Sleep Secrets

Whenever we speak or think of sleep, we immediately conjure up images of lying down on a comfortable bed with our eyes closed. Indeed, to most people, closed eyes embody one of the hallmarks of falling asleep. However, it may come as a surprise to many to know that it is certainly possible to rest and sometimes even fall asleep with our eyes open. The scientific term for sleeping with eyes open is Lagophthalmos. A small minority of children and newborns can fall into deep sleep without closing their eyelids.
People can be trained to rest without closing their eyes completely. Although, this is not equal to sleeping with open eyes, it certainly induces a calm and relaxed state and like sleep, greatly refreshes the mind and body. Before we discuss the technique of relaxing without the need to close our eyes, let’s examine the role of eyelids in the context of sleep. The major reason why we close our eyelids during sleep is to block intense visual stimulation and other disturbances that can take the form of visual signals. The secondary function of eyelids is to keep out potentially injurious foreign objects (such as insects) from damaging our eyes when we are asleep.
There is a very powerful method, a form of awareness meditation (sometimes known as mindfulness meditation) that one can use to relax deeply without closing our eyes. Although there are a number of slightly different ways to implement this form of meditation, a commonly practiced, accepted method is briefly described here.
In order to rest with our eyes open, we must first seek a comfortable position. Most people find it best to lie down and then meditate. After you have found a comfortable pose, you must try to relax every muscle in your body. Each part of the body, starting from the feet, can be visualized mentally and given powerful mental suggestion to relax. If you find that doing this is a little difficult, then try to focus on your own breathing. Take deep breaths and focus on the gentle sounds made during each inhalation and exhalation. This will have a calming effect. After your muscles have relaxed fully, focus your eyes on a single object. The key point to underscore here is that although you must keep your focus on an object, you should try not to think about that object. Instead, try to make your mind go blank. An alternative method is to lay back and quietly examine your own thoughts forming in your mind. Let the thoughts come in naturally, and try to get your mind not to focus on any single thought or idea.
There are some distinct advantages of relaxing deeply without closing one’s eyes. Firstly, short periods of relaxation, even as little as five minutes, can easily be achieved by this method whereas, if one goes to sleep, with eyes closed, awakening after five or ten minutes will have a negative impact on the mind. Resting without closing the eyelids has also been shown to reduce anxiety and work tension. It also refreshes the mind significantly without the need to fall asleep completely for extended periods.
As a last note it must be mentioned here that some very complicated hypnotic methods can also be used to relax with our eyes kept open.

Sleep and diet- these factors constitute two of the most critical determinants of maintaining good health. That diet and sleep have distinct influences on each other is a proven fact. With this in mind, let’s proceed to examine how our everyday diet influences our sleep. In order to discuss this point clearly, it is best to divide foodstuffs into two classes-
1)    Foods and food supplements that help us enjoy better sleep and hence are recommended for inclusion in the diet and
2)    Foodstuffs and other chemical substances that delay the onset of sleep or cause sleep disorders and should preferably be avoided from our diet.
Let’s turn our attention to those foods that serve to promote sleep. Green vegetables (or leafy vegetables) have been shown to affect sleep in a positive way. More generally, it is advisable to include more chlorophyll containing foods in our daily diet like spinach, lettuce etc…
The role of carbohydrate enriched foods in promoting sleep deserves special mention. Examples of such carbohydrate rich foodstuffs include pasta, whole wheat, brown rice, crackers and oats. Scientific studies have shown that these foods, after getting ingested and absorbed into the body, promote the secretion of a biochemical substance known as serotonin. Serotonin, in the brain, acts to induce sleep. This increased production of serotonin following the consumption of carbohydrate rich foods explains the sleep promoting properties of such food items.
Drinking a glass of milk before going to bed every night is another aid to getting a good night’s sleep. This is attributed to the fact that milk contains the amino acid called tryptophan. In our body tryptophan is converted into serotonin, which as outlined above, contributes to promoting sleep. In this regard, it is also advisable to eat moderate amounts of legumes, peanuts, nutrition-quality yeast and fish. These foods contain plenty of niacin, sometimes known as vitamin B3. Niacin is important for the production of serotonin in the body. Thus, consumption of niacin-rich foods usually has a relaxing effect on the body.
While it is important to recognize sleep promoting dietary items, it is equally important to identify those food substances that hamper or interfere with normal sleep. Intake of coffee or tea must be avoided before bed time. It is preferable to stop drinking coffee or tea at least four hours prior to the person’s normal bed time. These beverages, especially coffee, contain modest levels of caffeine, a substance known to delay sleep and increase alertness.
Excessive alcohol consumption must also be avoided prior to going to bed. Although alcohol helps one to fall asleep quickly, later on in the night, it can cause interspersed periods of alertness, resulting in disturbed or fragmented sleep. It is also advisable to put off drinking colas for supper as many types of cola also contain varying amounts of caffeine.
Finally, it is important to exclude hot, oily and spicy food items from the evening meal and supper. Such foods can cause irritation of the stomach lining and this may result in severe heartburn during the night.
It is also a good practice not to take in large quantities of fluids before going to sleep as this can cause a full bladder during the night. This in turn can cause strong urinary urges, powerful enough to awaken a person and thereby result in broken sleep!

Light is one of the most important factors which has a direct influence on sleep. But before we can meaningfully understand the effects of light on sleep, we need to briefly discuss about the biological clock in our brain. As many of us are aware, almost all of our body functions and processes follow a cycle over a 24 hour period. The majority of these body function cycles are set on a central sleep/wake cycle. The sleep/wake cycle, then, crucially depends on stimuli in the form of light. Alternate light/dark periods are important for the proper “setting” and maintenance of the biological clock situated in the brain.
With this in the backdrop, let’s examine the effect of light on the sleep/wake cycle. Bright light, received by the retina of our eyes, is converted into electrical signals and relayed to the hypothalamus in the brain where the internal biological clock is located. This stimulates the breakdown of an enzyme in the brain which helps in the production of melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone that promotes sleep. As melatonin levels drop due to this sequence of biochemical events, sleep induction is withheld.
Alternatively, when there is low amount of bright light, the pineal gland in the brain secretes melatonin in several short bursts. This leads to sleep induction. During sleep, our closed eyelids make sure that visual stimuli in the form of bright light are prevented from entering the retina. This ensures proper melatonin levels and a good night’s sleep.
Exposure to bright light therefore plays a very important role in setting our internal biological clock and therefore in maintaining a healthy sleep/wake cycle. For this reason, some sleep clinicians and doctors say that it is highly beneficial if we can go outside early in the morning and get exposed to sunlight for a very short period of time. During this time strong visual signals are conveyed to the brain and this help it to set the biological clock.
Owing to the fact that exposure to light can greatly affect our sleep cycle, light therapy is now being tested out at many clinics to treat sleep disorders. Therapy using light is now also being used to help those suffering from acute jet lag recover more quickly. However, it must be stressed that it takes a few days for our body’s biological clock to reset itself to new light/dark patterns.
Given the importance of light in synchronizing the sleep/wake cycle, it is important to follow some basic guidelines to ensure a good night’s sleep. Firstly, it is highly recommended to turn off all lights during sleep. If this cannot be accomplished due to other reasons, then it is important to keep the light levels down to the minimum possible amount. The reason is that although our eyelids block out a significant portion of light, it cannot stop it completely. If the light intensity is high, then some part of it can penetrate the eyelids and cause the retina to give off impulses to the brain.
Another very interesting fact has emerged from a couple of recent studies. We have always believed that light can influence the brain (and hence sleep!) only by entering into the retina (eyes). However, there seems to be strong evidence to show that light shone on the back of the knee of s sleeping person can affect the quality of his sleep! Therefore, much more research is warranted on this interesting relationship between sleep and light.

Of late, terms such as the “Uberman Sleep Cycle” and “Polyphasic Sleep” have slowly gained popularity in scientific journals, magazines and even in newspaper articles dealing with sleep research. Before we pursue a short discussion on the Uberman Sleep cycle, let’s be sure of what the term means. Uberman is a German word that means “over-man” or more loosely “Super-man” and so Uberman sleep schedule actually means a superman sleep cycle!

Uberman sleep cycle is a typical example of a polyphasic sleep schedule. Most of us are naturally trained in the monophasic sleep mode where we try to enjoy a long (four to eight hour) sleep period over the whole night and keep ourselves awake during the day. In shifting to a polyphasic sleep pattern, one abandons this long single block of sleep, and instead, naps for short intervals (of typically twenty to ninety minutes duration) spread over the course of the day.

There are two major arguments for giving up a monophasic sleep pattern and practicing polyphasic sleep. Firstly, polyphasic sleep drastically reduces the time spent asleep per twenty four hours. Practicing an efficient Uberman sleep cycle where you take short twenty minute naps after every four hours of wakefulness, reduces the net sleeping time to about two hours, thus providing you with twenty two hours of wakefulness. The additional hours of wakefulness can be used productively. Secondly, polyphasic sleep is theoretically as (if not more) efficient compared to common, monophasic sleep. This means that the total two hours of sleep enjoyed by someone practicing the Uberman sleep cycle is high quality sleep that is sufficient to provide adequate rest to both the brain as well as to other organs of the body. In order to more fully understand this statement, we need to briefly consider the phases of sleep.

The first three or four hours of normal, monophasic sleep is characterized by lower blood pressure and slow brain waves and is dubbed non-rapid eye movement or Non-REM sleep. The subsequent hours of sleep constitute REM or rapid eye movement sleep that is marked by higher blood pressure and greater levels of electrical activity in the brain. There are scientific reports emphasizing the importance of REM sleep in memory consolidation and in resting key areas of the brain. The Uberman sleep cycle is believed to help a person enter REM sleep much faster than a subject undergoing monophasic sleep. Thus, the two hours of sleep enjoyed by an individual pursuing Uberman sleep cycle, is mostly dominated by REM sleep. These couple of hours of quality sleep, spread out over the course of the day may substitute the single eight hour long monophasic sleep.

Those attempting to shift to the Uberman sleep cycle find that they require anywhere between a week to a month to train their brains to follow the new sleep regimen. This transition period can indeed be a testing one, abound with problems of falling asleep at the predestined timings, lack of concentration, etc… But once the body clock resets to the Uberman sleep cycle, its benefits can be reaped continuously.

It is believed that many famous personalities of historical prominence practiced polyphasic sleep. The list includes, among others, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison. Let this fact be a stimulus for you to try the Uberman sleep cycle!

Jet Lag
Jet lag is a possible dangerous situation that is caused by traveling through various time zones in a small length of time. It disrupts your natural body clock otherwise called as circadian rhythms. When you travel from your home base the harder it is to avoid jet lag and the symptoms that go with it. To prevent the symptoms and cure jet lag situation, there are three simple methods to avoid jet lag.

Methods to Prevent Jet Lag
The first method to help prevent jet lag is sleeping on the plane while traveling. For longer planes a travel neck pillow will make you sleep well and feel rejuvenated as you travel to your destination. Many people could not sleep well on flights. If you face this kind of problem you may need to sleeping pills, which is better to try as on journey and find how they work inside your body. If you feel better by using sleeping pills, then make it sure to put these into your carry on find a brand that works particularly well be sure to pack these into your carry on suitcase to use them on your plane.If you do not find comfortable by using sleeping pills on your plane, you can try to adjust your sleeping schedule. At least, start one week before you get to destination on flight. Change your sleeping times by about half an hour per day to finally match timings of your destination’s zone. It means required time zone may be one hour earlier that you wake up one hour earlier per day and get to sleep earlier until you match the destination’s time zone. When you back to home you just reverse the procedure to match your regular sleep schedule.

Melatonin as a Jet Lag Remedy
Most of the seasoned travelers choose melatonin as a good remedy for jet lag. However, some people react in different possible ways to over the counter melatonin or prescription. The potential symptoms contain feeling tired without sickness and sleeping. It is better to try these before you taking a trip and see the body reaction. If you like to use melatonin naturally try drinking wine on your flight or at the airport. Here are some safety tips about jet lag situation. If you feel tired very from your journey on flight should take the rest, which is needed, for you. Don’t push yourself into regular work without feeling refreshed after your trip.