Among the prime energy fans in your life is sleeping. Specifically, quality sleep. If it is not quality, the amount of sleep you get is not as relevant as you may think. How do you rate your sleep quality? Do you sleep soundly during the night, toss and turn, or put there thinking? I’m a sound sleeper and always have been. In college I was baffled how classmates could complain of being insomniacs.

Let’s see…

The idea of not sleeping well was beyond me. I understand that better now, and am interested in sleeping so I’m currently on a quest to unravel the mystery of quality and sound sleep. Science, medicine, and experience tell us there are psychological and physical advantages of . It boosts your immune system, improves your mood, strengthens your resilience, regulates weight, and generally makes you a healthier person.

Everybody wants quality sleep, irrespective of the number of hours that they subscribe to as being a healthy quantity of time. This report addresses the quality of the sleep just. Some nights you do not fall asleep quickly because you are not tired, you are too tired, there are distractions in your mind or home (where you’re sleeping on a particular night), or you’ve got biological problems (sleep apnea, or arrhythmias, being overly hungry or full) that keep you awake.

Take note

Health problems are something you will need to get your physician’s help on, the remainder will be addressed. What I’ve come up with from my study is that there are things you can do daily to encourage a solid night’s sleep. Furthermore, there are items you can at night which relate specifically to sleep, adding to everything you do during the day, so you have quality sleep.

  • Go to bed before you get your second end; if you’re a lark or owl, there is a “natural” time that you go to bed.
  • Clear your mind, handle your anxiety. Meditation, leisurely strolls, reading, and quiet music can help all that. If you honor the proposal to stop working at least 90 minutes prior to bedtime, your brain will have an opportunity to unwind and get in the groove of sleeping. Take that work ban one step further and initiate a blue-light prohibit two hours before bedtime; TVs, pills, computers, and smartphones all create blue light, even though there are programs that change the light from blue to more of a yellowish so that if you’re on your apparatus close proximity at least you do not have that bright, blue light which confuses the mind regarding the time of day.
  • Don’t eat too late or go to bed on an empty or full stomach. Avoid alcohol, , and caffeine in the day also. Foods and nutrients which help you sleep include pumpkin seeds to the zinc which converts the brain chemicals tryptophan to , and magnesium which can help reduce cortisol, the hormone. There are more, but those two keep popping up so I’m passing them along.
  • Energize throughout the day with quality meals, exercise (over two hours before bed), and new air/sunshine. Yep, when you expend energy through the day it paves the way for a night of quality sleep.

Good to know

Let’s cover an additional facet of quality sleep: the quantity of light and deep sleep you get. The technical explanation of sleep cycles. A fantastic night’s sleep contains about five or six sleep cycles; every cycle lasts approximately 1.5 hours, and we want all five phases so as to wake up feeling refreshed and rested.

  • Stage 1 – This is when you are feeling tired, relaxed, and hover between being alert and nodding off.
  • Stage 2 – At this stage you’re in a deeper sleep, your body cools a bit, and you become detached from your environment.
  • Stages 3 and 4 – These are the “deep sleep” stages. It’s difficult to awaken from deep sleep since this is when there’s the smallest amount of activity on your system. This is when your body adjusts itself, restores energy, and hormones are released. This is the holy grail, the things most of us want enough of.
  • Stage 5 – This is the REM (rapid eye movement), or “dream sleep”, phase. We slip back into Stage 2 for a few minutes before entering REM. The quantity of deep sleep we need each night is not clear, and possibly because there are too many definitions for the idea of deep sleep.

Going with two easy sleep stages – light and deep sleep, further defined as instances of less and more motion – I’m finishing that ideally 45 percent of your sleep ought to be deep for the highest quality sleep. REM sleep, for this discussion, is contained in the profound sleep category. You’re intent on getting quality sleep. You take the actions set out in the Top 4 Essentials list. But, you may be unable to actually tell if you’re getting quality sleep, outdoors feeling less or more refreshed and revived.

Then what?

Consider a sleep monitor. You can become highly technical and scientific and go into a sleep for a polysomnography test. That’s the most complete and comprehensive testing you can get. It will track and record your brain waves, eye movement, heart rate, , oxygen levels, breathing, air flow, and the frequency and quantity of your snoring task. The con to this is sleeping in the laboratory, often at a hospital, disrupts your normal sleep patterns. The pro is it is the most accurate and comprehensive testing available – for today. Home devices can help, and they get more precise with technological advances, even though they are not as precise as the polysomnography test. The biggest disappointment to me is they might overestimate your sleep length and quality. If you don’t wish to go the lab route, this is a sensible alternative. However, you will at least have a consistent tendency of your sleep routine.