Learning to sleep lightly

But now and then it would be OK, right? It's got to be better than staying awake for two days(I've tried it, and it doesn't feel too good).

 

I'm betting you threatened some rich jock at your school and now fear for your life.

But as it was being stated before, your body needs REM sleep because it's the deapest form of sleep your body has. Sleeping "lightly" would prevent REM sleep and will make you very tired in the morning.

I know about this because I have sleep apnea, it causes your body to not sleep as well and to stop breathing during the night. It makes you tired during the day, and can make you pass out if you have few REM hours.

This may seem like it is ok but sleeping "lightly' is something that is treated by putting an air mask over your face.

 

Besides, sleeping 'lightly' won't get you what you want anyways. And yeah, it's actually 5-8 hours for most people, though if you do it right you can operate just fine on an accumulative total of 2 hours of sleep a day.

 

I was a Marine Corps Infantryman. To this day, I cannot "sleep deeply". It can be hell at times, since I'm engaged, and engaged people are often expected to have the same sleeping arrangements.

I've had times when my cat would brush against my door, and I'd wake up immediately.

Not only does it harm my sleep patterns, but it also affects my ability to return to sleep when I am woken up. You see...I don't wake up in "steps", or gradually like some people. When I am woken...I am AWAKE. Great for getting up in the morning, but hell if you find yourself fidgeting at 2 am.

I've since had to rely on sleep aids and herbal remedies.

I highly recommend you stop looking for this characteristic.

May you achieve
Satori

 

Don't learn to sleep light, it will only make you less rested. Also, if you're tired, and you live in a city and are conditioned to get poor sleep, you'll suffer a lot.
In fact, you may even cry and die from high blood pressure because tears are salty.

Yeah, right. Most college students run on 0-5 all week then sleep all weekend. My mom gets 5hrs, and my friends grandmother cannot sleep for more than 3 hours. Not to mention some of the doctors and med students I know.

 

Okay, I was wrong. I just realized that I only sleep 3-5 hours, on average(and feel fine). I just take ages going to sleep and getting up in the morning.

Allright, so I don't want to sleep lightly. I'll rephrase my question: how can I train myself to wake up easily if I need to? Apart from becoming a parent, that is. And is there a way to go to sleep in a few minutes instead of the hour or so it takes me without using drugs?

And if you really think I need to give a reason, fine. I want to smuggle pistols and hand grenades around New Zealand on a motorbike. Happy?

 

I have to say I wake up and go to sleep pretty quickly. It comes from studio work where you might e.g. do a 40 hour session, sleep for an hour and then wake up and carry on.

When you say you wake up slowly, how slowly are we talking?


The best tip would be to set your alarm, and when you wake up, get up immediately and do something active. Eventually your body will switch into 'active mode' (increased bloodflow etc) as soon as you wake.

 

Well, I did give you a method by which to do it. Or did you skip me post?

A couple other things that may help, add an hour onto your average sleep time. Work out in the morning helps you sleep better at night. Breakfast! If you don't do it, start, if you aren't a breakfast person, then just quit now because you will never get conditioned the way you want to be without.

Also, on the subject of breakfast, not just cereal, have something with substance.

 

It takes an hour or more for me to have the energy to get up. It takes an hour or so longer for me to be properlyish awake. I continue to run on 2/3 power for most of the day. For some reason I find myself to be more energetic at night, which is why it takes so long to get to sleep. Maybe I was pecked by a radioactive owl or something.

 

Yes, I read your advice. Thankyou and sorry for not thanking you before.
When you say to eat something of substance at breakfast, do you mean things like meat and potatoes or what?

 

I mean have eggs, potatoes, milk or juice of some fruit. You develop a morning routine that begins with a brisk 15-20min run and a decent breakfast, you'll set a better overall tone for your day.

 

I think I understand what you want.
Like your previous thread, the solution is the same: find a MA school near you that has regular breathing exercises. Employ it while you sleep. Properly executed, you get a very good quality sleep and wake up fresh.
Or conditioned your body to wake up and automatically do a simple chore. As a muslim, I have to get up early to do my (sub)morning prayer. I remember as a child i have some difficulty. Yet, after a time, my body respond automatically to the alarm clock. A little bit drowsy at first but after ablutions and beginning my prayer i'm already full awake. Another good example is by leaving a wash basin filled with water in the nightstand so when the alarm gone off, you can wash your face with cold water.
Or do like my cousin experienced. His dad just simply thrown a bucket of water at him if he didn't wake up when the alarm gone off. Work wonders.

 

Alarms/artificial means of waking up = bad and unhelpful. Why would you want to use alarms, they set a tone on your day. Early mornings are important times in regards to your day, what you do first thing in the morning will reflect on the rest of the day to some extent. I. E. you wake up to an annoying alarm etc, or other pointless method of waking up, that annoyance will overshadow the rest of your day to a varied extent. Wake yourself up. It's all about self-control. Learn to wake yourself up, and you'll likely find yourself thinking clearly the moment you wake up. It takes practice and confidence, you can do it, at first you'll want to go to bed a little early to be safe, but after a while you'll be able to sleep heavily 2 hours and wake up no problem.

 

Noontidal has some excellent advice here. I find that my inner alarm clock is more trustworthy then my actual alarm clock. Only thing is you have to really want to wake up at a specific time. For example i'll tell myself before i go to sleep, 'Gotta wake up at 6:30, i absolutely MUST wake up at 6:30, i need to wake up at 6:30' and just repeat it to myself a couple times. Then in the morning 90% of the time i wake up ar 6:25 or around then. Thats what works for me anyway.

Also i agree that an alarm clock is an annoyance that with time wont be needed if you practice this.

-DocQ

 

Building a solid routine is great. If you can program your bodyclock well enough you will wake up at the exact time each day within 1 minute. I know, i've tried it. Nuisance in school holidays when you wanna sleep and you wake at exactly 6:45 gagging for a ruN!

 

I don't practice or think about it or anything, and I always end up waking up 5-15 mins before my alarm goes off.

 

Unfortunately if I prep myself to wake up for something important, I wind up waking up an hour too early, almost on the dot. Then if I manage to go back to sleep it's really hard for me to wake up again. If your internal clock's a little off like mine, and you still need an alarm, get a radio or cd one, they are much less jarring, and I find them much easier to wake up too.

Breakfast is key. I like oatmeal or mixed grain cereal, maybe with an apple, 1/2 an hour after waking up, even if I'm not hungry. I got a rice cooker, so I just stick it in as soon as I wake up, take a shower, and it's ready and waiting for me when I get out. Don't eat dinner too late either. Try to cut down on coffee, switch to tea etc. caffeine makes it harder to have good sleeping habits. Have some chamomile tea if you have trouble getting to sleep (or a hot toddy if you're of age and really have trouble)

I use to sleep very soundly, and I always had trouble waking up. Now I wake up at every little noise in the night, and where I live is very noisy. I still have trouble getting up, but now I'm just grumpier. Getting a good night's sleep is just not as easy as it used to be.

 

Wow. It's amazing what some slightly improved health and fitness can do for a man. I did a couple of weeks hard work putting up fences on a farm and now I never wake up much later than 5. That's about 4-5 hours of sleep a night for me, and I havn't felt any ill effects yet. In fact, I'm feeling a lot less tired now than I did before I got that job.

 

For once I agree with The Count. If you get your body into a rythme it will want to wake up if it is fully rested.

 

1. You need to set up a sleeping schedule.
2. It sounds like you have fixed the problem now. I used to not be able to get out of bed for almost an hour after I woke up every morning, but then I started using some self control. I would just force myself out of bed every morning.

EDIT: I am an extremely light sleeper. I was never in the marines, but I have the same sleeping problems as satori. I have a dog who sleeps with me. If he shifts during the night, it wakes me up. If I wake up in the middle of the night I can't go back to sleep. I usually wake up earlier then I have to and can't go back to sleep. It sucks and I don't know why anyone would want to be like that personally. I'm not a soldier or anything, so it's not like I'm in danger. I just want to get my 8 hours. I need my beauty rest. If I only had 4-5 hours a night, I would be one ornery *******.