Relaxation Haven

Posts Tagged ‘sleep’

One of the main reasons that people begin to feel stressed and anxious is because they feel like there’s not enough hours in the day to get everything they want done. One solution to this is creating more time for yourself by waking up earlier.

The idea is to wake up early and get more things done in the morning, while the rest of the world is still asleep, leaving less for you to do in the evenings when you’re tired. Think about how many times you think “I’ll do that later” and then forgot about until the next day. These small tasks build and build until they become a cause for stress and anxiety.

While no-one expects you to wake up at 4am every morning even if you wake up just one hour earlier that is a full hour to get jobs done where you will have little to no other distractions.

Some people find it hard to change their sleep patterns and this is understandable, as they are the result of years of routine…or non-routine in some cases. So how do you change your internal clock so that you can wake up earlier?

Well there are a number of techniques that can be helpful but the most important and obvious one is that to wake up early you also need to go to bed earlier. This may sound counter-productive in some ways since the idea of waking up earlier is to get more things done, however the vast majority of people are at their most productive shortly after they’ve woken up and then decline gradually as the day goes by. Waking up early gives you an extra hour or so before you have to go to work to get things done around the house, or even get a head start on work you have to hand in to the boss. Imagine how impressed they’d be with you handing in your assignment at 9:00 am whenever they give you a project. That’s the type of impression that can lead to promotions and pay rises!

Besides going to be earlier there are many other ways to help yourself wake up earlier. Most people have an alarm set for a specific time and while this is a good idea it can work even better if taken a step further. Try placing your alarm at the other side of your bedroom so that when it goes off you have to get up to switch it off. This makes it much more likely that you won’t just go straight back to sleep. Also have a glass of water next to your bed so that you can have a drink as soon as you wake up, this will hydrate and energize your body immediately.

You should also relax as much as possible before you go to sleep at night. A long soak in the bath and a book will help you to unwind and this in turn will allow you to enjoy a deeper, most restful sleep so that when you wake up you are ready to get up and get on with your day.

The biggest battle in waking up early though is the one with your mind. The alarm goes off at 6:00am and there’s an argument going on with one side saying “Come on! Time to get up!” while the other side is saying “Urghhh…let’s go back to sleep”.  One of the best ways to win this battle is with self hypnosis. You can program your mind and convince both sides that it is much more beneficial to wake up early in the morning. Our friends at HypnoBusters have a great session called Wake Up Early that will relax you before you go to bed and strengthen your desire to wake up early.

Remember, the more you get done early on, the more time you have to relax later on.

Like most things in life there are no hard and fast rules to how much sleep a person needs. Some people need nine hours to fresh in the morning, while others only require four hours. Generally it is recommended for a person to get between seven and eight hours of sleep. But what if you struggle for hours every night to drop off to sleep? Not only do you lose hours of sleep but it also can negatively effect your health.

Enjoy a deep sleep every night.

Sleep deprivation can result in irritability, poor memory, attention deficiency, weak immune system, diabetes, heightened risk of heart disease, muscle aches as well as an increased risk of obesity. That covers nearly all worst things that can happen to your health! After reading all of those symptoms you might be feeling a little anxious, but this is exactly the opposite of how you need to feel to get to sleep in a timely fashion.

That is why I’m going to teach you a few ways that will help you to relax yourself to sleep.

First of all you should avoid drinking caffeine and alcohol for at least three hours before you got to bed. Both these drugs act as stimulants. Instead try drinking a warm, milky drink such as a cup of Horlicks. Similarly if you are hungry don’t eat a big meal, take in a light snack such as some fruit and yoghurt. This prevents your digestive system from being overworked and should help you be more comfortable in bed.

If possible you should exercise early on in the day rather than at night. Exercise helps to tire you out so that you’ll need to rest later on at night, however if you exercise at night this increases your temperature and heart rate which makes it difficult to fall asleep. To relax your body at night try taking a nice, hot bath. This releases any tension from your muscles and allows you to reflect on the day behind you, rather than doing so in bed.

My final suggestion is to listen to some relaxation music or hypnosis audio just before you go to bed. You could even do this while you are in the bath. This will ease away any mental chatter and lull you into a sleepy state.

By following this advice you should find yourself falling to sleep much more quickly and enjoying a deeper, more restful sleep.