Are You Getting Enough Sleep? Sleeping properly?

Video here: http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=0C3EAD2326B55EFA7A2D503499190B5B

Video Information

For how long have we been rising with the sun and retiring when it went down? A long while, so how important do you make it to retire at 2200hrs (10pm) and sleep for between 7-9hrs uninterrupted, in a darkened room? Depending on the time of year, where you were born and or are presently living your healthy circadian rhythm is vital for your wellbeing.
Here are a few ideas to help improve your sleep cycle if required:
• Sun up - get up
• Sun down – sleep. During the winter months dim your lights two hours before bed.
• Avoid bright lights including TV & Computers 30 min's before bedtime
• Ensure your bedroom is completely dark, no light from anywhere, including your clock!
• Be at least 3 feet away from any electrical appliances
• Avoid caffeine after 2pm (1/2 life of 6 hours)
• Avoid alcohol (Cortisol release, which is a stress hormone)
• Avoid eating high GI foods like carbohydrates before sleeping
• Performing deep breathing exercises to facilitate relaxation
• Reserving your bed for sleeping, rather than using it as an alternative site for working, watching T.V, or studying
• Turn your router system off at night (EMF)
• Leave your window partially open at night. People typically sleep best when there is fresh air in the room and it's about 60-65 degrees.
• Spending 15 to 30 minutes winding down by making excellent natural music selections. Keep the volume low enough that it's not disruptive.
• Meditate, read or journal 30 min's before your bedtime.
• Shower or bathe in un-chlorinated water before bed. Do not use mass-market, non-organic commercial scents, oils or hygiene products on your body at night. Most of these products are loaded with toxins that elevate stress hormones.

Really thanks for that topic Laura,

I'm still working on my sleep pattern and trying to get at 23.30 to bed, sometimes it still gets later. And when I'm tired than I don't force myself too often anymore to stay awake and finally go to bed when I'm tired.

I tried to find the presentation he has been talking about, but according to his website http://www.mtenergie.com this presentation is not anymore available. :(

But here is the link to the book he mentions ("Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival" by T.S. Wiley): http://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-Sleep-Sugar-Survival/dp/0671038680


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Legolas said:

But here is the link to the book he mentions ("Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival" by T.S. Wiley): http://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-Sleep-Sugar-Survival/dp/0671038680

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This book is actually why I opened this thread. Shijing sent the book to me and I've been reading it during the time Atriedes was hospitalized. We even spent time reading it aloud in the hospital when there were long hours of waiting. It has been MOST enlightening.

Now, of course, Wiley comes at the matter purely from the perspective of evolutionary biology, but if we keep in mind that our machines are a product of this process to a great extent, it is very helpful to know these things for better tuning of the machine.

I think we will be adding this book to the Recommended Reading List and I strongly urge everyone in the forum to read it and take much of what it says to heart and work on this issue of sleep. I'll be posting excerpts as I get time, and I invite anyone else who has the book to do so as well. There is a lot of HUGELY important information in there.

We began experimenting with the early to bed/total darkness/unplug stuff in the bedroom protocol about a week ago and I have to say that there were results after the first night. I do find that I have trouble sleeping 9 hours or more so I think I must be low on seretonin. But rather than supplement with 5-htp right now, I'm going to wait and see if I balance automatically and naturally.

The most important thing to know is that sleeping in complete darkness for at LEAST 8 hours, preferably longer, is VITAL to the immune system. So anyone suffering from any autoimmune issues must get their sleep cycle organized one way or another.

I think it is important to be at certain levels of sleep when the sun is on the opposite side of the planet - that the cells in your body KNOW and synchronize a lot of things this way.

For those who have to work at night, making sure that your bedroom is totally, completely, utterly DARK can make a big difference. And I don't mean just wearing a sleep mask, I mean cutting of ALL light in the room. If you have to, cover your windows with a couple layers of aluminum foil. If the neighbors think it's weird, just say you have to have dark to sleep and it's the cheapest way to get the room dark. The extra benefit is that it might cut off the odd EM wave here or there. Cover every source of light, even the clock or the blinking light of your smoke alarm.

White noise or a fan that you are used to is okay, but no music or other sounds should be going on except the POTS (or other audio that you might prefer while going to sleep) which should be set to shut off automatically and any light that might be associated with any player should be masked.

If you wake up to go to the bathroom, just go, get back in bed and stay in the total darkness until you go back to sleep.

If you wake up early, stay there in the bed and rest. If you are in a very relaxed state, no need to waste it because your body continues to produce benefits for the immune system even when you are awake but in a reverie.

Read the book, all will be clear!

Thanks for posting this, Laura. I've added the book to my wish list.

As far as eliminating all light by putting foil over the window, I've actually had to do this, although I used cardboard instead of aluminum foil. Actually, aluminum foil sounds like it would have been easier! My bedroom is no more than 30 feet away from an overhead street lamp and has two windows, both which let in light from that lamp. In the winter time this is particularly annoying when the light reflects off the snow. Before getting serious about blocking out the light, I realized that I could almost read in my room at night without any lights on and the curtains drawn!

After blocking out the light, I noticed a big difference in my ability to get a good night sleep. I usually put some object in front of my alarm clock too to block that little bit of light. I've found this helps as well. At first I thought it was just the fact that I could see the time that made it difficult to sleep, but I think it might just have been due to the residual light.

On a related note, I've spent some time in the woods at a cabin that has no power and is a good distance from any power sources. Spending a week at this place was an interesting experience. I noticed that my body clock would automatically reset to the cycle of the sun. I would start to get really tired when the sun went down, and this was only at 7pm when I would normally be wide awake still at my home in the city. I would also rise when the sun came up as well, which generally didn't happen at home in the city. Usually, I would wake up an hour or so after the sun was already up normally, so this was a bit of a change. At first I thought I was just tired from working longer outside, chopping wood and whatnot, but it still happened on days when I was relatively inactive.

I think electricity really screws with our body clocks in ways that we normally can't imagine because we've been submersed in an electrical environment all our lives.

I will get the book and see what it says though. I'm interested to know more about this because I think it's information like this that will ultimately contribute to making a better world some day.

Any words in this book about bruxism ? You know, this awful nocturnal teeth grinding. I suffer from it for two years now. I've never took the time to record myself during the night, but according to my girlfriend and my flatmates, it's really painful to hear.

Polonel said:

Any words in this book about bruxism ? You know, this awful nocturnal teeth grinding. I suffer from it for two years now. I've never took the time to record myself during the night, but according to my girlfriend and my flatmates, it's really painful to hear.

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I would say it is like sleep apnea which IS talked about in the book - you are just simply exhausted and your body is saying so. You need good sleep.

It's very important to have total darkness, not just in respect of your eyes, but your whole body. Your skin has light sensing cells too. Just a minute or two of light on one square inch of the skin will stop the hormones that secrete only in the dark and those hormones are crucial for all your body systems.

Polonel, just try it for a week: get in bed at 9 or 9:30 to be asleep by 10. TOTAL DARKNESS. Sleep as long as you can and if you don't sleep 9 to 10 hours, just stay in the bed in the dark.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep ya'all informed.

I just received this book and it's next on my list to start. For the most part, I've been sleeping like a champ lately. Really well. Years ago, I ditched the tv and any nightclothes that would twist, hitch or ride up. I could probably benefit from going to bed around 9:30 instead of 10-10:30. I have a bit of a program about going to sleep too early lest I'm seen as some kind of nerd loser who doesn't like the nightlife. Well, I am a nerd and I like to be home before the street lights come on. :)

Project for today: put aluminum foil on the windows. Shiny side out, I presume?

Odyssey said:

Shiny side out, I presume?

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Yup.

Odyssey said:

I just received this book and it's next on my list to start. For the most part, I've been sleeping like a champ lately. Really well. Years ago, I ditched the tv and any nightclothes that would twist, hitch or ride up. I could probably benefit from going to bed around 9:30 instead of 10-10:30. I have a bit of a program about going to sleep too early lest I'm seen as some kind of nerd loser who doesn't like the nightlife. Well, I am a nerd and I like to be home before the street lights come on. :)

Project for today: put aluminum foil on the windows. Shiny side out, I presume?

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Well, I've been an official member of the 'nerd loser club' for quite a while now. I go to bed at 8.30pm and get up at 4.30pm, partly because I like getting up early and partly because I need time in the mornings for Qi Gong, pipe breathing and so on before work. The only thing is that I don't always sleep for seven or more hours nightly, and I think that has something to do not only with light in my room, but also with consciousness of time and knowing that I have to get up in the morning whether I like it or not, and having a certain low level worry about getting enough sleep. Also, my room is not completely dark, although nothing like RyanX's description of his room in winter. I wonder if sleeping in total darkness would help that problem. I too had the program about going to bed early, which I think comes from childhood - the kids are sent to bed early and can hear the adults enjoying themselves downstairs, all the while feeling excluded. And as an adult one feels, well, like a nerd, if one goes to bed early! If I tell people what my regular hours are, they usually are quite incredulous.

This book looks like something very helpful. I've ordered a copy.

Laura said:

Odyssey said:

Shiny side out, I presume?

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Yup.

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I've been thinking about how I could make my room completely dark and because I have 2 big windows and using tinfoil or anything else, would cost much effort, time and energy. So a few minutes ago a thought came up of using a blindfold (sleep mask), as it is used in airplanes, wouldn't this be an alternative?

Legolas said:

Laura said:

Odyssey said:

Shiny side out, I presume?

Click to expand...

Yup.

Click to expand...

I've been thinking about how I could make my room completely dark and because I have 2 big windows and using tinfoil or anything else, would cost much effort, time and energy. So a few minutes ago a thought came up of using a blindfold (sleep mask), as it is used in airplanes, wouldn't this be an alternative?

Click to expand...

Laura said:

It's very important to have total darkness, not just in respect of your eyes, but your whole body. Your skin has light sensing cells too. Just a minute or two of light on one square inch of the skin will stop the hormones that secrete only in the dark and those hormones are crucial for all your body systems.

Click to expand...

Legolas, I think it is not enough because skin has light sensing cells too:

Laura said:

It's very important to have total darkness, not just in respect of your eyes, but your whole body. Your skin has light sensing cells too. Just a minute or two of light on one square inch of the skin will stop the hormones that secrete only in the dark and those hormones are crucial for all your body systems.

Click to expand...

edit: I see you already got the answer.

The whole room needs to be totally dark, or else your body will detect the slightest amount of light.

You can just hang a dark curtain/blanket on your windows, for example. Anything that ensures NO light.

It is really worth doing it.

Ailén said:

The whole room needs to be totally dark, or else your body will detect the slightest amount of light.

You can just hang a dark curtain/blanket on your windows, for example. Anything that ensures NO light.

It is really worth doing it.

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Especially since it has a LOT to do with insulin and other interactive hormones.

Added: you can also buy shades that you pull down that are specially made to block out all light. Put those up AND heavy drapes, and you have an effective system that opens easily to let in light when wanted.