Guest guest Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Improve Sleep Be a Smart Sleeper Improve your sleep surroundings Like Pavlov's dogs, humans learn to respond to environmental cues. Removing the television, telephone, and office equipment from the bedroom is a good way to reinforce that this room is meant for sleeping. An ideal environment is quiet, dark, and relatively cool, with a comfortable bed and a minimal amount of clutter from daytime responsibilities. Reminders or discussions of stressful issues should be banished to another room. Maintain a regular schedule A regular sleep schedule keeps the circadian sleep/ wake cycle synchronized. People with the most regular sleep habits report the fewest problems with insomnia and the least feelings of depression. Experts advise getting up at about the same time every day, even after a late-night party or fitful sleep. Napping during the day can also make it harder to get to sleep at night. Keep a sleep diary Keeping a sleep diary may help you uncover some clues about what's disturbing your sleep. If possible, you should do this for a month, but even a week's worth of entries can be beneficial. Use strategic naps If your goal is to sleep longer at night, napping is a bad idea. Because your daily sleep requirement remains constant, naps take away from evening sleep. But if your goal is to improve your alertness during the day, a scheduled nap may be just the thing. If an insomniac is anxious about getting enough sleep, then a scheduled nap may improve the quality of nighttime sleep by reducing anxiety (although it'll reduce the time spent asleep at night). If possible, napping should take place shortly after lunch. People who snooze later in the afternoon fall into a deeper sleep, which causes greater disruption at night. An ideal nap lasts no longer than an hour, and even a 15- to 20-minute nap has significant alertness benefits. Naps that produce lingering grogginess should be shortened or eliminated. If there's no fun in it, something's wrong with all you're doing. ~N.V. Peale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 > > Improve Sleep Be a Smart Sleeper > > > Improve your sleep surroundings > Like Pavlov's dogs, humans learn to respond to environmental cues. Removing the television, telephone, and office equipment from the bedroom is a good way to reinforce that this room is meant for sleeping. > An ideal environment is quiet, dark, and relatively cool, with a comfortable bed and a minimal amount of clutter from daytime responsibilities. Reminders or discussions of stressful issues should be banished to another room. > Maintain a regular schedule > A regular sleep schedule keeps the circadian sleep/ wake cycle synchronized. People with the most regular sleep habits report the fewest problems with insomnia and the least feelings of depression. Experts advise getting up at about the same time every day, even after a late-night party or fitful sleep. Napping during the day can also make it harder to get to sleep at night. Keep a sleep diary > Keeping a sleep diary may help you uncover some clues about what's disturbing your sleep. If possible, you should do this for a month, but even a week's worth of entries can be beneficial. > Use strategic naps > If your goal is to sleep longer at night, napping is a bad idea. Because your daily sleep requirement remains constant, naps take away from evening sleep. > But if your goal is to improve your alertness during the day, a scheduled nap may be just the thing. If an insomniac is anxious about getting enough sleep, then a scheduled nap may improve the quality of nighttime sleep by reducing anxiety (although it'll reduce the time spent asleep at night). If possible, napping should take place shortly after lunch. People who snooze later in the afternoon fall into a deeper sleep, which causes greater disruption at night. An ideal nap lasts no longer than an hour, and even a 15- to 20-minute nap has significant alertness benefits. Naps that produce lingering grogginess should be shortened or eliminated. > > > > > > If there's no fun in it, > something's wrong with > all you're doing. > ~N.V. Peale > > > > > > > As I wrote to someone off line today, my insomina has been a lifelong problem, triggered by witnessing my brother killed by a drunk driver 3 weeks before my second birthday. At the time it happened, I had just gotten up from my afternoon nap, but it took me until I was 40 to see a connection and then I didn't really know that I had actually seen it until I read trial transcripts and read all of the graphic details --- which I had had flashbacks of for years. So, in addition to his death, I had a great deal of separation anxiety in loosing my favorite playmate, and last fall, I learned that my mother was so damaged that she went to bed for a very long time and I spent much if not most of my time at my grandparents or with one of my mother's cousins and her husband. That last part I found out from my aunts last fall and they were both shocked that no one had ever told me how much that loss destroyed my mother. And I think that after two miscarriages, I could NOT allow myself to become pregnant a third time, because I could not take loosing another child. My poor niece, when visiting me, had to put up with an aunt who was always afraid something would happen to her! But at the same time, as an adult, she had told me how much she misses the things we did when she visited me in Chicago --- so it wasn't all bad for her! But I read myself to sleep and if I don't sleep for days, then I will finally crash! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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