Introducation
Do you always feel tired? Do you not feel energetic even after waking up in the morning? Do you want to focus on important tasks but still not able to perform as per your wish? Then again, my friend, it’s possible that you may not be aware of your superpower. Sleep is a superpower. We don’t say this, the world’s number one sleep expert says this. In his book ‘Why We Sleep’ he has answered many deep questions. Like, why do we dream? How does lack of sleep affect you? And most importantly, how can we improve the quality of our sleep? Stay with us for the next 10 minutes. Your attitude towards sleep will change. You will feel fresh and energetic throughout the day. Be more productive. We bring the best knowledge of the world to you in a simple and interesting way.
Sleep Points
Stage 1:
Minor sleep disorders. One in three people in the world has a sleep disorder. Yes, we can call it a disease because it affects not only our productivity but also our health. This disease comes in different forms. Insomnia means lack of sleep. Narcolepsy means excessive daytime sleepiness. Sleep apnea is where your breathing stops during sleep. All these problems are very common. Our lives are becoming increasingly stressful which is affecting our sleep. Let’s start the video with sleep debt. What is sleep debt? A simple formula. Actual sleep minus required sleep is equal to sleep minus. Let’s say your body needs 8 hours of sleep for complete rest. But if you sleep only for 6 hours, you borrow 2 hours from your body. The problem with debt is that debt accumulates. That means this debt keeps increasing. Lack of sleep works like a domino effect. If you sleep less than 2 hours every day, then in just 4 days you will have slept so little that you will have missed the entire day’s sleep. How much sleep do you really need? The Sleep Foundation says an adult needs at least 7 hours of sleep. Many productivity experts say that 6 hours is enough. But research has proved that 6 hours of sleep gives you neither quantity nor quality. Sleep is fuel for our body. Some people think that to avoid sleep we can drink coffee or Red Bull. But have you seen those bikers on the road who pour kerosene instead of petrol in their petrol tank and emit such smoke from their bike? If you substitute sleep for anything else, it will only harm your car. How Much Sleep Do You Need? let’s calculate
Step 2:
Sleep Calculator. I wish I had a scientific calculator I could give you so you could calculate exactly how much sleep you need. Unfortunately, there is no such formula. But yes, there is definitely a sleep cycle through which we can estimate. We often think that our body is like a mobile phone that needs to be charged every night and with time our body will become charged. After charging in 8 hours, we can use it as per our wish for 16 hours and after that we have to charge it again. But this is not true. We can divide our sleep into 4 phases. This is called Nidra Vastu. Stage 1 is N1 sleep where we do not fall asleep completely. We are slowly going to sleep. In this state, if there is any loud noise or someone pushes us, our sleep can easily get disturbed. This stage lasts for 1 to 5 minutes. The next stage is N2 where our brain activity decreases rapidly. Our body temperature decreases and the muscles become relaxed. It lasts from 10 minutes to 1 hour. The next stage is N3 which we call deep sleep. In this state our body is healing. Our creativity is increasing. Here, our brain processes our memories. Muscle repair takes place in this phase. Here our brain releases delta waves. This stage lasts for 20 to 40 minutes. And the fourth stage is REM which is rapid eye movement. Here the activity of our brain increases. The dreams we remember are the dreams seen during REM. This stage does not begin until the first 90 minutes after sleep. Our minds are being cleansed here. Things which are unnecessary are being deleted from the memory. And important things are stored at the right place. Have you noticed that you can only remember some things and not others? So let me explain. Your brain works like a computer. So there is a part of the computer called RAM. And when the computer is turned off, whatever data is stored in RAM gets deleted. Your short-term memories are like this. When you sleep, those short-term memories disappear. But there are some things in these short-term memories that you need to remember. Let’s say you made a mistake or you learned something new, the brain knows that these things are important. They will need to be used over a long period of time. When you sleep your short-term memories are transformed into long-term memories. This is why if you don’t sleep well, you feel very foggy the next day. You feel like a zombie. It becomes difficult to think. These four stages are combined to form a sleep cycle. This cycle is repeated again and again. And for healthy sleep, you need 4-6 sleep cycles. So, if you have a 90-minute sleep cycle, you need an average of 7-9 hours of sleep. In this chart, you can see that in each sleep cycle, your REM timing increases. For example, your first REM lasts only 10 minutes and then its duration gradually increases. This is a sleep science, after understanding this you can understand your body.
Step 3:
Understand your body. People often say, sleeping early and waking up early makes a person healthy, wealthy and intelligent. You will read many such articles on the internet that CEOs of big companies wake up at 4 in the morning. But after diving further, you realize that everyone’s sleep pattern is different. Because everyone’s lifestyle is different and everyone’s energy level throughout the day is also different. Everyone’s body type may be different. These are called chronology. There are mainly 4 types of chronology. Bear, lion, wolf and dolphin. They mainly focus on two things. When do you sleep and when do you wake up? And most importantly, when are you most active during the day? Bears sleep after sunset and wake up with sunrise. Their energy is at its peak before 2:00 pm and gradually decreases after 2:00 pm. Lions sleep before bears and wake up before sunrise. Their energy is highest in the morning. Wolves are the complete opposite of lions. They work more at night and are more creative at night. So naturally, they wake up late in the morning. And last of all, there are dolphins who sleep lightly. Wakes up at the slightest noise, but falls asleep just as quickly, unable to follow any pattern. It is important to understand this chronology. It is also important to understand your lifestyle. If you are working somewhere then from 9 am to 3-4 pm. You have to be productive. That’s why you can’t adopt a wolf-like lifestyle. Because it will affect your work. You either need to find a job that gives you flexible hours. Or you will have to train your body.
Step 4:
How to train the body. Everyone knows that sleep is important. But when you go to sleep at night, you can’t sleep at all. And you feel tired all day. This is the real problem. Now let’s come to this video’s most important point. How to train the body? Understood the whole theory. But now we have to achieve our goals. We have to take out time to exercise. We have to feel productive all day. Along with that, have to complete sufficient sleep too. How to achieve all these things? Let’s see some tips and tricks.
- Tip No. 1: Get an alarm clock. What nonsense is this? What is the need for an alarm clock? There is an alarm in our phones also. Research says that 67% of people in the world start and end their day with their mobile phones. This proves that the remaining 33% people are lying. It often happens that we set an alarm in our phones. And we have all those apps on our phones which are filled with all the distractions in the world. So when the morning alarm rings, we immediately start scrolling the reels. Then sit on the toilet and scroll the reel. And then I didn’t realize where the half hour flew by. It gives us a dopamine hit but drains our morning energy. And this is the same energy that we can use to do any real work. But since we have already spent this energy, we start feeling very sleepy. The best thing to do is to get an alarm clock and not check your phone first thing in the morning.
- Tip No. 2: Take a warm bath before bed. Take a warm bath 90 minutes before sleeping. Research says that taking a warm bath before bed reduces your core body temperature and sends signals to your body to sleep. Think about it this way. Before the invention of electricity we used to sleep at night. The temperature at night was lower than during the day. So as soon as the atmospheric temperature drops below our body temperature, our circadian rhythm is immediately triggered. And we can achieve this by taking a hot bath. It gives a signal to the thermoregulatory center of our body. And after coming out of bath, our body temperature gradually starts decreasing. studies say so
- Tip No. 3: Set a routine. Routine sounds like a boring word, but trust me, eating food at the same time, sleeping at the same time and waking up at almost the same time is a superpower. It brings discipline in your life and trains your body so that your body can give you the best results. I realized that I couldn’t sleep immediately after eating. So this year, I have made sure that I finish my dinner around 7 pm so that I leave some time between eating and sleeping. I like coffee. But coffee stays in our system for 8 hours. This means I know that if I drink coffee after 4 o’clock, it is difficult to fall asleep by 12 o’clock. So I have decided in my daily routine that I don’t drink coffee after 4 pm so that my body has time to get over the coffee kick. One thing you can do is keep your phone not near the bed for charging, but far enough away from the bed so that the sound of messages or any notification does not disturb you while you are sleeping.
- Tip No. 4: Sleep equals satisfaction. I have noticed that on days when my mind, body and soul are completely satisfied, I sleep much better. The body is also important here. Research has proven that regular aerobic exercise reduces the chances of insomnia. It doesn’t have to be too much. A 15 minute walk after dinner is enough.
- Tip No. 5: Write down your thoughts. This is the most difficult step. And it is very difficult for anyone to follow it every day. But trust me, it helps. In 2023, I will definitely write a line about my day before sleeping. It could be a good memory or something that made me happy. Something that made my day very special. I have also told about this in this video. I call it the “One-Line Gratitude Journal.” It’s nothing fancy, just an Excel sheet in which I just write in one line what made me happy that day. Just as many people end their dinner with dessert, you too can end your day with gratitude. This reduces the stress and anxiety of your day. And helps in getting satisfactory sleep. And most importantly, listen to your body. No matter what I say in this video, no matter how much knowledge a doctor or therapist gives you, ultimately, only your body can tell you what is suitable for you and what is not. So consider not only the quantity of your sleep, but also the quality of your sleep. Observe and ask yourself what time of day you are most productive. Pay attention to your sleep cycles and understand your chronology. And learn to cooperate with your body instead of controlling it. Trust me, you will love your life.
