digital clock tick slowly by, as the Earth continues to rotate and you
remain hopelessly, horribly awake?
While some of us boast of being able to pull all-nighters, or even
function regularly on three or four hours of sleep, others desperately
need our daily ZZZs.
With reason: People who are regularly sleep-deprived can suffer
physical and emotional damage, maybe even culminating in mental
disorders like anxiety and depression. Sound awful enough to you? Try
a few of these tips to prevent the descent into clock-watching hell.
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Contents [hide]
1 Examine your routine
2 Reprogram your rhythm
3 Harness technology
4 See a doctor
5 Be patient
Examine your routine
Try this exercise: Write down everything that you do and consume for a
single day. Everything, including vitamin supplements, medications,
when you went to the gym and if you had a coffee break around 5. You
could be unwittingly sabotaging yourself. Did you have a piece of
cheese toast for a bedtime snack? Cheese contains tyramine, which has
been shown to increase brain-stimulant activity. Did you write some
last-minute e-mails while you were already tucked in, that you kept
thinking about even after you turned off the lights? Next time, leave
the laptop downstairs. A lot of the time, a little tinkering with your
sleeping routines can have a huge effect.
Finally, monitor your workouts. Exercise early in the day can greatly
help with sleep (see the Mayo Clinic web site for more information).
However, late exercise can keep you up - since exercise causes stress,
stimulating hormones that may keep you awake if they're still in your
system at bedtime. And for you late-night action game enthusiasts, any
game that causes a stress reaction will keep you up, too. (Tip: Turn
down the volume - loud noises in video games - especially well
designed ones like Batman Arkham Asylum - are specifically designed to
cause stress reactions, and are the worst offenders when it comes to
sleeplessness after gaming.)
Reprogram your rhythm
Sleep occurs in patterns. These patterns are dictated by what we call
Circadian rhythm, the internal clock that tracks the 24-hour daily
cycle of night and day. Our body tells us when it's natural to be
awake and alert, and when we should sleep.
If you work a late shift or travel frequently, your sleep cycles could
be off. Many people in higher latitudes use light boxes or sun lamps
to help with seasonal depression and reset their internal clocks.
Shine a light box on your face every morning for 30 minutes while you
drink your coffee or brush your teeth. For the desperate in search of
a quick fix, try partial sleep restriction, in which you restrict the
number of hours of sleep that you get the night before. Sleep
restriction makes you more tired, so that falling asleep at night will
be easier. Avoid taking naps during the day and don't lounge in bed if
you're not sleeping -- no matter how soft your sheets are.
Harness technology
Don't have the spare time or change for a Buddhist retreat or a
weekend at a hot springs? No worries. There are plenty of relaxation
and meditation podcasts and sleeper-helper apps like Pzizz, which
creates a randomized "ambient noise" soundtrack to help your brain
switch off before going to bed. For people who can't handle listening
to Welsh waterfalls or Tuvan throat singing for hours every night, try
a simpler app like Long Deep Breathing or Blood Pressure Reducer, both
of which help you become more calm. Remember, though: Neither of these
apps are a substitute for a medical professional! Speaking of which...
See a doctor
If you have one, ask your bedtime partner if you make any noises in
your sleep, or, set up a camera, a la Paranormal Activity. If you
cough or roll over frequently, you could have undiagnosed sleep apnea,
a condition wherein the muscles around your respiratory system relax
and disturb your slumber.
While we're at it, undiagnosed depression, anxiety or any number of
other mental disorders could also be interfering with your sleeping
habits. So could obesity or menopause. boobs
Be patient
This is really the most important tip. Sometimes your sleeping problem
is temporary, revolving around the stress that comes with major life
changes. But more often, diagnosing and then treating a sleeping
disorder will require a number of small changes over the course of
time. Keep at it!
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com