How to Get a Great Nights Sleep and Wake Up with Energy
In this article, I will provide some ideas for you to sleep better, based on a mixture of research, complementary medicine techniques and experience. Please feel free to share with any insomniac friends or family! Please consult with a medical practitioner to rule out any physiological causes. None of the suggestions below are a substitute for medical or psychological help, however, they can greatly help.
Why is sleep so important? What are the benefits of regular, good sleeping routines? The answers may surprise you but on second look they make perfect sense. A good night’s sleep contributes to having a sharper brain which contributes to having a good memory and clarity in your thinking. Adequate rest aids the heart in staying healthy, which if you are an athlete improves performance in sports and exercise. Having a good night’s sleep results in having stable sugar, a stronger immune system and aids weight control by keeping the hormones that control appetite in balance. So why do so many of us sleep poorly?
Approximately one third of the world population, with 35 million in the U.S. alone, experience insomnia each year. There are many causes of sleep problems, including anxiety, depression, grief, substance abuse, medication side effects, aging, sleep apnea, medical conditions that cause pain or neurological problems and periods of stress, crisis and loss. Conversely, chronic insomnia can also be the cause of illness, accidents, emotional distress, nerve exhaustion, memory, and other cognitive problems. If you’ve ever suffered from periods of insomnia, you know how miserable it can be to drag yourself through a busy day feeling fatigued.
Preparation for Good Sleep
Make sure you get enough exercise during the day, which allows the body to have good circulation, blood oxygenation and release of stress. It is also very important to get outside in the daylight and sun to stimulate the pineal gland to manufacture enough serotonin. Then at night, the pineal gland can produce enough melatonin to sleep. If you work indoors and don’t have the opportunity to get out in the sun light during the day you can give yourself “light therapy” through the use of a portable daylight spectrum light.
Cultivate Healthy Sleep Practices
Getting to sleep early is of primary importance. Ancient practices from China and India have some interesting things to say about sleep. According to the practice of Ayurveda, we should be in our beds by 10:00 PM and up by 6:00 AM, to get the most replenishing sleep. When at night the sky darkens and all of nature is going to sleep, we too need to sleep. Therefore, being in sync with nature’s rhythms and cycles will offer us the most health and balance. However, the invention of electricity which has allowed us to stay up all hours of the night changed all that. According to Ayurveda, the 4 hours from 10:00 PM – 2:00 AM allow our body to heal and regenerate during sleep, while the next 4 hours from 2:00 – 6:00 AM allow our minds to regenerate, but only if we are asleep at that time. Otherwise, we will experience depletion of the body or mind respectively, which can lead to medical and psychological problems.
To get in sync with nature’s cycle of sleep, about an hour before retiring, create a ritual for winding down.
To get in sync with nature’s cycle of sleep, about an hour before retiring, create a ritual for winding down. Try to avoid loud music, bright lighting, listening to the evening news, making phone calls, writing, and reading your email and performing other computer work. Refrain also from intellectual work or vigorous exercise as they will stimulate you and prevent relaxation and sleepiness. You can try one or more of the following tips according to your lifestyle and preferences:
Make Your Environment Conducive to Good Sleep
Clear away the clutter from your bedroom so that it feels like a nice, attractive place to rest and be at peace. Make sure the room is completely dark because any amount of light when attempting to sleep can be stimulating. Obviously, any screens from your computer, tablet or phone are going to keep you up as the brain sees the blue light as taken for daytime.
Bring in the element of “sweetness” to counteract the stresses that build up during the day. Examples: Flowers, cuddles, hugs, massage, embracing, stuffed animals, pleasant aromas, silence or soft, calming music, soft lighting.
The current medical advice is not to do anything in your bed, like read, eat, watch TV, and only use your bed for sleeping and sex. But some find that reading tires and relaxes the mind (depending on the subject!). Do what works for you.
If you are sensitive to sounds, you may have to negotiate changes with a neighbor and their barking dog or a snoring partner.
Make your environment conducive to good sleep by decluttering your bedroom and making it dark.
Relax Your Body
Notice where there is any muscle tension in your body and work on letting it go before you get in bed. Useful practices are Yoga, Tai Chi, stretching and breathing or a short walk.
Warm baths or showers at night can be relaxing.
Aromatherapy can also be helpful. Lavender, Roman chamomile and orange essential oils are good for relaxation.
Breathing exercises bring oxygen into the system and help to relax the mind and body. Here is a simple Taoist breathing technique for relaxation:
Inhale to the count of 5,
Hold to the count of 10,
Exhale to the count of 15.
See your doctor for sleep medications but know that they are only suggested for short term and can wind up causing more sleep disruption as they don’t deal with causes, only symptoms. A more natural approach can be found with herbal products that can be prescribed by a naturopath, but they, too, can become psychologically habit-forming.
Settle Your Emotions
Sometimes an emotionally stimulating day will prevent sleep. When things are bothering you, or even when you become too excited and happy about something, it’s hard to let it go at night and get sleepy. You may find journaling to be helpful here. Spend some time before bed journaling to express and release emotions. How did you feel about all the events of the day?
If you have been depressed or anxious and it is not getting better, seek professional help. Counseling and therapy can reduce the emotional energy that keeps you awake at night as you get support toward resolving problems during the day.
Ease Your Mind
Our “monkey mind” can produce its own stimulation. After going and going all day long, it is sometimes difficult to slow our thoughts down, and to stop obsessive thinking. Like changing the TV channel, we must change our channel of attention from mental to kinesthetic to get into a sleepy state. Therefore, listening to the body helps as well as attuning your attention to the breath. This may be easier said than done at times, but it is what we must do in order to relax.
One technique is to try an “evening review”. Seeing your whole day from the very last thing you did to the beginning of your day, in other words, your day in reverse. Go over the situations that may not have gone the way you liked and replay it the way you would have liked it, looking at it from a higher perspective.
Mindfulness Meditation will help you relax and get ready for sleep.
Mindfulness meditation can also help you relax and sleep. This is simple to do:
Sit comfortably and follow your breath going in and out. Feel every part of this movement, your lungs moving, the feeling of the air upon inhalation and exhalation.
Allow any thoughts you have or feelings that come up to be there, and just observe them and then let them go, instead of being under the influence of them.
Keep bringing the attention back to the breath. This allows you to be in your body, instead of your brain-mind.
Doing this before you start your day and before getting in bed at night for 20 minutes each is ideal.
Nurture Your Spirit
Prayer can be helpful to allow your mind and emotions to “Let go and let God,” as they say. Surrender all your unresolved worries and problems to this Being. Forgive any wrongdoings by yourself or others that you are willing to let go of. Give your Higher Power all the situations you can’t solve for the day and ask to take them from you for the evening, to be dealt with the next day.
Once in Bed…
Use this visualization adapted from Healing Visualizations: Creating Health through Imagery by Gerald Epstein, MD, pg. 139:
See yourself lying on the bank of a swiftly flowing river. You are surrounded by flowers. Smell their fragrance. Pick one. Take each preoccupying thought you have, place it in the center of the flower petals, put the flower in the river and see and hear it being carried away downstream. Continue this exercise before you drift off to sleep.
Try “bone breathing” a Taoist technique from The Complete System of Self-Healing: Internal Exercises (pg. 191-192) by Dr. Stephen T. Chang:
Lie on your back with your feet slightly apart, your arms next to your body, and your palms turned slightly upward. Allow the bed to support the weight of your body rather than using your muscles to hold you up. Keep your eyes closed and let your breathing become regular.
As you inhale, feel the fresh, clean air and energy and vitality enter into and penetrate your entire body.
As you exhale, feel all the toxins and stale air leave your body.
Now begin to feel, as you inhale, the air as it comes in through your toes, flows up through the bones of your leg, and enters into your chest.
As you breathe out, imagine feeling the air descend through the chest, pass through your leg and out through the toes of your foot.
Repeat steps 5 and 6 for a total of 3 times with each leg.
Now imagine feeling the air come up through your hands and arms and enter into your chest and head.
On the exhale, follow the air back down through your arm and out through your hand.
Repeat steps 7 and 8 for a total of three times with each arm.
Once you have mastered the individual movements, you may combine the flow of the breath through both arms and legs simultaneously.
Also, Eckhart Tolle recommends this visualization from The Power of Now, for the immune system, however, I find it also helps as an aid to get to sleep, and also if you happen to awaken during the night:
“‘Flood’ your body with consciousness. Close your eyes. Lie flat on your back. Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly at first: hands, feet, arms, legs, abdomen, chest, head, and so on. Feel the life energy inside those parts as intensely as you can. Stay with each for fifteen seconds or so. Then let your attention run through the body like a wave a few times, from feet to head and back again. This need only take a minute or so. After that, feel the inner body in its totality, as a single field of energy. Hold that feeling for a few minutes. Be intensely present during that time, present in every cell of your body.”
Waking Up From Sleep
If you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep, drink some water or milk, eat something light, such as fruit, do deep breathing and listen to a relaxation recording. Here is link to a collection of guided sleep meditations and the following is a sleep meditation I recorded:
In the morning, if you had a dream you remember, have a bedside journal handy to write it down. Dreams hold messages for your emotional self in the form of symbols and metaphors and point to what you need to learn about yourself or about life. A good counselor can help you understand and apply the messages you receive in your dreams.
Also, set your intentions for the day while still in bed. What do you want to see happen? Massage your scalp, face, and ears. Bless the day and all that is to come. Feel gratitude for all the gifts in your life and for whatever what is showing up in your life as well.
I have given you a lot of ideas. Please try out different ones and see what works best for you.
and… SWEET DREAMS!
Approximately one third of the world population experience insomnia each year. Our guided sleep meditations will help you relax and move into a deeper and more restful sleep.