My Quest to Get Sleep Well That Will Inspire You
After fell ill in late June, I can't get sleep well.
I have been suffering from insomnia, long COVID insomnia. I search day and night looking for methods allowing me to sleep again, and there are some interesting tricks that I feel ineffective but YOU may feel otherwise.
Did you know that there is a skill to get people to sleep so quickly that the military teaches it to soldiers?
Did you know that some fruits should be avoided before bed?
Did you know how to properly clean up your worries before bed with a sleep diary?
Did you know how to relax your body to sleep simply by controlling your breath?
And, are you using the sleeping position that really suits you?
This is Antlerium PotatoNews, a series focusing on the daily lives of ordinary people, including life tips. Today we explore tips to get sleep well, improve sleep quality.
Quest begins! Finding a way to end my insomnia
I fell ill in late June. Coughing, headache, breathing hardness, these symptoms have plagued my body all the way to 25th of June.
My dad fell ill before I did and he tested COVID positive, while I did not. But considering how close he is to me, I suppose I did contract COVID.
After the 25th of June, my chronic insomnia began.
Every night I went to bed at midnight, laid down and closed my eyes, and stayed conscious to 5 a.m. without any reason, and then adjusted the temperature or pillow thinking that I could finally sleep, sunlight started to disturb me. Although awake, I will stay on the bed until I have the energy to get up at 11.
This is very weird. I have never experienced that before.
The first thing you need to know is that unable to sleep 8 hour doesn't mean you have insomnia.
When we talk about insomnia, we mean:
- Hard to fall asleep.
- Hard to stay asleep, very easy to wake up.
- Too early to wake up and cannot sleep again.
- Hard to maintain the life clock.
There are lots of factors that can cause insomnia. And yes, insomnia is a symptom of long COVID. A study of patients at the Cleveland Clinic shows that 4 in 10 people with long COVID have moderate to severe sleep problems.
Insomnia as a symptom of long COVID can last for weeks to months. But would you do nothing and wait? I don't think so.
Because insomnia can cause:
- Daytime drowsiness
- Fatigue
- Concentration difficulty
- Emotional instability, getting anxious and stressed
You won't want to lose your productivity and energy. You can see how I struggle to keep the blog running in this July.
In general, you should seek medical advice when it lasts longer than a week.
I tried Western med and Chinese med. I tried regular exercise. I tried melatonin supplement. No result, not at all.
So, as a person living in the 21st century, I did what people usually do: search Google and YouTube for a solution.
Let's see what I found. Perhaps some tips can help you to sleep better and quicker.
2-minute sleeping technique to get sleep well and quickly
There is a method that claims to help people fall asleep in just 2 minutes. It was said to have been developed by the military, and people have claimed that the US military really teaches this to soldiers.
The United States Navy Pre-flight School developed a method to help pilots fall asleep quickly in order to avoid mistakes caused by lack of sleep. After six weeks of practice, it was reported that 96% of pilots were able to successfully fall asleep quickly, whether it was day or night.
Steps:
- Face relax
- Relax all face muscles, including tongue, jaw, eye muscles.
- Hands relax
- Drop your shoulders and hands, while relaxing your neck.
- Body relax
- Exhale and relax your chest.
- Legs relax
- Relax whole legs. From thigh to ankle and foot.
- Imagine
- Hold an image in your mind. Choose something relaxing. Picture yourself lying comfortably.
- Say "Don't think"
- Repeat saying "Don't think!" for 10 seconds in case you are distracted.
Note that this method requires practice. It is not going to work within first try.
Best fruits to eat before sleep so you can get sleep well
Most of us are not at home for the majority of the day, so sometimes we have to eat the fruits we bought at night. However, some people eat fruits before going to bed without realizing that it may harm their bodies.
Sure, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," consuming fruits daily is a healthy habit, but eating fruits before bed needs learning.
Best fruit before bed - banana.🍌
- Bananas are rich in nutrients, especially tryptophan. Tryptophan can form serotonin, which can reduce stress and anxiety, thus help you sleep better.
Good to eat before bed - Kiwi.🥝
- Kiwi contains rich antioxidants and serotonin. As mentioned earlier, serotonin helps with sleep.
Try NOT to eat:
- Grape
- Cherry
- Avocado
- Mango
- Durian
- Dragon fruit
- Mangosteen
- Strawberry
Note that it is 1-2 hours before bed. Your stomach takes time to digest these fruits, during that period you should not go to bed.
Get sleep well with a pen
To release negative thoughts and worries, it is as simple as finding a notebook and something to write on it.
Yes, start using a sleep diary.
Most people think of a sleep diary as purely jotting down sleep period i.e. bedtime and wake-up time. But for me, that is not enough.
How do we use the sleep diary?
First, one hour before bed, open a new page and draw two sections, one on the left, and one on the right.
The left side is for writing down the worries you have, call it “Let go”.
The right side is for writing down how you can do something about each item on the left, call it “I will”.
For example:
| Let go | I will |
|---|---|
| I got no friends | Get myself out there, join meetup groups, attend courses, volunteer, go to parties |
Next, look into the mirror, read out the “I will” section, and start every sentence with “I will…”. Say each item 3 times, and say it out loud.
Finally, when you go to bed, record the time in the diary.
If you cannot fell asleep within 30 minutes, get up and edit the sleep diary again for 15 minutes, and then go to bed again and record the time.
And of course, you still need to write down the wake-up time.
Note that:
- You must do the writing, not texting or voice inputting.
- Keep out of bed when writing, so you won’t associate bed with insomnia.
- Just list up your worries, don't go into details, otherwise, you will get more upset.
Get sleep well with a breathing practice
Comparing with the 2-minute sleeping technique, the 4-7-8 breathing technique is easier to practice and improve sleep quality.
Why does it work?
It forces the body and mind to focus on regulating the breath and avoid your mind getting distracted.
Sit down and relax your whole body.
Rest the tip of the tongue against the roof of your mouth.
Part your lips slightly and exhale everything through your mouth.
Now you are ready.
| 4 | Use 4 seconds to inhale through your nose. |
| 7 | Use 7 seconds to hold your breath. |
| 8 | Use 8 seconds to exhale through your mouth. Hold your tongue up, you are supposed to hear a whoosh sound. |
When you complete it, you will get your mind relax. Sleep ASAP and you can fall asleep real quick.
Choose a proper sleep position for you to get sleep well
Almost everyone has a specific way to sleep on the bed. Although after we fall asleep, our body will subconsciously switch position, sleep experts have suggested that some poses are better than others
Sleeping on Your Side
| Advantage | One of the two best positons. Help prevent acid reflux. Greatly reduce snoring, a typical symptom of sleep apnea. The flexibility of our spine decreases as we age, making this position relatively suit for the elderly. Best for women in pregnancy. |
| Disadvantage | exacerbate shoulder pain. contribute to face wrinkles. |
| On the left vs on the right | On the left is better than on the right. Sleeping on the right can contribute to heartburn. |
Sleeping on Your Back
| Advantage | One of the two best positions. Keep your spine in alignment and to evenly distribute your body weight, preventing any potential aches in the neck or back. Relieve nasal congestion. |
| Disadvantage | Prevent this position in case you are overweighted or pregnant. The worst pose for people with sleep apnea. Get more and more uncomfortable when aging. |
Sleeping on Your Stomach
| Advantage | Only benefit: relief snoring. |
| Disadvantage | Pressuring lots of internal organs. Very harmful to the spine. More likely to get face wrinkles. |
If I have to rate them, I would say sleeping on the left is the best sleeping position.
But if you ask me what these comments teach me, I would say that nobady should ever fix to one sleeping position. If you are healthy, try to switch between back sleeping and side sleeping on different days.
By the way, one possible cause of sleep difficulty is using a wrong pillow. Even if you get the best sleep position, if the pillow's height does not fit you, your sleep quality cannot improve.
Therefore, you may consider changing the pillow. Try Small Potato Quick Sleep Pillow! I discover a pillow that may help my situation, so I decided to test it. This worked quite well to me. I redesign the outlook and bring it here. Claim one for yourself!
Bedroom
Don't think all of these can cure sleeping disorder
To sum up, these are the non-medical techniques for improving sleep quality.
The 2-minute sleeping technique can be a promising way to fall asleep, but to manoeuvre it you require training.
It is usually not recommended to eat fruit before going to bed, but eating bananas and kiwis can help sleep.
Sleep diary can be a record of your sleeping time, but also can be a task list that if manoeuvre well can enhance confidence and determination while relieving anxiety.
Relaxing your body with the 4-7-8 breathing technique can greatly reduce stress and make you emotionally ready to sleep happily.
Every sleep position has its own advantages and suitable population, choose the one that suits you, or switch between sleeping on your side and on your back.
You know, as I write this, I'm still having trouble sleeping despite trying all of the above. Medication is still required in case you truly have chronic insomnia.
But for normal people just looking for ways to improve sleep quality, you can follow the techniques here. Bookmark this essay so you can use them.
These are the tricks to get sleep well. To learn more about life tips or other topics related to our ordinary life, make sure to follow PotatoNews. We will also post some cliffsnotes on our socials, make sure to follow them.
