Habits you should ban
Exiciting substances
- No more Redbull, coffee, Coke or even tea after 4pm
Check this out if you want the long explanation, but the short explanation is that Redbull, just like coffee, Coke and tea contain more or less concetrated levels of caffeine. Too often we forget that caffeine serves as a natural bug repellant by paralyzing and killing the bugs that ingest it. In your body, it only kills your desire to sleep...!
Screens
- Avoid being exposed to screens (especially smartphones and tablets) at least 60 minutes before you fall asleep
- Light emitted by screens prevents melatonin secretion (less than 55% for a person using an Ipad before falling asleep). However, this hormone is a natural sleeping aid. The result: you take longer to fall asleep and the quality of your sleep will suffer.
If you are weak and changing your habits seems as realistic to you as walking on the moon, you're not on your own: here are 2 little apps to help you take control again.
- Coach helps you form new habits by achieving your goals.
- Forest helps you stay concentrated (by threatening to destroy your imaginary digital forest. It's cute, you'll see. And it makes you feel guilty.)
Stimulating activities
30 minutes before bed, avoid stimulating activites. Stimulating activities are: sports, screens (no Netflix, Candy Crush, Facebook, cellphones and tablets all sorts), and everything that doesn't bore you enough to make you want to sleep. These activities favour noradrenalin and cortisol secretion, hormones that increase your awareness.
One exception : sexual intercourse, which has a sleeping effect (if everything goes well). So here's a free pass to have some fun...!
So, what to do?
- Listen to soft music (Debussy rather than Black Sabbath)
- Cuddle your partner, your dog, your cat, your baby (not all at the same time)
Read Dickens or pick any other soul-suckingly boring paragon of English literature deploring the misery of class struggles in order to fall asleep instantly.
