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Rest, Sleep &
Relaxation
Sleep, rest and relaxation are a very important part
of your daily ritual. I know that in the past I have
gotten reved up with many projects and before long
something has to be let go and it is usually the sleep
that I need for a while. Don’t do it! As your sleep
and rest start dropping you lose focus and can be
lured into bad habits, sugar, coffee, and bad food.
The worst thing about a lack of rest is that your body
will not have a chance to heal from your earlier
workouts, this can be very bad as you not only will
feel sore longer but it will also suck your optimism
for your new lifestyle.
How much rest is enough? You probably already know
this. I myself do not wake up with an alarm clock or
clock radio anymore. I am fortunate to have a flexible
start time and know that I will not sleep in past 8:00
in the morning. Try going to be earlier in the evening
for a few nights and see when you wake up. In the fall
and winter I always tape the TV shows that I watch so
that I can get a chance to watch them when it is
convenient to me not when it is convenient for the TV
networks. Another thing that pro bodybuilders do is
have a nap in the afternoon, a nap can be great in
cleansing your mind and letting you learn to relax
better but you will probably find as I do that it is
almost impossible to do except maybe on the weekends.
You can probably see from the tone of this information
that I am delivering here that you must stop treating
sleep and rest as something that takes away from
something and instead learn to treat it as your own
personal time, something a little more sacred than
just something unavoidable that has to be done.
According to leading sleep researchers, there
are techniques to combat common sleep problems:
1.Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule.
2.Don’t drink or eat caffeine four to six
hours before bed and minimize daytime use.
3.Don’t smoke, especially near bedtime or if
you awake in the night.
4.Avoid alcohol and heavy meals before sleep.
5.Get regular exercise.
6.Minimize noise, light and excessive hot and
cold temperatures where you sleep.
7.Develop a regular bed time and go to bed at
the same time each night.
8.Try and wake up without an alarm
clock.9.Attempt to go to bed earlier every night for
certain period; this will ensure that you’re getting
enough sleep.
According to sleep researchers, a night's sleep is
divided into five continually shifting stages, defined
by types of brain waves that reflect either lighter or
deeper sleep. Toward morning, there is an increase in
rapid eye movement, or REM sleep, when the muscles are
relaxed and dreaming occurs, and recent memories may
be consolidated in the brain. The experts say that
hitting a snooze alarm over and over again to wake up
is not the best way to feel rested. “The restorative
value of rest is diminished, especially when the
increments are short,” said psychologist Edward
Stepanski, PhD who has studied sleep fragmentation at
the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. This on
and off again effect of dozing and waking causes
shifts in the brain-wave patterns. Sleep-deprived
snooze-button addicts are likely to shorten their
quota of REM sleep, impairing their mental functioning
during the day. (New York Times, October 12, 2004)
Certain therapies, like cognitive behavioral therapy
teach people how to recognize and change patterns of
thought and behavior to solve their problems. Recently
this type of therapy has been shown to be very
effective in getting people to fall asleep and conquer
insomnia.
According to a study published in the October 2004
issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, cognitive
behavior therapy is more effective and lasts longer
than a widely used sleeping pill, Ambien, in reducing
insomnia. The study involved 63 healthy people with
insomnia who were randomly assigned to receive Ambien,
the cognitive behavior therapy, both or a placebo. The
patients in the therapy group received five 30-minute
sessions over six weeks. They were given daily
exercises to “recognize, challenge and change
stress-inducing” thoughts and were taught
techniques, like delaying bedtime or getting up to
read if they were unable to fall asleep after 20
minutes. The patients taking Ambien were on a full
dose for a month and then were weaned off the drug. At
three weeks, 44 percent of the patients receiving the
therapy and those receiving the combination therapy
and pills fell asleep faster compared to 29 percent of
the patients taking only the sleeping pills. Two weeks
after all the treatment was over, the patients
receiving the therapy fell asleep in half the time it
took before the study and only 17 percent of the
patients taking the sleeping pills fell asleep in half
the time. (New York Times, October 5, 2004)
By Bill Nadraszky
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Deep Sleep! Hypnosis for Insomnia
