Insomnia? 5 Solutions to Deeper Sleep

While few acknowledge it as such, stress is the true pandemic in the United States today.

It is the most persistent risk factor hiding behind every chronic or lifestyle disease. According to British physician James Paget, “Fatigue (a direct result of stress) has a larger share in the promotion and transmission of disease than any other single condition you can name.” The real issue then is how do we balance times of stress with times of work, play, worship, and recovery? Balance is the key to rest.

The answer is not easy, but it is simple. For every period of stress, we need an equal or longer period of rest. While stress puts us on full alert, ramping up some body systems while virtually shutting everything else down, it is rest that allows us to adapt to the needs stress presses upon us. It is while we rest that we recover and build capacity so that we can do more the next time we face stress or strain. After all, we need stress to help us build muscle, strengthen our hearts, and expand our minds. Stress tests and stretches our limits; rest and recovery make it possible to handle that stress and then increase our capacity to handle it in the future.

Time magazine reports that in 2012, Americans spent $32 billion on sleeping pills.

Physical Rest

Of course, the best place to start getting rest is by getting the sleep we need. This generally means getting between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. Experts tell us the hours of sleep we get before midnight can be from two to four times more important than the hours we get after midnight. A good part of this is that melatonin production peaks at around 10 p.m.

According to alternative physician Joseph Pizzorno, ND, founder and President Emeritus of Bastyr University and author of Total Wellness:

It’s while we’re sleeping that the body’s regenerative processes are at work…. But in our society today, adequate sleep is becoming lost. If you look at the amount of sleep we get now compared to our grandparents, we are averaging almost two hours less sleep a night. And even when we are getting sleep, we aren’t sleeping as deeply. We’re sleeping later at night and bypassing the normal circadian rhythm that’s created by nature.

Many people struggle with insomnia—they can’t get to sleep; or they fall asleep, but can’t stay asleep. When that happens, most will turn to over-the-counter or prescription sleeping pills. These quick fixes bring with them a whole host of side effects and don’t address the real problems of sleep. Interrupted or impaired sleep stresses the whole body, weakens the immune system, accelerates tumor growth, causes your body to be hungry all the time, creates a fat-storing process in your digestive system, decreases your creativity and problem-solving ability, and weakens performance on all mental tasks throughout the day. Impaired sleep also increases stress-related disorders including heart disease, stomach ulcers, constipation, and mood disorders like depression.

Also read: Enter the 7 Levels of Intimacy with God

Sleep deprivation prematurely ages you by interfering with production of human growth hormone. This important hormone that makes you both look and feel younger is usually secreted by your pituitary gland during periods of deep sleep as well as during periods of intense interval-type exercise.

So what are some of the problems interfering with healthy sleeping habits?

Problem #1:  Sleeping on a Bad Mattress

I have a friend who sells mattresses for a living. He always says there are two things you shouldn’t skimp on in your budget—shoes and mattresses. The reason? Because you are in one or the other of them all day long! When you are out of your shoes, you are on your mattress; and when you are up off your mattress, you are in your shoes! Wise advice from a simple man. Knowing this piece of information is not going to put more money in your budget, but it may give you the permission you need to realize that you are worth taking care of, and having a good quality mattress is an important part of that. Good quality pillows are also a must!

Problem #2: Sleeping with Lights On

Many don’t realize that light of any kind disrupts your sleep patterns. Night lights, ambient light from electronic devices, bathroom lights, hall lights, daylight bleeding through the curtains at dawn—all these sources of light affect your sleep. Go to sleep and stay asleep in complete darkness. Get light blocking shades or curtains for your bedroom. If you need to get up at night, keep a small flashlight by your bed, then turn it out when you return. Don’t keep computers, tablets, or phones on at night. The “blue light” rays they emit disrupt your natural sleep cycles.

Problem #3: Room Temperature

The optimal temperature for sleeping is between 60 and 68 degrees. Don’t ever keep your bedroom above 70 degrees as it will cause you to sleep less deeply. Having a cool room mimics your body’s natural drop in temperature during deep sleep cycles. If sleeping beside another person causes the temperature to go up too much, consider sleeping separately. Married couples did this for many hundreds of years, and there is no evidence that sleeping separately in and of itself damages the relationship.

Problem #4: EMFs

Electromagnetic fields are created from the use of electricity in your home. The only real way to check for electromagnetic fields is with a Gauss meter. But even without that tool, you can minimize the EMFs by following these suggestions:

• Don’t run televisions, computers, tablets, or phones during the night.

• Shut them completely off to avoid electromagnetic “trash” from disrupting your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin.

• If possible, move your bed away from touching the walls because most electrical wiring is buried there.

Problem #5: Grand Central Bedroom

To optimize sleep, don’t watch television in bed. Also, don’t take your laptop or tablet to bed to work. By holding your bedtime and sleep time sacred, your body will receive the cue that when you lie down it is time to sleep…and nothing else.

While rest certainly means getting enough sleep, it also means making a cycle of rest in your life—taking at least one of the weekend days off to relax from work, emails, phone calls about work, and thoughts about work; and merely recreate. This doesn’t mean lying on the couch watching sports, but doing something different from your regular weekday activities and enjoying some social time with friends and family. This also means creating a cycle of rest in each workday, perhaps including prayer and meditation, yoga, or exercise as ways to recharge your mind and “get the blood flowing.”