10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep

This excellent work by BBC's Kate Silverton is relevant to all of us. I gained immensely from the earlier documentary on losing weight and food in general - http://pkabrathoughts.blogspot.com/2009/05/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-losing.html

Individually they are all effective, combined they form a potent tool to lead a healthy life.

For UK Users it is still available on - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00j08h7/10_Things_You_Need_to_Know_About_Sleep/

You can also get more tips on getting a good night's sleep on the BBC Headroom site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/headroom/newsandevents/programmes/sleep.shtml

1. Bath Before Bedtime - Internal temperature is key to sleep. A warm bath atleast an hour before sleep helps in raising the internal temperature and then dropping it thereby inducing sleep.

2. Stay In The Bedroom Only To Sleep & Get Up At The Same Time - This discipline helps in maintaining the sleep pattern and helps to beat insomnia.

3. Take A Nap In The Afternoon - A short nap of 30 minutes is great for body between 2-5 PM every-day. But for naps to work, they should be taken at the right time. Obviously 2-5 PM is the best time for nap. 7-12 AM & 6-8 PM is bad time for napping.

4. Manage Snoring - Since snoring has a negative effect on 1/5 relationships and also for the well-being, it is extremely important to manage it properly. It has serious health conditions including High Blood Pressure, Heart Attacks & Strokes in extreme cases. Though the program doesn't give a specific way of beating snoring apart from some off-the-shelf commercial & expensive solutions, I believe regular exercise & Breathing Kriya along with Jala/Sutra Nethi helps in beating it.

5. Maintain Sleep Cycles - Our sleep is made up of 5 stages and a set of 5 stages is called a cycle. In Stage 1 we feel Drowsy. In Stage 2 we fall into a light sleep. In Stage 3 & 4, we are in deep sleep. In Stage 5 we dream with rapid eye movements. A healthy night sleep will have 4-6 complete cycles. Disrupting our sleep cycle can make us lose concentration, mood swings and damage our long-term health. Generally drinking alcohol and coffee before sleep disrupts our sleep cycle. Don't Drink high quantity of Coffee or Alcohol more than 4 hours before bed.

6. Power Of A Daylight - Melatonim levels decides our sleepy state. They can be reduced by Blue Light. So if you start your work early, getting up and switching on Blue Light can make a huge difference to induce the daylight in your system. But when you are sleeping, KEEP THE CURTAINS SHUT.

7. What We Eat - Atleast 4 hours before sleep, try and eat food rich in Carbohydrates. Carbs helps sleep while Proteins perk you up. So for instance a diet full of proteins like fish is good in lunch for your sleep.

8. How To Beat Jet-Lag - It is simple really. Forego your airline food. Eat again at regular meal-time in the new time-zone.

9. Relax - Stress obviously is no good for sleep. The easy way of relaxing apart from my favorite breathing Kriya technique is tensing and relaxing body muscles. Starting from toe to head. Muscle Relaxation Therapy helps to lower the Crotisol level and minimizes stress.

10. Herbal Potions - A very old technique but still effective in this computerized age. Apart for Green Tea and its variations, Valerian and Lavender herbs are excellent to help you relax and sleep.