Have you heard that an adult needs 8 hours to get enough sleep, and a child 10? Forget it. It is not true. If you meet a person who needs half the sleep it is not a zombie or a superman. He just has the right regime and routine of life.
Sleep phases.
In short, the dream occurs in the next. phases:
– Light doze, this is when you, for example, stick in front of the monitor or to the voice of the lecturer, and when you wake up, it’s been 5 minutes.
The second phase – sleep is already full, but not deep. It is characterized by rare bursts of brain activity. Doctors say, often in this phase, “the brain is trying to shut itself out.”
The third phase is deep sleep. The most important part of sleep. In it, the brain and the body relaxes, the most intensive restoration of the body’s resources occurs. The heartbeat slows down and the body temperature drops. There is practically no brain activity. The fourth phase is the REM sleep phase. In English, it is called Rapid Eye Movement, because, according to experts, in this phase, the pupil of the eye runs like mad to and fro under the eyelid. It also rests the body, but not as intense as in the deep sleep phase. In 95% of cases, it is during this phase that you dream. This cycle of four phases occurs several times during sleep, and not one, and the further, the greater the proportion of the fourth and first two phases becomes, and the faster the deep sleep phase passes, although in the very first cycle, deep sleep lasts the longest. Thus, at this stage, the conclusion is simple: the more DEEP SLEEP, and the DEEPER it is (i.e., in fact, the less brain activity, the lower the body temperature and the slower all processes in the body, the better for deep sleep). By the way, the cycle begins with REM sleep … This is not all there is to know in this part. First, I want to draw your attention to the effect of body temperature on your activity and sleepiness. The dependence is simple: the higher the temperature (naturally, within reasonable limits), the higher your activity. If you think that a person has a temperature of 36.6 during the day, you are mistaken. She jumps strong enough, sometimes the amplitude is up to two degrees! (say, from 36 to 38). Hence the conclusion. The temperature should be high during the day for the body to work well, at night – low so that the brain can enjoy the deep sleep phase more. And finally, a rather important thing is melatonin. Have you heard about such a hormone? It is located in the pineal gland and, to a slightly lesser extent, in the retina. To summarize its impact on our theme: the more it stands out, the more we want to sleep. And it stands out when our eyes are in a lack of light (therefore it is sometimes called vampire hormone). And in bright light, it, accordingly, is destroyed, i.e. what we need.
II. MY MODE
So, the complex of things that I do.
1) Constant sleep schedule.
WHAT? I advise you to get up at the same time every day. If on weekdays you need to get up at 6 in the morning, then on weekends you need to do the same. At least approximately. Not at six, so at seven – half past seven for sure.
WHAT FOR? The reason is simple. The body “gets used” to get up at the same time + sleep at the same time. Don’t forget the general theory about waking time.
IMPORTANT! You need to wake up in REM sleep. How do you find her? Just change the alarm clock back and forth for 10-20-30 minutes during the week. And you will definitely find a time when it is VERY easy for you to get up.
2) Exercise in the morning.
WHAT? Serious exercise, not sucking 10 squats, floor bends and abs. Serious exercise that will make you sweaty (remember to shower after). Personally, in my program, pull-ups, push-ups, a large number of press, lifting weights (lungs, but many times), all this in a fast mode for at least 20 minutes.
WHAT FOR? See the first part. Exercise seriously increases the temperature of the body, and therefore the performance of the body and brain, if it is part of your body.
3) Master, you need more light.
WHAT? Yes, you need a lot of strong, bright light. Desirable real solar, if impossible, bright (naturally, not blinding) light in the workplace.
WHAT FOR? And again see part one of my post. In the light melatonin is destroyed, you want to sleep less. If you don’t work in the brightest conditions, go outside for lunch (well, not when -20 outside, of course).
4) Requires physical activity during the day.
WHAT? Well, if you have the opportunity to go for a run after work (or during? In general class), go to the gym or the pool.
WHAT FOR? All the same. Keeping the body temperature high enough to keep the body active and the brain fresh.
5) Drink plenty of water
WHAT? Come on, don’t pretend you haven’t heard. This is a lot of where they say, it’s a lot of useful things. For sleep – too.
WHAT FOR? The body needs a lot of water. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but at least a couple of liters a day just for the normal functioning of the kidneys and liver. When the body has enough, it can relax enough during sleep.
PS We are talking about WATER, not any liquid.
6) Do not consume: alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, energy drinks.
WHAT? The hardest part is probably right? Frankly, I never smoked, I broke easily with caffeine and energy drinks (they never attracted me to taste), I could not refuse alcohol 🙂 But, I tried to reduce its consumption to the maximum.
WHAT FOR? The above substances / fluids have a very negative effect on your sleep system. The body cannot relax during sleep, and if you sit strongly on the last two, then without them the body will no longer be able to gather. So simple and not poetic.
7) If you feel sleepy at lunchtime, get some sleep … 20 minutes. Maximum 30.
WHAT? Exactly. Again referring to part one. It is quite possible to take a nap during the day, if it is unbearable. The main thing is to wake up BEFORE your body has entered the deep sleep phase. Otherwise, the rest of the day is wasted. I think you are familiar with the situation when you went to bed and had a satisfying sleep during the day, but still walk around broken.
WHAT FOR? In the phase of REM sleep, which you should focus on in this case, the body also rests and relaxes well. By the way, it tends to fall asleep just after lunch, at this time most people experience a slight drop in body temperature. Don’t ask what the reason is – I don’t remember.
AS? Well, you might not have the opportunity here. I personally do this if I’m on the bus. Upholstered chair + closed headphones = not too bad conditions for a nap. Do not forget, most importantly, to set the alarm for 25-30 minutes. If you have a lockable office and a lunch hour at work, half of it can be used for sleep. Quite.
III. SLEEP AND SLEEP
I think many of you have faced the problem that you are tired during the day, and your eyes stick together, but you go to bed and you cannot sleep. On this occasion, I also have something to advise, again point by point, so that the lazy can only go over the bold text . 1) Bed for sleeping! WHAT? What I heard, there is nothing to ask again every time. You only need to sleep on the bed, and have sex. No need to read on the bed, make a home office out of bed, or whatever. WHAT FOR? In the body, the bed should be associated with the place where you,% username%, are asleep, and not awake. 2) You do not sleep because you think, but you think because you do not sleep. WHAT FOR? Most often, falling asleep is prevented by the fact that we are lying in bed and thinking about something: about problems or victories, about the past and future days. This is natural, a person can not think only when he is sleeping. But how can you sleep here? WHAT? Try to unload your brain as much as possible 20 minutes before bedtime. Those. finish all the cases, remove the documents, turn off the computer, TV and remove the chess. Just sit on the couch without straining your brain with reading or thinking. 3) Do nothing before bed that will raise your body temperature. WHAT? What hear. Contrary to superstition, a hot bath and sports will not add to your sound sleep. On the contrary, your body temperature will not be able to drop properly and your sleep will not be so deep. But an hour and a half or two before bedtime it is quite possible to do something like this, because an unplanned increase in temperature is followed by an unplanned decrease in temperature, and that’s all we need. 4) Sleep in a cool room. WHAT? Naturally, the temperature should be comfortable enough not to freeze, but cool WHY? Well, how much can you say. Body temperature and sleep depth are directly proportional. Thus, we lower the body temperature by external means. 5) Sleep in complete darkness. WHAT? Try not to be hit by any light. Not from a lantern, not from the early sun, not from a light bulb or anything else. WHAT FOR? So that you are not noticed and woke up ahead of time 🙂 5) And importantly: if you can’t sleep – don’t sleep. WHAT? WHAT FOR? AS? And like this. If you have been lying in bed for 20 minutes and cannot fall asleep, you may not need it.
IV. CONCLUSION
For me, this collection of techniques and tricks works great. All elements of the program are important. There are no required or optional ones among them. It seems that this is a lot of things, in fact, they are mostly small things that will not burden you. IMPORTANT. I am not a medic and not a certified specialist. I cannot answer that you will not have any individual reactions to this program. But it seems to me that this is unlikely. Let me remind you that there is a theory that little sleep shortens life. I do not believe her, but I do not force you not to believe, so see for yourself. Thanks, good luck. I hope the hellish work of writing (and most importantly, putting together) all this will not go unnoticed.