Business executives, new parents, college students, travelers, and those suffering from sleep disorders are just a few examples of who could benefit from using Speed Sleep; that said, virtually everyone can reap the health, creativity, and productivity benefits from improving the quality of their sleep.
To determine the amount of sleep you need:
- Avoid smoking, alcohol and caffeine during this test.
- Starting on Sunday, go to sleep at the same time every night.
- Get 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for the next six nights.
- On Saturday, allow yourself to wake naturally.
If you wake up later then you normally do you experienced a sleep debt and your body needs more sleep at night. If you wake up earlier than you usually do then you may need less sleep.
Almost a quarter of U.S. teachers say they are sleep deprived and that their skills are significantly impacted by it according to a survey by Ball State University. These sleepy teachers may be at a higher risk at providing insufficient supervision and inferior classroom instruction. 43 percent of the teachers surveyed slept an average of 6 hours or less per night and 64 percent said they felt sleepy during the school day. Staying up late grading papers or preparing for the next day was usually sited as the cause of the lack of sleep, though nearly 45 percent worked part time jobs in addition to teaching. Providing teaching assistants who could grade papers and help in preparation may make it possible for teachers to do a better job.
The idea of waking up early to be productive is quite popular. But the truth is this notion has been around a long time. Ben Franklin wrote an entire book on the subject. Some people are naturally morning folks. The rest of us might need some coaching.
How to Wake Up Early:
- Get a good night’s sleep.
- Get out into the sunlight shortly after wakening
- Move around early. After stretching do a few jumping jacks or a short run in place.
- Have a good reason for getting up. (You are motivated most by what you value)
- Use a sleep CD that programs your mind to wake refreshed.
A newborn’s biological clock is immature. It takes time for a baby to develop his own natural circadian rhythm. After all, he just emerged from a place that stays dark 24/7. Daylight is new, and finding a sleep pattern around it is a challenge. The things that might help are the same things that often help sleep challenged adults. For instance, letting sunlight into the room in the morning will help a baby learn to wake at the right time. Dimming lights in the evening also helps. Having a regular feeding and activity schedule makes setting a baby’s biological clock easier. Parents who realize that this time in their lives is short, and who learn to let go of unrealistic expectations will be able to better enjoy their new baby.
Human beings spend about 1/3 of their lives sleeping. We know we need sleep but most of us really haven’t thought too much about why. Why do we have to spend 7 or 8 hours a night immobile and unconscious? What happens inside our brains while we are asleep?
The truth is no one really knows exactly why sleep is so important. It just is. And it turns out that it is just as important as having a healthy diet and exercising regularly. In fact, sleep is as important as food. Rats who were sleep deprived died as fast as those who were food deprived. Without enough sleep our minds and bodies suffer. Unfortunately, in our society, the majority of us are suffering from sleep malnourishment.
Whatever the function of sleep is, it seems to be so important that nature is willing to put us in a place of potential danger by allowing us lose awareness for hours at a time. You have to wonder why we need sleep if survival is the whole point, because we are completely vulnerable when we are sleeping. The odd truth is, we are even more vulnerable if we are sleep deprived.
U.S. researchers say children having less rapid eye movement sleep (REM) were more likely to be overweight. The University of Pittsburgh school of Medicine researchers monitored the sleep of 335 children ages 7 to 17 for three consecutive nights. They found those who were overweight slept about 22 minutes a night, had shorter REM sleep and a longer wait before the REM period. The researchers calculated one hour less of total sleep was associated with a two-fold increase of being overweight and one hour less of REM sleep was associated with a three-fold increase. They concluded that sleep hygiene and increased sleep duration is important in the prevention and intervention of obesity and type 2 diabetes in children.
Power Down for Better Sleep:
We need a buffer between our busy days and sleep. If we jump right into bed after a day packed with activity and stress it can be nearly impossible to give it up to a restful nights sleep. Anything that provides closer to the day can set the tone for sleep. Even things like tidying up can be soothing if it becomes a part of your nightly routine.
One way to get yourself in the mood for a snooze is to plan a bedtime routine. 20 minutes of doing things you have to finish (to relieve your mind), 20 minutes of personal hygiene then 20 minutes for relaxation, however you define it. I like to read. A restful CD or a nature show, a soothing hot bath, a neck rub or a cup of chamomile tea might do the trick for others.
6 Reasons You Need a Good Night's Sleep:
- It maintains your immune system
- It slows aging
- I prevents diabetes
- It keeps you slim
- It helps you maintain a shrp memory.
- It can make you happier.
- It makes you more alert the next day.
- It gives you more energy the next day.
- It is mother nature’s way of giving you a time out from the business of living
- It gives your brain time to process and organize your day’s thoughts.
- Avoid caffeine and nicotine close to bedtime
- Avoid alcohol
- Exercise regularly but not too close to bedtime
- Establish a regular relaxing, not alerting, bedtime routine. (a hot bath, reading etc)
- Create a sleep conducive environment that is dark, quiet, warm and comfortable.
- Lack of patience
- Slow reaction time
- Decreased ability to be vigilant
- Impaired judgment
- Lack of motivation
- Trouble processing information
- Lower performance (physical and mental)
- Impaired short term memory.
- Learn to Lucid Dream-In a lucid dream you can control where your dreaming goes. You can teach yourself to lucid dream by keeping a dream journal and learning dream extending techniques.
- Solve problems while you sleep- Studies show that a little shut eye can help you tackle problems and make tough decisions.
- Beat Insomnia With Visualization- Use meditative visualization to quiet your racing mind.
- Shortcut a Long Nap with a Clattering Spoon- Artist and avid napper, Salvador Dali had an interesting nap technique. Believing that just getting to sleep is as good as sleeping for hours he devised a way to wake himself. He held a spoon so that it would fall when he fell asleep.
- A Caffiene Power Nap- Try drinking a cup of coffee then taking a 20 minute nap to reboot your brain and reenergize your system.
- Eat to Enhance Sleep- Foods like oatmeal and whole wheat bread can make you sleepy.
- Master the Power Nap- Slowly but surely the benefits of the 20-minute power nap is getting recognition. Some companies are even installing sleep pods so their employees will a have a place to “power up”.
- Avoid Being Jerked Awake by an Alarm Buzzer- products such as sleep CDs and clocks that use light or vibration are gentler alternatives.
- Reduce screen time before bed: Light emitting devices like TVs and computers stimulate the brain thereby keeping you awake.
- Exercise can enhance sleep: Just make sure to exercise in the morning or afternoon and not at night.
Exercise near bedtime can actually keep you awake.
If you wake in the middle of the night and then have trouble going back to sleep don’t count sheep. Studies have found that relaxing imagery or thoughts help induce sleep more than counting sheep, which some research suggests can be more distracting than relaxing. Most experts agree; if you can’t fall back to sleep within 15 to 20 minutes it is better to get up and do something relaxing like listening to music or reading. Go back to bed when you start to feel sleepy.
Giraffes can stay awake for weeks. Brown bats sleep almost 24 hours a day. The dormouse balances itself on a branch and any movement wakes it up immediately. Both human and non-human mammals go into REM sleep. Dogs might twitch their legs or bark during REM sleep, platypuses move like they do when they are killing their crustacean prey and humans often talk in their sleep. We don’t really know if animals dream during REM like humans do but we do know that the brain wave pattern of animals is very similar to that of humans.
In spite of the peaceful expression on a baby’s face, for adults, sleeping like a baby is unrealistic and undesirable. Most newborns sleep about 8 times a day logging in 18 or so hours of sleep, spending about 9 hours of it in REM sleep. When a baby reaches 4 weeks old his sleep periods get longer. At six months old an infant will often begin sleeping through the night as well as taking a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon. At preschool age daytime naps shorten and about age six most children are awake all day and ideally sleep about 10 hours at night. Perhaps schools should consider a rest time for older children. If taken early enough, a daytime nap can make homework a snap and the home “rush” hour a much more pleasant experience for the whole family. In a society where being busy is extremely valued, “rest” is a highly underappreciated commodity.
5 Tips for getting a good night's sleep:
How much sleep do we need? Most of us need about 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day. 6 hours or less triples the chances of you having a car accident. And interestingly enough more than 9 hours seems to be harmful to your health. Sleep is cumulative. If you don’t get enough sleep for several days in a row you build up a sleep deficit. 9 results of sleep deficit are as follows:
Most people’s bodies become tired in the afternoon about 8 hours after they wake up. Studies have shown that just 25 minutes of sleep during those afternoon hours provides more rest than 20 minutes of extra sleep in the morning. When you sleep your brain goes through different stages. The stages you go through are called the sleep cycle. This cycle includes light sleep, deep sleep (body repair stage) and rapid-eye movement sleep or REM (mind repair stage). A 20 to 25 minute nap allows you to awaken at the right time in the sleep cycle. Shorter or longer naps stop you in mid cycle. The interruption of the sleep cycle is what makes you groggy. But even if you have only 5 minutes to sleep take them. The short rest will reduce stress and help you relax a little. Even a little break will allow you to complete your tasks with more ease.
10 Cool Sleep Ideas:
A University of Pittsburg study shows humans may need to trick their bodies into maintaining a 24 hour cycle if long missions, particularly to Mars, are to succeed. After 12 weeks in space, astronauts lose sleep and sleep less soundly because of microgravity (in which they use less energy), the absence of day-and-night cues and the constant 45 minute night-day orbital cycle disrupt internal clocks.
--from Flight International 04-Dec-01
