Sleep Tips
The Definitive Guide to a Good
Night’s Sleep
The following article, “Sleep Tips” should help anyone who has been suffering
from sleep problems that have severely affected the quality of their lives in every
aspect, at work and or at home. We hope that a better understanding of how we
sleep and how to create the right conditions for achieving 7-8 hours of solid sleep
a night along with the help of The Sleep Genie and these well researched and
proven sleep tips, that it will bring you the good night’s sleep that you need and
deserve.
Written By
Dr. Charles McCusker & Tova Greenberg
August 23, 2009
Visit the website: http://www.TheSleepGenie.com
Sleep Tips
A Guide for Getting the MOST out of your Sleep
Do you have any of these symptoms or situations?
1) It takes you more than 20 minutes to fall asleep.
2) You feel anxious and stressful during the day and at bedtime.
3) You need to take a sleeping pill nightly to fall asleep or, you rely on them
more than you would like to.
4) Sleeping pills are no longer working for you.
5) You are concerned about taking sleeping pills because you are taking
other prescribed medications and worried about negative interactions.
3) You are under medical treatment for an illness or suffer from chronic pain
or discomfort that is ruining your sleep.
4) WOMEN -You are going through menopause and suffering from hot
flashes and other symptoms that have disrupted your sleep.
5) You are waking up too early and not being able to fall asleep again.
6) You go to the washroom in the middle of the night and then can’t fall back
sleep.
7) You wake up feeling like you haven’t really rested.
8) You are forgetful.
9) You have trouble concentrating and staying focused.
10) You catch colds often and miss a lot of time from work.
11) You get sleepy at your desk in the afternoon and need a nap.
12) You get drowsy while driving- especially on the commute home from work.
13) PARENTS: You have children who are not getting 8-9 hours of sleep, then
falling asleep at school or at home doing homework and then sleeping
until noon on weekends.
14) You are a SHIFT WORKER; policeman, nurse, truck driver, fire fighter or
pilot.
15) You are a business executive and travel constantly to other time zones.
16) You are a WORKING PARENT with young children and a hectic
schedule.
17) DIETERS:You have trouble eating healthy and are gaining or losing
weight.
You are not alone!
If you recognize yourself on this list then you are not alone. Studies have shown
that 1 out of every 3 Canadians will have trouble sleeping sometime in their life.
That is more than 10 million people and, for 3 million, the problem is chronic. If
you have tried meditation and medication, now there is The Sleep Genie.
Poor sleep threatens your health significantly increasing the risk for heart
disease, depression and weight gain. Along with eating a well balanced diet and
moderate exercise, sleep is the most important thing you can do to maintain your
good health.
It is during sleep that our immune system is strengthened to help ward off
infections and illness, as well as to heal and repair tissues. This is the time when
memories are banked and the things we have learned are stored in our brains.
Lack of sleep makes your body produce too much gherlin, the hormone that
makes you feel hungry and has you reaching for sugary or starchy treats in the
afternoon. Is that you? It also reduces the production of leptin, responsible for
making you feel satisfied after eating. This hormonal imbalance can be corrected
if you get the proper amount of sleep.
If you are reading this booklet then you have heard about The Sleep Genie, the
revolutionary device to help you re-establish your sleep patterns. It is not a drug
so it is not addictive, it has an unblemished safety record and will also help to
relax your muscles and ease away your stress and tension. You can use it as
often and for as long as you need it, as it is a totally natural non-chemical
process to gently readjust your internal sleep clock so that you can fall asleep
easily, stay asleep longer and wake up feeling refreshed. In fact, the more you
use it, the better you will feel!
Understanding the technology and why it works
Let’s understand the science behind The Sleep Genie technology. Sleep cycles
are controlled by several interrelated behavioral and internal systems known as
our sleep clock, located deep within our brain and regulating different systems
that change during the day and night like body temperature, heart rate and blood
pleasure. The sleep clock stimulates the sleep/wake centre to regulate when we
sleep and when we wake up. This natural activity happens when the sleep/wake
centre releases the hormones needed by your body to bring about the onset of
sleep – to make you tired and sleepy. At night these chemicals are released and
in the morning they are reduced so that you can wake up and be alert during the
day. The ebb and flow of these chemicals are stimulated by your sleep clock,
which runs on a 24 hour cycle. The natural triggers for the sleep clock are light
and dark. So if you could go to sleep soon after it got dark and wake up at dawn
– and have no stress in between – then you probably would never have a
sleepless night.
When we are able to listen to all the cues that our body gives us, and our
internal sleep clock works as it should, then all is well and we can fall asleep
easily and naturally and wake up 8 hours later feeling well rested. But whose life
is really like that?
For most of us that is not our reality today. When that internal clock is off then
the messages to your sleep/wake centre do not go out at the right time and you
do not have that natural ebb and flow of the chemicals that your body needs, at
the right time and in the right quantity. Hence your sleep is interrupted and
restless, at the very least, and likely ruined.
You see humans are both chemical and electrical beings, which explains
why sleep patterns can be detected and measured by diagnostic equipment. It is
the electrical component that regulates and interacts with the chemical
component and both need to work properly and together for our bodies to remain
well balanced and in harmony. Until now medicine has only focused on
manipulating the chemical component to help us deal with sleep problems. The
availability of these medicines have been largely orchestrated and guided by the
pharmaceutical industry, which annually spends millions of dollars to convince us
that drugs are “the solution.”
If you have been taking sleeping pills for years, you need to ask yourself if they
are really working for you – or have they become a crutch? Are they masking the
real underlying problem? Just listen to the disclaimers drug companies have to
make in their advertisements. Warnings about not taking pills for longer than 2
weeks, making sure you can get 8 hours of sleep, not to drive the next day and to
be careful not to become dependent. Does that sound like a solution – or a
potential new set of problems?
Sleep problems cannot be reversed until you get to the root of the problem which
is that your internal sleep clock is malfunctioning – it is not keeping proper time.
We have naturally occurring chemicals in our bodies that accumulate while we
are awake to bring about fatigue at night. Sleep reduces these chemicals and
satisfies the body’s need for sleep. But when your sleep clock is not keeping time
it needs to be re-set so that it can perform its task in order for your body to tap
into its naturally occurring chemicals and give you what you need to sleep, be
well rested, and wake up refreshed and with energy. Substituting natural
chemicals with foreign drugs is not a lasting solution. If drugs have not corrected
your sleep problems – the technology found in the Sleep Genie can. Its effects
are both cumulative and long lasting, so the more you use it the better you’ll feel
– it’s really that simple.
Why it’s important to sleep through the night
It is important not only to fall asleep easily, but to maintain sleep long enough so
that you can reach that all important part of sleep known as REM. During the
night we cycle through 5 stages of sleep with each cycle lasting about 90
minutes. We need to sleep long enough to go through these cycles 4-6 times a
night because, with each cycle the REM portion gets longer and it is during that
portion of sleep that we have our deepest and most restful sleep and when our
body is able to repair and heal itself. REM sleep is also associated with dreaming
because it is marked by intense brain activity. That’s how you can tell if you
achieve REM sleep and it’s one of the first things you might notice when you start
using The Sleep Genie. During REM sleep breathing is more rapid, irregular and
shallow, eyes move in different directions and muscles become temporarily
paralyzed. It is believed that during this final stage the regions of the brain used
for thinking, learning and organizing information are stimulated. If you cannot
sleep without constantly waking then you are not getting good sleep and you feel
it in the morning and all during your day.
Think of The Sleep Genie as the anti-drug – the non chemical solution to
reduce stress and tension and to correct sleep problems. With The Sleep Genie
you are always in control. Use it as often and as long as you need it until you are
sleeping well again then less often to maintain your good sleep patterns.
Find out how easy is it to finally get relief
So start using it today for 30-45 minutes and use it every day for the next 30 – 45
days until you feel better. You should notice very quickly that you are falling
asleep within a few minutes of your head resting on your pillow and, if you have
not been able to sleep for more than a few hours, or keep waking up during the
night, you will notice that your sleep periods will increase and the number of
times you wake up during the night will diminish. After the first 30-45 days keep it
on your coffee table and use it 2-3 times a week to sustain your good sleep or
use it anytime you feel life is more stressful and you need help to relax, so that
your tension and worry won’t ruin your sleep that night. Those with very severe
sleep problems can safely use the device twice a day – once in the after noon
and then in the evening for an hour or more. Don’t give up on yourself – stay with
the program until you get results.
The pharmaceutical industry knows how to provide a short term fix through the
use of chemical drugs. But it is only by targeting the electrical component of our
sleep/wake centre, our own energy source - our internal sleep clock can be reset.
This is why the effect of the Sleep Genie technology is long lasting. It is naturally
and safely re-adjusting your sleep clock so that your body can do again what it
was meant to do – let you sleep like you were a baby.
The Sleep Genie is also helpful for people who are constantly awakened during
the night by the urge to go to the bathroom. Re-establishing healthy sleep
patterns will help you fall back asleep instantly upon returning to bed and, if you
are taking medication to help alleviate the symptoms, then the medication will
work more effectively if it is combined with a good night’s sleep. You will find that
sleeping well will also lessen the discomfort during the day as well and allow you
to make fewer trips to the bathroom.
PROVEN “TIPS” TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN GOOD SLEEP HABITS
To help you to accomplish your goal of a better night’s sleep, here are
some helpful hints that we have compiled from our research into sleep
problems. The first piece of advice is that you should consult with your
doctor, if your sleep problems are chronic and severe, in order to rule out
any underlying medical conditions that might be a contributing factor. If
you are generally in good health then use the Sleep Genie and integrate
some or all of these helpful tips into your life:
1. Maintain a regular bedtime and stick to it as much as possible even on
the weekends. If you don’t have plans for going out on Friday or Saturday
night, then hit the sack as close to your week day sleep time as possible.
It’s important to keep your internal sleep clock ticking at an even rate –
just like a well tuned clock – so that the natural signals are sent from your
sleep centre that trigger when it’s time to sleep and when it’s time to wake
up.
2. Maintain a regular wake up schedule, even on the weekends when
most of us try to “catch up” on our sleep. Altering your sleep schedule will
only cause you problems on Sunday night and then through the week. A
regular bedtime and wake up schedule both help strengthen the
functioning of our internal sleep clock.
3. Start a consistent bedtime routine that you will be able to maintain such
as reading a book, taking a hot bath, watching TV for an hour or just sitting
in your favorite comfortable chair and listening to music. Learn to
recognize the triggers in your life that bring on stress and work towards
avoiding them or learning how to manage them but, stop everything
leading up to your bed time.
4. Look at the things in your life that might be contributing to a
heightened level of anxiety and stress (worrying about work, your
weight, your children’s performance at school) and try to find methods of
dealing with these stresses. Usually the best method is to figure out
solutions to your problems so that you can start to focus on a course of
action that will make things manageable and help you see the proverbial
“light at the end of the tunnel.” And don’t be afraid or reluctant to seek help
from family and friends to better manage your time and discuss openly the
issues that are bothering you. Often just knowing that someone else has
heard us and cares will help lessen our stress.
5. When you get sleepy go right to bed – even if you haven’t watched the
news at 11 or it’s earlier than you usually go to bed. If you miss your
body’s natural cues to sleep then you will have a hard time falling asleep.
6. If you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes of lying down, get up and out
of bed and do a quiet activity such as listening to music, reading a book or
watching TV. Don’t lie in bed awake. You have to stop associating being
restless with your bed.
7. Have a set time every day after which you will not accept phone calls
even if it’s your best friend, after which you won’t e-mail or receive
company or help the kids with homework. You need an hour or two before
bed to clear your mind of the day’s worries and relax so that you can allow
your body to become sleepy. If it helps write down the things you need to
get done the next day, at work and for your family, so you won’t think
about them when you are trying to fall asleep. It’s also a good idea to
make a list of tasks accomplished and unfinished before leaving work –
and leaving the list on your desk so that you can see it first thing in the
morning and your time is then well organized. This too will free your mind
to enjoy your evening and feel relaxed before going to bed.
8. Understand your own bodies sleep rhythm and schedule your
bedtime so that you can get 7-8 hours of sleep. Your own body will
alert you as to when you are most likely to feel sleepy in the afternoon so
you can avoid tasks that are not stimulating enough to keep in engrossed.
You should also avoid driving in the afternoon during periods when you
find yourself likely to feel sleepy.
9. Take a hot bath a couple of hours before bed and make sure you have
time to cool off. It’s not helpful to go to bed when you are still sweating
from the hot water. You sleep better under cool sheets, in a cool room and
a cool you.
10. Don’t drink coffee after lunch and a void other caffeinated drinks later in
the day as well. Caffeine is a stimulant and a diuretic and takes up to 6
hours to leave the bloodstream. Caffeine makes us feel alert because it
blocks sleep inducing chemicals in the brain and increases adrenalin
production. It takes about 15-30 minutes to go through the stomach and
into the bloodstream so that you feel its stimulating effects. Three cups of
coffee a day is considered moderate consumption. Anything more will start
to affect your sleep and your nerves. Keep another very important point in
mind; stimulants with caffeine can help you feel more alert, but the effects
last only for a short time. If you are sleep deprived and use coffee to offset
the effects, as they wear off you may still have "micro-sleeps" –– brief
naps that last only a few seconds – but if it happens behind the wheel of a
car – it can kill you. Nothing is a substitute for a good night’s sleep.
11. Don’t eat for at least 2-3 hours before going to bed. Have chamomile
tea instead.
12. Don’t drink alcohol close to bedtime. Alcohol is not a sedative as many
people believe; it is actually a stimulant and will disrupt your sleep later in
the night. While alcohol may make you sleepy as its high starts to wear
off, the quality of sleep is often fragmented during the second half of the
sleep period when the alcohol's relaxing effect wears off. Alcohol prevents
you from reaching that part of the sleep cycle, known as REM sleep,
where dreaming occurs and where the deepest and most restful part of
sleep occurs. Alcohol keeps you in the lighter stages of sleep.
13. Quit smoking. If you have heard every other health excuse to stop
smoking then consider this, whose effects are not in the far off future, but
in the every day. Nicotine is a stimulant. If you do smoke, stop before
going to bed. However, because nicotine is so addictive you actually go
through withdrawal during the night and its one of the reasons that being
hooked on cigarettes will aggravate your sleeping problems. Nicotine
affects your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up in the morning.
It has also been known to contribute to nightmares and snoring. If you are
a smoker then please, please, please, don’t smoke in bed and don’t
smoke while lying down on the couch in the living room watching
television, in case you fall asleep. Smokers also report more daytime
sleepiness than non-smokers, especially in teen-agers and young adults.
14. Expose yourself to at least 30 minutes of sunlight every day and as
quickly after waking as possible. Avoid bright lights at night. Light and
dark send signals to the neurons in your brain that triggers your natural
biological sleep clock cuing it as to when it’s time to sleep and time to
awaken.
15. Exercise regularly and as early in the day as possible but definitely not
in the 4-6 hours before bed unless it is a pleasant evening stroll and not a
jog. Exercising as early in the day as possible is best because it kicks
starts your metabolism so that it will burn calories all day and its effect
start to wind down by bed time. If you are trying to manage your weight
then sleeping 7-8 hours a day will keep in balance the hormones that
regulate hunger and the feelings of satiety so that you can better stick to a
weight loss diet or in general just manage your food intake.
Having enough sleep prevents those nasty afternoon hunger pangs that
make you reach for a candy bar or second or third cup of coffee.
16. You want to be feeling relaxed, not winding up, before bedtime. During
exercise our body temperature rises and it takes up to 6 hours for it to
begin to drop. Our body temperature naturally falls slightly when we are
getting sleepy and when we are asleep so it is not a good idea to engage
in activities that work against that natural process. If you cannot exercise
vigorously on your regular schedule, try walking briskly for 20-30minutes
every day outdoors either alone, with a friend or your spouse. It can be a
pleasant time to catch up on the day and unwind.
17. You bedroom should be dark, (black out curtains like in hotels or use an
eye mask), quiet, (use ear plugs if your room is not sound proof and if you
partner’s breathing or snoring affects your sleep), painted in gentle hues
and kept cool.
18. Invest in a comfortable mattress and supportive pillow. Too many of
us keep our mattresses far too long. The last few years have shown great
improvements in the development of different materials for both pillows
and mattresses designs, that conform to your body and mattresses that
can be adjusted. Investing in a product that you spend 1/3 of your time on
only makes good practical sense.
19. Do not listen to the radio in bed, have a TV in your bedroom or catch
up on work or pay bills in bed. All these activities stimulate and not rest
the mind. The bed should be associated only with sleeping and sex.
20. Turn its face away from you if the clock next to your bed faces you
when you sleep and you can’t avoid looking at it when you are
awakened at night – or trying to fall asleep – it can only add to your
stress levels. Turn it away from you so that you won’t be able to see the
time. Not knowing how much longer you have until you have to get up
helps you to re-establish sleep if you get up, to go to the bathroom.
21. In the morning get up when the alarm goes off or when you wake up.
If you wake up sooner than your alarm get up anyway and eventually you
will be able to sleep longer. Don’t lie in bed awake for more than 5
minutes.
22. Do not rely on sleeping pills to solve your sleep problem. They are at
best a temporary measure to help you to get a good night’s sleep, but
used for any extended period of time can lead to tolerance and you’ll find
that you need to take more to knock you out. If you are not able to actually
devote a full 8 hours to sleeping, because drugs have a half life (the time it
takes them to leave your system) you will be drowsy the following day
and, besides feeling lousy and unproductive, it is also dangerous,
especially if you drive back and forth from work.
23. Drugs are not a cure and therefore should not be relied upon for that
purpose. With sleep drugs only treat the symptoms. Read the “warnings”
that come with sleeping pills and take them seriously. Drugs can cause
dependency, you can experience withdrawal symptoms and re-bound
insomnia and they can negatively interact with other medications you are
already taking.
24. If you travel across time zones for business – arrive at your destination
at least 24 hours before having to be productive so that your body can
adapt to the new time zone. If you travel forward in time – for example
from North American to Europe, then try to stay up until the evening at
your new destination but go do bed a little earlier than you would have at
home, let’s say 8-9 p.m. You will wake up earlier than at home the first
night or two but at least you will have slept making your adjustment to the
new place much smoother and your head will be clearer.
25. Don’t take naps in the afternoon. It is tempting, especially on the
weekend, in the winter, to try to catch up on your sleep. If you absolutely
can’t avoid it than go ahead, once in a while, but don’t sleep for more than
30 minutes. It’s OK to allow yourself to fall asleep in a comfortable chair in
the living room or a wintry Sunday, or in the sunshine on a summer day –
but whatever you do – don’t head for the bedroom.
26. Shift workers should avoid long commutes and working overtime. If
you can’t avoid it, take short naps throughout your shift, try to do
something active during breaks like going outside to take a short walk and
inhale the fresh air. Drink caffeinated drinks during the beginning and mid
part of your shift and don’t leave the most boring work to the end when
you are likely to be the most tired (4-5 a.m. is the worst for feeling sleepy).
Talk to co-workers about what you are experiencing and learn from each
other how best to cope.
27. Some people find it helpful to keep a sleep journal for a couple of
weeks at least in case the problem worries you enough to seek medical
attention. Include such details as the time you start to feel sleepy in the
evening, what you do in the 2 hours before bed, when you actually went to
bed, how long it takes you to fall asleep, how often you wake during the
night and how you feel (did you have to go to the bathroom – did you have
indigestion – were your legs feeling cramped) – record when you wake up
and cannot fall asleep again. Also – keep a diary of what you eat and how
often you exercise during this time period. Write down the times during the
day when you feel sleepy and what the activity was that you were
engaged in. Record naps and their duration and times when you might
have dozed off watching TV or reading a book.
28. If you get indigestion or heartburn avoid spicy foods at dinner and
try to sleep with your chest slightly elevated to avoid being woken up
by the discomfort.
29. Dress in lightweight clothes to bed to help stay cool and avoid pj’s
with buttons.
30. Avoid heavy insulating blankets and make sure that sheets are not
tucked in all around the bed so that it restricts your ability to roll over
easily.
31. Try to restrict fluids close to bedtime to avoid being woken up with the
urge to go to the bathroom. One cup of herbal tea, or a glass of warm
milk, an hour before bed, provided that you stopped drinking after dinner,
should be soothing and can be a welcoming part of your bedtime routine.
32. Many prescription and nonprescription medications can cause sleep
problems. The severity of sleep problems caused by a medication will
vary from person to person and you should not add sleeping pills to this
mix without consulting with your doctor. The natural effect of The Sleep
Genie might be the best alternative if this is your situation.
We hope these tips, along with using the Sleep Genie, helps you to improve
your sleep patterns and the quality of your life. Make implementing these
tips an enjoyable experience in creating an enhanced you!