“Tired of Being Tired? You’re Not Alone”
Sleep is vital to the effect of growth, mood, and even storing memories but still, so many struggle with this basic necessity of our bodies. According to the NIH Clinical Center, About 50-70 million Americans struggle with sleep disorders and also the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of adults don’t get enough rest or sleep every day. The consequences of the lack of rest are severe as it may result in chronic health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, depression, etc. In this article, you will discover 3 overlooked sleep tips that have the ability to transform your rest.
Overlooked Sleep Tip #1: Military (4-7-8) Sleeping Technique
How to:
This method has multiple parts to it. The first one being that you should be lying in bed, and relax every muscle body starting from your head to your feet. Once you are done with this, there is a breathing technique that really makes the impact. When you are just beginning it really helps to practice this method multiple times in a day. The steps goes as follows,
- Find a comfortable position (sitting or lying down)
- Blow as much air as you can out of your lungs
- Breathe in through your nose for four seconds
- Hold your breath for 7 seconds
- Exhale through your mouth making a whoosh sound for 8 seconds
- Repeat this cycle (3-4 times when you start and slowly work your way up to 8 times).
Why it works:
Your body has two types of autonomic nervous system, your parasympathetic and your sympathetic nervous system. When one of these systems is activate the other deactivates. This technique works because this sort of breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system. This system controls your body’s rest and relaxation. At the same time, when this system activates, your sympathetic nervous system deactivates which controls your body’s stress response. Basically you turn on relaxation mode and rid your stress by using this method.
Overlooked Sleep Tip #2: Sleep Anchoring to Create a Sleep Schedule
How to:
This method requires you picking a set time to wake up every single day as much as possible. You should wake up at this time every day no matter how much or how well you slept that night. Try your best not to take naps if you get tired as it may only make all this work ineffective.
Why it works:
Our bodies love rhythm and when you wake up at the same time every day. It will set your internal clock to help you sleep instead of stop you from sleeping. After some time using this method, your body will slowly start to feel sleepier at the same time every night without you even trying. Because of this, you may also feel more awake in the mornings. Like training a pet, the more consistent you are and the more disciplined you are to follow this, the more your body will get used to it and cooperate. Many just believe that only the amount of hours of sleep you get is the only thing that matters to better sleep which makes this one of the more overlooked sleep tips.
Overlooked Sleep Tip #3: Morning Light Exposure to Regulate Sleep
How to:
When you wake up, get outside, open your blinds, anything you can to get as much bright light for at least 15-30 mins. Make sure you are also off your phone as it confuses your brain and floods you with stress before your day even starts. Do this as close to waking up as possible even on cloudy days as that brightness still helps.
Why it Works
Getting light in your eyes early in the day is like hitting the “start” button on your body’s internal clock. It tells your brain, “Hey, it’s morning,” and that simple signal sets off a whole chain reaction that helps you feel sleepy at the right time later. You’ll start to notice your energy feels more natural during the day. With this, your sleep comes more easily at night. Its one of those tiny habits that feels too simple to work — but once you give it a try, its a total game changer.
Final Thoughts
Quality sleep is arguably one of the most important aspects of human life yet still, so many across the world struggle with this basic necessity. This wasn’t previously mentioned but good nutrition is instrumental to a better quality of sleep. If you would like to learn more about how to decide nutritious food, you can read Packaged Foods are Misleading You – Here’s the Truth which breaks this down this problem pretty well. Melatonin is also a drug that is used to help you sleep better and faster but you should thoroughly research the pros and cons before trying it out. If you want to achieve sleep more naturally, then consider these overlooked sleep tips. They definitely have a chance of helping you out.