I write the following after reading the book "How to sleep less and have more energy" written by Kacper M. Postawski. As you know or do not know, books like this are just a few ideas that are repeated, repeated and repeated.
He says that if you follow the information in the book you will get:
- sleep reduction ✔
- improving the quality of sleep ✔
- More energy than you ever had
- eliminating mood states ✔
- reducing daily stress
I marked those that I've got!I find it quite okay because I sleep at 01 o'clock and wake up at 06:30 except weekends (it's a bad thing because I do not follow the same schedule as during the week).
Sleep has 5 stages.
In the first two stages (when you just fell asleep) we can still wake up easily. In stages 3, 4 (deep sleep) we can say 'officially' that we are sleeping; In these two stages blood pressure, breathing and heart beats will reach their lowest level during the day, the blood vessels dilate, and most of the blood that is assigned to the organs "goes" to the muscles to feed and repair them. Step 5 is known as the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and the beautifull stage (or not necessarily D) because in this stage we dream.
Now that you know the stages, you should know that they are repeating - while forming sleep cycles. They are repeated in the following way: 1,2, 3, 4, 3, 2, rem, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2 rem etc. With each cycle, the deep sleep (3, 4) is shorter and the dream period (rem) increases in duration. In other words, the quality of sleep decreases with each cycle.
Stages length:
- Stage 1: 5%
- Stage 2: ~ 50%
- Stage 3: 12%
- Stage 4: 12%
- Stage 5: 25%
When we have not slept for a longer period, the body will tend to neglect the other stages to focus on stages 3-4. That's why I recommend you to set a bedtime and wake-up time (important, it is very important to observe this also on the weekend).
The main factors that determine how deeply you sleep and sleep are: body temperature rhythm and natural sunlight into your eyes (not to stare at midday sun) because it has direct effect on the level of melatonin.
The temperature of the body is difficult to set, but you can change it as you like in time because it follows some clear rules: if you wake up every day at 6 o'clock, your body temperature will start to rise slowly. In the early hours you will feel slandered; to avoid this, I recommend that you make a plan of the morning.
My plan sounds like this: I wake up, I close the alarm (it's farther away from me to get me out of bed), I drink a glass of 0.5l of water, I go to the window and look for a few minutes happening around, doing exercises (abdomen, flotation, etc., it's important to do them because it will help you to increase your body temperature), make a shower, eat and prepare for work.
Avoid!
Avoid exercising 3 hours before sleep, avoid eating 2 hours before sleep (because during sleep your body will no longer focus on muscle repair but on digestion of food, the digestive system being one of the systems that consume the most energy) , close the TV / mp3 etc., and if you have a wish, you should also have a shower before bedtime.
The secret
The secret of waking up full of energy is to wake you up at the end of a cycle (ending with the REM stage). The only way to establish this is to try different sleep times.
Avoid: cigarettes, alcohol and products containing caffeine. Alcohol shortens the time spent in stages 3, 4, 5.
Hydration also plays a very important role in having a strong sleep from the point of view of quality. As i have already said, during deep sleep, our blood vessels dilate by allowing the muscles to be repaired; if we do not hydrate, the blood can not carry enough oxygen to the muscle. Most people get very thirsty (including me, that's why I drink that glass of 0.5l just as I wake up. The daily minimum should be 2l).
