What is your best sleep tip? And what's the biggest thing that prevents a good sleep?

[Brandon Nankivell]

There was a good response and discussion with the last sleep post, with wide agreement that sleep is important for health: 

 

So I'd love to promote further discussion by asking you the following 2 questions:

1. What is your best sleep tip? (Based off you truly getting a good night's sleep)

2. What is the biggest thing that prevents you from getting a good sleep?

[Brandon Nankivell]

1. I drives me crazy not to share more than one but if I had to choose one based on what actually enabled me to get on a good sleep schedule for the first time in my life, it was getting a sleep tracking wearable so I could actually see how well I was sleeping. Being able to see my own data gave me the motivation that I could really change it. I actually started off developing the habit of exercise because it also tracks my activity. And the immediate results with activity tracking encouraged me to improve my sleep stats so I started going to bed at a better time.

2. Travelling. I slow-travel around the world so once I rent an apartment for a month, there's not heaps I can do to alter the environment on a permanent basis so I have to make do. Right now I live in a busy part of town where noise is less than ideal and can be a bother when trying to fall asleep.

[Michael569]

3 hours ago, Brandon Nankivell said:

2. What is the biggest thing that prevents you from getting a good sleep?

Electronics of all sort. All of it should go 2 hours prior to your sleep. Any blue light in your house will disrupt sleep as well. Blue light blocking glasses can helo. It seems the pineal gland is extremely sensitive to blue light and it impacts melatonin production drastically. 

This is also my tip for Question 1. 

3 hours ago, Brandon Nankivell said:

it was getting a sleep tracking wearable so I could actually see how well I was sleeping.

Not a fan of this tbh. Trying to quantify sleep too much will just raise your cortisol whenever you realize your sleep today is worse than your sleep yesterday or that you are still awake by the time you were asleep yesterday.  Same reason most sport trackers are toxic. it creates too much stress and need for comparison and competition. Oh and of course it serves the ego most of all. 

And finally (I am not sure how much I believe this yet) I think that each human being operates on certain frequency (energetic circulation) and that this is getting disrupted by electronics especially those we put close to ou body such as bluetooth headphones and trackers and phones. Again, this may be new age hippie bullshit but perhaps not  Lot of diseases stem from blockage of energetic circulations and there are lots of natural remedies that operate on this levels such as bachflower and bushflower remedies. 

[Nicachi]

- 2/3 hours no food before sleep. 

- Get a nice routine (meditation, preparing stuff for the next day, soft yoga session) before sleep so that your body and mind get used to it. 

- better reading a book than scrolling down on social media (really hard for me to do but its so effective) 

- drinking something warm like a tea (without Coffein ofc) always calms me down 

 

 

[Light Lover]

Wear an eye mask and earplugs 100%! Don't use internet or listen to music (especially heavy stuff) 1 hour prior to sleeping, as @Nicachi said, find habits that help your mind and body relax into sleep, instead of forcing it, tea is always good as well! Don't eat too much prior to sleeping otherwise you will feel bloated. Do some deep breathing to get your mind totally into the state of rest for about 5 minutes, and make sure your room has very little or no light! That is all the advice I have!

[Bill W]

think of sleep difficulties as a sign that I haven't worked on enough of my day time shit. 

I used to fall into a trap that if I just have a good routine 1 hour or 2 hours before sleep that all will be right. Wrong.

Speaking as an ex sleeping pill addict the best thing I've ever done for my sleep is two fold and in this order of importance.

1. Mindfulness meditation on and off during the day and evening. My specific technique is to bring my attention to sound in my immediate environment. This has really helped my monkey mind.

2. Once in bed I slow my breathing right down. Especially the out breath. If you ever listen to how someone breaths when they are in a deep sleep, and model your breathing on that. 

[Annonymous]

What keeps you from sleeping is stress/tension within your body, worries/fears of what may happen in the future, regrets, lastly caffeine and different drugs, high blood pressure can also be an issue.

[pluto]

1. What is your best sleep tip? (Based off you truly getting a good night's sleep)

Turning off all electronics at the source, sleeping in a dark, quiet and slightly cool room. Sleep on the floor or firm surface so the skeletal structure holds the body rather than the muscles so you can enter deeper sleep and restore/regenerate more effectively. Sleeping earlier than midnight and and rising with the sun.

Sleep only when your last meal was at least 3 - 4 hours ago.

2. What is the biggest thing that prevents you from getting a good sleep?

Electronics/Blue-Light, Lack of daily exercise and not enough time spent in nature, direct sunlight exposure and grounding.

Edited October 9, 2019 by pluto

[Knock]

1. Eliminate blue light from electronics after sunset.

2. Using your bed for anything but sleep or sex. I.e Don't eat in bed, use your phone in bed, use laptop in bed, etc. 

Reading a book or kindle in bed before sleep is okay.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Knock