The Cure for Zombie-Disease - How To Get Better Sleep
I hate to be the one to inform you, but we are in a zombie apocalypse. To your left and right, everywhere you look, zombies are plaguing your town. Their disengaged, pale-faces are staring you down at work and in your home. They’re terrorizing shopping malls and parks with their mindless stomp.
The worst part: I think you’ve caught the bug.
You’ve got bad sleep hygiene.
It’s hard not to draw inspiration from Halloween and the many zombie costumes that I’ve come across lately, but zombies are the perfect depiction of a sleep-deprivation in its works.
Zombies look like they’ve gone lifetimes without good sleep (if any at all) -- their sickly pallor, drooping eyelids, sluggish walk. You can relate to similar frightful visuals when you check yourself in the mirror in the morning.
If the idea of you being a zombie isn’t repulsive enough to make you want to do something about it, read my last post Why Quality Sleep Is Non-Negotiable so you can truly understand the horrors of poor sleep hygiene.
Then return right back here.
Warning: While poor sleep quality is a real issue, I do not speak to sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, and other more serious sleep disorders. They are way more terrorizing and for those you should refer to your primary care doctor for proper treatment.
For the rest of you zombies I’ve accumulated solutions backed by pure science and psychology. You can beat your monster by finding the right blend of them that work for you:
1. Go outside and get some sunlight!
Getting sunlight during the day helps you sleep at night. Exposure to sunlight sends a signal in your brain to produce less melatonin (your sleep hormone) and produce more cortisol (your stress hormone). *Even though cortisol has a bad rep for being the stress hormone, healthy amounts of cortisol actually energizes you for the day.*
The more sunlight you’re exposed to during the day, the less cortisol you release at night. Melatonin and cortisol have an inverse relationship which means at night you’ll release more melatonin, helping you get a good night’s rest.
But what if it’s winter time and thick snowfall conceals any crack of sunlight? Consider getting a light therapy box. A light therapy box is normally used to treat seasonal affective disorder by mimicking outdoor light.
Another cool solution is earbuds that shoot bright light through your ear canal to your brain, giving you your daily dose of sunlight.
2. No caffeine past 3pm!
We’re all aware that a cup of coffee gives you a false sense of being well-rested.
It works like this: caffeine pretends to be adenosine, a compound in your body that lets you know when you’re tired, preventing the real adenosine from alerting you to get some rest.
But, did you know that coffee after 3pm will affect your sleep at 11pm?
A study in 2013 found that caffeine consumed 6 hours before bedtime reduced sleep quality and the total time of sleep by more than 1 hour!
Part of the reason is that caffeine has a half life of 8 hours. If you have 30 mg of caffeine at 2pm, 15 mg will still be active in your system at 10pm.
Over multiple weeks and years, late cups of coffee will have detrimental effects your daytime abilities. This will put you into a cycle of drinking more coffee to make up for the drowsiness effects. Caffeine dependence is a whole other major issue, which I won’t get into the depths of here.
3. Beware of sleep aids
While I prefer natural solutions to get better sleep, once in a while I’ll take a melatonin to get me through the night.
Stick to low doses of melatonin if you’re also taking it as a sleep aid. Research shows that daily melatonin causes your body to downregulate its own receptors. Essentially too much melatonin stops your body from being able to use the hormone, so you need a higher dosage to feel the same effect.
Most sleep aids are addictive, making it hard to stop using them. At the same time sleep aids, like melatonin, are not designed for long-term use. Some lead to rebound insomnia. The minute you get off the pills your sleep is even worse than it was to begin with!
For a natural remedy try these herbs: chamomile, kava kava, or valerian. They are known to relieve your stress, relax your nervous system, and give you more restful sleep. I personally like to chill down to a warm mug of chamomile tea at night.
4. Make your bedroom the ideal sleep environment
This point is especially important, which is why it is sooo long.
Imagine trying to sleep in the middle of Disneyland. Kids are shrieking and the sunlight is blinding your eyes as you’re uncomfortably sprawled against a creaky wooden bench. The smells of cotton candy mixed with sweat make you both hungry and disgusted. You can get in a short nap, sure, but 8 hours of peaceful sleep? No way!
Your room and Disneyland may not share too many similarities, but the point is that your bedroom environment matters.
Your bedroom needs to be conducive to sleep to have quality sleep.
Noise
Reduce sounds in your room, but don’t necessarily aim for pure silence. A dog bark or a water droplet can easily disrupt that. Instead, reduce the background sounds of traffic, wind, or people walking on the street.
I sleep better with white noise, which blocks out all ambient sounds. This video gets me through the night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzjWIxXBs_s.
Some people prefer falling asleep to the calming sounds of rainfall or educational audiobooks.
Play around with sounds... maybe Bob Ross’ calm baritone voice will be just the right touch to get you snoozin’.
Light
Make your room dark. Use black-out curtains or aluminum foil (if you must) to cover the sunlight.
Put away your alarm clock. Not only is it a distraction, but it is also stress-inducing. Glancing over at your alarm clock to see that it is 3am makes you worry, stealing more of your sleep.
Bedding
Some mattresses give you back pain. Some pillows make your neck so sore that turning to say hi to your friend makes you grimace
You can fix these problems by selecting the right bedding for you. It turns out the ideal firmness in a pillow or mattress depends on what kind of sleeper you are. For example, if you’re a side sleeper like me then you should use a firmer pillow and softer mattress.
Take a trip to Ikea and bounce from bed to bed, finding the perfect combination for you. Plus who doesn’t love Swedish meatballs for dinner?
The difference that a good mattress and pillow make is shocking. If you don’t believe me, scroll through mattress reviews on Amazon.
Temperature
Your body needs to be at a low temperature for deep sleep. If you aren’t already cool after tucking yourself in, your body will have to work harder and take longer to reach deep sleep.
Give your body a break and make your room nice and cold. The ideal temperature setting is 62-68 degrees.
If you have a roommate that insists your room must be a sauna, you can use a Chilipad (like this one) that sits on top of your mattress keeping only you cold.
5. Have a consistent sleep/wake time
Your body has an internal clock which is closely linked with the light outside.
The more in tune you are with your internal clock the easier you’ll find it is to fall asleep. If go to bed at 2am one night and try for 8pm the next, your internal clock will be confused. At 8pm you’ll be wide awake and disappointed in yourself.
This is also why you can’t pay off sleep debt. Sleep debt will disturb your rhythm even further making you feel jet-lagged.
Your most regenerative sleep occurs between 10pm and 2am. It’s when you get the most bang for your sleep buck. If you sleep during this time period your body will be sure to thank you.
6. Only use your bedroom for sleep or sex
Your brain forms neuro-associations with objects, sounds, places, etc. to rapidly determine the meaning of a situation. By using your room only for winding down purposes, your brain will automatically associate your room with good sleep habits. Laying down on your bed will make you feel fatigued.
7. Try Earthing!
This isn’t as Voodoo as it sounds.
Science has shown that earthing produces shocking effects on your health. How it works is that the Earth is loaded with free electrons, which is nature’s largest antioxidant. Your body is conductive so you can suck up Earth’s electrons if you’re on a conductive surface.
Receiving the electrons maintains your body’s electrical state, lowering nighttime cortisol, decreasing inflammation, and normalizing cortisol during the daytime.
To use the Earthing technique you need two points of contact on conductive surfaces, like the grass or sand on the beach.
If bugs are threatening you from getting your Earth on, there are several Earthing products that you can use indoors that transfer the electrons to your body: pillows, sheets, mats, grounding shoes, etc.
8. Don’t drink or eat close to bedtime!
Do not drink alcohol if you want good sleep. While a few shots of Tequila can help you fall asleep faster, your sleep quality will be awful.
Alcohol breaks your sleep stages, giving you that all too familiar hangover the morning after.
Even drinking water close to bedtime can be problematic. Too much fluid intake before bed can give you similar symptoms of nocturia (a condition where you constantly wake up to pee).
Snacking late is also no good. The University of Pennsylvania performed an experiment on the effects of eating late on sleep deprivation. They found that a late night meal can cause your cortisol levels to rise making it harder to sleep.
9. Start the morning with jumping jacks
Exercise early in the day, not late at night! Working out raises your body temperature and cortisol levels. As we’ve already learned from tip #5, you need to be cold to reach deep sleep, so exercising is not recommended close to bedtime. You also need 4 hours for your cortisol to be normalized after a work-out. Hitting the gym at 7pm means delaying sleep to 11pm.
Starting your mornings with a few jumping jacks, a 20 minute walk, or a full gym work-out warms you up after a cold night’s sleep and gets you energized for the rest of the day.
10. Have a chill-down routine
1 or 2 hours before you go to bed, start relaxing yourself. This will soothe your body to better transition into a deep slumber.
Turn off your computer and phone. Medidate, listen to jazz music, gently stretch your body.
You can explore these relaxation exercises that I’ve tried myself:
Alternate breathing through your nostrils.
This is a common yoga technique called nadi (energy channel) shodhana (purification). It’s supposed to help you achieve balance that in turn relaxes and calms your mind.
4-7-8 technique from Dr. Andrew Weil
This technique is called pranayama, which is the practice of controlling your breath. You inhale through nose for 4 counts, hold your breath for 7, and then exhale through mouth for 8.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This is a stress-management technique. It involves intentionally tensing your muscles and then releasing them. To proceed, lay down and go through your muscles one at a time. Tense for 10 seconds and then release.
For a quick version you can pair your muscles into 4 groups:
- Legs and feet
- Abdomen and chest
- Arms and hands
- Shoulder, neck and face
11. Avoid screens at night
You know that dry feeling and strain in your eyes after they’ve been glued to your screen for hours straight. Your eyes have been drained by an excessive amount of blue light.
Blue light comes from your phone, laptop, TV, and other technological devices. It has the highest energy on the light spectrum and too much of it can be harmful for your eyes.
One of the negatives is that blue light suppresses melatonin production. Staring at a screen for even 2 hours before bedtime can prevent your body from receiving deep restorative sleep. Though you might still fall asleep easily, your body won’t have the healing it needs.
The best way to reduce blue light exposure is to turn off your screens 2 hours before bedtime.
What if you have an urgent text? You need to check your Amazon delivery arrival time? The next best solution is to try to filter out the blue portion of the light spectrum.
You can do this with a free app called F.lux that you install onto your computer, which gives your screen an orange tint. If you’ve got an iPhone you can turn on Night Shift and Android users can turn on the Blue light filter.
To filter out light coming from your neighbor’s house, your own devices, or any other artificial light, you can also use blue light blocking glasses. A study tested subjects with and without blue light-blocking glasses and found that the glasses made them “significantly more sleepy and less vigilant.”
I have and consistently use F.lux on my laptop, Night Shift on my phone, and a cool-lookin’ pair of Gunnar glasses. The combination really does wonders!
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My advice would be to not implement all of these tips at once. It’s better to have a lasting chill-down routine of meditation over a 6 day routine of consistent wake/sleep time, afternoon caffeine avoidance, and screens off after 8pm.
Never force yourself to sleep. It’s mentally exhausting and frustrating. On those unfortunately restless nights, make your goal to relax: read a book or listen to calming music.
When my mind is buzzing I write down my thoughts in a journal. This way my thoughts are out of my head and postponed for another day. Taking a walk outside also helps me release any extra steam.
Not every day will be perfect, but that’s ok! As long as your overall quality sleep pattern improves, one anomaly won’t matter. By being intentional with your sleep you will ensure ⅓ of your life is the best it can be!
Share your sleep journey, with me or anyone else, because we can all benefit from hearing about what worked/didn’t work for you.
We can end this zombie apocalypse once and for all!