Tips for establishing better sleep patterns

1. Don't eat a large meal before bed, but don't go hungry either. A glass of milk sometimes helps because of the amino acids it contains
2. Soak in a long, hot bath right before bed
3. Make sure the room is as dark and quiet as you can make it. If you live somewhere noisy, you can create your own white noise with a small fan. It helps mask motor noises. Or wear foam earplugs.
4. Sleep regular hours, even on the weekend. Sleeping in Sunday morning can make it harder to fall asleep Sunday night, which makes it harder to get up Monday morning and your cycle is skewed for another week. 
5. If you are in a pattern of lying awake fretting about a few relatively small problems, write them down before you turn out the lights, roll over, and then focus on things that are going well. Negative thoughts trigger slight adrenaline rushes, which do nothing to relax you.
6. If you can't get the problems out of your head, imagine them written down on Rolodex cards, sorted and filed. Flip through other problem cards. Select an easier unsolved problem- everyone's got one. Exchange one for the other. It helps.
7. If there is ever a time to allow yourself to feel sensual, lying in bed is one. Feel the warmth of your sleeping partner, the bedding, the dark, the calm, and the quiet. Like being in a pool of warm water, bedtime is one of the few times every square inch of your skin feels good. Remember how good your bed feels when you are waking up from a good sleep. Imagine that feeling as you try to doze off.
8. To make your trip to sleep more interesting, fantasize about anything along the way. Go ahead- its your imagination.
9. Be considerate: save emotional conversations with your partner for daytime.
10. Sleep on the couch when you are keeping your partner awake.

 (extracted from Beyond Soap, Water and Comb, by Ed Marquand)

5 Stages of Sleep Cycles

There are 5 phrases of sleep: stage 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement). Stage 1 begins when you are sleeping, and subsequently go through each stage until reaching REM sleep, and then you begin the cycle again. Each complete sleep cycle takes from 90-110 minutes. The brain acts differently at each stage of sleep. In some of the stages, body may make movements, but arms and legs are immobile. Having good sleep habits will make sure each type of sleep are achieved. 

Stage 1
Light sleep. Experience drifting in and out of sleep. Can be easily woken up. Eye movement and body movement slow down

Stage 2
Around 50% of sleeping time is spent on stage 2 sleep. Eye movement stops and brain waves (a measure of the activity level of the brain) become slower. There will also be brief bursts of rapid brain activity called sleep spindles.

Stage 3
First stage of deep sleep. During stage 3 sleep it can be very difficult to wake someone up. If woken up, may feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes.

Stage 4
Second stage of deep sleep. In this stage it is also very difficult to wake someone up. Both stages of deep sleep are important for feeling refreshed in the morning. If these stages are too short, may feel that you have not slept enough.

REM sleep - Rapid eye movement

The sleep stage in which dreaming occurs. This sleep phase begins about 70 to 90 minutes after you fall asleep. When you enter into REM sleep, your breathing becomes fast, irregular and shallow. Eyes will move rapidly and muscles become immobile. Heart rate and blood pressure increase.




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Confessions

Okai, I haven't been true to my own cause for the past two weeks, staying awake past my set timing of 11pm,  sometimes even past 2am! And now I am suffering the consequences: whiteheads are coming back to haunt me, easily stressed and fatigue during the lectures, and it is demoralizing to see myself in the mirror with dull skin complexion, witnessing the workload piling up and procrastinating on it (another story, but I feel it is interrelated...somewhat).

I should really start practicing my 11pm - 5.30am sleeping time again! =)

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=241072625923150

3 Theories of sleep

Came upon an interesting article about sleep by Kendra Cherry of about.com Guide. It gave 3 explanations of sleep; its necessity, and the purpose of why one-third of our time are preoccupied in bed.

1) Repair and Restoration of sleep
This theory postulates that sleep is essential for revitalizing and restoring the physiological processes that maintains the health and function of the mind and body in check. It suggests that NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep is important for restoring physiological functions, while REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is essential in restoring mental functions.
During sleep, the body also increases its rate of cell division and protein synthesis, further suggesting that repair and restoration occurs during sleeping periods.

2) Evolutionary theory of sleep
The second theory suggests sleep as a means of conserving energy, a period of inactivity and calm. Contrast with activity, a period of wakefulness that would be the most hazardous. This theory is supported from comparative research of different animal species. Animals that have few natural predators, such as bears and lions, often sleep between 12 to 15 hours each day. On the other hand, animals that have many natural predators have only short periods of sleep, usually getting no more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep each day.

 3) Information Consolidation Theory of sleep
Based on cognitive research, this theory suggest that humans sleep in order to process information that has been acquired during the day. Moreover, it argues that zzz prepares the brain for the following day. Sleep is also an integration process of stuff we acquired during the day into long-term memory. Support for this idea stems from a number of sleep deprivation studied demonstrating that a lack of sleep has a serious impact on the ability to recall and remember information.

At the end of the article, Kendra wrote that while there is no crystallized, 'clear-cut' support for any one possible theory, each of these theories could be used to explain why we sleep.

How to sleep well by eating well

Erratic sleeping habits, unhealthy diets, and being a 24/7 couch potato all contributes to sleeplessness.In order to improve the quality of sleep, necessary lifestyle changes must take hold.

Here are some food products that can aid a goodnight sleep:

• Cherries (contain melatonin that could regulate sleep-wake cycles in human brain.)
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• Dark green leafy vegetables (contain folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and magnesium)
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• Maca (Peruvian Ginseng)
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• Milk (calcium and magnesium)

 And there are also food to avoid 3 hours prior to sleep:

• Food that contain caffeine, such as cocoa, colas, chocolate, coffee
• Spicy, Sweet and fatty food that might cause indigestion and bloating.