It is said that high-quality sleep is important for maintaining health, but it can be understood from the rules of thumb that long-term sleep cannot improve the quality of sleep. Then, three simple methods are proposed for the question of how to obtain high-quality sleep.
Three Simple Ways That I Optimize My Sleep | Brian Martinek
http://brianmartinek.com/2013/08/22/three-simple-ways-that-i-optimize-my-sleep/
In order to have a good night's sleep, Brian Mercneck reads many books on sleep and finds that modern people's sleep habits and environments are unique in the process of human evolution . The reason is " light bulb invented ".
Before the light bulb appeared, humans relied on the sun to build a cycle of one day, so the design of human biological clocks is based on sunrise and sunset. The emergence of light bulbs disrupts this cycle, forcing humans to stay up late and get up early. A 2012 study found that 30% of office workers sleep less than 6 hours, compared with less than 3% 50 years ago.
Murchneck noticed this and believed that sleep style was the necessary for quality sleep before the invention of the light bulb, so she personally experienced the following three methods and tested its purpose.
1: Sleeping in a dark room
Before the light bulb appeared, there were only stars and moon at night, and basically the night was dark. In this darkness, the brain commands it to produce melatonin .
Melatonin is a hormone that induces drowsiness and is very important for drowsiness, but blue light (a narrow wavelength between 460nm and 480nm) inhibits the production of melatonin (interestingly, the red or orange light emitted by the flame does not inhibit the production of melatonin). Scientists who study sleep say that , melatonin has the effect of helping sleep and preventing daytime fatigue, and is also beneficial to the immune system.
We know that when the rhythm of the human clock is broken, the production of melatonin will be reduced. This melatonin production proved to be disturbing, even with a slight light , and the Harvard Medical School study showed that melatonin levels were suppressed by 50% only when bathed in indoor lights.
Melatonin levels rose from 8 pm and peaked at midnight.
Murchneck cuts off any light entering the bedroom to keep melatonin levels. These include indicator lights on the PC and WiFi router , all of which are covered with tape. Since it is difficult to do so thoroughly, Merchneck recommends wearing an eye mask.
2: Sunrise clock
Humans get up when the sun rises and continue to sleep when the sun sets. From human history, this cycle collapsed 130 years ago when the light bulb was invented. Everyone should have experienced how pleasant it is to wake up at sunrise.
Sleep cycle usually consists of five stages, each lasting about 90 minutes. In a normal sleep, these cycles are repeated four to five times.
This is a chart showing the sleep cycle. You can see the REM sleep and stage 4 walking back and forth.
When the sun's rays gradually increase, when REM sleep reaches, waking from sleep is the style before the light bulb appears. If I wake up in the third stage, even if I sleep for a long enough time, I won't feel refreshed.
Murchneck buys the sunrise clock so that she can wake up according to her sleep cycle. The sunrise clock is an alarm clock that gradually brightens in about 30 minutes by creating a light environment, causing the morning sun to rise and achieve natural awakening. Merchneck placed the light connected to the sunrise clock on the head of the bed and transformed it so that the birds' chirping sounded as the light shone.
This is Murchneck's bedroom.
3: Optimal temperature
Room temperature has a great impact on sleep quality . If the body feels hot and cold, it will worsen due to deep sleep.The best room temperature for sleep is relatively low, ranging from 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6°C) to 68 degrees (20°C).
The method of achieving appropriate room temperature is very simple, just use the air conditioner to set and manage the temperature. Merchneck said that in the absence of air conditioning, it is recommended to cool down products for pillows and beds.
Murchneck continues to seek high-quality sleep, and now she also uses iOS apps to track sleep patterns. Those who are worried about poor sleep quality are better to refer to Merchneck's advice.
