#342 : review from ‘How to sleep less and have more energy’

ahh.. some weeks ago, i’ve read an ebook about ‘How to sleep less and Have more energy than you ever had’.. what a provocative title, isn’t it.. hehe.. everybody wants to get not only long, but deep sleep.. but is long sleep is good ? well let us see from that ebook perspective ^^.. my motive of reading this because i want to know my sleeping habit and turn it into less but more powerful sleep ^^ don’t like wasting time too much on sleeping.. sometimes,sleeping and dreaming just a waste of time.. hehe..

First part, there are 5 steps of sleeping

1. Stage 1 : when you feel as if you were drowsing off, day dreaming and so on. usually happens to me around 1 pm.. for example, compilers and web service class.. hehe.. dangerous though.. when you are so sleepy in advanced subject.. you won’t catch up the lesson easily ^^.. but yes, this kind is included stage 1 sleep, when your body relaxes, respiration and heart rate drops.
2. Stage 2 : another gateway to deep sleep, but not deep enough ^^.. there is still burst brain activity, and some scientist think that this stage is when your brain give sign to ‘turn it off’
3. Stage 3 & 4 : deep sleep stage. we are officially asleep.. our blood pressure, respiration, and heart rate reachest the lowest point. it’s the time when our body healing itself
4. Stage 5 : Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Stage ( REM Sleep ).. scientists still don’t know what is this stage purpose.. in this stage, instead of getting lower activity, our brain increase its activity, and, the effect is DREAMING. hehe.. sooo we are dreaming for no purpose (okay, some people said that dreaming is a notification of future, of something what might be happen or so on :p)..

thing we all should know (according this book) is that we all sleep with all those stage repeating all the time.. so we don’t spend first 1 hour in stage 1 and 2, then another 2 hours in stage 3-4 and so on. but our sleep pattern is just like this : 1,2,3,4,3,2,REM,2,3,4,3,2,REM.. but still, deep sleep is taking the longest part of our sleep since it’s actually the most important for our sleep (except you like dreaming so much hehe)

ANother important things is our inner body clock.. Your body doesn’t sleep because the clock in your computer, watch, etc.. but it’s because your body has said that it was the right time to sleep ^^.. picture below shows our general body cycles..

make sense rite why i always feel very sleepy around 12 – 1 pm.. hehe.. and also very reasonable that so many people reach it’s peak performance while in the night (even midnight) time although its really the time for us to sleep..

There are some factors that affects our sleep :

1. Body temperature..body temperatures high – won’t get sleepy easily.. body temperaturs low – means you give sign to your body to rest.. hehe.. thats for the simple..
2. Melatonin level and sunlights exposure. Melatonin is hormone that responsible to make you sleep and restore your energy while you are sleeping. Melatonin is released when we are exposed to darkness.. so, really make sense that we need darkness when we are sleeping rite ^^ (although there are some people who still turn on the light. but i like very dark condition. it boost my sleep).. and, melatonin levels really dependant on the amount of natural sunlight that enters your day during the days.. higher exposure to sunlight will delays your body temperature drop, and make you stay awake longer..
3. Activity level.. some sports will make your body temperature going up.. so, it’s really good to have sport and exercise in the morning to make you stay awake.. but do not do it in the evening around3-6 hours before you sleep.. coz it will delay your body temp to drop ^^

So, how to optimize your quality of sleep :

1. Getting enough sunshine.. i think people will underestimate this advice.. but it really useful, isn’t it.. sunshine also good for your bone, body.. Unfortunately, i can’t get direct sunlight to my room when i wake up.. so, from some weeks ago, i usually do ‘sunbathing’ as soon as i wake up.. hehe.. it just open my sleepy eyes.. and give warm feeling.. not only sunshine, but the point is, if you want to stay awake, brighten your room (artificial lamp is okay), but if you want to sleep, reduce the light.. but yes, the natural sunshine can affect your melatonin level.
2. Exercise : not only for muscles, but it affects sleep quality too.. hehe.. everybody knows what the benefit of exercise, don’t they.. but so many reasons not to exercise :p .. me either.. nowadays, i just go to gym only 1-2 times per week.. very big disapointment T_T.. but at least try to warm yourself with warming up, little exercise training.. half an hour would be good if you are really busy person ^^
3. Know your sleep cycle and decide what time to sleep and to wake up.. this really need trial and error.. you should pay attention to your sleeping and waking up time to know your own cycle..
4. having regular sleeping and waking time.. so your body won’t get confused and not messed up your body clock..

I think thats all from the ‘How to Sleep Less and Have More Enery than You Ever Had’ by Kacper M. Potawsky.. on PowerfulSleep.com..

sleeping is good for our health. but it’s also wasting time if we don’t do it properly.. hehe.. especially when you think you’re running out of time and stamina.. hahahaha.. you need a short and deep and powerful sleep :p..

well thats all about sleep information.. hope that this information will be useful for other person..