WHAT IF YOU COULD MEASURE HOW WELL YOU SLEPT?

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Do you go to bed & find yourself scrolling on social media or checking your emails before you sleep?  
You look at the clock & an hour has past.  Finally, you turn off your phone, the light & your wide awake. 
You toss & turn until finally you drift off.   You wake up to your alarm & you feel like you never slept. 

WHAT IF YOU COULD MEASURE HOW WELL YOU SLEPT? AND THEN IMPROVE IT.

Sleep efficiency is defined as %:    Total sleep time  /  Total time in bed.  80% or higher is best.  That means that when you are in bed you are sleeping.

HOW TO MEASURE YOUR SLEEP EFFICIENCY?

  • Sleep apps can measure your sleep efficiency.   I use the Sleep Cycle App each night.  It has several settings for an alarm and wakes me up when I am already waking up, rather than in deep sleep.  Nothing like waking up our of deep sleep and you feel groggy for the rest of the day.    Use airplane mode to reduce EMF.
  • Wearables that measure your sleep like: Oura Ring Sleep Tracker, Fitbit, or Apple Watch

HOW TO HACK YOUR SLEEP EFFICIENCY

  • KNOW YOUR SLEEP CHRONOTYPE – Dr Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and sleep expert, created the power of when quiz which identifies four sleep chronotypes or sleep personalities.  Gives you your best times to sleep based on whether you are a Bear, Dolphin, Wolf or Lion.    COMPLETE THE CHRONOTYPE QUIZ at https://thepowerofwhenquiz.com/
  • MEDITATION – Meditation calms your brain and reduces the random worry thoughts, increases your focus, reduces anxiety and stress1. which improves your sleep.
    If you have difficulty meditating use Binaural Beats or Muse to train your brain:
    • Binaural Beats can help you achieve a meditative state faster2. – the app Relax Melodies has downloadable Binaural Beats for creating a meditative brain state.  Binaural beats are sound waves that you listen to through your headphones.   Research has shown low frequency binaural beats can slow down your brain waves to help you relax, reduce anxiety, and help you fall asleep.
    • Muse is a brain sensing band that gives you Realtime neurofeedback and helps you hack your brain for better sleep.
  • SECOND WIND – Go to sleep before your second wind usually before 11p.m., depending on your chronotype.  Your second wind is a shot of cortisol which can take 2 hours to leave your system and you are ready to fall asleep again.
  • SUPPLEMENTS – Magnesium – To experience a better sleep efficiency, longer sleep times, and fewer early morning wakings, study participants were given a Magnesium3, supplements to their diet.  The Recommended Daily Allowance for Magnesium is 310–420 mg depending on age and gender. 4.  Magnesium Glycinate because the magnesium is tied to the amino acid Glycine is one of the most common chosen for better sleep.

Try these tips and continue to measure how well you slept to determine which habits impact your sleep.

For additional sleep tips check out http://annalisakinch.com/index.php/2021/03/26/8-tips-to-sleep-better-now/

If you think your friends/network would find this useful, please share it with them – I’d really appreciate it.”

  1. Orme-Johnson DW, Barnes VA. Effects of the transcendental meditation technique on trait anxiety: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Altern Complement Med. 2014;20(5):330-341. doi:10.1089/acm.2013.0204
  2. Jirakittayakorn N, Wongsawat Y. Brain Responses to a 6-Hz Binaural Beat: Effects on General Theta Rhythm and Frontal Midline Theta Activity. Front Neurosci. 2017;11:365. Published 2017 Jun 28. doi:10.3389/fnins.2017.00365
  3. Held K, Antonijevic IA, Künzel H, et al. Oral Mg(2+) supplementation reverses age-related neuroendocrine and sleep EEG changes in humans. Pharmacopsychiatry. 2002;35(4):135-143. doi:10.1055/s-2002-33195
  4. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-Consumer/

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