Be Healthy and Relax

Archive for the ‘Sleep’ Category

Does trouble falling asleep, or tossing and turning in the middle of the night describe you? How about waking too early or finding yourself dull in the morning?

… Don’t you worry as you are not alone: millions of people fight problems of falling and staying asleep.

By improving your daytime habits and generating a better sleep environment, you can set the stage for good sleep. Making a good bedtime routine or avoiding common pitfalls by making simple changes can bring you consistently better sleep. Here are some techniques:

• You should exercise during the daytime. Regular exercise is not only good for health, but it also makes it easier to fall asleep and sleep better. If you don’t like exercising, go for a 15 minutes walk before you go to sleep.

• Some people can take a short nap and still sleep well at night. But, if you are having trouble sleeping at night, try to eliminate napping. If you must nap, don’t take long naps (over 30 minutes) during the day.

• Digestion takes away a tremendous portion of our available energy. What you eat makes a tremendous difference in how much energy you have and how much you need to sleep at night. The easiest foods to digest are fruits and vegetables. Include fruits, vegetables and nuts in your diet to improve your digestion system. Also avoid heavy fatty meals late at night. Fatty food takes a very long time to digest and takes up lots of our available energy.

• You might be shocked to know that caffeine can cause sleep problems even up to ten to twelve hours after drinking it. Don’t drink coffee, tea or any other stimulants within 6 hours of bed time.

• Before going to sleep do not watch TV in the bed. Read a book, take a bath… do something relaxing or tire yourself.

• Do not drink much of liquids before sleep; it may result in frequent bathroom trips throughout the night.

• There should be fresh air in the room (open the windows or get an air refresher).

• If you can, maintain the room temperature. Most people sleep best in a slightly cooler room.

• Do not eat at least two hours before going to bed.

• Avoid the things that may cause worry or anxiety. Try to make the time before sleep a time of peace and quiet.

• Avoid the intake of alcohol, it may make you fall asleep faster but it reduces your overall sleep quality.

• Try to maintain a regular bedtime schedule, including weekends.

• Relaxing techniques like meditation before sleep can also be very helpful.

Start following these simple tips and within one or two weeks you will feel how your sleep starts improving.

Do you often spend far beyond too much time trying to fall asleep? Or, are you never fully calm as you lay in your bed, waiting for those Zzz’s to come?

Many people experience this same sort of problem each and every night. Not being able to fully feel comfortable in bed can be a result of various things. More often than not, stress and anxieties in our lives is what stops us from feeling at peace in the one definite spot that we should. As we get into bed, many think about the problems they’ve experienced over the day, or the list of to-do’s that are needed to be done the next day. Check out what I had to say about keeping stress and work out of your bed from my guest post on DietHack. As our minds travel at a million miles per hour when we’re anxious and stressed, the rest of our body also feels the same tension, if not more. It’s not often realized, but during this time our muscles tense up beyond belief all night long when we feel like this. The end result of this is waking up in the morning feeling very tired and even more stressed throughout the day. Try some of these simple methods to help ease your body when it comes to getting some solid shut-eye…

It’s all in the breathing

When laying down into bed, focus on taking few, but deep and pleasant breaths. Breathe in through your nose, while holding it in for a bit, and then exhaling slowly out of your mouth. While doing this, focus on the slightly cool air passing through your nose, and then the warmer air smoothly rolling out of your mouth. Steve at Brip Blap has a great article that further explains this breathing process, with a slightly different spin. After fully focusing on these deep and slow breaths, you should feel much more eased and grounded. Just as you would take these types of breaths before a speech or any other type nervous situation, they will help settle your nerves and calm your body.

Never forget body control

As you are doing your slow and deep breaths, also take this time to focus on the various muscles all throughout your body. First, begin by thinking of the muscles that make up the face and head region. With a breath in, concentrate on tightening and then relaxing the muscles in your face, tongue, neck, and jaw. After focusing on each of these single muscle groups, exhale, letting go of the deep breath that was within. Continue with this technique throughout the rest of your body, starting from the top and all the way down. Work to tense the muscles and then slowly letting them go to a relaxed position. After extending this exercise to your fingertips and toes, continue the process by adding positive thoughts and surroundings to help put your mind and body at peace.

Remembering how to sleep

To help enhance what you have already done to ease your body, begin to think of the times you’ve had your best night’s sleep. These could be times from your childhood, with your partner you love, or from a vacation spot that was far beyond relaxing. As we spend our times trying to slip into slumber, we often feel even more anxious because of the time that it takes. Use these previous images and memories as anchors to ease the fear of insomnia. While putting the first two steps together, your body should feel much more at home with itself, with the least amount of worry. If you ever feel even the slightest twinge of worry or anxiety enter your mind, quickly erase it with these positive and soothing thoughts from the past.

Watch the food and drinks

Having the proper type and amount of food in you as you go to bed is equally important. It’s never a good thing to go to bed hungry, so that’s beyond the most important tip here. More often than not, the reason why we go to bed with a slight hunger is because we ate an early dinner and then skipped a midevening snack. Without eating this small night snack, our blood sugar level drops and sparks anxiety. Many times this can happen in the middle of the night when your body feels the most hungry, so you will find yourself awakening from sleep. As not every type of food is the best before sleep, try focusing on these simple types:

• A serving of fresh fruit, such as an apple or orange.
• A low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese.
• Any high-carbohydrate, high-protein favorite.

These foods will help relax your mind and body before even entering bed. Your emotions will calm and your whole state of mind will become much more mellow. Although, along with these foods, we must keep in mind of the foods that we would better not have right before jumping into bed:

• Any coffee, tea, or other caffeinated beverages within 4-5 hours before bedtime.
• Any alcoholic drinks within 3-4 hours. We might think that alcohol helps slow the mind, but as it does this, it also throws off our normal brain-pattern of sleep. This can result in frequent awakenings in the middle of the night with difficulties in getting back to sleep.

On a side note…

I have been very fortunate to be included in three very well-informing help carnivals this week. Please visit each one and read what the many others have to say.

• Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 28
• Carnival of Healing #116
• Weight Management and Fitness Forum – 7th Edition

Photo credit: hamed

As I was working out at the gym last night, I decided to to check out something that I’ve always looked past and thought was crazy. Since I ate a rather large dinner right before working out, I wanted to see how the sauna room might help me digest and allow me to relax. It took some time for the hot rocks to get the temperature up to 150 degrees, but once it did, that room was baking…

A Release Of Tension

Before doing any research, I came to my own conclusion that about 20 minutes in the sauna would do wonders on my very tensed, and tight back. As the acupuncturist told me the other day as she massaged my back, I needed to keep my body and back very warm to promote blood circulation. One thing she did not mention for me to visit was a sauna, BINGO! Luckily my assumption was correct. When I did research later on, saunas greatly increase the heart rate, about double. This definitely increases blood flow throughout the body, including to those areas of the body that are in pain and feel tensed. From the warmth of the sauna, the increased blood flow helps relieve contracted muscles and aching joints. This is exactly what the doctor ordered! After I spent 20 minutes in the sauna, and now that I sit here 10 hours later writing this article, my back feels much more relaxed and my aching neck is almost nonexistent.

A Great Way To Relax

Saunas have proven to be beneficial to our physical health, but it also works wonders on our psychological side. As I am right in the middle of finals week at my university, I figured the sauna would also be a wonderful way to relieve some stress and just find a quiet place to relax for a bit. I know there are some out there that are not appealed to a hot, possibly steamy room, but I love ‘em! Through the drips and drops of sweat off of my body, I felt a complete release of tension and an overall peace. The heart pulse rises, but the mental functions slow. I laid down and closed my eyes for about 15 of the 20 minutes and felt completely relaxed. As research shows, saunas also prepare the body for a great night’s sleep. Those that have problems sleeping or have a condition such as insomnia, saunas would definitely aid in finally getting that much needed complete rest.

A Possible Exercise Replacement

Replacing any type of exercise was not my intention of the sauna, but it was definitely a plus. As the sauna reaches very high temperatures, such as 160 degrees, the heart rate nearly doubles. I took my pulse after being in for over 10 minutes and I definitely noticed that my pulse felt very similar to as when I’m running. It was difficult for my head to wrap around how my pulse could be so high by just laying down in a sauna, but I guess it works. While sitting down in a sauna, you are actually burning calories and losing weight, believe it or not. Just as your heart rate increases with exercise, along with your metabolism, saunas allow the body to do the same. 15-20 minutes in the sauna is about equivalent to 1-2 hours of brisk walking or 1 hour of exercise. Now you can burn all of the unwanted fat by never lifting a finger!

Detoxify In The Sauna

As we all know that when you’re in a sauna, you sweat buckets (or maybe that was just me last night). Along with the other benefits, saunas trigger the body to release unwanted toxins through the act of sweating. Since sweating is the way that our body rids nearly a third of its toxins, saunas provide a very important relief. When our body temperature rises, we detox as the sweat releases through our pores. This is also a great, purifying way for people with skin conditions to cleanse their pores. Saunas have shown that those with acne and other skin conditions benefit from the rise in temperature and the increase of oxygen and nutrients to the skin.

Guide to Home Saunas & Sauna Kits – Everything you ever wanted to know about home saunas and building your own. Finnish, steam, infrared and portable saunas, sauna kits and heater options.

Photo credit: ansik

What are your pre-bedtime rituals?

Are you finding yourself surfing the net or watching some late night TV?

As these activities seem to feel like they calm you down, they may actually stealing some of your much needed sleep from you. Studies have shown that when people spend nearly 2 hours of casually checking out online websites or sitting and watching television, over a third has had more problems with their sleep than those that avoided these. These activities definitely feel like they are calming to the body, but they actually stimulate various brain functions that prove detrimental to one’s sleep. Television and computers exposes us to a light that seems to completely mess up sleep cycles and rhythms. This light causes many of us to spend extra time trying to fall asleep because of the added stimulation to parts of the brain, such as the pineal gland.

Try a few of these ideas to help the quality of your sleep:

• Find a routine. Just as anything else, routines help to get you in the habit of doing something. Pick a time to hit the sack and stick with it. Getting your 6 to 8 hours per night is key.
• Relax to music. Pick out some music that is very easy to listen to, such as white noise or soothing natural sounds. There are even programs for your computer that provide these sounds specifically for sleep.
• Do some stretching. Each night before bed and when you wake in the morning, do some light stretching. Loosen up any parts of your body that may seem tight; when you hit the bed you’ll fall asleep like a baby.
• Keep the temperature low. Any room temperature over 70 degrees heats the body too much and makes it more difficult to fall asleep. Watch those heaters this winter!
• Avoid alcohol. It may seem like a good way to get to sleep really quick, but once the effect wears off on the body, many people wake up in the middle of the night with difficulty trying to fall back asleep.
• Watch your snacking. It’s never good to go to sleep feeling hungry, but watch how much you eat. Blood sugar levels are raised after eating but then drops during sleep, which causes many to wake up.
• Move the clock. If you are having trouble falling asleep and a clock is in view, move it! It will only cause more worry about trying to fall asleep.
• Don’t make up sleep. If you happen to lose some sleep during the week, don’t try and make it up by sleeping extra hours on the weekend. Doing this will throw off any kind of rhythm you have with sleeping.
• Keep the bed for sleeping. The bed needs to be thought of as a place to calm down and relax. If you are watching television or playing on a computer on, or even near the bed, it will always be on your mind when you try to go to sleep.
• Move the TV and computer. Along the lines as the previous tip, remove any television and computers from the bed room if they become a distraction. Having these in the room could feed the urge watch TV or use a computer in bed.

Photo credit: dickuhne