5 Key Strategies to Improve Your Sleep
Felix Baumgartner who was sponsored by Red Bull went up in a capsule in a hot air balloon to the outer surface of our planet, he opened the door and he jumped out, and he fell back down to earth at 1000km/hr.
Using his body alone he broke the sound barrier.
Now for The Guinness World Records – that’s all ok. However, if you want to sleep deprive yourself, that's a firm No. Sleep loss is much more unsafe, and Guinness felt uncomfortable about accepting sleep deprivation submissions, especially when research now shows us that mental health issues and even suicide can result from severe sleep deprivation.
So here's 5 top strategies to get you a good night's sleep. Try these 1 hour before bed minimum.
Reduce lighting at least 1 hour before bed. Turn the lights off or down, red light if possible, just start telling your body it is ok to enter the rest and recovery cool down phase.
Avoid stimulation through devices. Turn your phone to silent and avoid the stimulation of all devices, primarily from your laptop and phone. You need to signal to your body it's time to rest and recover. This means avoid checking your email just before bed!
Cool the room to 17-18 deg C. Your body likes to be cool when sleeping, the brain prefers it and will reward you in better sleep quality and quantity.
Get consistent about your bed time. Consistency is key to working with your biology, training it to know that this is the time to rest. Once you are consistent about your bed time you can turn your attention to waking consistency.
Get consistent about 7-8 hours of quality rest time. "The fact is, the number of people who can survive on less than 6 hours and be healthy and great, rounded to a number and in percentage is 0. That person simply does not exist." This is a quote from Matthew Walker, the neuroscientist and sleep expert. Which is to say, do not short change your sleep, you are only short changing your health.
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