In order to remain productive, you must get enough sleep; this should be common knowledge to just about everyone. Why is it then that so many Americans get less than the recommended eight hours of sleep each night? When you don’t get enough sleep, your brain is not able to regenerate itself, and as such a large number of short and long term effects become visible, such as stress, depression, blurred vision, slurred speech, discomfort, and headaches. So what can you do if you’re unable to get enough sleep?
Tire Yourself Out
During the day, do as much as you can to make yourself tired. Make sure that you aren’t exhausting yourself; that’s counterproductive. Instead, just try to do enough physical and mental activity during the day that when you lie down at night you feel as if you really accomplished a lot, and your body is craving rest.
Put Sleep First
If you are a student, this is even more relevant. Instead of staying up late to watch the TV shows that you were too busy with homework to watch, get an extra two or three hours of sleep to help you remember all of that work that you’ve done and make tomorrow’s work even easier. Don’t let things like TV shows, movies, video games, or other hobbies get in the way of getting a good night’s rest.
Just a side note – when you’re asleep is the only time that your brain can produce dendrites, which are branched projections in your neuron cells that help you learn and remember information. If you’re studying for a degree or in high school, sleep is almost as important as studying because it can help you remember information.
Masturbate
While this may seem a little odd, having an orgasm can actually help you sleep. This is just because after you reach a climax, your muscles relax and endorphins are released into your brain, allowing you to enter a blissful state and slip into sleep a little more easily. With that said, having sex can have the same result, as long as you climax.
Nap
Take a nap! If you’ve lost a lot of sleep, take a nap to try to catch up on what your body needs. This allows you to get the sleep you need without going to bed early, which can cause insomnia by messing up your body’s internal clock. On that same note, make sure that you’re napping for a maximum of 2 hours. Anything longer than that could also potentially mess up your internal sleep clock, but it varies from individual to individual, so experiment with short naps before long ones to figure out what amount of time helps and which hurts.
Dylan Lamberti - I have been writing on-line for a period of just under two years, and have written for such sites as Demand Media Studios and Brighthub.
Join the Conversation