Why We Can’t Sleep and What We Can Do About It
Last post I wrote about the awesomeness of sleeping. But what can we do if we spend our nights staring at the ceiling in hopes of drifting off to sleep?
Top 3 reasons why we can't sleep
1) Stress and worry. Worrying about all of life's trials and tribulations is the number one sleep inhibitor known to man. Whether it be finishing homework, paying bills or worrying about what your going to eat tomorrow, stress can turn a good nights sleep into an all out war between the sheets (not the good kind 
).
2) Ignoring when we are tired. We often push past our tired minds in order to finish things that we deem important. When we do this, we often push ourselves beyond fatigue into an area of consciousness that I like to call Slwake. It is like being asleep and awake at the same time. We are no longer tired, yet we aren't really awake either. This phenomenon is evident when we are surprisingly wide awake at 2 AM when we normally go to bed at 10 PM. I know that this has happened to me on countless occasions both with or without the aid of alcohol.
3) Sleeping with the TV or Music. I know many people who do this and find the idea truly idiotic. Sure we can fall asleep with the TV on and even sleep through the night. Even though our eyes are closed, they can still pick up the changing in light of the TV. Prohibiting our eyes and bodies from going into REM sleep.
The noise from either the TV or radio does not fall on deaf ears. Our ear drums are still picking up sounds and our brains still process that information even if we are not consciously aware. Give your brains a break and turn the noise off.
My (often crazy) tips for sleep
-Go to sleep when you are tired. Make sure that you get things done that you have to get done before it is dark outside. Our bodies often associate sleep with our natural world. Associating darkness with relaxation will allow you to embrace fatigue and glide into sleep.
-Read a fiction book before bed. I do this every night. Fiction stories take us out of our reality and put us in a made up fantasy land. I recommend this practice to everybody who asks me for sleeping advice.
A fiction story takes our brain out of our reality and into a world that is free of worry and stress. This again allows us to embrace our fatigue and drift into sleep.
- The perfect sleeping environment is one that is dark and silent. Put dark sheets over your windows if street lights bother you and wear earplugs if noise is a problem.
When I lived in the college dorm halls I did this. At first I was afraid that I would not hear my alarm in the morning, but I never not woke up. I always heard it (faintly) and just knew that it was my alarm telling me to get up.
And to be honest, the ear plugs often fell out of my ears during the night, so I had no problems hearing my alarm.
- Turn off distractions. TV, radio, music, whatever it is just turn it off. The use of fans and white noise are perfectly fine as they are one steady and consistent sound. Many people actually use white noise to fall asleep. If you are interested in using white noise I recommend www.simplynoise.com. I'm actually listening to white noise right now as I write this. It is awesome for sharpening focus.
- Warm up your feet. A study was done that tried to find the number one cause for not sleeping and cold feet was number one. Personally, I have to agree. Every time that I have trouble falling asleep my feet are always cold. I put on a pair of socks and I am sawing logs in no time.
- I have a crazy remedy that I have yet to try (because I fall asleep rather easily), but plan on doing in the near future just for shits and giggles.
You will need a towel, 1 pair of cotton socks and 1 pair of wool socks. Soak the cotton socks in cold water. Squeeze out most of the water and put them on. Put the wool socks on over the top of the cotton ones and hop into bed. Wrap the towel around your feet and cover up. Your feet should be toasty warm and your brain should fall into a dream filled bliss in no time.
-If 30 minutes passes and you have yet to fall asleep, then a change of scenery is in order. Either go lay on the couch, sit in a low lit room and read or simply day dream.
-Don't drink large amounts of water before bed. This will only cause you to piddle in the middle of a probably awesome dream.
- I have read a lot of info about caffeine affecting sleep. Personally I have never had any problems falling asleep no mater what time of day that I drink a caffeine infused beverage. However caffeine affects all people differently, so if you drink caffeine throughout the day, experiment with the timing and amounts.
Lastly, getting sunshine during the day may actually help us sleep better at night. I recently read an article at lifehack.org written by a guy who was a night owl and could not seem to fall asleep before 3 AM. He started spending more time outside in the sun and eventually was able to sleep earlier.
The rationale behind this phenomenon is that we are biologically programmed to receive lots of sun light during the day and sleep in perfect darkness at night (like cavemen!). By getting more sun, we can actually reset our biological clocks. Sounds crazy, but if you are desperate I would give it a shot. I know that when I spend lots of time outside, I hit the hay by 8 or 9 at night.
Final Thought
No matter how little sleep you get or how many times you wake up during the day, do NOT take sleeping pills. Sleeping pills do not solve the problem of why you cannot sleep, they just cover up the fact that you can't sleep. Which will almost inevitably lead to an addiction to them. Also, these pills have very, very scary side affects. I have a good friend who used to take sleeping pills every night. He became depressed. He realized that the pills were what were causing him to feel that way and quit using them.
Till next time,
Ryan
6 Reasons Why We Need Sleep
credit: Pentax K-x
How important is sleep?
Really f**king important.
That is why the next two articles that I write will be about sleep.
The funny thing about sleep and Americans is that we all know that we need more sleep, yet we refuse to actually do it. Insisting on watching the newest episode of Family Guy or finishing a project for work or school rather than getting some ZZZZs.
What are the benefits of sleep?
1)Well obviously rest. Simply living and moving throughout the day is exhausting. Building muscle, using food for energy, healing wounds, growing our bones and replacing cells are all processes that are happening all the time in our bodies. And that does not even account for the movement (or lack of) that we accumulate throughout our day or the energy that is needed if we choose to exercise.
Giving our bodies a break is a good thing. Rest is often viewed as some sort of weakness, and that if we rest, we are therefore not being productive. Productivity is vastly overrated. Often times we create things to do or projects to work on all for the sake of productivity. Don't be afraid to give your body and your mind a break.
2) We often associate resting when we sleep in physical terms, but our minds need to rest too! All day we bombard our brains with information, decisions and stress. From the news to what do we eat for lunch. If we are awake, our brains are revved up and running.
Sleeping is the deepest form of meditation that we can experience. When we sleep, our brains slip into a zone where the outside world is almost non existent.
This includes the information that our senses pump into our head while we are awake. Think about it, when we see, smell, touch, hear and taste anything our brains are firing and telling us what the thing we are encountering is and then linking that sense to an object or feeling. This is very exhausting, even though we do not consciously think feel the fatigue.
3) We do not eat or drink anything when we sleep. When we are awake we are always thinking and deciding if we should eat that or drink this. The pressures of eating candy, drinking soda and fighting back hunger disappear when we drift off into blissful nothingness.
4) Sleep improves our immune systems. I know that this is something that we always hear when we are told that sleep is important, I am going to tell you why.
It is because we do not eat or drink (#3). Every night we have a "mini-fast" when we consume no food or drink, except for maybe water. When we fast we give our bodies the opportunity to heal themselves. By not eating and digesting food we divert all of the energy that would have been needed to digest food to healing all the bodily wear and tear that we inflicted on ourselves during waking hours.
5) Improves our mood. People who are tired suck. And honestly, life in general is just blah when we are tired. Sure we can drink a Red Bull and grow wings for an hour, but eventually we return to our shitty, tired state of mind. Lack of sleep is the root of that problem and the solution!
6) Makes us look pretty. Especially around the eyeball region. Dark bags are quite possibly the most unattractive physical feature on planet earth (other than uni-brows). Get some sleep and lift that saggy skin.
And lastly, even though this is not a benefit of sleeping, sleeping does not cost anything! No hidden fees, no shipping and handling or any physical labor are involved. The only things that are needed are...... nothing!
You can sleep in your car, on a park bench, in a parking garage, on the floor, in a chair, on a rock, next to the fireplace, on a table, in a bed, in the hallway, in a closet, in the clothes hamper (you know who you are), with another person, with 3 other people, the list is endless
For the love of your health and your mood, get some sleep. I know many people who sacrifice sleep time in order to get their exercise in for the day. Exercise, sleep and nutrition are on level playing fields when trying to obtain optimal health. Sacrifice in one, will not lead to gains in another.
Stay tuned for the next article, where I will attempt to explain why we are not sleeping and what you can do to increase and improve your quality of sleep.
Your well rested friend,
Ryan
Sleep: Waking up early and embracing the nap
Waking up early sucks. Our eyes are caked shut with sleepies, eye boogers or what ever you'd like to call them, the warm covers and the softness of our beds whisper in our ears "I'm warm and comfortable, you don't want to go out into the cold. Just hit the snooze button again." Well again turns into five or six "agains" until we reluctantly barrel role out of our beds. In our half conscious state we either crawl or stumble to the shower or the coffee pot.
Most of us are stuck in this routine, yet we can’t find the energy to change it. That was me for the past 8 years of my life. Sad? Pathetic? Normal? Yes. At some point in the last year, fed up with my old ways, I decided that I would voluntarily start waking up earlier. I was not only going to do it, but I was going enjoy it! Yeah, that lasted a couple of days and then my damn bed and the hope that I would again return to the fantasy land of my dreams called me back.
However, when I actually did wake up early I realized that I actually enjoyed being up early. That is once I got up.*
*If you are wondering what time my "early" was, 8-9 AM is an accurate guess. I know, rough.
This cycle of "early" rising went on until the summer began. Then I had to get up for work at five in the morning. Awesome. This could explain why the last three summers that I have worked at this job seem to have gone by in a blur of tiredness. Seriously, all I can remember about my summers is reading books and wishing I was asleep.
What about hanging out with friends? Well yeah I did that, but my Friday and Saturday nights usually consisted of me drinking 3 or 4 beers and passing out with my chin in my chest and drool running down my clothes. Fun.
Luckily I am a college student and when September comes around I can pop out of my summer funk and actually sleep and be productive.
About a month ago I decided that I was going to become an early bird, for good. Steve Pavlina, who runs a very successful personal development blog called Personal Development for Smart People, gave me the necessary tools I needed to accomplish this.
He points out two very important cycles that our bodies go through on a daily basis.
One is the natural sleep and wake cycle. We go to bed when our bodies tell us to and we wake up whenever our bodies tell us to wake up. Pretty simple.
However, in our modern world we can not allow this cycle to happen. Unless you have the luxury of making your own work hours, or are unemployed of course. Jobs, classes and appointments throw a wrench into this natural cycle.
There is another sleep cycle, which almost all of us follow, and that is the sleep-when-all the-crap-I have-to-do-is-done-and-wake-up when I have to 1) go to work or class or 2) when ever the dog or kids wakes us up-cycle.
Obviously our natural sleep cycle is the most logical cycle to follow if we want to obtain optimal rest for our bodies. Because this is impossible, we need to combine both our real life cycle and our natural sleep cycles.
Steve Pavlina devised a very simple yet effective way of doing this. Their are two steps. 1) Go to bed when ever you want and 2) wake up at the same time everyday. No matter what. This creates a cycle of gain and loss, which results in a happy medium in our bodies. Stay up late one night? Then naturally our bodies will tell us to go to sleep earlier the next night and vice versa.
Yes. I now do this. My new wake time is roughly 6:45 AM. The sun comes up a little after I get up. I find that going to bed when its dark and waking up when its dark is very depressing. So I have vowed to wake up when the sun comes up. Forever.
This is not an easy habit to create. It takes a lot of self motivation and desire to voluntarily* wake up early.
* I use the term voluntarily because my Dad recently brought to my attention that if you owe money to somebody (for a house, car, education, etc.) then waking up early for work is much easier. He has done this for roughly the last 24 years of his life.
Some days I go to bed at midnight and others I'm out cold by 9 or 10 pm. Steve advises doing this for at least 30 days. This will create a habit.
I have been following this way of sleeping for a month, and it has not been too strict. But, a week ago. I went to bed at 2 in the morning. I was drunk and decided to tell Steve Pavlina, and his sleep cycle from hell to shove it where the sun don't shine. I was going to bask in the warmth of my bed and sleep as long as I wanted to. I could wake up at 10, 11, 12 it didn't matter!
I woke up at 7.
What about the 7-8 hours of sleep that is recommended by doctors and everybody else in the public eye?
They are wrong.
Lets break this down simply and logically. Every single person on planet earth is genetically different.
We all react differently to the sun, food, exercise, alcohol and drugs. Why should the amount the sleep we get on a daily basis be any different?
I know many people who can function, think and be happy with only 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I also know people that sleep for 10-14 hours a day as well.
The amount of sleep our individual bodies needs varies based on the individual. There is no universal amount of sleep that will fully rest every single human being on planet earth.
Here are the 3 4 reasons why I love getting up early.
1) My days seem to last forever.
2) Because I live in a house with 5 guys, silence is about as rare as seeing Oprah without makeup. The early morning is quiet and peaceful.
3) I am incredibly productive. I get much more done during my day now. Whether it be school work (rarely), learning how to play the guitar, or even improving my typing speed.
4) If you think sunsets are beautiful, you should check out sunrises. Amazing.
If I can become an early riser, anybody can. When I was in high school I made a promise to myself that if I ever had a commitment that was before 10 AM then I was going to wake up at a maximum of 20-30 minutes beforehand. Even before school. Obviously I did not shower or clean myself up before I left. I ate a pop tart, smeared toothpaste on my teeth and went on my way. Bed head and all. I was a prize.
I am now going to elaborate more on another natural sleeping cycle. Napping.
Oh the nap. Who honestly doesn't love a solid nap? To bad napping has gotten such a bad rap in our society. Many people assume that if your tired in the middle of the day then "you didn't get enough sleep last night." Again, false assumptions.
Through out our day we use different hormones and bodily systems to deal with situations that arise in everyday life. Around mid-day the systems that control reaction time, memory, coordination, mood and alertness diminish. This phenomenon happens regardless of food consumption or the temperature at mid-day.
For those who have never been to Spain, and actually a majority of other European countries do this as well, they have what is called a siesta. At mid-afternoon, all the shops, restaurants and businesses close down so everybody can go home and nap. Why do I not live in Spain!? Maybe some day 
Again, lets break this down logically. Most mammals on planet earth nap. Humans are mammals, obviously. We are made to nap.
How long should we nap for?
I have done some research on this and found an informative newspaper article in the Boston Globe that explains the relationship between nap times and sleep activity (REM sleep and Slow-wave sleep). A mid-afternoon nap should be no longer than 45 minutes. Any more and you will feel drowsy and groggy. Naps should provide you with a clear and rejuvenated mind. Increased productivity and performance have been linked to taking an afternoon siesta.
Obviously if 45 minute is too long, adapt your nap time to your specific needs.
There are all sorts of different napping techniques available for us to try. Obviously we can simply nap. But there are also naps called caffeine naps. These naps require you to drink a cup of coffee (or other caffeinated beverages) before a 20-30 minute nap. Caffeine takes 20-30 minutes to stimulate the body, so when you wake up after 20 minutes you are ready to rock and roll.
Naps are not for everyone. But if you feel groggy and tired in the middle of the day, don't fight it. Nap.
If you are not an early riser, give it a try and see how it goes. You won't regret it. If you already wake up early and are tired all day, then start listening to your body and go to bed earlier. You might have to sacrifice watching American Idol...but life does go on and your body will happily thank you.
Another random thought on sleep. Have trouble falling asleep? Try wearing socks to bed. In a study that was conducted to find the keys to a good nights sleep such as listening to white noise and sleeping on an empty stomach, the scientists actually found a factor that was consistent with not sleeping. Cold feet.
Also, if hitting the snooze button is a morning ritual for you, try putting your alarm clock device across your room. This forces you to physically get up and turn it off. Sometimes getting out of bed is the hardest part of waking up.
Sweet Dreams,
- Ryan
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