Many of us think of our bedroom as our sanctuary. A place for privacy and relaxation and where, during sleep we can enter that place of dreaming that lets us resolve or just drift among those thoughts and images that we need to crowd out during the day due to all the practical things we need to give our attention to. We long for its quiet comfort during the day - especially if we are having trouble sleeping and are developing a sleep deficiency.
The big mistake that many of us make - and which helps to ruin our sleep - is to invite the outside world into our sanctuary. Besides our bedmates this is what our bedroom should look like if we want to be able to truly relax and find sleep.
The bedroom should be dark,(use black out curtains like in hotels or use an eye mask), and quiet,(use ear plugs if your room is not sound proof and if you partner’s breathing or snoring affects your sleep). It should be painted in gentle hues and kept cool, summer and winter.
Invest in a comfortable mattress and supportive pillow. Too many of us keep our mattresses far too long. The last few years have shown great improvements in the development of different materials for both mattresses and pillows, designs that conform to your body and mattresses that can be adjusted. Investing in a product that you spend 1/3 of your time on only makes practical sense.
Do not listen to the radio in bed, have a TV in your bedroom or catch up on work or pay bills in bed. Your laptop should never find its way into your bed. All these activities stimulate and not rest the mind. The bed should be associated only with sleeping. If you must only read in bed and as soon as you find your eyes close naturally, put away your glasses, shut off the light and sleep. The only physical activity allowed in bed is sex.
Turn its face away from you if the clock next to your bed faces you when you sleep and you can’t avoid looking at it when you are awakened at night – or trying to fall asleep – it can add to your anxiety. Turn it away from you so that you won’t be able to see the time. Not knowing how much longer you have until you have to get up helps you to re-establish sleep if you get up, to go to the bathroom, for example.
In the morning get up when the alarm goes off or when you wake up. If you wake up sooner than your alarm, get up. Don’t lie in bed awake for more than 5 minutes.
You need to give as much thought to developing good sleep habits as you do to following a recipe to create the perfect dish. Your bedroom should be designed for its specific purpose - sleep - like your kitchen is designed for its purpose - creating good meals. After all, sleeping and eating and excercise are the three most important things you need to do to maintain your overall good health.
Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more information on better sleep go to:
http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Why Sleeping 7-8 hours a night should be a Priority.
In today's hectic and competitive world many people have relegated little priority to getting a good night's sleep - believing that using every waking moment to work or learn is far more productive and important. The problem with that philosophy is that you are not giving your body enough time to rest and heal because shorter hours of sleep means a lesser quality of sleep.
It is important not only to fall asleep easily, but to maintain sleep long enough (7-8 hours) so that you can reach that all important part of sleep known as REM. During the night we cycle through 5 stages of sleep with each cycle lasting about 90 minutes. We need to sleep long enough to go through these cycles 4-6 times a night because, with each cycle the REM portion gets longer and, it is during that portion of sleep, that we have our deepest and most restful sleep and when our body is able to repair and heal itself which is so important to maintaining a strong immune system.
REM sleep is also associated with dreaming because it is marked by intense brain activity. That’s how you can tell if you achieve REM sleep and have therefore slept sufficient hours. During REM (Rapid Eeye Momevent)sleep breathing is more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes move in different directions and muscles become temporarily paralyzed.
It is believed that during this final stage the regions of the brain used for thinking, learning (banking the day's memories) and organizing information are stimulated (like when a computer is re-booted). If you cannot sleep without constantly waking then you are not getting good sleep and you feel it in the morning and all during your day. It's more important to sleep than to stay up late studying or preparing for a business meeting.Everything should be given it's proper time so that you can function at your peak but also maintain a balance in you life.
Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more on information on better sleep go to:
http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
It is important not only to fall asleep easily, but to maintain sleep long enough (7-8 hours) so that you can reach that all important part of sleep known as REM. During the night we cycle through 5 stages of sleep with each cycle lasting about 90 minutes. We need to sleep long enough to go through these cycles 4-6 times a night because, with each cycle the REM portion gets longer and, it is during that portion of sleep, that we have our deepest and most restful sleep and when our body is able to repair and heal itself which is so important to maintaining a strong immune system.
REM sleep is also associated with dreaming because it is marked by intense brain activity. That’s how you can tell if you achieve REM sleep and have therefore slept sufficient hours. During REM (Rapid Eeye Momevent)sleep breathing is more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes move in different directions and muscles become temporarily paralyzed.
It is believed that during this final stage the regions of the brain used for thinking, learning (banking the day's memories) and organizing information are stimulated (like when a computer is re-booted). If you cannot sleep without constantly waking then you are not getting good sleep and you feel it in the morning and all during your day. It's more important to sleep than to stay up late studying or preparing for a business meeting.Everything should be given it's proper time so that you can function at your peak but also maintain a balance in you life.
Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more on information on better sleep go to:
http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
Would you shake a Bad Habit - to get Good Sleep?
Are you willing to abolish some bad habits – to get good sleep?Too many of us, due to our fast paced life develop habits that end up affecting our overall health because, the things we introduce to our bodies tamper with our internal mechanisms unbalancing our body’s natural rhythm. These habits weaken our body’s natural ability to trigger sleep and waking, control hunger and satiety, affect our concentration and memory, our moods and contribute to an emotional life of ever heightening stress and tension.
We also compromise our immune system which can lead to frequent colds, a feeling of being run down and an inability to muster up the energy to exercise regularly. So we “schlep” ourselves from work to home, make excuses why we skipped the gym again and find ourselves on edge all the time especially with our children and spouses.
So what changes should we make in order to get a good night’s sleep – which is at the root of all these other issues? Are you willing to change 3 habits to improve your life? First, don’t drink caffeinated beverages after lunch – none. Caffeine is a stimulant and a diuretic and takes up to 6 hours to leave the system. It makes us feel alert because it blocks sleep inducing chemicals in the brain and increases adrenalin production. So in the morning it’s OK but after lunch switch to water, juice or herbal teas and let your body start preparing for sleep so that when you lie down sleep is triggered and you have a good 7-8 hours of sleep.
Another good tip is not to eat or drink alcohol 2-3 hours before bedtime. Have chamomile tea instead. Alcohol is not a sedative as many people believe – it is actually a stimulant and will disrupt your sleep later at night. Alcohol can prevent you from reaching that all important REM part of sleep where dreaming occurs and where the deepest and most restful part of sleep occurs. Alcohol keeps you in the lighter stages of sleep.
And finally do yourself the biggest health favor of all and quit smoking. If you are not going to think about potential health problems, like cancer and heart disease, off in the future – focus on tonight. Nicotine is a stimulant and you actually go through withdrawal every night which is why, if you are addicted to tobacco, it will aggravate your sleep problems and it has been known to contribute to nightmares and snoring. Sleeping well, eating right and exercising are the three most important things you can do to ensure your good health so, if you have a habit that is working against you – muster up the will power to tame it and you will soon find that you don’t miss it all – because you feel so well.
Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more information on better sleep go to:
http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
We also compromise our immune system which can lead to frequent colds, a feeling of being run down and an inability to muster up the energy to exercise regularly. So we “schlep” ourselves from work to home, make excuses why we skipped the gym again and find ourselves on edge all the time especially with our children and spouses.
So what changes should we make in order to get a good night’s sleep – which is at the root of all these other issues? Are you willing to change 3 habits to improve your life? First, don’t drink caffeinated beverages after lunch – none. Caffeine is a stimulant and a diuretic and takes up to 6 hours to leave the system. It makes us feel alert because it blocks sleep inducing chemicals in the brain and increases adrenalin production. So in the morning it’s OK but after lunch switch to water, juice or herbal teas and let your body start preparing for sleep so that when you lie down sleep is triggered and you have a good 7-8 hours of sleep.
Another good tip is not to eat or drink alcohol 2-3 hours before bedtime. Have chamomile tea instead. Alcohol is not a sedative as many people believe – it is actually a stimulant and will disrupt your sleep later at night. Alcohol can prevent you from reaching that all important REM part of sleep where dreaming occurs and where the deepest and most restful part of sleep occurs. Alcohol keeps you in the lighter stages of sleep.
And finally do yourself the biggest health favor of all and quit smoking. If you are not going to think about potential health problems, like cancer and heart disease, off in the future – focus on tonight. Nicotine is a stimulant and you actually go through withdrawal every night which is why, if you are addicted to tobacco, it will aggravate your sleep problems and it has been known to contribute to nightmares and snoring. Sleeping well, eating right and exercising are the three most important things you can do to ensure your good health so, if you have a habit that is working against you – muster up the will power to tame it and you will soon find that you don’t miss it all – because you feel so well.
Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more information on better sleep go to:
http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
When it comes to Sleep - Don't Cheat Yourself
When we were all “living on the farm” the rising and setting of the sun determined our sleep and wake routine and the rooster was our only confirmation that it was time to get out of bed. We were created that way. You see our bodies were designed to react to light and dark which are the essential triggers to bring about sleep and then to wake us up in the morning naturally. If we are in sync with our bodies we’ll get sleepy naturally and won’t need an alarm clock to jolt us out of our sleep. (Think about why we hide the sun by putting up heavy curtains in our bedrooms).
Before electricity was invented, and candles were our only “light in the dark,”and long before all those stimulating electrical gadgets infiltrated our homes and offices and purses, sleep came easily. When we went to sleep shortly after the sun set and got up when it rose to begin our day’s work, and we maintained that schedule instinctively, sleep problems were probably rare. Today they are epidemic. When our bodies are fine tuned to our body’s rhythms we find that our alarm clocks become redundant because they reside in our heads. Good sleep habits, like good eating and exercise habits, are the most important things we can do in ensuring that we maintain our good health.
During sleep our immune system is strengthened to help us fight off illness as well as to heal and repair tissue. This is the time when memories are banked and what we learned during the day is stored in our brains (like re-booting a computer). This is why it is more important for students to get a good night’s sleep before an exam than to stay up all night cramming.
This also holds true for those of us who are juggling home and career – especially we women who take everything so seriously. No matter how helpful our partners are – wouldn’t you agree that women have the market cornered on worrying that everything will run smoothly? Poor sleep also threatens our health by increasing the risk for heart disease, stress and weigh gain. What? Weight gain? Really? Didn’t think they were related? Think again! Lack of sleep makes our body produce too much gherlin, the hormone that makes you feel hungry.
That’s why you need that third and fourth cup of coffee and the sugary donut or carb filled muffin, especially in the afternoons. It also reduces the production of leptin, responsible for making you feel satisfied after eating. And don’t think you can cheat by trying to catch up on sleep on the weekends. There is no such thing as “catching up” on sleep. Behaving differently on the weekends than during the week puts your body further out of whack. It is important to strive to create a regular bed and wake up time seven days a week and stick to it. You will feel so much better every day if you can accomplish this small tweak in your daily habits and so many things will begin to fall back into place. Otherwise, you are only cheating yourself.
Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more information visit our website at: http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
Before electricity was invented, and candles were our only “light in the dark,”and long before all those stimulating electrical gadgets infiltrated our homes and offices and purses, sleep came easily. When we went to sleep shortly after the sun set and got up when it rose to begin our day’s work, and we maintained that schedule instinctively, sleep problems were probably rare. Today they are epidemic. When our bodies are fine tuned to our body’s rhythms we find that our alarm clocks become redundant because they reside in our heads. Good sleep habits, like good eating and exercise habits, are the most important things we can do in ensuring that we maintain our good health.
During sleep our immune system is strengthened to help us fight off illness as well as to heal and repair tissue. This is the time when memories are banked and what we learned during the day is stored in our brains (like re-booting a computer). This is why it is more important for students to get a good night’s sleep before an exam than to stay up all night cramming.
This also holds true for those of us who are juggling home and career – especially we women who take everything so seriously. No matter how helpful our partners are – wouldn’t you agree that women have the market cornered on worrying that everything will run smoothly? Poor sleep also threatens our health by increasing the risk for heart disease, stress and weigh gain. What? Weight gain? Really? Didn’t think they were related? Think again! Lack of sleep makes our body produce too much gherlin, the hormone that makes you feel hungry.
That’s why you need that third and fourth cup of coffee and the sugary donut or carb filled muffin, especially in the afternoons. It also reduces the production of leptin, responsible for making you feel satisfied after eating. And don’t think you can cheat by trying to catch up on sleep on the weekends. There is no such thing as “catching up” on sleep. Behaving differently on the weekends than during the week puts your body further out of whack. It is important to strive to create a regular bed and wake up time seven days a week and stick to it. You will feel so much better every day if you can accomplish this small tweak in your daily habits and so many things will begin to fall back into place. Otherwise, you are only cheating yourself.
Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more information visit our website at: http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
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