On Good Sleep Hygiene (1st in the series, "Auntie Sophie's advice")
Regular good sleep has major benefits:
- provides energy for the following day,
- increases the capacities for awareness and concentration,
- ensures the brain operates at its best during the day,
- helps cope much better with stress,
- reduces irritability, anxiety and negative thinking and can prevent, or reduce and heal, some forms of depression,
- reduces sensitivity to physical pain,
- optimizes the body's immune system,
- and breaks down dead neurones, re-using the nutrients and flushing the waste away, thus preventing or greatly delaying most forms of dementia and reducing the chances of developing Parkinsons.
Basics
1, Each day, exercise moderately (a brisk walk) for half an hour, or work up towards at 3 x 5-minute bursts of high aerobic energy at your personal maximum effort , with breaks oof moderate or slow pace long enough to bring the heart down to 60 bpm, and cease hard breathing.
2. Distraction
3. Boredom or something soothing or soporific, especially reading informational non-fiction
4. Write a journal, finish with a list of the things you remembered that you now feel grateful for
5. Writing the issues so once they’re down there's no need to do the broken-record thing
6..Hard exercise or physical work to exhaustion
7. If you wish, learn to meditate and do half an hour before bed
8. Bit by bit, develop a good sleep hygiene routine: Good habits have cumulative effects over a lifetime. The autonomic nervous system learns and responds poistievely, so that over several weeks, the quality of slleep gets better and better.
Good Sleep Hygiene Routine
a). If you have aircon, set the temp to !9o C or 66.2o F. Sleeping too hot causes wakefulness. Sleep scientists have proven that 66.2F or 19C is optimum.
b). Eliminate molds, bedbudgs, mozzies, and allergens from the room. To get fresh, clean air, If necessary, get an air purifier, Use only 100%, natural fabrics for the bedding and PJs, they breathe better and don't melt or cause poisonous gases in a fire.
c) Go to bed and get up at the same time each day. Morning routine includes pee, a few quick exercises & caffeine to switch on the body's time awareness.
d) Don't go out to stimulating evening events, stay home
e) Don't drink caffeinated drinks after noon, including chocolate - the effects have a long half-life
f) Don't smoke weed or hash more than once a week, it kills REM/dreaming sleep which is vital to brain health
g) Don't drink alcohol from noon onwards because it increases disruptive sleep
h) Have the evening meal no less than 3 hrs before bedtime,
i) Draw the curtains closed at sunset,
j) Switch off as many lights as possible, turn the lights down to lowest visible level
k) Don't go emailing, shopping or social media scrolling, don't watch thriller or horror serials, movies,
don't watch intelligent polemic or news & polemics from sunset onwards, choose songs, comedy or nature docos instead. Save the news and controversial issues for early mornings
l) Have a cup of sleep-inducing herbal tea (chamomile, hops, passionflower, valerian, aniseed, linden-flower) just after dinner. If weight is no issue, have a glass of milk and a banana.
m) Try a tablet or capsule combo of lysine, magnesium and calcium. This combo helps to generate serotonin which metabolises down into dopamine, the neurotransmitter that induces sleep.
n) Have a pee before getting into bed.
o) Do some forward bends for a few minutes just before bed. E.g. bend over and, keeping the legs straight, let the upper body bend forward and down softly, keep neck and torso loose and reaxed, let the arms and hands flp loosely, feel the stretch in the ham strings, breathe slowly, deeply and softly through your nose, and keep relaxing for a count of 30 seconds. Rise and repeat twice more.
p) Last thing after turning out the light, lay on your back and do some more slow, deep breathing through the nose and from below the diaphragm. Feel you belly below the diaphragm softly rising and falling. Note the sensations.
q) If you were born with a genetic predisposition to anxiety, consider seeing a cognitive behavioural psychologist for a short (10 session) course in reducing anxiety-inducing thought habits, and replacing them with ones that work proactively to resolve the issues or change the frame. These methods are widely proven to work.
u) If anxiety reaches the level of panic attack, breath into a paper bag. The added CO2 is calming.
r) In addition to all this, if anxiety it still chronic and problematic, consider trialling an anti-anxiety drug, but always and only as a last resort because they can lead to tolerance and addiction issues if overused.
- provides energy for the following day,
- increases the capacities for awareness and concentration,
- ensures the brain operates at its best during the day,
- helps cope much better with stress,
- reduces irritability, anxiety and negative thinking and can prevent, or reduce and heal, some forms of depression,
- reduces sensitivity to physical pain,
- optimizes the body's immune system,
- and breaks down dead neurones, re-using the nutrients and flushing the waste away, thus preventing or greatly delaying most forms of dementia and reducing the chances of developing Parkinsons.
Basics
1, Each day, exercise moderately (a brisk walk) for half an hour, or work up towards at 3 x 5-minute bursts of high aerobic energy at your personal maximum effort , with breaks oof moderate or slow pace long enough to bring the heart down to 60 bpm, and cease hard breathing.
2. Distraction
3. Boredom or something soothing or soporific, especially reading informational non-fiction
4. Write a journal, finish with a list of the things you remembered that you now feel grateful for
5. Writing the issues so once they’re down there's no need to do the broken-record thing
6..Hard exercise or physical work to exhaustion
7. If you wish, learn to meditate and do half an hour before bed
8. Bit by bit, develop a good sleep hygiene routine: Good habits have cumulative effects over a lifetime. The autonomic nervous system learns and responds poistievely, so that over several weeks, the quality of slleep gets better and better.
Good Sleep Hygiene Routine
a). If you have aircon, set the temp to !9o C or 66.2o F. Sleeping too hot causes wakefulness. Sleep scientists have proven that 66.2F or 19C is optimum.
b). Eliminate molds, bedbudgs, mozzies, and allergens from the room. To get fresh, clean air, If necessary, get an air purifier, Use only 100%, natural fabrics for the bedding and PJs, they breathe better and don't melt or cause poisonous gases in a fire.
c) Go to bed and get up at the same time each day. Morning routine includes pee, a few quick exercises & caffeine to switch on the body's time awareness.
d) Don't go out to stimulating evening events, stay home
e) Don't drink caffeinated drinks after noon, including chocolate - the effects have a long half-life
f) Don't smoke weed or hash more than once a week, it kills REM/dreaming sleep which is vital to brain health
g) Don't drink alcohol from noon onwards because it increases disruptive sleep
h) Have the evening meal no less than 3 hrs before bedtime,
i) Draw the curtains closed at sunset,
j) Switch off as many lights as possible, turn the lights down to lowest visible level
k) Don't go emailing, shopping or social media scrolling, don't watch thriller or horror serials, movies,
don't watch intelligent polemic or news & polemics from sunset onwards, choose songs, comedy or nature docos instead. Save the news and controversial issues for early mornings
l) Have a cup of sleep-inducing herbal tea (chamomile, hops, passionflower, valerian, aniseed, linden-flower) just after dinner. If weight is no issue, have a glass of milk and a banana.
m) Try a tablet or capsule combo of lysine, magnesium and calcium. This combo helps to generate serotonin which metabolises down into dopamine, the neurotransmitter that induces sleep.
n) Have a pee before getting into bed.
o) Do some forward bends for a few minutes just before bed. E.g. bend over and, keeping the legs straight, let the upper body bend forward and down softly, keep neck and torso loose and reaxed, let the arms and hands flp loosely, feel the stretch in the ham strings, breathe slowly, deeply and softly through your nose, and keep relaxing for a count of 30 seconds. Rise and repeat twice more.
p) Last thing after turning out the light, lay on your back and do some more slow, deep breathing through the nose and from below the diaphragm. Feel you belly below the diaphragm softly rising and falling. Note the sensations.
q) If you were born with a genetic predisposition to anxiety, consider seeing a cognitive behavioural psychologist for a short (10 session) course in reducing anxiety-inducing thought habits, and replacing them with ones that work proactively to resolve the issues or change the frame. These methods are widely proven to work.
u) If anxiety reaches the level of panic attack, breath into a paper bag. The added CO2 is calming.
r) In addition to all this, if anxiety it still chronic and problematic, consider trialling an anti-anxiety drug, but always and only as a last resort because they can lead to tolerance and addiction issues if overused.
