Hi, today I am going to try help you get rid of your insomnia.
I'm not speaking to you as a sleep doctor, an expert in this field, or a graduate of any sleep related course. I am simply a past insomnia sufferer, and I know how bad it is. I have lay awake from 11PM to 7AM, then have to wake up at 8PM for another long day, and still find no rest after that. I know some of you have it this bad, and even worse.
Here's how I got rid of my insomnia.
1. Laptops/Phones/Gaming Consoles/etc.
You're probably expecting me to tell you that you have to not use your devices after X o'clock, or stop using them completely. Luckily, this is not the case. However, there are some changes we can make, but they won't affect the hours you spend using the device.
Basically here's the problem with screens: blue light.
The science that explains why blue light keeps you up was begun many years ago in the study of bird migration, and it continued in humans with the discovery of a new photoreceptor in the eye, called Melanopsin. Many are familiar with the "rods and cones" that provide our visual capabilities, but it was only about 15 years ago that retinal ganglion cells containing melanopsin, which are sensitive to a narrow band of blue light in the 460-480nm range, were discovered, and their unique effect on sleep was investigated.
The experimental research suggests that an average person reading on a tablet for a couple hours before bed may find that their sleep is delayed by about an hour.
Now you're probably thinking how can I possibly stop this blue light, which comes out of every screen. Well its quite simple really. Software developers have made apps and programs which tackle this issue head on, and the great thing is you don't even have to do anything, they set themselves to your time zone and the blue light progressively fades automatically.
For PC/Mac/Linux: F.lux - You should also check out their collection of research, showing most papers and documents published on this topic around the world.
For iPhone/iPod: F.lux (link above is also available, however jailbreak is needed because of the way iOS is designed). I have not seen any other apps available for iOS, however I could be wrong.
For Android: Personally I have used both EasyEyez and Twilight. Both work pretty much the same and do the same thing so you can take a look at both or look at the reviews and decide which suits better.
Now you can use your screen without it leading to inevitable insomnia, and it actually does work
2. Exercise
No you don't have to run a marathon or perform 100 pushups 10 minutes before bed, in fact this would probably make matters worse, as exercise before bed will make you alert for at least a good hour.
What I am suggesting instead is, do something light to moderate about 5-6 hours before bed. Do a 3 or 4 sets of pushups, pullups , squats , or whatever you like, at a mildly uncomfortable rep range, you should be slightly tired at the end of each set. You could also go for a light jog (preferably outdoors) just before the sun goes down, this will make your body realize it is time to wind down and the exercise will compound this by getting rid of all the stresses and excess energy left over from the day.
3. Food
Food is often blamed for being the cause of insomnia. We blame eating right before bed, or eating certain foods for our inability to fall asleep. This is true to some extent, but it doesn't play as much of a role as you think, and is simply something that we can simply point the finger at because it is usually one of the common denominators on days we have insomnia (we have to eat every day. Crazy, right? )
The thing most people don't know is, food can be used to your advantage, quite easily really. You don't have to go out and buy some special night time milk which is enriched in melatonin, although some people find milk helps, and some find it makes matters worse, so you should play around with it and see what results you get. Basically, simply put, you're looking for foods with tryptophan in them. You can Google "foods with tryptophan" or something similar and you will get a more complete list than I will provide. Foods I suggest are dairy (as stated above), rice, pasta, chicken, turkey and other foods you'll find through research. Basically what tryptophan does is it allows your brain to manufacture melatonin, which if you're not aware of, makes you sleepy, very sleepy. It is the chemical that makes us feel sleepy at night time (which links in with the blue light thing - which inhibits melatonin production at night).
Foods are not the sole perpetrator for your insomnia problems, but they do have some impact.
Brainwaves
Many of you will skip straight to this step as technically, yes it is possible to get rid of insomnia using just brainwave entertainment, but if you want to get rid of it for you'll probably need a combination of all the topics discussed in this post.
For those of you who saw my name on this thread you probably knew this would be brought up here somewhere, as I am fascinated with brainwaves and how they impact on us and how we can manipulate them. I have a YouTube channel clocking in at well over 2,000 subscribers, all with videos manipulating brainwaves, so this science (and its benefits) is becoming more and more well known.
Basically, in today's society, we spend a lot of time on computers, on the phone, stressing about work/life in general, etc. All of these things make our brain a jumbled up palace of excitement (our brainwaves are impacted by the electronic devices I mentioned), if you'll allow lack of talent in creating metaphors. For years I had a problem where I would be completely tired, then go to bed and suddenly thoughts would stream through my head. And these weren't normal "I'm so tired" thoughts you'd expect at night, these were thoughts about how I could do such a thing and how I can be better at this and I'd get ideas which were really incredible. Basically, I was most productive at night, not a good thing. It would be 5-6 AM usually before the thoughts subsided. I combated this using brainwave entertainment. I found a video that claimed to put you asleep, I thought it was some sort of hypnosis. I started listening to what at first sounded to me like a hoover being pushed back and forth, and it honestly made me laugh. But then, I started to just close my eyes and listen to the motion of the audio, the next thing I remember was it was morning.
Ever since then I've researched brainwave entertainment and brainwaves in general, and become quite popular on YouTube through my own videos. Brainwave manipulation allows you to control what usually becomes uncontrollable in people who have a tendency to suffer from insomnia, alert brainwaves at night time. It allows you to start from the alert state we are in right now and takes your right to deep sleep, and was the first way I got over my insomnia.
I leave you now with what will probably be your first experience of brainwave entertainment, and it is designed especially to take you into deep sleep. So please, enjoy it, and I hope you never have insomnia again
The information in this post is gathered from my experience as a past insomnia sufferer, who now has taken control. I hope the information here helps you as much as it has helped me.
Peace
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