Sleep...Or the lack of it!?!

If you've cut down the caffeine a lot recently you could well be undergoing withdrawal.

I think Simon has a good article on sleep somewhere, so wait for him to come along with some advice.

I'm a late night person and suffer greatly when I have to get up early. I'm useless at going to bed early, so end up with far too little sleep and become unbearable to be around (grumpy and intolerant).

One thing I find has helped my sleep quality is ZMA. I don't think it helps me get to sleep any better, but I'm less likely to wake up during the night and sleep deeper when I take it.

 

Bloody bugger. I've just written a massive reply and lost the lot.

Normal service will be resumed once I find something to hit.

 

That's one of the things I struggle with. I love my weekend sleeps in, but then find I can't get to sleep on Sunday night so all the benefits of the extra sleep are lost and I'm back to square one!

 

Sleep problems seem to be getting more common and it's an area of research I find fascinating.

First off I'll post the links Frodocious kindly mentioned; then I'll talk you through a fanstastic exercise, which in the 30 or so years I've been teaching it to friends and relatives, have only ever had one person say it didn't work.

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93727

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93777

You mentioned hydration.

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100117

And also caffeine.

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96955

Now for the exercise, which only takes 10 minutes to do.

I'd normally prefer to be in the same room as you before I went through this, but here goes. Hopefully I can make it easy to follow.

The reason many of us struggle to get to sleep is because the mind is all over the place, with your thoughts on the days work, tomorrows requirements, that guy who upset you and so on.

You (we) need to be able to focus the mind. Those who will tell you to empty the mind are already pointing you in the wrong direction.

What we want you to do is focus the mind and we'll be focusing on our breathing.

Lie either in bed or on the floor. The room must be quiet and dark.

Legs straight and place your hands on your belly, with the middle finger on each hand over the belly button.

I want you to imagine your body is a tube and as you breath in (through the nose) picture the breath (however you want to picture this is fine) coming into the top of the tube and down to the belly.

Don't force this. It should be a natural and relaxed movement and you'll know when it's right because ever so slightly the middle fingers (which were touching) have now ever so slightly parted.

Note: Once this is natural you can place your hands by your side.

Once the fingers part you breathe out and picture the breath dropping down and out of the bottom of the tube (down the belly, into the legs and out through the feet).

You then repeat.

This may sound like simple breathing in and out, which it is, but the point is the mind will try to look elsewhere and by focusing on the breathing you can bring the mind back to where you want it.

You'll need to do this for between 5 and 10 minutes (longer is fine) before you get a decent pattern going and feel both realxed and able to control the mind.

This is all I want you to do tonight.

Tomorrow night.

If you managed to get a decent breathing pattern and stop the mind from wandering, then go to stage 2. If you found it difficult, then repeat stage 1.

Stage 2.

Spend the first 5 minutes getting a decent breathing pattern, slow the heart rate and controlling the active mind.

Once you have this you can now start the relaxation part of the exercise.

As you breath out (down and out through the bottom of the tube) I want you to picture the muscles getting heavy and almost melting away from the body.

Start with the head. be aware of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth etc and on each out breath picture the body part getting heavy and melting away from the body. A bit like that feeling after a big sigh.

Move slowly down the body, picturing the nech, shoulders, upper and lower arms, hands etc.

It may take 10 minutes, it may take 30. That's your choice and based on how you relax.

The mind will try to look elsewhere. use that focus on the breathing pattern to bring it back. This is the key to this exercise.

I would normally be in the sae room as someone when teaching this exercise, so I hope this written version makes sense. Please do ask if there is something confusing.

I am genuinly interested in how you do, so please do let us know.

Good luck and remember the entrainment thread said that it takes 7 - 21 days to become entrained to a new pattern.

That said this is a great relaxation exercise and can be used just to calm the mind and body. It doesn't just have to be for sleep.

Simon.

 

The only time I can do the nap thing is if I'm completely exhausted and I always wake up feeling rotten and am useless for the rest of the day.

 

I taught this to a guy at work yesterday and I absolutely guarantee this technique.

It's not just sleep that we want to improve, but the quality of the sleep.

It's no good finally falling asleep with an active mind.

I can never remember which is which and it may be in one of my articles, but one part of the sleep pattern is physical repair and the other part is mental repair, which is why many of us wake either physically or mentally tired.

 

The GP is alway a good idea, just in case there is a medical reason. I would just fear the doctor prescribing medicines.

 

Steve, given your reply would you recommend a GP or other medical expert?