What you fear, you create.
Can you relate to this?
Most people probably can: At one point in time, we have probably all had an experience where our mind starts worrying needlessly about something, and all of a sudden our crippling fear has created a problem where the wasn’t one.
Sports are a common time this happens. Relationships are another: You start fretting about something small, and eventually this fretting turns into paranoia, and then POOF—you find yourself bringing negative energy to the table, and alas your once irrational fear has turned into a reality.
What about this one: SLEEP!!
There’s so much emphasis these days on the importance of good sleep on your health, your heart, your metabolism and on and on, that you feel so much pressure to sleep long, sleep deep and sleep enough that your stress is making your scared to go to bed. Suddenly you have a sleep problem!
Human beings are so adept in self-sabotage, aren’t we…
No more!
The purpose of this piece is to give you some practical solutions to your sleep stress. Some of them may work for you, others mays not, but it’s worth generating tangible tools to help you sleep more soundly, as opposed to just fear mongering to you over and over that you need quality sleep to live a quality life.
BLACK OUT BLINDS
Try making your room as dark as possible with blackout blinds (if you’re really serious about it, you can even duct tape any small pockets that might let the tiniest amount of light in and make it so dark it’s almost spooky). There is a lot of evidence out there that a pitch-black room helps people get into, and stay in, a deep sleep.
GOOD PILLOW
Don’t be a cheap a$$. Spend the money on the right pillow for you. My Pillow (https://www.mypillow.com/) is a great one if you’re not sure what you need. These pillows aren’t cheap, but they allow you to design a pillow that’s right for you based on your sex, size, and whether you’re a stomach, back or side sleeper etc…
EAT MORE FISH?
According to a new study, eating fish leads to a good night’s sleep. Read more here: http://time.com/5077404/fish-
TEMPERATURE SWEET SPOT
Experiment with your room’s temperature. Most people don’t sleep well if it’s too hot or too cold. Try turning the heat off, or turning the heat up, or opening a window, and take notes each morning to see how you slept. Did you wake up cold? Too hot that you stripped your PJs off? Adjust accordingly the following night and reassess.
HYDRATION SWEET SPOT
Are you waking up having to pee in the middle of the night? Consider drinking less water before bed. Conversely, are you waking up thirsty? Consider chugging a glass of H2O before you hit the sac. Like temperature, pay attention to what you’re drinking, take notes for a week about how it’s affecting you in the middle of the night, and then adjust accordingly.
Here are three more tips from a real life Sleep Expert, Dr. Steven Grundy—as opposed to the pretend sleep experts you see in mattress ads, who are nothing but mattress salesman trying to sound more important than they are.
Grundy Tip #1 – Shut and Roll
Apparently rolling your eye balls around when your eyes are shut is an effective way to help you fall asleep. Specifically, it causes your brain to release melatonin, the natural sleep hormone, and the quicker you release it, the faster you fall asleep.
He suggests thinking about your day—what you did, who you saw—as you roll your eyes around.
Grundy Tip #2 – Breathe Through Your Nose, Not Your Mouth
Most people breathe through their mouths, but new research says this has a stress effect on your brain, hindering your chances of falling asleep fast. Meanwhile, breathing through our nose sends relaxation signals to your brain.
Grundy Tip #3 – Tell Yourself ‘I’m Staying Awake’
It’s the whole reverse psychology thing. Tell yourself, ‘I”m not going to picture a polar bear,’ and what pops into your brain? A big, white polar bear, of course. Apparently for some people repeating this to themselves helps their brain go the other direction and fall fast asleep. A little hokey? Perhaps, but might be worth giving it a shot.
One final tip: Take melatonin! It’s a great natural sleep aid. Just don’t take it every night and become reliant on it.
Sweet Dreams!
Check out more health & fitness tricks and tips at http://oakstrength.com/
Personal & Professional Health
This article is written for the Chamber of Commerce by Oak Strength for our Quarterly Content Marketing plans. Adam Lane, Co-Owner of Oak Strength, serves as a board member of the Stateline Chamber.
If you have some content that serves this quarter’s content topic, please send us your article for publication.
The opinions stated in this piece are from it’s writer, and are not necessary the opinions of the Chamber. The Chamber is not a legal, health, or financial advisor.
