Since the end of spring, sleep has not been very good, on the one hand, it is difficult to fall asleep, on the other hand, the sleep rhythm is always irregular, sometimes fall asleep at 11 o'clock, get up at 8 o'clock in the morning, the regular sleep state may be inexplicably disturbed after two weeks, 3 or 4 o'clock in the middle of the night is still open eyes, no drowsiness, so that the next night, muddy all day, and such a day will inexplicably last for a week or two, and so exhausted, work and rest can be adjusted.
To this end, I tried a variety of methods, from the primary to the advanced, different methods play different roles at different stages, and inevitably have their own limitations.
The day before yesterday, chatting with friends and sleeping, I was surprised that I had stored so many experiences, thinking of recording them, one as a summary of the end of the year, and the other if I could help the people to a certain extent, it would be a good thing.
First, improve the sleep environment
In the first phase, my efforts focused on improving the sleep environment. At first, when sleep problems arose, my main measures revolved around the external environment:
1. Try to replace the curtains with darker and more shaded styles to ensure that the sleeping space does not reveal light.
2, light a fragrance, light a scented candle before going to bed, when falling asleep, there will be a faint aroma into the nose, bringing a sense of pleasure. The taste of aromatherapy varies from person to person, I bought it for more than 10 yuan from IKEA, vanilla ice cream taste, sweet and greasy just right.
3. Dry sheets and quilts. After the bedding is basked in the sun, it will have a warm and hot touch, and it will also have the smell of warm sunshine. 4. Take a hot bath before going to bed to relax the body and eliminate fatigue.
The efforts of this part can be summarized as creating a relaxed and quiet sleep atmosphere, maximizing the protection of physical relaxation, refreshing mood, and helping to sleep better.
When I first tried to improve my sleep, this series of steps really helped me, and I got some results, and sleep continued to stabilize for a while, but as my body adapted, the effect gradually faded for me.
Second, ensure the tranquility of the brain
In the second stage, I mainly start from an individual point of view, from the perspective of "me" to try to improve sleep. The main hope is to keep the brain calm before going to bed and reduce cranky thoughts.
At this stage, the method I take is to listen to the audio. When it comes to audio choices, I look for familiar audio material, i.e. audio content that is known to me or has been known to me before, rather than new, unfamiliar content.
For example, at one stage, I was reading a book, 40 Studies of Changing Psychology, and before going to bed, I would find an audio listener to read the book. The advantage of this is that because I have read it, the content of the book is familiar to me, and the brain will spend a small amount of attention to think about the content of it, just like you stand by the stream and watch a fallen leaf floating in the water, it does not require too much energy, it does not take much energy, in the same way, the ear comes with the slow passage of the audio, the weak attention follows, does not need much thinking, and it is easy to fall asleep.
Similarly, after this method has been maintained for a while, it fails again, entering a state where no matter what I listen, the brain will be mentally depressed.
Third, white noise
White noise can be regarded as an advance to the second stage, when I searched the Internet for some ways to improve sleep, found many widely used white noises, and tried it.
There are still many APPS on the market that focus on improving sleep, such as tides, lunar eclipses, snail sleep, etc., of which a variety of white noises are available, and sleep quality can be monitored, which is quite complete.
But after I tried the cat purring, the sound of the waves, the sound of rain, the sound of the wind, etc., I found that these single sounds helped me very little. Accidentally, I saw the sleep aid resources sent by others in the square and found a video on the B station.
This video lasts for more than 1 hour, the first half hour is human voice sleep, and the second half hour is tidal white noise.
If anyone who has practiced yoga knows, in the last 10 minutes of each lesson, there is a relaxation session, the student lies quietly on the mat, and the teacher will count the body parts from head to toe, which I call "mind relaxation". The teacher will slowly say, "Breathe to the top of your head, relax your hair, feel the lightness of your hair; breathe to your forehead, stretch your forehead, and feel deeply relaxed...", and so on, but when you come down, you can often feel the lightness and happiness of your body.
In the first half of the video, the broadcaster uses a similar method, which I think works for me, and 1 hour is long enough to allow enough time for sleep preparation.
Fourth, focus on the breath
This method is inspired by the video above and combines breathing exercises from yoga. Although I have been practicing yoga for more than 2 years, I don't seem to have thought about it further, and this year I seem to have opened my mind, and I can probably experience the effects of breathing, meditation and the impact on the body. I also try to use it for sleep.
To put it simply, when I lie down, I will begin to consciously carry out breathing exercises, focusing my attention completely on my breathing and inhalation, consciously inhaling deeply, sending air to the abdomen, feeling the rise and fall of the stomach, and then slowly exhaling, feeling the feeling of the breath released from the abdomen, stretching the rhythm of the breath as much as possible, and repeating it.
The advantage of this is that on the one hand, we can avoid distraction and cranky thoughts, and on the other hand, deep breathing can help us relax.
About breathing, I want to say one more thing. Although we breathe all the time, we don't necessarily breathe. Breathing is divided into chest breathing and abdominal breathing, the former breathing is shallower, the latter breathing is deeper. So before going to sleep, including when you are bored, you can try to practice abdominal breathing and be aware of changes in your body.
5. Exercise
At this stage, the effect of the connection in the general "static" state can no longer satisfy me, so I begin to "torture myself". Through exercise, make your body feel tired.
But remember not to do a lot of exercise before going to bed, but the more you exercise, the more energetic you are, not that the exercise must be more intense. I prefer to walk, can walk alone in the afternoon, when sleep is not good, I will go to the riverside to walk, fortunately in Shanghai's infrastructure is very complete, Yangpu Riverside, Huangpu Riverside, Xuhui Riverside, etc. Every place is good, often with a camera, in the riverside is an afternoon, to the evening fatigue gushing, feet are tired, lie down can fall asleep.
Many photos were harvested
Quantitative change brings qualitative change. I did sleep well, but I was really tired too.
Sixth, drink
The way to drink was not intentional, but after the winter, it was very popular to cook hot wine, and I also went with the wind to cook a little, and fell asleep quickly that night and rested well.
When I think about it, it seems that there is indeed a saying that drinking a small amount of red wine before going to bed can help you fall asleep. Winter is coming, so you might as well cook yourself a cup. The steps are simple, and it doesn't take a lot of time, and the kung fu of washing your face is cooked, so I recommend you to try it.
Mulled wine
7. See a doctor
Cold to take medicine, fever to take injections, in fact, poor sleep can also go to the doctor. When you've tried all of the above and still haven't been able to improve your sleep, I highly recommend seeing a doctor.
When I was hanging out for most of the day, walking more than 20,000 steps, and still not sleepy at night, I realized it was time for me to go to the doctor.
I went to Xinhua Hospital to hang up the neurology department, chatted with the doctor, the doctor prescribed 3 kinds of drugs, 2 kinds of conditioning, and there is a kind of medicine to help sleep, when the conditioning drugs fail to play a regulatory role, and then take drugs to help sleep.
I ate for a week and felt a little adjusted. Before, there were also friends who had irregular sleep and rest, and after going to the hospital to see it, the conditioning became better after a month.
In order to get and maintain a good night's sleep, I have really tried a lot and spent a lot of energy in the past six months, hoping that everyone can get a good night's sleep next year.