Productive Sleep: Letting Go at Night

Productive sleep is long, unbroken REM sleep. REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is particularly rejuvenating to your cells and your brain function, and occupies only a portion of your total sleep time. REM sleep is best induced by long, deep and restful sleep, which is not interrupted by an alarm clock. Here are a couple of ways to achieve deeper sleep.

Working Out. I will only list a couple of ways to induce restful sleep in this article, because the first method is so highly effective. Your body is designed for the work of the 19^th-Century: Work involving hard, intense, physical labor for a good fourteen hours of the day. Now that will put you to rest very quickly! One of the ways to get the same result in today's world is to do a long, hard work out right before bed. I'm talking, after supper, after television and after your evening relaxation. Train your muscle memory first by practicing proper control and correct movement with light free weights. Then work out with medium weights, being very careful to maintain the control and proper movement with the heavier weights. Then, use heavy weights to do simple, easy movements like bench pressing, overhead lifts and arm curls, maintaining correct movement so that you don't un-train your muscles and pull a muscle. Finish your routine with some intense cardio, a tall glass of water and perhaps a quick pop in the shower to freshen your up before crawling into bed.

Working through Tomorrow's Issues. You may be stressed out about what you have planned for the morning or some time tomorrow. Also, you may have stress from today or worry about a few days from today. The key to restful sleep and peace of mind at any time of the day is being completely aware of your problems and why they are problems to you. Are you plagued with an insincere colleague or family member? Do you feel as if your current romantic relationship has run its course, but you don't know how to make a clean break? Do you have uncertainty about even the smallest tasks to perform in the morning, because you have never done them before? Do not make yourself hot and uncomfortable by tossing and turning in bed while you're mulling over these things. Get ready for bed, sit down with a pen and paper and write down all of your concerns, no matter how small and trivial they may seem. Then, either mentally or on paper, take note of solutions to each problem. Have a cup of tea while you consider if these solutions will work or if you need better ones, and if you have any more concerns which you might be hiding from yourself. After that's dealt with, stretch out in between your cool, clean sheets and have sweet dreams.

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/sleep-101

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