You can’t get to sleep and you don’t know why. You’re not stressed about anything, your bed and pillow are comfy and it’s dead silent. So why are you wide awake and better yet, what can you do about it?
10 Myths About Sleep Busted
Sleep is a mysterious process, and that means it’s the subject of many untruths and much ill-informed wishful thinking. If you’re trying to improve your quality or quantity of sleep, don’t fall for these myths and you’ll be well on the way.
Being unable to get to sleep because you’re anxious about going to sleep — in other words, insomnia — can really suck. According to the above TED-Ed clip by Dan Kwartler, this usually doesn’t happen out of the blue: you’ll have a number of restless nights in a row caused by other things, which then leads to insomnia:
…in most cases, sleep deprivation is short-term. Eventually, exhaustion catches up with all of us. However, some long-term conditions like respiratory disorders, gastroinestinal problems and many other can overpower fatigue.
And as sleepless nights pile up, the bedroom can start to carry associations of restless nights wracked with anxiety.
All The Ways Lack Of Sleep Affects The Brain
Many of us have experienced the effects of sleep deprivation: feeling tired and cranky, or finding it hard to concentrate. Sleep is more important for our brains than you may realise.
Great. Now, how do go about curing it? Here’s some advice from Kwartler:
- Managing the stress that leads to hyperarousal
- Good sleep practises to help rebuild your relationship with bedtime
- Only use your bed for sleeping
- If restless, leave the bedroom and tire yourself out with relaxing activities
Basically, you want to break the connection between bad sleep and your bedroom and that can only happen by exercising good sleep hygiene.
How To Soothe Yourself To Sleep With Science
Getting a good night of sleep can seem like the most effortless and natural thing in the world, but when we can’t fall asleep it can quickly feel elusive and frustrating.
What causes insomnia? – Dan Kwartler [YouTube, via Digg]
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