Andreea Lucia Mihalache

 Sleep How to Sleep Better: Hack Your Sleep and Increase Energy, Brain Functioning and Happiness While Curing Common Sleep Problems Like Apnea, Snoring and Insomnia Introduction We all hear about how important sleep is, but do we actually take that information into account? Every doctor you will ever meet will tell you that you need 8 hours of sleep per night in order to feel your best and have enough energy for the entire day, but how many of us get more than 6 hours? I know I don’t. I can’t even remember the last time I slept the whole recommended 8 hours! We lead busy lives and sleep is what seems to always get cut from our schedule; we tell ourselves we simply don’t have time for it. But what if I told you that sleep is much more important than you ever imagined? And that it’s not only good for your energy, but also for your brain health and overall happiness? I bet you’d be intrigued and want to find out more. Luckily for you, that’s exactly what I intend to talk about in this book. This book is meant to present crucial information about sleep and what it can do for us and our health. In addition, I will give you tips and tricks to help you sleep better and cure some of the annoying sleep disorders that might be ruining a good night’s sleep, like snoring, insomnia, or sleep apnea. Don’t underestimate the importance of these nocturnal 8 hours and don’t let your sleep be ruined by some common disorders. Take control of your sleep experience and rest comfortably for the entire 8 hours, so that you can harness all of its tremendous benefits. You can learn all about it from this book, so allow it to act as your guide to all things related to sleep, its importance and benefits, and how you can treat and solve sleep-related troubles. Start reading now and good luck! Chapter 1 – The Various Benefits of Sleep By now, we all know that sleep is good for us, but are we aware of just what its benefits are? The first of them is definitely the fact that it gives your body a chance to rest, but that’s not all there is. There are a lot of really important and surprising health benefits that manifest themselves not only physically, but also mentally. I’m sure you are very familiar with that crappy feeling you have when you haven’t slept or when you haven’t gotten enough sleep. Well, that’s just a taste of what can really go wrong if you skip on it too many times. Sleep is crucial for all living things; hell, some animals sleep most of the day (like cats) or all through winter (like bears). Hibernation is extremely important in nature, and that should give you some clues as to its role in our well-being. In fact, take babies, for example. They sleep most of the time when they’re not crying to be fed, and sleep continues to be essential for children until pretty late in life. It restores energy, helps them concentrate in school and maintains mental acuity. But let’s take a look at some specific benefits. Rest, energy conservation & safety As I mentioned in the beginning, we all lead full, busy lives. Whether you’re running around the city on one errand or another or stuck at your desk for 8 hours, by the time you get home, you are most likely extremely tired. You wouldn’t think it, but even sitting down, in front of the computer and just playing can be exhausting. Pair that with the fact that many of us don’t get to have very healthy breakfasts and lunches, and your energy is most likely depleted by nighttime. And how do you restore this energy that you will need again in the morning? And how do you increase energy? By sleeping. You may think sleep is overrated (oh, to be young again and be able to pull all-nighters!), but your body needs it just as much as it needs air, food, and water. Without sleep, your body is not able to rest properly and recharge its batteries. This is sleep’s main function, to restore the energy you have wasted during the day. But that’s not the only role of sleep, at least, not according to scientists. Some researchers believe that sleep also has an evolutionary function – to keep us safe from harm and possible predators. Because the human vision is not adapted to darkness like nocturnal animals (owls, felines, etc.), engaging in nighttime activities could have proven to be extraordinarily dangerous for us. Nocturnal animals hunt at nighttime, but we gather our food during the day. By practicing this type of inactivity during the night, we are not in danger of crossing paths with some hungry predator. As you can see, sleep has major physical health benefits, but they’re not all related to energy. Sleep also contributes to maintaining the health of your heart, reducing the risk of diabetes, increasing your libido, controlling weight, and even making you live longer. Studies have, indeed, shown that if you sleep less or more than what you need, your life expectancy is actually lower. But there are other deeper implications and benefits to sleep, not only physical, but also mental. Cell regeneration One of the major reasons why sleep is so important and effective is that it helps in cell regeneration and rejuvenation. While we sleep, our body is actively working to rebuild damaged cells and reconstruct tissues. Protein synthesis, muscle growth, and the release of human growth hormone all happen while we sleep. Scientists were able to find evidence of this fact in nature, by studying animals. Those who lost sleep for a long period of time died in a few weeks because of loss of immune function. I was blown away when I found out that sleep essentially helps rejuvenate our bodies. People who don’t sleep enough actually get older faster, they have more wrinkles, they lose skin elasticity and they become ill and frail. Getting enough sleep is turning out to be a way bigger deal than we think it is and it may even be crucial to your organ health and overall well-being. It’s no secret that we all want to live as long as possible and if cell reconstruction is possible, why would you throw away those opportunities for more hours spent in front of the computer instead of sleeping? Brain health But the reconstructive and rejuvenating properties of sleep are not limited just to your skin and other organs; they are crucial to brain health, as well. Sleep works to nurture the brain cells and help improve cognitive function. But how does sleep work to give us the feeling of being alert and fresh? Well, during waking hours, the neurons produce something called adenosine, which results from cells. This builds up in the brain over the day, and you start feeling increasingly tired. The more adenosine you have there, the more tired you are, and that is what prompts you to fall asleep. While you’re sleeping, however, adenosine is drained from your brain, and by the time you wake up, you’re feeling fresh and alert. Adenosine can also be kept in check artificially with the help of caffeine, which blocks it, but only for a short period of time. As the effect of caffeine wears off, you start feeling the full effect of adenosine, which is why we experience that woefully familiar caffeine crash. This state of alertness means that your mental acuity increases, you can think more clearly and make decisions with more ease. Since your mind is not clouded with adenosine and overly tired, it can process information and perform difficult or complex tasks with less difficulty. In addition, sleep helps your brain retain information better. It has been demonstrated, time and time again, that sleep deprivation comes in between humans’ ability to learn and that it affects short term memory. So all those sleepless nights you stayed up late to cram for exams in college? They were close to useless, since you probably weren’t able to retain anything. If, however, you had allowed yourself a few hours of sleep, you would have been able to remember the important information. The implications for memory are particularly important, especially as we struggle to find ways to improve the state of brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s. Anything that can boost memory power and keep people alert and rational for longer is highly valuable. Therefore, a proper amount of sleep helps you live longer, be healthier, and maintain your memory as sharp as possible for a longer amount of time. Think about all of those things the next time you decide to waste the night away or when you put off going to bed because you’re binge-watching some show on your laptop. We’ll talk more about how bad that is for you in the next chapter. Learn more about yourself Something completely different than anything we’ve discussed so far is represented by the experiences that you can have while sleeping. Most people view sleeping as a completely passive activity, especially since you only use 10% of your brain during this time, but it is possible to make your time of rest the most active of your entire 24-hour cycle. If you’ve never experimented with lucid dreaming or astral projection, then you’re in for an incredibly exciting ride. The day I began appreciating sleep was the day I started becoming lucid in my dreams. I’m sure you’ve heard about it before – it’s the act of becoming aware that you are dreaming and effectively controlling your dream. You can make anything happen, go anywhere, and talk to anyone. It’s an incredible ability our mind has, and it allows you to experience some truly unique things and learn a lot about inner self and your subconscious. Whether you want to fly, go on an adventure, or meet a celebrity, you can experience anything you can imagine. And that’s not even the most exciting thing you can do while you’re asleep. There’s something else called an astral projection, or, as you might know it, an out of body experience. Some say it’s the same as lucid dreaming, but having experienced them both, I can tell you they are different. With astral projections, your astral body becomes separated from your physical one, and you are able to float above it, observing everything from up above. Your physical body, in the meantime, remains in a state of sleep paralysis. Traveling in the astral plane is, probably, the most amazing thing I have ever done in my entire life, and I recommend it completely. It allowed me to connect with my higher self and get to know my inner self a lot better. It’s impossible to describe how the experience feels, so nothing I say will do it justice. Just know that your body and your mind are capable of so much more than you are aware of, and sleep presents a lot of opportunities for the expanding of knowledge. Check your understanding! Why do we need to sleep? What benefits does sleep bring? Why is sleep important for our cells? How is sleep related to memory improvement? What kind of opportunities for unique experiences does sleep provide? Chapter 2 – Sleep Tips that Can Teach You How to Sleep Better Okay, so now you’ve been able to learn about all these cool things that your body does while you’re sleeping, so you’re determined to sleep more so that you can reap the benefits. The only problem is that you’re kind of struggling to get a good night’s sleep. So your issue is not only the fact that you need to sleep more, but also that you need find out how to sleep better. Believe it or not, a lot of people deal with sleep problems; an alarming amount, actually. The most common culprit is definitely stress, so that is your number one enemy, right there. There are various things you can do to help yourself enjoy better sleep, so here are a few of the practices that helped me. Cut back on stress and allow your brain to shut down Since stress is the one ruining your resting experience, that’s what you have to tackle, first and foremost. Now, I know that stress is inevitable and that we are all stressed in one way or another and more often, by every single aspect of our lives. Children, relationships, family, work – they can all be stressful in their own way. But since you can’t control these things, at least try not to let every little thing get to you. Things happen, and you can’t keep everyone happy and juggle the balls perfectly while maintaining a smile, so to speak. Don’t stress yourself out over the little things and don’t overthink every situation. Most of the time, problems are never as bad as we create them in our head, so don’t fall into that trap. Take everything as it comes, deal with it to the best of your abilities, and then move on. Dwelling on it doesn’t do you any good. In the same vein, keep different aspects of your life separate. Leave work stress at work and family stress at home, and let it all aside when you go to bed. Lying awake at night worrying is what is ruining your beauty sleep. Don’t have late dinners Did you know that food can actually interfere with your sleep? It’s true, especially if you eat late at night, you can have trouble sleeping because of it. Why? Because as the day starts winding down, your metabolism gets slower and slower, which means it will have a harder time digesting the food you eat. That’s why you sometimes get tummy aches if you eat and then immediately fall asleep, and that is also the reason why most diets tell you to avoid eating after 6 o’clock. Since your metabolism is slower, the fats won’t get processed and will instead nestle in exactly where you don’t want them. For that reason, try to make sure you don’t have very late dinners. Absolutely no later than 8 o’clock, but you should shoot for 6-7 PM, for best results. That way, your body has plenty of time to process the food, and you can go to bed satisfied, but without feeling “heavy” or sick because of the food. Drink tea or milk before bed The calming and sleep-inducing properties of warm milk and tea are well documented. Well, as long as you don’t opt for green tea (caffeine is a no-no, but I’ll talk more about that in a minute). Not only is the milk itself good for your sleep, but so is the ritual of sitting down and taking a few minutes to enjoy a glass of milk and a cookie. It becomes a way to let your body know that it’s time to turn in for the day and start the process of winding down. Before you know it, you will be lost in sleepy land. Don’t have coffee after 3 o’clock Okay, let’s talk about coffee. Look, I love coffee (trust me, I do), and I know it can be incredibly tempting just to sip on it all day. And I know that you feel like having a caffeine boost around 4 in the afternoon when you usually feel like you can’t go on any longer, and you’ll fall asleep at your desk. However, caffeine is a false friend, and it WILL betray you late at night when all you want is to get some sleep. However, because of your little afternoon delight, you will be wide awake until God knows what hour. Now, you can avoid this by simply having a cut-off hour. Caffeine will linger in your body for many hours, so you are better off having it before 2 or 3 PM, at the latest. That way, by the time you go to bed around 9 or 10, the caffeine will have had time to be eliminated out of your system, and you won't be kept awake for any reason. This is also true for green tea and soda, so if you know that coffee has a strong effect on you, steer clear of those. Wear earplugs and a sleep mask Personally, I have a problem with light disturbing my sleep. Especially in the summer, when the sunrise is really early in the morning, I am usually awoken by the light getting into my eyes, and let me tell you, I ain’t happy about it. This can happen during the night a well, particularly if you live on a busy street that is very brightly lit, heavily circulated, or very loud. In that case, you are most likely disturbed by flashing lights and moaning sirens all night long. The solution, for me, was to set up some really thick curtains on my windows and wear a sleep mask. That way, I can be sure that no amount of lighting is going to wake me up during the night or day. Sleep masks are also great for taking naps during the day. Similarly, if noise is a problem for you, invest in a pair of earplugs. Just pop them in and you will sleep soundly. No electronics in bed This is a tough one, but you should keep your bedroom free of electronics. And I mean no TV, cell phone, tablets, or laptops in bed or around it. Ideally, your bedroom should be only for sleeping and nothing else. If you need entertainment, or you need something to help you get sleepy, keep a book on your bedside table and read until you fall asleep. Unfortunately, we all make a major mistake, in that we get into bed with our electronic device, and that’s the worst thing you can do. You see, the blue light that is emitted from the screen is terrible because it keeps you from falling asleep naturally. It keeps you awake and instills a false sense of alertness. In fact, if you stay up on your laptop for too long at night, you may even have major trouble falling asleep. Not to mention that you will frequently have dreams or nightmares about what you were doing or reading about right before you fell asleep. So, no work, no playing, no watching shows and no wasting time online in bed! Exercise As I mentioned, you should have a sleep routine that gets you ready for bed. Cherish this time and create a ritual out of washing up, getting into comfortable clothes, having your bedtime milk, reading your book, etc. Your mind and body should be completely relaxed, so engage in activities that you enjoy and that can take your mind off your daily stress. Chapter 3 – How to Cure Common Sleep Disorders Perhaps the most irritating thing in the world is struggling with sleep disorders. While the amount of sleep you get is somewhat within your control, as long as you organize your schedule accordingly and make an effort to go to bed on time, sleep disorders are not anyone’s fault. So, one may feel helpless when confronted with a problem that affects not only the quality of their sleep, but also the quality of their bed buddies’ sleep. The husband who is snoring loudly has become a trope that we play off for laughs, but neither snoring nor sleep apnea or insomnia are laughing matters. They are serious conditions that can become dangerous if left untreated. That is why it is significant for me to talk about them and offer some suggestions on how you can deal with and cure these common sleep disorders. Sleep apnea This sleep disorder may not be familiar to everyone, but it is extremely serious. Sleep apnea is when you start and stop breathing repeatedly throughout the night while you’re sleeping. Central sleep apnea happens when the brain cannot send the right signals to the muscles that are in charge of breathing, while obstructive sleep apnea is when the throat muscles relax, and it’s the most common form. Complex apnea syndrome, however, is when one has both of these disorders. Sleep apnea manifests itself through loud snoring, irritability, insomnia, headaches, dry mouth, sleepiness and others. The solution: Although it is always recommended that you see a doctor for sleep apnea treatment, there are things you can do to help your condition, such as: Sleep with you head propped up Tighten your jaw muscles before bed by keeping something in your mouth or chewing gum Sleep on your side, as sleep apnea is much more common when sleeping on your back Put a pillow behind you or something hard, like a tennis ball, in your pocket, so you won’t roll over on your back However, if none of these actions seem to help and especially if you have complex apnea syndrome, you have to get medical help, because it’s a serious – and possibly dangerous – disorder. Snoring To most people, snoring is funny. That is, until you are the one who is sleeping next to a person who is snoring loudly and will not stop, no matter how much you poke them in the ribs, try to move them, or wake them up to tell them to stop snoring. They can’t control it, and they don’t do it on purpose, nor are aware that they do it, so they can’t stop on demand. It’s frustrating for everyone involved and not a lot of people are aware that there are solutions to this irritating problem. The solution: You may not believe it, but snoring can actually be helped, or even cured. You can see a doctor, but you can also try to help yourself with these tips: Don’t take sleeping pills or drink alcohol before bed, because they relax the throat muscles Start exercising regularly, as being overweight can cause or intensify snoring Quit smoking, to avoid throat inflammation that favors snoring Clear your nasal passages Use a special device to stop snoring Insomnia Insomnia is one of the worst sleep disorders you can suffer from because it doesn’t only affect you physically, but also psychologically and emotionally. Few things are as terrible as desperately wanting to sleep, but not being able to, no matter how hard you try. It leads to headaches, exhaustion, skin problems – it can mess up your entire cycle. On top of that, you have to deal with the psychological strains that can affect you deeply. How are you supposed to be able to do your job effectively – or anything else, for that matter – if you can’t rest properly? The solution: Insomnia can really take a toll on someone and can lead to desperation, but don’t give up just yet; there are things you can do in order to improve your sleep experience. Make sure you create the optimal environment – the room should be cool, dark, and quiet. You can’t have distractions. Study how you sleep – for how long do you usually manage to sleep? What are the triggers for insomnia? Stress? Trauma? Something else? Knowing more about this gives you the information you need to treat it. Cut back on the time you spend in bed – did you know that lying there for hours actually makes it less likely that you will fall asleep? It’s better just to be there to sleep, to avoid frustration and annoyance. Create a bedtime ritual – do relaxing activities like taking baths, reading, listening to music, etc. Engage in relaxation exercises and techniques. Think of calm, happy, relaxing things. Worrying and stressing out over whatever is banned from your bed. Dos & Don’ts Dos Do look into the benefits of sleep – It’s difficult to believe that sleep is all that important unless you see it for yourself. So, by all means, do your own research and convince yourself that sleep should never be skipped for no reason. Do eliminate distraction from the bedroom – Your bedroom is for sleeping, so there is no reason to have endless devices for entertainment in there. You can’t have a TV, a computer, your phone, etc. because they are distractions and their ruin the quality of your sleep. Do go to bed early – How do you expect to get your recommended 8 hours of sleep, if you go to bed at 3 in the morning? Give yourself a chance and start going to bed earlier and earlier. Around 10 o’clock is the ideal time, because it gives you time to fall asleep and it allows you to wake up rested early in the morning. Don’ts Don’t drink too much caffeine – We all love caffeine, precisely because it’s the nemesis of sleep, but when you’re lying awake at night, it’s not that great. Cut off your coffee supply at around 2-3 PM for your own good. Don’t let stress take over your life – Stress is the primary reason why we don’t get as much sleep as we should and why it’s not as satisfying and resting as it should be, so don’t allow stress into your bedroom. Don’t hesitate to get medical help for sleep disorders – Even though they might be common and don’t seem like a big deal, sleep disorders need to be addressed, lest they become more serious. See a medical professional anytime you struggle with sleeping. Conclusion All in all, I think we can agree that the importance of sleep is actually underrated; it’s so damn essential to our lives! We think that we can fool around and waste all those precious hours of rest and work instead, stare at a computer screen or watch some dumb reality show on TV, but every single time you stay up late, pull an all-nighter, or get little sleep, you are actively doing yourself a disservice. You are harming yourself physically, emotionally, and psychologically, and the effects of lack of sleep are seen and felt long-term. The numerous benefit of sleep are well-documented, so why don’t we all make an effort to sleep better? That is exactly why I decided to write this book – I wanted to show everyone how important sleep is and how we can all improve the quality of our sleep. It’s not always that simple to get a good night’s rest, but with some good tips and tricks, anyone can achieve it. In addition, the various sleep disorders many of us struggle with can be cured, as well. There is just no reason why YOU would not get an excellent night of rest, starting right now. Allow this book to be your guide to a better resting experience. By now, you will have learned that sleep is too valuable to be wasted away for no reason, so take advantage of this opportunity to find out what you can do to improve your sleep. You will be able to enjoy better physical health, better brain health, and an improved emotional state. Sleep is just as important as air, food or water, so do not underestimate it. Start improving your sleep now. Good luck!