Sleep hygiene
Good sleep habits will foster regular good sleep, and the more of these you incorporate into your lifestyle, the better your sleep will be. However, no sleep advice is dogma. If you fall asleep quickly by listening to punk rock, keep doing it. But if you’re having difficulty slipping into a slumber and staying there, consider the following:
1. Reduce the intensity of your evening activities and practice an evening ritual. In the two hours (ideally) preceding bedtime, it’s time to put aside tasks that stress you out. If you turn in at 10:30, it’s a bad idea to start going over credit card bills you can’t pay at 10:00. Exercise, while promoting sleep when practiced regularly, can often interfere with sleep if performed too late in the day. Better to work out as soon as you get home from work than to eat a large meal, wait an hour and a half, then work out. For many people, scheduling exercise and dinner three or more hours from bedtime works best. Calming ritual behaviors can also help you wind down by providing psychological cues for sleep, and might include taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and reading a book.
2. Create an ideal sleep environment. Get curtains that totally shut out light. Close the windows for silence. Adjust the temperature so that it’s cool and comfortable.
3. Strive for regularity in your wake-up and to-bed schedule. The more regular your rhythm, the easier it will be to drop off to sleep, and to sleep soundly for a full, deep eight hours. If a dinner, movie, party, etc., keeps you up late one evening, compensate the next day(s) by turning in earlier, or sleeping later, or both.
4. Avoid caffeinated beverages in the evening. How early you need to begin avoiding caffeine varies according to individual biochemistry, how much you drink at a sitting, and how high of a caffeine tolerance you hold. For most individuals, the half-life of caffeine in the bloodstream is five hours (and can be as high as seven), so it’s possible that your last cup of coffee might be at lunchtime or earlier. On the other hand, alcohol in the evening is fine, but in moderation. Studies reveal sleep disturbances when 3–5 glasses of alcohol are consumed in the evening.
When good sleep habits fail
Sometimes the best of intentions (with regards to sleep habits) aren’t good enough, due to a plethora of physically-based sleep disorders. The good news is that many common disorders which can wreak havoc on your mind and body are not only treatable, but curable. The bad news is that some disorders are exceedingly common and frequently go undiagnosed. If you’re either tired during the daytime or snore, or both, you have the early warning signs of sleep apnea, a very common disorder. Arm yourself with knowledge by reading THE PROMISE OF SLEEP and see a qualified physician. Sleep centers are listed in the back of the book. Many other disorders with many other symptoms exist, but are beyond the scope of this short review, so take the time to learn about them yourself.
Final note
A friend of mine recently “admitted” to me that he slept eight hours per night, with a strong tone of guilt in his voice. Conversely, I’ve heard many friends and co-workers over the years declare with pride how little they sleep, with the implied corollary of how hard they had been working. Both sides of this issue point to a kind of social disease which deprives many of us of the sleep we need to replenish and repair our bodies and minds. As Dr. Dement states in his book, sleep is something to enjoy without guilt. “Sleep quotas are biologically fixed, and there is no more shame in needing ten hours a day of sleep than in needing a size ten shoe.”
Regular, sound sleep holds the promise of a more vital waking life without the need for any synthetic stimulants or hyper-stimulating environments. If you’re a strength trainee, sleep may be amongst the key components that helps you to add the next 10 pounds to your bench, or 20 pounds to your squat. Incorporating healthy sleep into an overall fitness-oriented lifestyle will optimize your general health and help ensure your strength progression for many years to come.
Good sleep habits will foster regular good sleep, and the more of these you incorporate into your lifestyle, the better your sleep will be. However, no sleep advice is dogma. If you fall asleep quickly by listening to punk rock, keep doing it. But if you’re having difficulty slipping into a slumber and staying there, consider the following:
1. Reduce the intensity of your evening activities and practice an evening ritual. In the two hours (ideally) preceding bedtime, it’s time to put aside tasks that stress you out. If you turn in at 10:30, it’s a bad idea to start going over credit card bills you can’t pay at 10:00. Exercise, while promoting sleep when practiced regularly, can often interfere with sleep if performed too late in the day. Better to work out as soon as you get home from work than to eat a large meal, wait an hour and a half, then work out. For many people, scheduling exercise and dinner three or more hours from bedtime works best. Calming ritual behaviors can also help you wind down by providing psychological cues for sleep, and might include taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and reading a book.
2. Create an ideal sleep environment. Get curtains that totally shut out light. Close the windows for silence. Adjust the temperature so that it’s cool and comfortable.
3. Strive for regularity in your wake-up and to-bed schedule. The more regular your rhythm, the easier it will be to drop off to sleep, and to sleep soundly for a full, deep eight hours. If a dinner, movie, party, etc., keeps you up late one evening, compensate the next day(s) by turning in earlier, or sleeping later, or both.
4. Avoid caffeinated beverages in the evening. How early you need to begin avoiding caffeine varies according to individual biochemistry, how much you drink at a sitting, and how high of a caffeine tolerance you hold. For most individuals, the half-life of caffeine in the bloodstream is five hours (and can be as high as seven), so it’s possible that your last cup of coffee might be at lunchtime or earlier. On the other hand, alcohol in the evening is fine, but in moderation. Studies reveal sleep disturbances when 3–5 glasses of alcohol are consumed in the evening.
When good sleep habits fail
Sometimes the best of intentions (with regards to sleep habits) aren’t good enough, due to a plethora of physically-based sleep disorders. The good news is that many common disorders which can wreak havoc on your mind and body are not only treatable, but curable. The bad news is that some disorders are exceedingly common and frequently go undiagnosed. If you’re either tired during the daytime or snore, or both, you have the early warning signs of sleep apnea, a very common disorder. Arm yourself with knowledge by reading THE PROMISE OF SLEEP and see a qualified physician. Sleep centers are listed in the back of the book. Many other disorders with many other symptoms exist, but are beyond the scope of this short review, so take the time to learn about them yourself.
Final note
A friend of mine recently “admitted” to me that he slept eight hours per night, with a strong tone of guilt in his voice. Conversely, I’ve heard many friends and co-workers over the years declare with pride how little they sleep, with the implied corollary of how hard they had been working. Both sides of this issue point to a kind of social disease which deprives many of us of the sleep we need to replenish and repair our bodies and minds. As Dr. Dement states in his book, sleep is something to enjoy without guilt. “Sleep quotas are biologically fixed, and there is no more shame in needing ten hours a day of sleep than in needing a size ten shoe.”
Regular, sound sleep holds the promise of a more vital waking life without the need for any synthetic stimulants or hyper-stimulating environments. If you’re a strength trainee, sleep may be amongst the key components that helps you to add the next 10 pounds to your bench, or 20 pounds to your squat. Incorporating healthy sleep into an overall fitness-oriented lifestyle will optimize your general health and help ensure your strength progression for many years to come.
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