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Maximising sleep quality and maximising waking time
Submitted by RagsToRich on Tue, 2009-12-15 09:28
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For anyone who takes their waking time seriously, maximising sleep quality is of a great deal of interest. This article will discuss all the important factors in maximising the refreshing and rejuvenating ability of sleep.
I am constantly looking out for ways to minimise my sleeping time, maximise my sleep quality, and therefore increase the amount of time I can spend daily on productive and enjoyable things.
As your life fills up with projects, commitments and hobbies you find that you have less and less free time, which means you want to maximise the waking time you have. That naturally means anything which means you can feel just as rejuvenated from less time spent on sleep is useful.
1. Air quality
Something which I never considered for many years was the air quality of my room – and after I took some steps to improve it I was amazed at the positive effect it had on my sleep. I noticed quite clearly an improved feeling of vitality in the mornings, as well as a fresh feeling in my throat and lungs.
The most important consideration for air quality is to ensure that fresh air is being circulated throughout your room. That means opening a window for a good 4-8 hours a day. If that’s not possible then you’ll have to look into buying an air purifier.
Since I’ve got a decent sized window in my room I didn’t need to do that so it’s not something I can effectively advise on. However, I am aware that those devices vary in quality and so should be investigated thoroughly.
On top of that the air pollution of your room can be minimised. You can do that by cleaning your bed covers regularly and by vacuuming the dust up in your room. You also may wish to consider covering up any sources of air pollution such as dusty fireplaces.
Having a couple of indoor plants in your room can also help increase the air quality.
I strongly recommend trying opening a window on a daily basis if it’s not something you already do. The effect I noticed from it was astonishing.
2. Bed comfort
Bed comfort is extremely important for effective sleep. The unconscious body is just as comfortable or uncomfortable as the conscious one. So if you couldn’t lie comfortably on something for 8 hours awake, then asleep it will have the same detrimental effect to your comfort.
Your mattress should be turned over and twisted around every 2 months. This is because the springs begin to buckle and an impression of your body in them begins to weaken the tension in their suspension. By turning your mattress over and you make it so the part of the mattress you are lying on is as supportive as possible.
Bed sheets should be cleaned often – and replaced if they become uncomfortable or too old. Bed sheets should have a fresh feeling to them.
It is also important not to use too many pillows. Ideally you should only have one layer of pillows, two layers at max. Anything more can create a strain on the neck.
3. Healthy eating
Sugar should be avoided at all costs. Not just for sleep quality, but for a great number of other health reasons. Even fruit should be limited.
If you absolutely have to eat sugar then follow it up with some heavy exercise to ensure that the excess energy is used. If the energy is not used then the body produces insulin en masse – the insulin clears out the sugar in the blood which creates a blood sugar debt leading to fatigue, bad moods, dehydration, malfunction of bodily processes, cravings for more sugar, and numerous other problems.
Eat plenty of green vegetables and protein heavy foods. Don’t eat anything a good 3 hours before sleeping time.
4. Using naps
Naps are a great way of catching up on missed sleep – I use them all the time. If you go all the way with naps you may also wish to investigate biphasic sleeping.
You should either aim for your naps to be less than 55 minutes long, or made up of 1.5 hour intervals (see step 12 as for why).
Naps can be used at any time throughout the day. Make-sure to obey step 6 especially for naps.
Don’t give up on naps if they don’t work for you straight away. I was trying them for a good couple of months before I really began to feel how beneficial they could be. To start with I would barely feel rejuvenated at all – but these days I find naps a massive boon to my energy.
Personally I do not use an alarm clock when I nap and I’ve never had a problem with that. My body naturally wakes up after 90 or 180 minutes.
I would suggest that this is how you should do it too, if you must then put an emergency alarm on if you have an appointment which you cannot afford to miss. Otherwise allowing the body to fully relax and naturally wake-up at the end of a sleep cycle will provide the most benefit.
5. Limiting stress
Obviously limiting stress is better for higher quality sleep. There’s plenty of ways to do this – the one I recommend mainly is mindfulness meditation.
If ever you have found yourself thinking of stressful things while in bed then go to step 12.
6. Block out noise and light pollution
First and foremost – wear ear plugs particularly if you sleep during times when there is activity in your house, or neighbourhood. Something else to consider is wearing an eye mask – I’ve never had to resort to that but I have some friends who do.
Of course there’s some other obvious steps – close the curtains, turn off the lights, turn off your PC (if it’s in your room, which it ideally shouldn’t be) and so on.
7. Limiting stimulants
Pretty obvious – limit alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, etc – particularly close to bed-time.
8. Drinking water
Always have a glass of water by your bed. Always drink a good deal of water throughout the day. End of.
9. Maintain a regular sleeping schedule
Constantly changing sleeping schedules are much more likely to cause problems than a fixed one. The body has a natural sleeping clock which operates almost as accurately as a mechanical clock. If that schedule is moved or changed then the body has to adapt which decreases the efficiency of sleep.
10. Physically active
Fairly self-explanatory. At least two sessions of physical activity which produces a feeling of fatigue in the muscles and causes the body to sweat. Ideally a good 4 hours or more of physical exercise.
11. Set the time you want to wake up and let your sleeping adjust naturally
When setting a new sleeping schedule – set your alarm for the time when you have to wake up, for example - for work, and then only go to sleep each night after you feel tired. After a few days your body will natural adjust so you will begin to feel tired when you are ready to fall asleep.
You will magically find that this time which your body sets for when you feel tired fits into the theory of step 12.
12. Be aware of sleeping cycles
The human body sleeps in one and a half hour sleep cycles. For the first 55 minutes or so the body is in a lighter state of sleep – if awoken in this state you will feel somewhat refreshed – but not especially so.
Then from around 60 minutes until approximately 90 minutes the body enters a deep sleep. While in this stage if you are awoken you will tend to feel groggy and could feel extremely tired.
These figures are not exact, they can vary by about 5 or 10 minutes either way from person to person. Once you're aware they exist it doesn't take too long to get an idea of what yours is.
Understanding sleep cycles is important in order to minimise the amount of times you are woken during deep sleep.
If you’re calculating the amount of sleep to have in a night when setting your alarm, do so in 1.5 hour intervals. So good amounts of sleep to have are 4.5 hours, 6 hours, 7.5 hours or 9 hours.
Getting woken up during the lighter phases of sleep is not a big problem.
As above, this information is also useful in calculating nap times.
13. Only lie in bed when you feel sleepy
If you’re not sleepy then get out of bed – do something else for a bit, and only go back in bed when you feel ready.
Ultimately you’ll be far better off having one and a half hours sleep than lying in bed for 6 hours stressing about not being able to get to sleep – trust me I’ve done both J
14. Write down your thoughts before bed.
If you find you have a lot on your mind when it comes to bedtime, then spend 15 minutes jotting it all down to get it out your head.
This can be particularly effective when you have something important on your mind. You can write it down, know that it’s stored there for later, and then let it go from your attention.
If you're interested in more information on this subject I highly recommend the website end your sleep deprivation. This is a high-quality website on the subject with a lot of great free content.
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Great tips! Some were
Great tips! Some were obvious to me, but many I had never considered, or was not aware of....
I came across a nice video on
I came across a nice video on the TED website about how to create clean(er) air indoors by using plants.
I had atually planned to try
I had atually planned to try plants, but opening the window worked so well I never got around to it.
After watching that, looks like it'd be worth investigating further... :D
Rich
I was always in two minds
I was always in two minds about plants in the bedroom, and especially at night, I discovered this http://www.greenyour.com/home/lawn-garden/houseplant/tips/choose-plants-that-purify-the-indoor-air so now the plants are coming in!I also find Dr Stuarts tranquillity tea helps for a restful sleep too.
thanks
hey, i did not know about sleeping cycles, thanks for the info :)
That was a useful article :)
That was a useful article :) I find that you're almost spot on, in regards to light and deep sleep cycles.
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