Sleep, or the idea of better sleep, has become somewhat of a hobby of mine over the twelve cumulative years of having worked the midnight shift. Any time I came across an article on sleep, I read it and subsequently have learned some stuff in the process. There are ways to improve your sleep that requires spending money, like mattresses, pillows, CPAP machines, ChiliPAD sleep system, etc. But there are other ways that are free or almost free, and those are the things I’m going to share with you today.
Caffeine
Ah, caffeine, the lifeblood of midnights. The mere hope of caffeine is sometimes the only thing that gets us out of bed every day. I know it is for me. But caffeine is a two-edged sword. Sure it may get us up and keep us going, but it can also prevent us from falling asleep or can greatly reduce the quality of our sleep. Interestingly, sleep is not only about quantity, but about quality. If our quality of sleep is poor, we will still feel tired when we wake up.
Fast fact: caffeine has a ten-hour half life. This means that 50% of the caffeine in the coffee we drank or the Red Bull we injected will still be coursing through our veins ten hours later. Translation: if you have a caffeinated beverage within ten hours of going to bed, 50% of that caffeine will be in your system when your head hits the pillow.
“I drink 19 cups of coffee a day, and I fall asleep just fine!” you say. Ah, maybe so, but that caffeine in your system is stimulating your brain and preventing you from getting quality sleep causing you to wake up feeling tired. Which, by the way, could be the reason you drink 19 cups of coffee to make it through the day.
With that in mind, have your last cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage of choice no sooner than ten hours before you plan on going to bed. That means no coffee after noon if you go to bed at 10:00 p.m. or no coffee after 10:00 p.m. if you go to bed at 8:00 a.m. That will allow your body to metabolize the caffeine and reduce the amount remaining in your system which will improve the quality of your sleep.
Magnesium
Magnesi-what? That’s right son, magnesium. It does all kinds of wonderful things for you, like repair tissue, grow muscle, and yes, it also improves sleep. Take a magnesium supplement with your last meal of the day to avoid an upset stomach. There’s tons of research out there showing it is perfectly safe and, more than that, necessary. For more nerd talk on magnesium, you can check it out by typing it into the search bar at examine.com.
Light and Sound
Block the light entering your bedroom — whether its sunlight, street lights, or a glowing neon Budweiser sign. Buy fancy drapes if you want, but stuffing blankets and what-not all around your windows will work just fine.
White noise is great because it helps block out or cover up the neighbor’s whining cat, the kids downstairs, and other ambient noises that can filter into your sleeping chamber. I like having a fan on for the noise, but you can choose from all kinds of different noises by downloading free apps on your phone.
Brain Tapping
I know, it sounds like an 80’s hair band.
Recently I came across a 2018 TEDx video on YouTube by a guy named Jim Donovan, M.Ed. He looks like he may spend too much time playing Dungeons and Dragons and may not be the best public speaker, but his content was super interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I bought into it. After all, I had nothing to lose, since it was totally free and completely harmless.
Jim was a drummer with insomnia who discovered a “cure” for his insomnia while teaching a class to other drummers. In short, he found that by tapping on his thighs with his hands, like he was drumming, he induced a R.E.M.-like response with his eyes. He found that this actually helped get him to sleep and kept him asleep.
How to Brain Tap
The method revolves around something called “frequency following response,” which simply means that our brains like rhythm and patterns. If we create a rhythm that our brain can’t help but follow, we can then slow that rhythm down and thereby slow our brain down to help induce sleep.
The method goes like this:
- Lay comfortably in bed on your back with your hands resting on your thighs.
- Begin lightly tapping on your thighs, alternating left-right-left-right, at the speed of a ticking clock, while breathing slowly and deeply.
- After about three minutes, slow the tapping to half speed.
- After about a minute of tapping at half speed, slow the tapping down again, and slow your breathing with longer, slower breaths. If you’re familiar with tactical breathing, use that.
- Finally, gradually slow the tapping way all the way down and come to a stop.
That’s it. The whole process takes about five minutes. If you try it, commit to doing it every day for a week before you make up your mind. My guess is, you won’t be disappointed. If you Google search the video as described above, you can hear from Jim in his own words.
In my opinion, if you do nothing else about your sleep, do these four things. There’s also diet and exercise, weight loss, and melatonin, but start here, and start getting better sleep this week!
Tactical Disclaimer
Allow me to remind you that I am not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV. If you have any concerns over what I’ve laid out for you, talk to your doctor and do some additional research before doing anything. This is a nice way of saying don’t do something stupid and then sue me.
Sweet tactical dreams.
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