[Red Liner]

Sleep is a basic civil right for all human beings. And nobody should make you feel unproud of getting a good night’s sleep.

I am a student of Science, and therefore a student of Sleep amongst various other neurological topics. I have studied free material available online, as well as absorbed information from qualified scientists who have studied and done ground breaking research on sleep, including Dr Andrew Huberman and Dr Mathew Walker. I will always be indebted to them and their research in helping us all better our sleep.

I have also implemented most of the protocols listed above in my life over the past year and have seen an upshift in my overall quality of life - brain and body.

And thank you to the following gentlemen for having responded to my offer and egged me on to write on this important topic.

Originally Posted by ampere

I am no expert, but to comment:

We have a sleep cycle pattern. We hit the sack; take some time to get to sleep rhythm, go into sleep/deep sleep and come back. To get to and come out of that deep sleep state, each one will take his own time. The way we expense our energy during the day, defines how strongly/easily we sleep and get to deep sleep.

Many who dont expense or have poor metabolism, I think may find it difficult to sleep. Thats one I reason (I think) a good work out and a good sleep keeps our HR (RHR) down.

Originally Posted by am1m

Good tip, thanks! I can't afford to skip dinner, it's my main meal and I already lose weight too easily. I usually work out in the evenings, post-6 and get back home by 9, so a late dinner is pretty much the default on most days. And yes, do have trouble sleeping before 12-1 am on most days because of that.

Originally Posted by vibbs

Hi, Could you share more info on this. I would be keen to learn about it. This has been my challenge. I dont know if my Samsung watch records correctly, but my deep sleep rarely exceeds 30 mins.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

It is good to have a baseline before you start. Which means some kind of smart watch which tracks sleep metrics reasonably well, so that you can measure improvement over a period of time and see what works and what doesn't.

I will start a new thread on this topic.

Originally Posted by graaja

Update on the Chamomile tea. Have been taking this before bed time for about a week. I must confess, I have not followed the hot bath and no electronics rule strictly. There were a couple of days when the watch reported deep sleep more than 1:15 hours. There were also days with 50 minutes of deep sleep. These were days when I had really high intensity kettlebell workouts. So, I guess too much of fatigue also affects deep sleep.

But I do feel overall sleep quality is better. I see 8 hours of sleep on most days with a couple of days touching 8:30 hours. More than sleep, I like the soothing taste of Chamomile tea. It feels good to have it before bed.

I will definitely work towards avoiding electronics an hour before bed time. This may be tougher than getting used to IF and long fasts it seems

Originally Posted by Nikhil Beke

Would be great if you cover obstructive sleep apnoea as well- a condition with a structural problem at the level of throat(pharynx) and where weight loss is a proven treatment- in line with the original thread

Originally Posted by Axe77

I tried clicking on the link but it was not available. Must it be the specific one in the link or their other options listed from same brand also serve the same purpose? I see turmeric, apple something, mint etc. too.

Keen to give this a try if it helps in deep sleep.

Thank you

I wish you a good night ;-)

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[gkveda]

A great research paper on sleep. This paper has almost all scientific and medically proven points to be practiced by humans to get healthy sleep.

Most of the times, we do follow certain practices without knowing the science behind it. This paper (I am calling this a research paper rather than thread or post) provides all science behind every every such practice and reasons for repeatability, and right methodology for those practices.

Hats off and cordial thanks Redliner to your efforts of doing this research and publishing here for benefits of all. I was already a big fan of your posts and this post has made me further more follower of your posts.

I don't have any issues to get good sleep. The moment I go to bed (around 10 pm), within 10-15 mins, I will be off till morning 7am with one bio-break at around 5am. Very rarely I get dreams and don't even remember them in 60-70% of cases.

But, after my mother died in 2006, unknowingly, I got into depression and suffered low self esteem for 5-6 years. During this time, my sleep patterns changed significantly. Confidence went very low and lost hopes on every thing in life. Either I used to sleep almost 17-18 hours a day or just 3-5 hours a day (during night only). my temper pattern changed significantly as well. After 6 years, in 2012, my wife observed this change in my behavior got treated by a psychiatrist for 6-8 months for my low self esteem. Per his advice, I started reading books on How to raise self esteem, Six pillars of self esteem, The art of living conciously, etc by Nathaniel Brandon. After medical treatment and studying these books, automatically, my sleep patterns started becoming normal and self esteem also became high. This was a dreadful experience but I was never even aware that I was suffering this condition for 6 years.

The point I am trying to make here is, mental health is very important for a good sleep and good sleep develops mental health.

Another point, there are lot of misconceptions about sleep.
Few are:
1. Sleeping for more than 8 hours is bad for health
2. Getting up at 5 am is good for health. Brain becomes most active if we get up at 5am
3. Sleeping during day time is bad for mental health.

None of these are scientifically proven.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by gkveda

The point I am trying to make here is, mental health is very important for a good sleep and good sleep develops mental health.

Could not agree any more with this. You speak from a depth of personal experience. And you always come out stronger and wiser from personal experience!

[saisree]

Redliner, BIG thanks for such a beautiful and informative thread. Subscribed and bookmarked this thread for life. Sleep disorders have became very common and I’m also a victim of it.
One of the most worst practice that cause this sleep disorder is poor discipline at work. We have to shutdown work at 6. The day you start accepting that you can extend your work time for any reason , you have unknowingly opened the flood gates. It becomes a culture and an expectation from you that you never can reverse it until you change your job and never go back to actual work timings. Writing this after toiling unto 10:30 PM yesterday

Sleep well folks.

[GTO]

Superb thread & advice . Going to our homepage today. Hope it helps a lot of BHPians with improving their health. Thanks for sharing!

I am a big, big proponent of healthy sleeping habits. Except for the late Saturday party night, on week nights, I hit the sack at 2215 - 2230 hours and sleep nicely till ~0600 hours. I don't keep an alarm and wake up when my body wants to. Usually 7 - 8 hours. People don't realise this, but sleep is as important to good health as proper eating habits, exercise etc. Conversely, bad sleep can destroy your body just like junk food, cigarettes & excess alcohol do.

Am dropping a link to my thread on great sleeping practices (Good Sleep: Tips, advice & best practices):

Originally Posted by GTO

So, what is your sleep strategy? Here are some things that I rigorously follow for good sleep. Having become a fitness freak of late, good food + exercise + sleep have become key areas of focus for me.

• Keeping the sleeping & waking hours fixed. On weekdays, its 2230 to 0600 / 0630 hours. Works really, really well for my body.

• Equally, I never sleep more than 8 hours. Even if I've had a late night, I never push it beyond 6 hours as I don't like starting the day late.

• Comfy mattress, pillow, cold air-con & blackout curtains in the room. Luckily, I sleep very deep and no external sounds ever wake me up. We had a Mod meet in Goa recently and despite Manson banging on the door at 3 a.m., I didn't wake up.

• Winding myself down with a book from 10ish.

• Bed only for sleep & intimacy. Have even removed the TV from my bedroom.

• No blue light after 1900 hours. Minimal screen time at night. On my laptop + phone, "night mode" automatically starts at sunset. If I have to watch TV, I grab my Swannies.

• Keeping the smartphone far away from bed...some even recommend keeping it in another room!

• I don't have sugar anymore (am following LCHF eating), but I distinctly remember that sugar at night messes with sleep.

• As a rule, no work thoughts in bed.

• Minimising stress of any kind. Working at a healthy, sustainable pace. I realise this is easier said than done. But one thing for sure...as an entrepreneur, your 30s (or the first 10 years of business) are the most difficult. Post that, things settle down. It's the opposite in the corporate world where your work load & stress increase in the 40s. At least that's what I've noticed in my circle of family & friends. I now have it much easier than my friends in top corporate positions.

• No work (or minimal work) after 1800 hours. Because I start my laptop early, I have solid 10 - 11 hour workdays by 6 pm, so don't see the need to work any longer anyway.

• No caffeine post-lunch. I like my black coffee decaf'ed anyway, and throughout the day, I sip on the incredibly refreshing chamomile tea.

[rrsteer]

For subjects such as sleep and eating habits and like, now I tend to just blindly trust what the generation of our grandparents did. In fact in my case it extends to what my parents did. This is what they followed: at night sleep early and get up early, afternoon nap after lunch. Don't give too much thought on how much you sleep. My dad whom I am trying to follow, would generally be in bed by 9pm and up by 3.30am. He just wouldn't miss waking up at the ambrosial hour for anything.

[DaiusPitar]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

What behaviours or habits prevent good sleep?

Coincidentally, I just finished reading a book that touches upon sleep and sleep deprivation.

The book is Breath by James Nestor
I recommend reading this book.

The author posits that most of us have become irreverent and constant mouth breathers. And this is a very difficult habit to kick off. This is related to a host of other changes in our lifestyles including eating more mushy food, less chewing etc. To this, increasing chewing can increase bone growth and mouth shape across ages, leading to better breathing. From an evolutionary standpoint, it seems this change to mouth breathing is not good and that nasal breathing is important. It is all related and finally mouth breathing is an important reason for Sleep Apnea, one of the most commonly diagnosed sleep disorders.

This post might be tangential to the thread intent but I hope this introduces a parallel view to sleeping well

[comfortablynumb]

This is one of the most useful tips I have read for getting a good night's sleep:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post4967549 (Good Sleep: Tips, advice & best practices)

[sanjaymugur]

simple anulom vilom breathing exercise for 10mns before hitting the bed is the panacea for insomnia, give it a sincere try,

[jnanesh]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I am a student of Science, and therefore a student of Sleep amongst various other neurological topics. I have studied free material available online, as well as absorbed information from qualified scientists who have studied and done ground breaking research on sleep, including Dr Andrew Huberman and Dr Mathew Walker. I will always be indebted to them and their research in helping us all better our sleep.

I'm currently reading Dr Matthew Walkers book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, and you've given me a quick recap of it, improving my memory of the main points.

A amazon link to the book. Would definitely recommend reading it if you do have issues with sleep and even if you don't, the book is a very interesting insight into something we consider very simple.

[Sran]

Being an engg. who knows many other engineers, I can safely say that we are a sleepy lot and we need no special treatment, special bed and even lighting do not hinder our sleeping pattern. There are two things you learn in engg. college and it stays with your life forever. 1. Nothing can disturb your sleep and you can sleep anywhere under any situation. 2. Without a calculator you will fail to do even simple maths.

From personal experience, I feel the first very little nudge of sleepiness is the perfect moment to sleep. That little nudge which we discard and then carry on, releases hormones that tells our mind to be alert and not sleepy, ruins the perfect sleep pattern. I find that signal to be precise moment to stop doing anything and roll over. I have also accepted that staying away from phone/laptop is not possible and I have made peace with it instead of the constant fight.

[Romins]

Here is a very nice book I read on sleep. Sleep Revolution by Huffington .

I sleep 8-9hours and try to stick to the Circadian Rhythm as much as possible. There is a macho feeling for many people in our society who don't sleep more than 4 hours. My ex-manager proudly announced in a team meeting that his success in life is attributed to the fact that he doesn't sleep more than four hours!

[Ferrari1976]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

REM Sleep or Dream Sleep is when all your emotional memories are processed. A kind of self activated psychological therapy is undertaken by the brain to heal emotional trauma during REM Sleep. No REM sleep means you have less emotional intelligence to deal with personal relationships and you probably have more anger issues.

Thank you for starting a thread on probably one of the most ignored health issue.

I rarely have a problem in falling asleep, but I have a lot of dreams. Sometimes I feel like I have woken up after watching a movie!! As you have pointed, it is a jumbled representation plus some weird extension of my actual experiences.

Is that a good thing or bad? I don't think it affects me much, but am always curious as to why I get so many dreams.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Ferrari1976

Thank you for starting a thread on probably one of the most ignored health issue.

I rarely have a problem in falling asleep, but I have a lot of dreams. Sometimes I feel like I have woken up after watching a movie!! As you have pointed, it is a jumbled representation plus some weird extension of my actual experiences.

Is that a good thing or bad? I don't think it affects me much, but am always curious as to why I get so many dreams.

Dreams are not good or bad. They just are.

If you have no troubling or stressful experiences during your wake time that could possibly cause such vivid dreaming, then i suppose there is nothing to worry about.

However if these dream states are causing you to wake up at night at unearthly hours, then some investigation might be necessary.

Here's a fun thing to do. Start a dream journal. Every morning, the first thing you do is jot down all your dreams in as much detail as you can in a dedicated notebook. Will make for fun reading later.

And importantly, might provide you some clues about your subconscious mind as well.

Happy dreaming