Logical Self Improvement & Motivation
So many articles have been written about the fact that adults need about 8 hours of sleep per night.
The fact is, that some people may need more or less.
The real question should be, WHEN are you getting your sleep!
You can get a full 8 hours of sleep but if you went to bed at 2am and woke up at 10am, you will not be in tip top shape.
Definitely not compared to if you slept at 10pm and woke up at 6am.
It’s crucial to have not only the right amount of sleep, but to also sleep at the right time.
The best time range to go to bed to help you wake up in great shape is between 9pm and midnight.
This is for adults 18-45 years of age.
Older people tend to sleep earlier than that due to their age and their lack of energy, which is normal.
If you go to sleep later than midnight, even with the right amount of hours you need, it is still not optimal sleep for you.
Sleeping is filled with mysteries even to this day.
We don’t really know truly why we sleep exactly, but it seems that when the sun goes down, we should go to sleep as well!
Let me tell you, I’ve dealt with insomnia for years.
I’ve had extremely odd sleeping patterns.
I would go to bed at 1-2am because I was working so much, and even with adequate sleeping hours, I was always tired and out of energy throughout the day.
So I changed my pattern.
I decided to go to bed earlier, usually between 10pm and midnight, and by 6am, I would wake up on my own.
That’s right, I don’t need an alarm clock anymore
Waking up when you want to wake up and not because you have to is a great feeling!
To do that, you need to sleep at the right time.
To help you get adequate sleep, don’t do anything too physically or mentally strenuous
at least 2 hours before your bed time.
As well, don’t eat a relatively large meal close to your sleep time.
Make sure you use your bed to sleep and not to watch TV.
This will train your mind to associate your bedroom with sleep and nothing else.
Leave your stress and worries at your bedroom door!
Clear your thoughts and just enjoy your sleep.
Try this and you will be surprised how early your eyes will open on their own.
Also, you will notice an increase in your energy throughout your day, and while it’s normal to get tired by 8-9pm, that will only make it that much easier to fall asleep by 10-11pm.
To fix your sleeping cycle, either try to not sleep an entire night so that by early evening you will be so tired you will sleep earlier, or do an activity that requires a lot of mental or physical energy, so that you will be drained and needy of sleep to regenerate.
Just like that, you can fix your sleeping issues.
If I can do it, and I was a BIG insomniac for years, then you can to.
When it comes to sleep, keep in mind that timing is everything ?
Here are a few courses to help you sleep better:
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Join our 10,000+ daily readers!Eat well. Eating the wrong foods at the wrong time can give you an upset stomach or can just make it difficult for your mind to turn off and for your body to fall into a restful sleep. You should eat a healthy meal, accompanied by a glass of milk with honey, to ease into a night of good sleep. If you want to make sure you're not tossing and turning throughout the night, then avoid the following foods:
Alcoholic beverages. Though you may think a glass of whiskey or wine helps lull you to sleep, it can actually have the opposite effect. Though alcohol can help you fall asleep faster, it will keep you from falling into a deep sleep and is more likely to make you wake up throughout the night, or wake up earlier than you intended without being able to go back to bed.
Spicy foods or foods that are high in fat.
Coffee. Though some people can't live without it, try not to make coffee a part of your everyday routine. You can allow yourself a cup in the morning now and then when you really need it, like times when you have to get up much earlier than you normally do, or after nights when you went to bed much later than your normal routine.
Chocolate or sugary snacks. This can spike your blood sugar and can make it harder for you to fall asleep or stay asleep.
Try to eat dinner several hours before you go to bed. If you shove a bunch of food into your stomach and pass out right after that, you won't have time to digest your food and will feel unpleasant throughout the night. Just a little light snack before bed, such as a banana or a handful of almonds, can help you fall asleep faster.
Practice getting up. This may sound silly, but if you're really desperate to get up in the morning, this is a great trick. That's right — you should actually put on your pajamas, set your room to sleeping conditions, and turn on your alarm. Lay in bed for a minute before it goes off, and visualize what you'll do when the alarm goes off. Then, when it goes off, shut it off and get up immediately and act like you're going to start your day.
If you do this 10 times or so, your body will slowly begin to be trained to get up as soon as your alarm goes off.
If you think this is too extreme of a measure, then you should just visualize getting up instead. For a few minutes before you fall asleep, try to hear your alarm clock in your mind, and visualize how you would turn it off and go about beginning your day. Imagine how great it would feel if you just started your day without being groggy and taking forever to get going.
Set your alarm. Your alarm may be the most important part of your plan to get up in the morning. You should set your alarm to go off more than once just in case you're worried you'll sleep through it. If you really need extra motivation, you can even set multiple alarms to make it even more difficult for you to stay asleep. Here are some other things you can do:
Put your alarm across the room. That way, you'll have to get up to turn it off, which will make it harder for you to fall back asleep.
Put the alarm in another hard-to-reach spot. You could place it high on a bookshelf or even under your bed. Just make sure it's close enough that you can still hear it and that it's not dangerous for you to turn it off.
If you're really committed to your new game plan, you should get a new alarm with a new sound. Your mind may already be programmed to sleep through your old alarm, and a new sound will give your system the shock it may need.
If you have an iPhone or another phone that lets you set a message with your alarm, write yourself a little motivational note to go along with it. Something as simple as, "Get up for your morning jog! I know you can do it!" can help motivate you and may even make you smile.
Take small steps that would make it easier for you to wake up. This is an easy one. There are just three or four things you can do to make the idea of getting up not so painful for you the next day. This will also give you some shortcuts for getting up the next day, and the whole process will be easier and will take less time. Here are a few things you can do:
Lay out your clothes for the next day. Instead of having to rummage around for a clean pair of underwear in the dark, you'll be set and ready to go.
If you like to wake up and feel comfortable, place a nice robe out for yourself as a reward for getting up.
Set up your coffee maker in advance. If you're a tea drinker (recommended), make sure your kettle is full of water. You can even place a tea bag in an empty cup.
Place a glass of water next to your bedside. You should drink the water right when you get up, and this will make it easier to do than having to go to the kitchen to pour it. Also, if you wake up in the middle of the night feeling dehydrated, this will make you less likely to fully wake up by having to go to the kitchen to pour a glass.
Leave yourself a small reward for getting up. If you wanted to watch the last fifteen minutes of your favorite show, have it ready on the DVR. If you were excited to read your favorite journal, set it up in your breakfast nook.
Go to bed with the right mindset. You should go to bed feeling free of worry, happy with yourself and the people around you, and excited about what the next day will bring you. This may sound like a heroic task, but there are just a few things you can do to help yourself fall asleep in a peaceful way.
Don't go to bed mad. This will make it harder for you to fall asleep, and may wake you up in the middle of the night. If you had a fight with your friend or your spouse, try to resolve it as best as you can before you rest your head on the pillow.
Wind down in the hour before bed. That means no texting, no loud TV, no Internet browsing, and no intense conversations. Read a relaxing book and listen to a little classical music. Meditate. Do what you need to do to decompress.
Tell yourself why you're excited to wake up in the morning. Are you really looking forward to that homemade blueberry muffin? Are you excited to catch up with an old friend during lunch? Are you just pumped for an invigorating day of work? Try to think of at least three reasons why you really want to wake up.
Create a game plan. Even if you have a relatively leisurely day ahead of you, make a plan that would be difficult to execute if you woke up too late. This will make you feel more confident, more productive, and excited about the tasks ahead.
Go to bed at the right time. Consistency is key. Sleeping well does not mean sleeping for eight hours whenever you can. In fact, sleeping for eight hours is too much for some people and can even make them groggy. Figure out how much sleep you actually need, which should be somewhere between six and eight hours. Make sure you get that same amount of sleep almost every night.
You should also go to bed and wake up at almost the same time every night. It's okay to sleep in a little and go to bed later on weekends, but if there's a regular dramatic difference between when you get up and go to bed every day, your body will be confused and won't be able to fall into a routine.
Go to bed when you're tired. If you're used to going to bed an hour later but are falling on your feet, make an exception and just go to bed. You will feel much better for it the next day.
Start your healthy morning ritual. You should do whatever works best for you after you hit that alarm. Still, there are a few tricks that would benefit absolutely everybody and would make it easier for even the soundest sleeper to feel more alert. Here's what you do:
Hit your alarm.
Take a deep breath and fill your lungs with air.
Stretch deeply to wake up your limbs.
Smile. Smiling to yourself will make you feel more positive about starting your day. Even if you feel absolutely silly for doing this, it will make you feel better.
If you feel like your system is still not alert, step outside on your balcony or front porch and take a few deep breaths of crisp morning air.
Go to the bathroom. Going to the bathroom will help you feel refreshed and can help you get in your morning routine. Brushing your teeth and hair will make you feel more fresh, and the bright lights in the bathroom will slowly wake you up.
Splash cold water on your face.
If you have a hard time waking up, then you should really shower in the morning. This will wake up your system. Keep the water on the colder side. Nothing will make you want to go back to bed faster than a warm bath.
If it helps you wake up, have a radio in the bathroom that plays your favorite music or talk show.
Have a healthy breakfast. The right breakfast can help you wake up and can keep you feeling healthy and energetic throughout the day. The wrong breakfast can make you feel sluggish, bloated, and too tired to do anything. Here are some foods you should eat:
Oatmeal or whole grain bread.
Fruit, yogurt, and granola.
Greens like spinach or kale. If eating greens in the morning doesn't feel right, you can blend them into a delicious smoothie.
Eggs. Eggs are full of protein.
Ham or turkey. Just make sure it's on the leaner side.
Avoid foods that are soaked in grease, butter, or maple syrup.
Get some exercise. Exercise is a great way to get your body moving, to improve your energy levels, and to make you feel invigorated. If you don't have time for a full workout, there are still a few small things you can do to wake up your body and get pumped for the day.
Go for a jog around your neighborhood. Your lungs will feel healthier and you will feel more alert when you realize how many people are also waking up.
Take a morning yoga class. This will clear your mind and will get you ready for the day. If you don't have time to go to class, take some time to hit a few poses or meditate in your own home.
Just take a ten-minute walk. Maybe you need to drop something off at the post office or you want to pick up a cup of gourmet coffee. Taking a walk to get there will clear your head.
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For example:Don't say: Eat more fats.Do say: Add fats with some nutritional value to the foods you already eat. Try olive oil, butter, avocado, and mayonnaise.
Leave your curtains open a bit so you can get a bit of sunshine light in.
Make sure you have a healthy breakfast so you'll feel more awake and ready to start the day.
Drink a glass of water before bedtime so that you will need to get up to use the bathroom in the morning.
Have a glass of ice cold water right when you get up. The coldness helps wakes up your body.
Clean your room. It will make you feel more relaxed in the morning to find out you're waking up in a clean bedroom. Oh, and spray a little air freshener here and there to relax yourself.
If you wake up in the night because of noise, try wearing earplugs. If they hurt your ears, turn on a fan for some white noise that will drown out the sounds on the street.
Consider plugging in your iPod and listening to some music you really enjoy. This will wake up your brain. (Make sure not to do this at night as you will have difficulty in falling asleep for the same reason).
The night before, make an outline of what you plan to do the next day. Check it when you wake to get excited to do the things on your schedule.
Go to bed a little bit earlier so that you have rested and it will be easier to get up.
If you are worried about an upcoming event or test the next day, think positive. Think, "I'll do great!" or "It will be a piece of cake!"
Put your alarm clock on 30 minutes before you get up, then you have time to wake up properly.
Drink a cup of unsweetened lemon water when you wake up. it will give you energy.
Drink a glass of warm milk with a drop of honey in it before you go to sleep, it helps relax you and gets you in sleeping mode.
Put your alarm clock at the other side of your room, so that it will make you get up to turn it off.
Sit up standing up directly after laying down for hours can cause headaches, dizziness and feeling faint.
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