SLEEP: In the arms
of Morpheus
I can’t sleep. Haven’t had a good night’s sleep
for years. Sure, sometimes, I get 5 or 6 hours of uninterrupted snooze time per
night, but I usually get an entr’acte squeezed in for good measure.
I hear stories of people who are able to fall
asleep in planes, in buses, in front of the TV, in vertical form, some even get
shot at for dozing off at official events, and I feel such a big surge of
jealousy rising up - not for those whose life is in danger but for those who
have the ability to snooze off after 60 seconds of what Dr. Andrew Weil calls
the 4-7-8 breathing technique.
In those 6 years I’ve suffered from insomnia, I
have overhauled my diet, included juices
and superfoods in my daily diet, I have become a yogini, read all the “get more
sleep NOW” category of self-help books, gone to a sleep specialist, cleaned up
my beauty products (if you don’t see the correlation, don’t worry, neither do
I!) all in the name of supporting my adrenal glands and increasing my energy
levels, enough to go about my daily activities and meet all of life
requirements, in other words I have dealt with trying to live with lack of
sleep instead of dealing with sleep directly.
A couple of weeks ago, I finished listening to
a 12-day sleep summit organised by Lianne Soller, who brought together top
specialists in the fields of holistic health who talked about nutrition,
meditation, hypnosis, yoga nidra etc etc. Fantastic summit but alas, has my
sleep improved?
Needless
to say, I’m now obsessed with sleep: whether I’ll ever bond with Morpheus
again, whether I’m doomed or fated, whether there is still some tip I haven’t
tried and I’m not cognizant of.
Also, I live in sunny Greece which means that,
in the warmer months, life happens on balconies, with high decibel
conversations and music blaring out from every pore of people’s habitats. To
ask people to keep it down is like asking for the sun to stop shining. Also, my
neighbours are night owls. They come out after dark; their 11.00 pm is my
5pm!
But through trial and error, through
obsession and indifference, I have realised what works in my favour – besides
the standard tips of avoiding caffeine after 12:00pm, having a cool and quiet
room, no checking phones/computers/tv just before going to bed. What helps is
having a relaxing bedtime routine at least 30 minutes before I lay my head on
the pillow. My relaxing routine involves reading so even if I have returned
home in the weeny hours of the morning, I read a few pages, just enough to calm
body and mind. Ideally, the hours preceding sleep should not be too energetic
(activities which are physically and mentally straining) so that my melatonin
reaches its sleep level by bedtime.
The other tip is to go to bed only
when you are really sleepy, otherwise I just toss and turn endlessly growing
ever more annoyed and anxious and delaying sleep further. From personal
experience, I’ve noticed that I am sleepy around 22:30 – 23:00 pm. If I miss that sleep deadline, I am doomed
and I have to wait for my next sleep cue!
We have 90-minute sleep cycles (this cycle
repeats itself during the night) and 4 sleep stages, all important for our
proper functioning. The biggest repair occurs in stages 2 and 3, that’s when
tissue grows and repairs, when energy is restored and hormones are released. I
personally do not believe that we absolutely need between 7 to 8 hours of sleep
per night. You can cover less ground if you don’t skip on restorative sleep
(quality sleep), on stages 2 and 3. Most deep sleep occurs in the first half of
the night, and I’ve noticed that the earlier I fall asleep (and by early I mean
by 11pm) the better quality of sleep I get. The time I wake up in the morning
is not important. The time I fall asleep is what makes the difference in terms
of real body and mental restoration!
Hope I haven’t passed on my obsession onto you!
Love and sweet dreams,
Sophie
