Fall Asleep Faster (in as little as two minutes)

An estimated 70 million American adults have a sleep disorder, the most common of which is insomnia — the inability to fall asleep, or waking up one or more times during the night. If you’re in this category, despair not, because the list of strategies to improve your sleep is long. While most sleep problems are tied to lifestyle choices such as spending too much time indoors during daylight hours, and/or excessive use of technology and chronic exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which will require you to make (perhaps significant) changes to your lifestyle, a number of tips and tricks can be useful in the short term. A method developed by the U.S. military, revealed in the 1981 book, “Relax and Win: Championship Performance,” claims to have a 96 percent success rate after six weeks of consistent implementation. Military Method Preps Your Body for Sleep The method centers around preparing your mind and body for sleep by deeply relaxing for about two minutes. The following summary of the process was recently published in the Evening Standard: 1. Relax your whole face, including your tongue, jaw and the muscles around your eyes. 2. Drop your shoulders and relax your arms. 3. Relax your chest as you breathe out. 4. Relax your legs, from your thighs to your feet. 5. Relax and clear your mind, then picture yourself in one of the following scenarios: a. You’re lying in a canoe on a calm lake with nothing but blue sky above you. b. You’re snuggled in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room. c. Simply repeat “Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” for 10 seconds. Additional Strategies to Help You Fall Asleep Faster Medical News Today also recently published a list of “21 Ways to Fall Asleep Naturally,” which included the following: 1. Create a consistent sleeping pattern by going to bed and getting up at the same time every night. 2. Make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible. If you don’t have blackout shades, use an eye mask. 3. Avoid taking naps during the day or too close to bedtime. 4. Exercise regularly. 5. Minimize cellphone use and use of other blue light-emitting devices. 6. Read a book to relax before bed. 7. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants at least four hours before bed. 8. Meditate or practice mindfulness on a daily basis. 9. “Count sheep” by slowly counting downward from 100 to zero. 10. Avoid eating at least three hours before bedtime. 11. Lower the temperature in your bedroom; an ideal temperature for sleeping is around 65 degrees. 12. Use aromatherapy; lavender is relaxing and may help induce sleep. 13. Find your most comfortable sleeping position. I would suggest you try sleeping in a neutral position. a. On your back with a pillow supporting your neck and a pillow under your knees. b. On your side with your knees slightly bent and a pillow between your knees. 14. Listen to relaxing music before bed. 15. Use the bathroom before you get into bed. 16. Take a hot shower or bath before bed. 17. Avoid e-books, as the blue light from the screen will impede melatonin release. 18. Try a melatonin supplement. Another effective alternative is 5-HTP, which is a precursor to both serotonin and melatonin. 19. Invest in a comfortable mattress. A medium to firm mattress offers the best support for your spine. 20. Minimize noise; use ear plugs if environmental noise is unavoidable. 21. Avoid alcohol. Avoid Nighttime EMF to Improve Sleep Quality While avoiding cellphones and other devices with electronic screens is important to protect your melatonin production. There’s actually evidence showing EMF exposure reduces melatonin production just like blue light from cellphones, tablets and computers do, making it particularly important to reduce EMFs in your bedroom. EMF exposure also triggers neuronal changes that affect memory and your ability to learn, and harms your body’s mitochondria by producing excessive oxidative damage, so “marinating” in EMFs all night, every night, can cause or contribute to virtually any chronic ailment, including premature aging. One of the easiest ways to avoid or radically limit your nighttime electric field exposure at night is to remove all electronic devices and wireless devices from your bedroom. Another potentially important step could be to turn off your Wi-Fi at night. Try it for a few nights to see if this step helps you to physically and mentally disconnect. You could even hard wire your home so that you have no Wi-Fi 24/7 in your home. Sleep is an important yet all too often overlooked factor in health and well-being. If you’re still skimping, thinking you’ve managed to get by OK so far, I urge you to reconsider and give sleep the attention it deserves. You can do everything else right, but if you’re not sleeping enough, or not sleeping well, many of the benefits of your healthy lifestyle will be lost. *If you have any questions about sleep or nutritional supplements that can help with your sleep; ask one of the doctors at our office. Source: Medical News Today, 2/2/19.