How to sleep better

Nice! I'll have to try some these out, I'm currently doing a few of them, but sticking to a sleep schedule is the difficult one, I rarely go to bed at the same time each night.

 

Hi,

Thank you for your methods. I will try to implement them too.

I have the same problem. I found hypnosis usually helps:


I was listening to Timothy Ferris the other day, he recommended Apple cider vinegar + honey (together) as a strong, natural sleep aid. He said it's takes 1 hour for the effects to kick in. I still have to try it.

Let me know if you run across any other solutions that work.

Thank you,
Taylor

 

I'll try that. I've been doing 30 minute runs every other day with resistance. I'll try to place them closer to bedtime, and do cool shower before bed.

Thank you for the advice.

 

Many things have already been mentioned, but since I've been living in an environment of irregular, but continuous sounds that keep me awake, I'd like to contribute:

Falling asleep/rest better:

• The light of mobile phones or your computer screen inhibit the production of melatonin and simulate, so to say, day light. So try to turn out your computer on time.
• Keep your room as dark as possible and avoid any kinds of lights (including sources a television switched to stand-by mode)
  
• Natural remedies like pineapples, cherries, oranges and bananas increase the melatonin production (magnesium and valerium help as well)
  • It may sound contradictory, but eating a small amount of carbs before going to bed (keywords are tryptophan and brain blood barrier) facilitates falling asleep
• For a "natural" sleep (whatever may be the definition of natural) it is recommendable to go with the sun

I just copy an answer I've given someone some days ago regarding a yoga breathing technique or trick to fall faster asleep or simply relax:

• there's a 4-7-8-breathing technique (which I personally don't use, I just breath normally, but slower), I just copy what I've posted somewhere in the forum: You breath in while counting to 4, then hold your breath counting to 7 and then you exhale counting to 8. The accumulation of oxygen provides a calming effect, although I prefer to count less and just breath slower and more relaxed than I'd do normally.

Well, we know that calm music (also in combination with meditation) before going to sleep provides an relaxing effect on your body. I don't know if binaural beats actually help, since I'm not listening to them on a regular basis, but once I listened to a special song which was really different to the commonly found songs on Youtube. I've been searching for an hour, but can't find it, a real shame. You hear two different signals on each ear which generate different brain waves (one person said this works slightly different than the other binaural beats because of the two different signals on both sides), altogether packed into a beautiful song. I'll edit my reply when I've found it.
EDIT: Here it is, maybe there's someone who'd like to give it a try:

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Environmental noise:

If there sounds of the environment disturbing you, there are various options how you can create an environmental sound and make the disturbing sounds less significant. There's a variety of one hour to ten hours videos on Youtube, try

• rain, under water whale sounds and other nature sounds
  
• white noise (customizable, http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php)
• fan noise, plane noise, etc.

Polyphasic sleep patterns:

Due to some problems getting sufficient sleep and for the sake of productivity, I tried to implement a polyphasic (now rather biphasic) sleep pattern. There are many sources and experience reports about sleep patterns and it's unfortunately not suited for everybody. At first it feels like having a jet lag, but the more time passes the more you get your body gets used to the adjustment. I learned that sleep cycles last about 90 to 120 minutes and we have three to four of them.
Similar to some people in the forum I tend to wake up in the middle of the night and the last time it happened, I just tried to take advantage of the situation and got up. I still felt drowsy but after opening the door and letting some light my drowsiness disappeared faster than usually, to my surprise I needed less time to be "fully awake" and was also mentally clearer.

Cats and dogs seemed to be sleeping all day long and I always assumed, well, they have nothing else better to do. I never thought of polyphasic sleep patterns in animals, but now, since I've been trying it out, it seems to be somehow natural and an alternative. Unfortunately I can't stick to it completely due to some ever changing factors, but learning how to nap works wonders and you can save time. In one source they said by implementing a biphasic sleep pattern you save up to 14 hours per week.

Of course, this is only a recommendation and possible solution for those who frequently wake up during the night.

I think this is a good overview to begin with:

https://www.polyphasicsociety.com/polyphasic-sleep/overviews/

However, I'm not sure about sacrificing the core sleep segments like in the Uberman sleep, especially regarding sportsmen, and I'm not aiming for this.

Originally I wanted to start my own thread regarding sleep, patterns and related experience, but here we go.

Finally - A personal note for people who get upset because of factors preventing them from getting enough sleep:
Even if it goes beyond the purpose of the thread: There was a time when I couldn't fall asleep, be it due to some neighbors/environmental sounds or spontaneous insomnia. I used to get crazy because I was not able to fall asleep and started thinking about the next day and the effects of not having slept sufficiently. Later on I realized how stupid it is to get mad and angry all the time, although sometimes it can be tough to endure some uncomfortable nightly sounds caused by the environment.
So I figured out that, when I can't get sleep, the only thing which can't be taken away is to relax, because relaxing is the bridge to falling asleep and relaxing is also a form of resting.

I used to blame the circumstances, my neighbors or other things, but never considered myself to be the reason behind my problems related to sleep. It should be mentioned that there was indeed a time in the past (actually a period of time) when certain circumstances, noises, prevented me from falling asleep or getting sufficient rest which ultimately lead to the behaviour of listening to everything around me and getting mad at it. Not a long time ago special noises worked like pressing buttons.

But then suddenly a question popped up: If there are 10 families living in this house that aren't having any issues getting sufficient sleep, why then me? When I'm not there, there's no problem in this place. It turned out, the problem was simply me - auditive influences which were interpreted "wrong" and classified as disruptive disturbed my inner peace and biased heavily my judgement. I forgot how to accept.
So I had to somehow deactivate the button my system respectively I had created over the weeks and tried to accept and appreciate the sounds of my surroundings in order to replace the detrimental interpretation by a feeling of security (there is somebody) and diminish additionally the thought someone might do this disrespectfully or/and intentionally.
Sometimes we tend to believe self invented stories without realizing that we're damaging ourselves more than the actual causes of our discontent do, we're not conscious of the ways we can fix ourselves and therefore our problems by changing the perspective.

Sure, here and there are still difficulties, but it's not comparable to my prior situations. It takes effort, but it's worth it.

Although it's not directly related, this video was the cause or rather impulse of my changed perspective and my current contentedness regarding my experience.

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Don't waste your time being mad like me for nothing you could change by thinking different.

 

These are all great ideas. I would add turning off all overhead lights in your bedroom an hour before bedtime. Keep a lamp on if you need it, but the lower electricity/light will help your mind and body transition to sleep mode more smoothly.

 

Really good advice!!!Thanks for sharing this information. I love the idea as you said about Binaural Beats Sleep.