5 Easy Ways to Achieve Healthy, Functional Sleep

Chances are, if you're reading this article, you're interested in achieving better sleep. With all of the sleeping aids advertised in magazines, on television, online, even on the sides of buses, we at least have the satisfaction of feeling acknowledged and accepted for our deprivation of such a necessary and functional luxury. We all appreciate sleep for general as well as personal reasons. For me, it's a break from the conscious world that is overflowing with laws, structure, deadlines, limits... I love the freedom of my unconscious dreams, dreams that are boundless and without reason. I really feel that if you fall asleep well, you will not only get a good night's rest, but your mind will be able to fully benefit from the unconscious state. If you spend your nights struggling to fall/stay asleep or if you are only half-asleep for most of the night, you over-work the conscious state of your mind, leaving you mentally and physically exhausted.

This is a method that has worked for me time and time again. My only regret is that it is time consuming, and extra time is a rarity in my house. However, I try to incorporate at least part of the routine into every evening.

Eat a healthy, well-balanced dinner with patience: Although getting takeout on the way home from work is quick and convenient, it is also costly and often akin to "garbage," as far as the health of your body is concerned. Unless you've found and are willing to utilize the healthy alternatives on some of the fat-filled menus out there in the land of fast food and takeout, try to stick to lighter, more beneficial foods. For those of you who don't believe in making salad a meal, take a chance and give it a go. You'd be surprised at how filling and refreshing a hefty helping of leafy greens, fresh tomatoes, a bit of onion, sweet carrots, sliced chicken left over from the previous night's chicken quesadilla, and a sprinkle (not a downpour) of dressing. Pair your salad with a cup of hot soup and your favorite beverage, and you have an easy, tasty, rewarding meal that your poor stomach won't be digesting for the next 8 hours. Don't forget to drink water before you tuck yourself into bed. If you've ever washed dishes, you've become familiar with it's award-winning "rinsing" capabilities. I don't know anyone who doesn't use water to wash their dishes. Water does the same thing to your insides. It helps maintain a clean and clear system running efficiently day after day, minute after minute, forever and ever, or at least until the day we move on to greener pastures. Drink water.
I say "with patience" because inhaling food in a hurry is just not beneficial, unless you've just managed the kill and you're fighting the rest of the pack off of your share of the carcass. Fortunately, most of us don't live in a family/pack environment in which we have to be so possessive of food, so take full advantage of the chewing thoroughly and then swallowing technique.

Indulge in some sort of calm, relaxing exercise: Whether it's walking, a hot bath filled with the aroma of tranquility-rich lavender, meditation, or yoga, performing some sort of relaxation ritual will simultaneously calm your physical and mental state into a healthier state of exhaustion. I love to pick a couple of exercises from this step in the process. I usually enjoy taking a nice warm soak in the tub, ending with a lather of lotion, brushing and flossing my teeth free of the salad I just ate, and washing and moisturizing my face into a commercial-worthy soap model. Then, I love to do some stretching exercises on the floor to aid in removing and preventing knots in my muscles. If you can't get your significant other to give you a massage on occasion, this is an absolute must. In fact, whether you receive massages or not, stretching is a great way to "wind down" those over-worked muscles. I like to work from my toes up to my head. For some reason, making the neck stretches the final stretches that I do helps induce me into sleep. I never forget my back. I've been lucky enough not to suffer from chronic back pain, though much of my family does, and I'm not taking that for granted.
Always check with your doctor before doing any sort of exercise or stretching routine, especially if you haven't done so in a while, or if you're recovering or have recently recovered from any sort of physical condition. As healthy as stretching is, it can be equally, if not more, dangerous if done improperly.

Listen to music: I would imagine it's even better if you can play the music you'll simultaneously be listening to, but just popping a CD into the CD player is beneficial in it's own right. If you're not particularly into classical music, any tune that releases stress and calms you down will do. I often find that playing some louder, more frantic rhythms before slower, quieter tunes work best in releasing that last bit of stress. Only playing soothing songs when I'm still too stressed makes me feel as though I'm trying to overlook my stresses. Music doesn't solve problems, but it does relieve some of the symptoms they produce.

Read a book: Even if it's just a chapter of a light-hearted novel, or a selection of short stories, reading can be very therapeutic to the relaxation process. It's an excellent way of propelling your mind out of daily stresses and into a world that isn't your own. Sometimes this is all you need to keep your mind from racing back to what you accomplished or didn't accomplish during the day.

Write it out: If you just have too much on your mind to let go of, write it all down. You'll feel better releasing your thoughts onto tangible paper, and you'll have a written reminder of what you need to accomplish in the future. If it's mostly things you're stressed out about and feel that there's little to nothing you can do to remedy them, then at least you'll be taking steps of releasing yourself from that stress.

As previously mentioned, doing every single thing on this list is extremely time-consuming. Pick a few things every evening, and change it up now and again. Don't always stick to the same routine, or you'll start going on "auto-pilot" and only put half the effort into each step. On days off, try to do a few extra steps to take full advantage of the whole process. I feel like a new person before I even go to bed, when I do most of the steps above. I wake up feeling like I finally achieved "sleep." It feels a lot like when I used to spend my summers as a kid running around playing TV tag with my friends, then went inside and crashed on my bed for 12 hours.

Sleep shouldn't feel forced. It should come naturally. Try some of the things I've mentioned here, or talk to your physician about other methods. Sweet dreams!