SHARES
“I would feel sleepy and groggy during the day. The harder I try to put myself to sleep at night, the more awake and frightened I am. Now, even my sleeping pills are not helping me.” Lisa, 24, is anxious about her sleep problem. She often wonders how others manage to fall asleep so quickly and soundly.
Understanding Sleep
Work-rest Cycle
In nature, mammalian animals have hard-coded biological clock that determines their sleep-wake and work-rest cycle. Generally the clock is divided into two: diurnal (daytime) and nocturnal (nighttime). Human by and large have diurnal body clock. Meaning to say, our activity level is highest during daytime and we are most restful at night. Our body hormones, metabolism and body temperature all rise and fall according to this biological clock. Therefore, our body and mind are capable of high activity level in the morning but the effect gradually drops in the afternoon, and falls to minimum during night time (2am – 6am).
We commonly feel tired during afternoon when our activity level starts dropping and at night when our body temperature is at its lowest. This is because when our body anti-stress hormones start dropping, we begin to feel body fatigue, aches and soreness. In return, this makes us more restful and less anxious to prepare us for a restorative sleep.
Sleep Duration and Exertion
Usually, an adult human need about 7-8 hours uninterrupted sleep at night. During exertion, we can stay productive and alert with about 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep per day. But this effect lasts no longer than a month. This is because sleep debt has a cumulative effect. It is normal to have longer restorative sleep after period of exertion but not more than 10 hours of sleep per day. In the event where we exert ourselves to the fullest, our attention, performance and judgement would drop significantly after 24-hours of continuous work.
Napping
Under such circumstances, napping plays a great role in improving our alertness and performance quickly. For instance, military pilots are trained to fall asleep quickly lasting for at least 2o minutes during operations where uninterrupted sleep at night is impossible. Having said so, napping can never replace full nighttime restorative sleep. This is because sleep during daytime has higher mental activity level leading to vivid dreams. Also, waking up from nap can result in a period of irritability, poor performance and judgement (sleep inertia) for about 5-10 minutes. More importantly, napping during daytime can affect our restorative sleep at night. Therefore, despite our feeling of tiredness in the afternoon, napping is not encouraged except under circumstances where it is necessary.
Photo by Smail Gourmi from Flickr
Are You Sleeping Well?
Signs and symptoms of sleep deprivation grow with sleep debt. These includes vacant stare, chin dropping while sitting up, swaying body while standing, walking into obstacles and ditches, sudden loss of hand grip strength, slurred speech, slow heart rate, tiredness after eating, slow heart rate, hallucination and poor personal hygiene.
On top of that, we usually lose interest of our surroundings and tend to skip boring but critical tasks. Complex tasks become harder and physical task feels heavier. Moreover, we tend to overestimate our ability to perform task due to poor insight. Likewise, it would take more effort to communicate and socialise because of a drop in initiative and motivation.
Also, watch out for other signs of disturbed sleep such as waking up at night to emptying your bladder, worrying in bed, lying awake in bed during daytime, dependent on sleep medication, and consumption of alcohol, caffeine and tobacco before sleep.
Fall Asleep Quickly In Less Than 120 seconds
It takes about 20 minutes for a young adult to fall asleep. With training, scientists have shown that we can fall asleep in less than 120 seconds. This becomes part of the sleep management program employed by military personnel. They need to get enough sleep quickly under very harsh environment such as loud noise, uneven terrain, hot weather, and small space with an anxious mind. It works even when sitting up!
The Military Method
1. The most important step is to relax your face muscles. This will change your mood almost immediately. If you find it hard to relax, try forcing a big frown, smile hard, or clench your teeth tight. Hold it long enough till your face muscles feel fatigue and relax.
2. Slowly, relax yourself from head to toe. Drop your shoulders and let loose your hands to the side of your body. Again, if you find it hard to relax, tilt your head backwards, shrug your shoulders or clench your fists tight till fatigue kicks in and relax.
3. Moving on to your chest, exhale as long as you can through your mouth as if you’re sighing and giving up. Breath in slowly through your nose.
4. Next, slowly relax your thighs and calves.
5. Lastly, keep your mind still and clear of running thoughts. You may try to imagine a static image of yourself lying still comfortably in a relaxing scene. Hold your imagination still and you should fall asleep in about 10 seconds. This may differ from person to person. You may trying counting sheep or repeat the same boring word slowly over and over again.
Photo by Tom Fahey from Flickr
Conclusion
Everyone is different with regard to his or her sleep tolerance. Some people are more prone to the effect of sleep deprivation than others. This makes it important for us to learn to fall asleep quickly and recover our sleep debt when the situation becomes demanding with little to no sleep. Most important of all, maintain a positive attitude towards sleep. It is a behaviour that can be controlled, not a mystery that happen to us. However, if you are experiencing trouble with falling asleep, get help and talk to your family doctor today!
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References:
1. Weatherspoon D. How to fall asleep in 10, 60, 120 seconds [Healthline]? Healthline Media. 2020. (Available from: https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/fall-asleep-fast; last updated on 2020 May 12; last accessed on 2020 June 17)
2. Winter B. Relax and win: championship performance in whatever you do. Bud Winter Enterprise. 2012. ISBN:0984612068.
by Chang Xian
View all articles by Chang Xian.
