I spent my whole life oversleeping. I would sleep through alarms and never even hear them. I slept like a rock.When I was seven my brother tried to wake me in the middle of the night to say good bye as he left for college and I slapped him across the face. I woke severely disappointed because I did not get to say good bye to him, but my whole family insisted that they had tried to wake me. After I got married my husband said I would frequently push him away in my sleep or hit at him. Friends had told me that I talk (they never tell me what I say). So basically, trying to wake me is not easy. It has been detrimental to my happiness, every morning was a battle and I was always running late or missing out on things entirely.
I have a theory and it was developed as I was sitting in the Burger King drive-thru with my sister and her four children. Her three oldest were in the back making all kinds of racket and the radio was on and everyone was sounding off their orders, etc. I turn back and the youngest is sound asleep with all that noise. LIGHTBULB! I am the youngest of six children. I was conditioned to sleep through large amounts of chaos,but I still had no idea how to fix it.
It was getting bad, I was coming into work late frequently, my boss thankfully loved me and suggested exercise, protein shakes, something to somehow induce wakefulness in the morning. I did some online research. I read a little about circadian rhythm and our internal clock and how melatonin is the key player in our sleep. (not melanin!) Melatonin is created when we are in the dark, and it tells our body to go to sleep. That is why we get sleepy when the lights go out.
I am not an extremist that doesn't use light bulbs, but what I figured out has had a very big impact on my life. Last September, I was sleeping at my friends house in the spare room. At 7am I woke suddenly to see them entering the bathroom outside in the hall, the light was on. I woke instantly. Wait a minute, what woke me up, we know it wasn't noise? It was the light. They turned the light on....I woke up. LIGHTBULB, literally!
Since then I have discovered that light wakes me up instantly. So what did I do, I bought an alarm clock that lights up when it goes off, genius! Now while this is important, I have also figured out a few other things. So without further ado my tips for sleeping well and waking up rested:
Sleep in the dark. My sister lives in Switzerland and they have shades on the outside of the windows that you can close from the inside that close up almost like armor and you no light comes in, I can sleep forever when I am there. I have found that if I sleep with no artificial light, I sleep better.
Know how long you need to sleep. I need seven hours, just seven....maybe seven and a few minutes. You can't really find this out until you sleep in the dark, and let your body naturally wake you up. I know I need seven, I know I can function with five and not be exhausted all day, and less than that, I might as well be a zombie.
Go to bed with an empty head. Speaking of zombies....no you don't need a zombie to suck your brains out, but you need a pad of paper. Don't go to bed with a million thoughts running around, make a list, write it down, dump it. So you can rest easy, literally.
Go to bed on time. You are not from Krypton, you are from Earth. You have limitations, don't pack your day with so much that you are staying up too late and not waking up rested on a regular basis. Learn how to say no, because you need your rest, you are not a pleasant person when you don't have it, I promise. Sometimes, it happens. I would even say once a week, but don't do it every day.
Induce your melatonin response. If you know you need to be going to sleep soon, don't sit in front of the computer or the TV, chill in a semi-darkened room and relax, your body needs dark to start secreting the melatonin that will help you fall asleep and stay asleep.
There are my tips! I hope they help you be better rested each morning when you wake.
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