So many people these days have trouble sleeping. Yet again, it’s a matter of finding the disconnects that modern life has brought about and filling the gaps, so here is my guide for how to get a better night’s sleep. Please don’t ignore the parts that deal with artificial light and EMFs. Because they haven’t been talked about before very much when dealing with this subject, and many think it’s enough to have a cup of camomile tea in front of the TV, it’s easy to ignore them, but they are perhaps the most important factors. For more on light and EMFs see my last blog post HERE.
Sleep Tips 1-10
Drinking, Light and Diet
1. A good night’s sleep begins with how you spend your day. Get up early, go outside, look at the sunrise and get your bare feet on the Earth. Get the cortisol going so you’re in synch with nature’s daily cycle. This will help the melatonin cycle to kick in later on when you need it for sleep.
2. If you drink tea and/or coffee, try to keep them to before 4pm, or preferably midday.
3. Same with alcohol; if you drink, do it in moderation and make sure it’s worn off by bedtime. An evening spent boozing never gave anyone restful sleep.
4. Don’t eat after 8pm, or preferably 6pm if you have trouble sleeping. Give it at least two hours before bedtime, and don’t eat heavily in the evening.
5. If you are overweight, sleep apnea can be a big problem, ruining restful sleep. Cut the carbs and lose that excess blubber.
6. Wear orange glasses, such as the excellent Ra Optics Blublockers, after the sun has gone down to cut blue light from the eyes when it’s not supposed to be there. The main receptors triggering melatonin production are in the eyes, so if you are under artificial light or watching TV/computers all evening, melatonin production will be affected. Orange glasses will lessen the effects of artificial light and software to take the blue out of your device screens is highl;y recommended. By far the best at the moment is Iris Tech, which also deals with flicker and has many easily accessible modes.
Even better, also switch off all screens and use candles for at least a couple of hours before bed. It’s actually very relaxing.
For 15% off BluBlox glasses, quote coupon code “THU” at checkout HERE, and to get Iris Tech, here’s the link
7. Don’t watch TV in the evening at all if you can help it, and certainly not programmes that are overstimulating. Want to watch a zombie or vampire movie? Watch it in the morning!
8. Magnesium is huge in aiding restful sleep. Take some magnesium malate at bedtime, spray on some magnesium oil or take an Epsom salt bath.
9. Take a cold shower or bath sometime before bed, maybe after a warm Epsom salt bath, until you get cold adapted and it becomes easier. I won’t go into the science of this, but believe me, the combination of orange glasses and the cold is magical for sleep.
10. Yes, camomile tea is good too! But don’t drink too much of any liquid before bedtime or you might need to go to the bathroom too many times. Hydrate earlier in the day.
Sleep Tips 11-19
Exercise, temperature, EMF’s, blue blockers, environment
11. Don’t exercise vigorously before bedtime. Exercise in the morning or late afternoon. If you feel the need to do something, gentle yoga or Hanna Somatics are ideal and can really help restful sleep. I did a short post on the benefits of Somatics for sleep HERE. Too little exercise is bad for sleep, but too much is worse…
12. Don’t overdo cardio exercise at any time of the day. It totally disrupts hormonal systems. Get into abbreviated weight training and sprints instead. To lessen the impact of cardio workouts with some very clever Ayurvedic ideas, see my blog post on it HERE or for greater detail, get my Pure Activity book.
13. This is an Ayurvedic idea for balancing vata dosha, which is the dosha that’s out of balance when we can’t sleep… Perform an abhyanga, or oil massage. It only takes a few minutes and you can do it yourself. HERE are some instructions. It really does help. At least oil the scalp and soles of the feet. Sesame oil is traditionally the best, but olive oil or coconut oil are good substitutes. I know this seems odd to us in the west, but just put a towel on the pillow to stop it getting oily and wash it out of your hair in the morning. The small inconvenience is worth a great night’s sleep, and it does work!
14. Another Ayurvedic principle, but based in science and common sense too… Go to bed when the first wave of tiredness comes; certainly be in bed by 10pm. 10pm until 2am is the time when the body repairs itself the most, and sleep taken between these times is very precious.
15. Turn off the radiator to keep the bedroom cool and open a window or two. A hot, stuffy bedroom is no good for restful sleep.
16. Sleep on an earthing sheet. This is amazing for improving sleep. For millions of years we slept on the ground, exchanging ions with the Earth. These days it is even more important to discharge the body’s store of EMFs that we get from our technology. A caveat here though is to make sure that you use the copper rod to connect the earthing sheet to earth via a cable outside instead of using the earth pin plug and connecting to the mains, in which case it can make matters worse. If in doubt, just make sure that you get your bare feet on the ground outside every day as often as possible. Also maybe look at magnetico pads if your budget allows.
17. Fit blackout blinds in the bedroom. The darker it is, the better. There are also some receptors in the skin, not just in the eyes, so this can help a lot. Failing this, wear a comfortable silk sleep mask over the eyes.
18. Take all electrical appliances out of the bedroom or unplug them. EMFs can totally disrupt sleep. Certainly never have your mobile phone under the pillow. If you have to have it next to the bed to see the time, turn the brightness down, keep it on airplane mode and keep your orange glasses next to the bed and put them on before you look at it. I can’t stress this enough – one blast of blue light can totally reset the body to make it think it’s daytime and time to wake up.
19. In the same vein, if you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, don’t turn the light on. If you have to turn a light on for some reason, put the orange glasses on first.
Tips 20-24
Cycles, thoughts, supplements
20. Have sex, with a partner, or with yourself if you have no partner. An orgasm is great for a restful night!
21. If you do wake up, don’t fight to go to sleep and try to suppress thoughts. That’s impossible and will get you nowhere. Just watch the thoughts come and go without resisting, as if they were a film, and don’t attach to them. Stay relaxed and in the present, being thankful for a restful time when you can just lie there and enjoy being you without any pressing responsibilities. If you meditate, this is a good time to do it, but if you don’t, just try focusing on your breathing. Just breathe in and out with awareness and this will bring you into the present again. Worrying about not sleeping is the best way to stay awake! Enjoy being awake and before you know it, you’ll be asleep again. If you really can’t get to sleep again, get up, put on your blueblocking glasses and go and do something else for a bit. Try to think of sleep as cycles of 90 mins, give or take, instead of one long stretch. You need about five of these cycles per night. I usually sleep three cycles, then get up for an hour or two and then sleep another two cycles. It refreshes me as much as unbroken sleep.
There is a lot to be said for this biphasic sleep; in fact it might just be more natural than the unbroken eight hours that conventional wisdom suggests. Have a look at this ARTICLE by Mark Sisson to find out more.
22. If you have certain specific worries that are keeping you awake, learn EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) or look into Byron Katie’s “The Work”… or both… (links to them on our resources page). This will do wonders for clearing those useless beliefs that keep you stressed. You CAN change your thoughts and beliefs about problems so they don’t worry you way before the problems themselves get resolved. It’s all about how we look at things, not how things actually are. Stress is a huge killer of people as well as sleep. You will never get rid of all your problems, so get rid of worrying about them instead, and you will never have another problem again!
23. As a very, very last resort you can use supplemental melatonin, but only temporarily, and preferably just to reset the system in emergencies like jet lag. If you do all, or most, of the above, you really shouldn’t need it.
24. A recent discovery for me, edited in some months after the original article. Please have a read of this link to NEXUS MAGAZINE listing the benefits of Inclined Bed Therapy. So many benefits, way beyond better sleep!
Originally posted 2014-05-03 05:10:50.
My goodness – all these rules…no wonder I left the movement for satsang 15 years ago…25 years of ayurvedic regulations was quite enough…
If we’re honest – we know that meditators and health enthusiasts suffer, get sick and die at the same rates as the general population…Perhaps it’s precisely the emphasis on the material body which perpetuates illness……All these ‘health’ rules are the result of an overactive mind… and self forgetting goes a long way..
The goal of life is to find out who we really are….to fall into the eternal Silent Mind….and then the body does what it does quite naturally – freeing itself of its burden of doership…as we realize we are not in charge of the healing..
No techniques or rules can take us Home…..It’s only when we realize our limitation as a persona and open to something greater than mortal mind – can Grace find an entry point….
The remedy for healing not only our separation, but all illness as well, is a right understanding of God as ALL THERE IS – and an unselfed Love..
Seems like a strange reply to this post, Jill. These are certainly not rules, just suggestions, and most of them are not derived from Ayurveda. They are just the cream of the hundreds of ways I tried to improve my sleep when I was very ill… and combined, they did a lot to return me to a place where screaming agony wasn’t uppermost in my mind and body, and I could again find a focus on the absolute.
Of course you are absolutely right in everything you say, but it seems slightly irrelevant to this post. Sometimes if we get very broken we need a little help up to the first rung of the ladder so we can climb easily… not that a ladder or even a rung exists… just another paradox.
I would much rather talk about just the absolute and not even bother with the details in the relative, but most people who are ill need to address all levels – physical, emotional and spiritual to heal again, and that is the focus of this site. To see where my heart really lies, perhaps you would be more interested in my other blog post on the misconceptions about “waking up” where I have addressed all that you say and agreed wholeheartedly… here is a link… https://pureactivity.net/misconceptions-enlightenment-waking/
Thanks Phil, it’s a great post. Both my parents have been insomniacs for a long time now. They stay up late and either watch TV or read a book / e-book hoping to fall asleep. They also eat late (probably because they stay up until late) which I suspect has played a role in causing acidity & other digestive disorders. After reading your post I realize that what they do to compensate for insomnia actually worsens it.
Several of your suggestions are easy to follow provided we make a conscious attempt which is a small price to pay for better quality of life. Once such basics like health are addressed, the ego could take up more spiritual pursuits (and hopefully succeed in the pursuit by destroying itself!)
Hi Krishna,
Yes, eating late can cause all sorts of digestive issues. I remember wrestling with massive heartburn when I used to eat late at night.
There are a lot of ideas in this post, but I’d still say that orange glasses to trigger melatonin production and not panicking if you do wake up are the most effective of the lot…
Thanks for getting in touch! 🙂
you can get cheap meters to measure emf, in fact emf from motors, electrical appliances or badly grounded mains wiring can be as much an issue as mobile phones !
my write up on sleep is linked in the header !
Hi Andrew – yes, that’s a very good point and absolutely true, and I did mention it in passing. As for EMF meters, yes… We didn’t buy one but we did get a guy to come in and give the house a once over with a fairly sophisticated meter, and the results were staggering. We made a lot of changes on all fronts afterwards… I go more into the EMFs in my blog post on the five triggers for disease.