Julius Caesar advised to go to bed at the first urge to sleep and sleep all the way - regardless of the time of day. True, in the end he died of twenty-three stab wounds, so his competence in these matters is questionable. Therefore, advice on how to get enough sleep, even if you don't sleep enough, we took from the works of J. Stern and S. Lazenby - biologists of the scientific and military agency DARPA, who experimented a lot with sleep.
To get started, remember a few general rules:
If you sleep less than three hours a day, you will not get enough sleep in principle. This is the law.
There is no legal way to get rid of sleep at all. Clinical death can help: as a result, some lucky people catch chronic colestitis - a rare mental illness - and stop sleeping forever. But the chances are slim, history knows hardly a dozen cases.
There is no safe sleep deprivation. If you chronically deviate from your personal norm * for at least half an hour, you will find new blood sugar levels, stronger than usual hunger, problems with libido and fading of reactions, including emotional ones. The more you sleep deprivation, the higher the risk.
Otherwise, sleep quality can be adjusted with simple habits.
Do not even think:
Wake up at the same time
This common advice has fallen short of experimental testing. Experiments have shown that the body is much more sensitive to the moment of falling asleep, rather than awakening. Therefore, if your psychoanalyst (or mom, or both of them) insists on the regime, then try to go to bed at the same time.
Turn on the night light
The worst thing that can await you in a dark bedroom is genital herpes, so overcome your childhood fears and remove all sources of light from the bedroom. This applies, by the way, even to the indicators on the modem, the moon and red eyes of the dead man living in the closet. The darker the room, the better the quality of sleep. If the light cannot be removed by curtains or remotes, sleep with an eye patch.
Have breakfast with the zomboy turned on
In the first half hour after waking up, the brain should not absorb new information (especially about the crisis and repressions against the opposition). Otherwise, the mechanism of protective braking will start, and you will not be able to swing for a long time.
Gluttony in the days of rush jobs
The more you eat, the more time your body needs to sleep. Remember the boas, which, after swallowing the roe deer, lie motionless for weeks. Do you think they are setting important meetings and brainstorming sessions for this time? That's the same.
Hold back tears
With tears, excess cortisol, a stress hormone, is excreted. If there is too much of it, it begins to interfere with the activity of another hormone, DHEA, which, in turn, regulates sleep. So do not try to seem strong: at half past five, you are alone, tossing and turning on a cold, uncomfortable bed ... Feel pity for yourself. Come on, rag! You can't even cry like a man! .. Now, that's another matter.
Suppress yawning in the morning
The mechanism of yawning has not yet been fully investigated, but it has become obvious to scientists for some time now that by yawning, you are trying to wake yourself up, not put yourself to sleep! Therefore, yawning is contraindicated in the evening, but in the morning it is prescribed. The more you yawn, the faster you wake up.
Sleep off all week
Experiments have shown that it is possible to compensate for lack of sleep within a day and a half. If the all-night vigil happened the day before yesterday, you won't be able to sleep off. The body will fix the damage (mainly nerve cells will be affected) and will continue to live.
Watch porn in the evening
While vasopressin is released after normal sex, increasing sleepiness, active porn surfing (especially without discharge) also charges you with adrenaline. Therefore, it is better to watch your favorite films in the morning, when you want to wake up.
Make it a rule:
Calculate sleep time
Sleep consists of five phases, replacing each other 4-6 times per night. You will get as alert as possible after the GFD phase, which occurs approximately at the end of every 90 minutes. That is, you will get a better sleep in 4.5 hours than in 5.5, in 6 hours better than in 7. In general, you understood: try to keep your sleep time divisible by one and a half hours. If it is difficult to count one and a half intervals (rarely does anyone manage to bend 1.5 fingers on the move), buy yourself a smart alarm clock with a wristband, he will do everything himself. Or download one of the corresponding programs to your smartphone (Sleep Cycle for iOS, Sleep as Android for Android, G-Alarm for Windows Phone).
Turn on the light as soon as you wake up
The illumination level should ideally be 40-60 thousand lux. The sun in the window can still give out this, but ceiling lamps - not always. Therefore, in the fall and winter, keep an extra lamp next to the bed. And remember: the whiter it is, the more murderous and treacherous it will shine.
Drink a glass of water in the morning
We could explain for a long time why this is necessary, using the words "ghrelin" and "peptide chains", but you better just believe: the less you sleep, the more water your body needs to keep itself in good shape.
Sleep after dinner
Sleeping separately is a good way to keep you awake. If you're nodding in the middle of the day, lie down and sleep for 15 minutes while the overseer is gone to fix the whip. This sleep is painlessly interrupted, it can be repeated every 4 hours, and it allows the body to stay in the so-called theta mode and recover.
Open windows
The optimum air temperature in the bedroom is 21 ° C. Better to steal a warmer blanket than to sleep under a sheet, but in the heat. By the way, the body should fall asleep, too, slightly chilled. Before going to bed, do not take a hot bath (it only creates the illusion that you are worn out, while your tone rises), but a cool shower. After diving under the covers, you are guaranteed to fall asleep.
Fall asleep ritually
Before going to bed, always do approximately the same set of actions. Better something without physical activity. Or mental. Stupid, uninteresting things are ideal: check the locks on the door, brush your teeth, have sex with your wife, feed the hostages in the basement. Over time, the sequence will become associated with sleep and help you fall asleep faster.
Don't sleep if you don't feel like it
Forcing yourself to lie with your eyes closed is a senseless act of self-deprecation. Getting up and doing things until four in the morning and then lying down for an hour will normalize your circadian rhythms for the next night. It is bad if the situation repeats itself constantly - then this is already insomnia. A complaint with which you can finally go to the doctor!
Sleep in the blue
Best of all, a person gets enough sleep in a blue room on gray or beige underwear. That's the way Darwin created us (or whoever atheists have instead of God).
To get started, remember a few general rules:
If you sleep less than three hours a day, you will not get enough sleep in principle. This is the law.
There is no legal way to get rid of sleep at all. Clinical death can help: as a result, some lucky people catch chronic colestitis - a rare mental illness - and stop sleeping forever. But the chances are slim, history knows hardly a dozen cases.
There is no safe sleep deprivation. If you chronically deviate from your personal norm * for at least half an hour, you will find new blood sugar levels, stronger than usual hunger, problems with libido and fading of reactions, including emotional ones. The more you sleep deprivation, the higher the risk.
Otherwise, sleep quality can be adjusted with simple habits.
Do not even think:
Wake up at the same time
This common advice has fallen short of experimental testing. Experiments have shown that the body is much more sensitive to the moment of falling asleep, rather than awakening. Therefore, if your psychoanalyst (or mom, or both of them) insists on the regime, then try to go to bed at the same time.
Turn on the night light
The worst thing that can await you in a dark bedroom is genital herpes, so overcome your childhood fears and remove all sources of light from the bedroom. This applies, by the way, even to the indicators on the modem, the moon and red eyes of the dead man living in the closet. The darker the room, the better the quality of sleep. If the light cannot be removed by curtains or remotes, sleep with an eye patch.
Have breakfast with the zomboy turned on
In the first half hour after waking up, the brain should not absorb new information (especially about the crisis and repressions against the opposition). Otherwise, the mechanism of protective braking will start, and you will not be able to swing for a long time.
Gluttony in the days of rush jobs
The more you eat, the more time your body needs to sleep. Remember the boas, which, after swallowing the roe deer, lie motionless for weeks. Do you think they are setting important meetings and brainstorming sessions for this time? That's the same.
Hold back tears
With tears, excess cortisol, a stress hormone, is excreted. If there is too much of it, it begins to interfere with the activity of another hormone, DHEA, which, in turn, regulates sleep. So do not try to seem strong: at half past five, you are alone, tossing and turning on a cold, uncomfortable bed ... Feel pity for yourself. Come on, rag! You can't even cry like a man! .. Now, that's another matter.
Suppress yawning in the morning
The mechanism of yawning has not yet been fully investigated, but it has become obvious to scientists for some time now that by yawning, you are trying to wake yourself up, not put yourself to sleep! Therefore, yawning is contraindicated in the evening, but in the morning it is prescribed. The more you yawn, the faster you wake up.
Sleep off all week
Experiments have shown that it is possible to compensate for lack of sleep within a day and a half. If the all-night vigil happened the day before yesterday, you won't be able to sleep off. The body will fix the damage (mainly nerve cells will be affected) and will continue to live.
Watch porn in the evening
While vasopressin is released after normal sex, increasing sleepiness, active porn surfing (especially without discharge) also charges you with adrenaline. Therefore, it is better to watch your favorite films in the morning, when you want to wake up.
Make it a rule:
Calculate sleep time
Sleep consists of five phases, replacing each other 4-6 times per night. You will get as alert as possible after the GFD phase, which occurs approximately at the end of every 90 minutes. That is, you will get a better sleep in 4.5 hours than in 5.5, in 6 hours better than in 7. In general, you understood: try to keep your sleep time divisible by one and a half hours. If it is difficult to count one and a half intervals (rarely does anyone manage to bend 1.5 fingers on the move), buy yourself a smart alarm clock with a wristband, he will do everything himself. Or download one of the corresponding programs to your smartphone (Sleep Cycle for iOS, Sleep as Android for Android, G-Alarm for Windows Phone).
Turn on the light as soon as you wake up
The illumination level should ideally be 40-60 thousand lux. The sun in the window can still give out this, but ceiling lamps - not always. Therefore, in the fall and winter, keep an extra lamp next to the bed. And remember: the whiter it is, the more murderous and treacherous it will shine.
Drink a glass of water in the morning
We could explain for a long time why this is necessary, using the words "ghrelin" and "peptide chains", but you better just believe: the less you sleep, the more water your body needs to keep itself in good shape.
Sleep after dinner
Sleeping separately is a good way to keep you awake. If you're nodding in the middle of the day, lie down and sleep for 15 minutes while the overseer is gone to fix the whip. This sleep is painlessly interrupted, it can be repeated every 4 hours, and it allows the body to stay in the so-called theta mode and recover.
Open windows
The optimum air temperature in the bedroom is 21 ° C. Better to steal a warmer blanket than to sleep under a sheet, but in the heat. By the way, the body should fall asleep, too, slightly chilled. Before going to bed, do not take a hot bath (it only creates the illusion that you are worn out, while your tone rises), but a cool shower. After diving under the covers, you are guaranteed to fall asleep.
Fall asleep ritually
Before going to bed, always do approximately the same set of actions. Better something without physical activity. Or mental. Stupid, uninteresting things are ideal: check the locks on the door, brush your teeth, have sex with your wife, feed the hostages in the basement. Over time, the sequence will become associated with sleep and help you fall asleep faster.
Don't sleep if you don't feel like it
Forcing yourself to lie with your eyes closed is a senseless act of self-deprecation. Getting up and doing things until four in the morning and then lying down for an hour will normalize your circadian rhythms for the next night. It is bad if the situation repeats itself constantly - then this is already insomnia. A complaint with which you can finally go to the doctor!
Sleep in the blue
Best of all, a person gets enough sleep in a blue room on gray or beige underwear. That's the way Darwin created us (or whoever atheists have instead of God).
