on getting to sleep. They convince themselves that the next few minute will be crucial in getting a good night’s sleep and to their performance the next day. Then they imagine what it will be like if they haven’t been able to sleep well. Awful draggy feeling, the headache, the irritability and anticipate the frustration of knowing that they will not be their best.
Find The Right Temperature For Sleep
Choose bedding thats breathable, comfortable and sleep-inducing. Nick makes up sleep kits for athletes with contouring, pressure sensitive mattress toppers, linen and temperature-sensitive duvets and pillows from The Fine Bedding Company .
Apparently there is an exact temperature that will help you sleep, and that temperature is a relatively cool 16.1 degrees Celsius. Overheating of the human body, especially at night and during sleep, can cause hyperventilation, reduces our body’s O2 content, and can worsen existing health issues.
If you are too hot to sleep, for example during a heatwave, try to keep cool by ltying still rather than tossing an turning. Or, in more extreme cases pop your sheets and pillows into bags and put them in a freezer ready for bedtime.
For more information on the best temperature for sleep try this article from WebMD.
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How To Wake Yourself Up: 8 Ways To Feel Less Groggy
Millions of Americans suffer from sleep disorders. And millions more suffer from poor sleep habits that make it hard to wake up in the morning. If you wake up feeling groggy and find yourself hitting your snooze button multiple times, small lifestyle changes can make mornings easier.
Here, well show you how a few small changes in your daily routine, combined with a few healthy habits, can help improve your sleep. Learn how to wake yourself up in the morning with these tips and tricks, plus well see what happens when you dont get enough restful sleep.
Recognize Or Change The Best Times You Get Actual Work Done
If you are a natural morning person and you get most of your work done during the start of the day, then you should obviously keep getting up early and being productive. The best way to do that is to get a good night’s sleep. If you’re not a natural morning person, then you probably feel like you are most productive when there is nobody else around at the end of the day. But, nobody else is around in the early morning, either. Instead of waiting for the end of the day when most people are not around, try getting up and starting work really early when there aren’t any people around to disturb you. You might just turn yourself into a morning person.
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Make Yourself A Cup Of Banana Tea
Bananas contain a lot of magnesium, which helps promote relaxation. Make a relaxing caffeine-free tea to enjoy before bed: wash a banana, cut off the tip and stem, and cut it in half leaving the fruit in and the skin on.
Put it in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, discard the banana and then drink the water with a little honey. The honey helps regulate blood sugar throughout the night a common cause of middle-of-the-night wakings.
