10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep

Here's some useful tips for some of you who face problems in having good quality sleep at night.

BBC: 10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep

This BBC documentary talks about 10 things that you need to know about sleep. I have summarized the key points in the following:

#1 - Bath before sleep

• It's not the temperature of your body, but rather the drop of your body temperature that makes you feel sleepy.
• Taking a warm bath at least an hour before you sleep will first raise body temperature, then allow it to go down after that.

#2 - Beating insomnia

• Most people with insomnia spend longer time in their bedroom trying to get to sleep, but that doesn't work.
• To overcome insomnia, try restricting the amount of time you spend in your bedroom for getting to sleep, and always get up at the same time each day.

#3 - When to nap

• The best time to nap is between 2-5pm in the afternoon, and ideally for 30min.
• Your body will fight any attempt to nap between 7-12pm in the morning and 6-8pm in the evening, so do avoid those times.

#4 - How to stop snoring

• The mechanics of snoring (video 19:17).
• Over-the-counter remedies like moistening strips are designed to reduce the vibration of tissues in the mouth that causes snoring.
• Heavy snorers who also fall asleep during the day should consult the doctor as it may be a sign of a serious health condition.

#5 - Don't mess with your sleep cycle

• There are 5 stages of sleep which form a cycle: Stage 1 (feel drowsy), Stage 2 (light sleep), Stage 3 & 4 (deep sleep), Stage 5 (dream or REM).
• A healthy sleep will consists of 4-6 cycles.
• Taking coffee before sleep causes a person to experience more moments of light sleep and less moments of deep sleep, which results in a restless sleep cycle.
• Taking alcohol before sleep helps a person to fall asleep quickly and have quite amount of deep sleep, but later on experience more moments of wakefulness, i.e. not able to maintain sleep.
• Don't drink coffee or alcohol more than 4 hours before bed.

#6 - Power of daylight

• A remarkable finding on how daylight affects sleep pattern (29:00).
• At night the body increases the supply of melatonin hormone to help you sleep.
• During the day, when the retina senses the "blue light" from daylight, it sends a signal to the brain to reduce the production of melatonin hormone, as a result helping you becoming more alert.
• To sleep better, your bedroom should be blocked out of any daylight.
• You can also use daylight to make you more alert and make it easier for you to get out from bed.

#7 - Eat to sleep

• A comparison of the effects of carbohydrate and protein to our sleepiness (37:00).
• Taking a carbohydrate-rich meal makes you feel sleepy, while taking a protein-rich meal makes you feel more alert and energetic.

#8 - How to beat jet lag

• How human's internal clock works (39:50).
• When the body is starved 16 hours hours, the food clock is activated and took over the sleep pattern.
• To prevent jet lag, try avoid eating for the whole flight, and only eat again at the first regular meal time when you arrive (quite some sacrifice, but it works).

#9 - Relax

• Stress affects the quality of our sleep.
• See how a simple relaxation therapy can help you sleep better (48:00).
• Try tense and relax your muscles for 15 minutes before bedtime, is a simple and effective method to help you sleep better.

#10 - Herbal potions

• The smell of herbs like lavender helps you to relax and thus induce sleep.

Hope this helps. Have a good sleep tonight  :)