Sleep Probe

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The Sleep Probe

                    👉 Please use this information with caution and

                            do not come to conclusions until you consult a medical practitioner. 👈

General Probe, Specific Probe, & Deep Probe

Test yourself or those working in your organization with the help of Sleep Probe and determine whether there are problems regarding sleep regulation.

Sleep probe helps you to know and understand the kind of sleep problem you are facing at present.  This probe serves as a frame of reference for you daily to gauge whether you have had sufficient sleep for over a while.  Please use this probe with caution and do not come to conclusions until you consult a medical practitioner.

            The 'General Sleep Probe' eliminates the need for further testing. If someone is not having any problem, it is better not to guide them in any way.

CONTENTS

General Sleep Probe
Benefits of Sleep Regulation
The Research
The E-Book
The Twenty Tips to Regulate Sleep
Tip 1. Regulate Alertness
Tip 2. Safety from accidents
Tip 3. Avoid working late
Tip 4. Reduce negative feelings
Tip 5. Avoid medications daily
Tip 6. No aches and pains
Tip 7. No dozing off
Tip 8. No sleepwalking
Tip 9. Desirable body weight
Tip 10. Low Stress
Tip 11. Relaxed
Tip 12. Sleep within two minutes after going to bed
Tip 13. Sleep continuously without a break
Tip 14. Wake up on your own
Tip 15. Wake up refreshed
Tip 16. Feel the sufficiency of your sleep
Tip 17. One sleep per day
Tip 18. Sleep in a familiar place
Tip 19. Remove barriers to sleep
Tip 20. Sweet dreams
TO RECAPITULATE
The Final Word

General Sleep Probe

Please answer the following questions.

1.           Do you consider that your sleep is sufficient?
2.           Do you usually go to sleep immediately after you lie down on your bed?
3.           Do you wake up every day at the same time (approximately)?
4.           Do you wake up from sleep every day on your own?
5.          Do you generally have undisturbed sleep throughout the night?
6.          Do you feel refreshed every morning after you wake up?

                If your answer is "YES" to all the above questions then you are the luckiest person on earth. Very few people can claim to be safe from sleep-related problems. There is no need for you to go through the rest of the sleep probe as you have achieved sound sleep. Please try to keep it up.

                If your answer is "YES" to five or fewer questions then you seem to have picked up a few sleep problems.  Please go through the Sleep Probe to find out what type of problem you have so that it is easy to guide you to overcome it.

                If your answer is "NO" to all six questions then you have a serious problem related to your sleep.  You must make changes in your life.  Otherwise, it may lead to major problems and disorders.  As indicated earlier, please consult a medical practitioner before you make any decisions.  

            ‘Specific Sleep Probe’ and ‘Deep Sleep Probe’ will help you in identifying the problem you may be facing. These constitute over 50 questions.

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Benefits of Sleep Regulation

How does it help you or the people in your team or your organization?

• Test with sleep probe
• Monitor sleep, wakefulness, relaxation, and alertness
• Sleep as much as necessary
• Learn to sleep only when wanted
• Don't feel sleepy when expected to
• Decrease worry about sleep
• Reset the biological clock
• Ration sleep
• Provide quality sleep
• Regulate consciousness
• Enjoy dreams
• Induce alpha-simulated sleep
• Eliminate nightmares
• Stop walking or talking in sleep
• Cope with stress
• Reduce Monday morning blues
• Make working in shifts comfortable
• Avoid the effects of jet lag
• Strengthen immunity
• Use sleep as medicine

Consequently, there is an increase in individual efficiency with the following results:

💥Reduction in absenteeism & burnout

💥Reaching work well in time

💥Being refreshed during work

💥Relax during a break

💥Higher productivity

💥Dependence on drugs, alcohol, and other means for going to sleep is curtailed

Organizations can save a lot of money and resources on medical expenses and employees can save a lot of money by overcoming bad habits.

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The Research

Sleep Probe has been designed and developed by B. S. Sujendra Prakash, Ph.D., after several years of exclusive and extensive research on sleeping habits and their effects on physical and psychological health.

Over several years of research, I was able to develop a test to determine the extent to which there is a lack of sleep and to gauge its effects on physical and psychological well-being.

·         This test was administered to 213 people working in shifts at a multinational manufacturing company.  Out of these, 113 people were trained (under four batches) in Sleep Management Program.

·         The latter group was measured before and after the program, too.  These results are also summarized in the ensuing paragraphs.

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The E-Book

All these and much more are explained in the ebook:

This book is now available in leading international digital stores

Price: $4.99/- (Rs.380/- Approximately)

Alternatively, when you Register for testing on Sleep Probe for Rs.750/- ($9.90/-), you will get this ebook for FREE 

A comprehensive report will be available for organizations so that they can map the career growth of each individual in the organization

Register to avail of testing on Sleep Probe now by filling in the form

People who work in shifts, do night duty, work odd hours, and have jet lag have benefited from this test immensely.

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The Twenty Tips to Regulate Sleep

The 20 tips outlined here have been collated from the study that revealed quite a lot of information about sleep. These form a summary of all answers to over 60 questions related to sleep.

All respondents were shift workers, hence, this information should be applied carefully to the general population.

I hope this article can provide a compass to the extent of problems related to sleep that go unnoticed and uncorrected.

At the same time, such an effort can offer a set of guidelines for making sleep enjoyable.

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Tip 1. Regulate Alertness

Is it possible to control our alertness?  Can we become active whenever we want?

Most of the people who work in shifts and others who are sleep-deprived tend to doze off without their knowledge, or else they become passive and withdrawn.  Even students complain that they feel sleepy whenever they try to study.

However, learning to be active, energetic, and vigilant during work, driving or studying is very essential.  This skill should be practiced so that we can control our attention process.

In case we feel sleepy, we must be able to take a small nap and bounce back immediately to activity.

·         In our research, the respondents gave an average rating of 1.50 out of 10 for being active whenever they needed.

This accounts for the lack of efficiency, increase in industrial or driving accidents, carelessness, oversight, unnecessary mistakes, etc.

The processes of sleeping, wakefulness, dreaming, and consciousness are controlled by a network of neurons in the brain stem called Reticular Formation.  This acts as a switch and determines when we should sleep, wake up, be attentive, etc.  It also regulates breathing.

Just like we can control breathing by training ourselves, we can also control Reticular activity by telling our brain when to sleep, when to wake up, when to be attentive, and when to relax.

It is the Reticular Activating System that filters out unwanted stimuli from the environment and sends to the brain what is most essential.  The continuum of Arousal varies from excitement, followed by activity, wakefulness, and sleep.

The diagram below shows how brain activity varies from one state of arousal to another.  There are high brain activities in alertness as well as in dreaming whereas there is less physical activity in the latter state of arousal.  That is why the dream state is known as paradoxical sleep.

 

Figure 1: Brain Activity during the various state of Arousal

During wakefulness, this system is directly connected to our value system.

Whatever we value the most is given greater importance and we receive that information.  All we need to do is to value our work or study so that the brain can stay attentive during work.

Once we can give our best at work with commitment and dedication we can relax without tension, guilt, worry, stress, etc. and we can sleep happily.

·         A total of 113 participants were trained in sleep management and taught to regulate alertness.  Their self-rating initially was 1.5 out of 10 and this increased to 6.3, which is statistically significant.

Are we able to relax whenever we want and fall asleep whenever we want?

Learning to relax is a major achievement in life.

If one can regulate relaxation, then he or she will be able to gain more from psychological and physical well-being.

However, rarely is this skill learned and people are under stress almost all the time.

Stress is not felt consciously as in tension.  Many a time, the stress is taken over by an organ in the body and the person may not feel that s/he is stressed.

Relaxation increases the functioning of the parasympathetic nervous system and can bring down heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, etc.

Closing the eyes and relaxing leads to a calm state measured by Electro-Encephalography (EEG) as Alpha waves.

This is between 8 to 12 Hz per second and is conducive to health and well-being.  The alpha activity is also a royal road to sleep.  It does not matter what one does to relax: cycling, skipping, walking, meditation, yoga, “pranayama” (or other breathing exercises), music, dance, exercising, etc.  Even cultivating a hobby and engaging in it does help in relaxation.

·         When we asked our respondents to grade themselves in terms of the ability to relax on a scale of 1 to 10, (where 1 is negligible and 10 is maximum ability) the average was found to be 2.78.  No wonder 62% of them had severe problems with sleeping and 35% had moderate sleep.

·         Once they learned to relax, their self-rating increased to 6.15 and even this increase was found to be statistically significant.

Figure 2: Quality of Sleep as indicated by the percentage of participants

If we can control our alertness and relaxation, then we may also be able to regulate sleep.

Can we go to sleep as and when we require it?

The modern world is dictated by deadlines and demands and the ability to control sleep is a boon especially when we do not have time for sleep.

Taking naps whenever time permits (if needed) and sleeping for a long period are the two basic foundations of healthy living and psychological well-being.  Irrespective of the worries and tensions we go through, we must be able to control sleep.

Though on a normal day, we wake up at a fixed time, this may not be possible when we are traveling.  Especially when we take up long journeys, our biological clock gets disturbed.  It is at this juncture that the ability to sleep at will is beneficial.

·         When we asked our respondents to grade themselves, the average for 113 people was 1.42 out of 10, which is negligible. However, after training, this increased to 5.82, where they were taught to regulate sleep.

Figure 3: Voluntary Control Before and After Training

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Tip 2.     Safety from accidents

Accidents are not planned.  They sometimes happen due to negligence.  One major reason for such negligence is sleep deprivation.

Hundreds of traffic accidents happen all over the world and the majority of them happen at night or early in the morning.  This in itself is the basis to believe that sleep could be one of the reasons.  What happens during an accident is under no one’s control and the consequences are almost impossible to predict.

A similar situation arises during industrial accidents.  Especially when people are working with heavy machinery or in dangerous circumstances, there are greater chances that these accidents become fatal.

If you are accident-prone, then check if lack of sleep is causing this problem.  A lot of people hurt themselves repeatedly even when doing normal chores of work like walking, running, shaving, cutting vegetables, exercising, gardening, etc.

Stress is a major cause of accident-proneness and if this stress is caused due to irregular sleep, then removing this cause is essential.

In case you find that some minor accidents become repetitive, you should identify those instances and allocate sufficient time for them so that you do not do these things in a hurry.

·         Though in our study only 20% of 213 respondents said to have this problem, industrial accidents keep happening regularly and studies have shown that such accidents are more during night shifts than other shifts.

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Tip 3.     Avoid working late

When we work late, our circadian rhythm or the biological clock is disturbed and it negatively affects our performance.  There is a considerable decrease in the attention process, which leads to a lack of concentration.

Cognitive functions are affected and hence there will be memory disturbances, poor judgment, and poor decision-making ability.

Hormones necessary for the body’s functioning are released during sleep.  When there is disturbed sleep or lack of sleep, there is an insufficient triggering of these hormones that may lead to repeated mistakes

Traffic accidents, industrial accidents, and other mistakes may prove very costly not only for the person who has insufficient sleep but also for others.  This is especially because our motor control is curtailed and we are not able to make finite movements.

·         Our study revealed that around 21% of the respondents agree to have committed mistakes repeatedly after working late.

Though the solution lies in avoiding working late hours, this is easier to say than to put it into action.  In case we need to extend our working hours, we must invest a few minutes in relaxation.  For every extra hour of work, you put in, try and relax for a few minutes.

·         In our sample of 213 workers, 85% said they work for long hours.  Long hours indicate working shifts greater than 8 hours a day.

Doctors, nurses, drivers, shift workers, and scores of other people are assigned work for a continuous stretch.  These people need to take rest and sleep is the only way they will be able to obtain rest.  There will be a lot of wear and tear including permanent damage to the body because of long hours of work.  This can be overcome only by having a sound sleep.

Figure 4: Accidents and Working Late

Hence, in case you have work schedules that stretch beyond 8 hours a day, make sure you get at least 10 to 20 minutes of nap time so that the body is rejuvenated and you can continue.  When you get the time to sleep, make the best use of it and try to sleep for at least 6 hours continuously.

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Tip 4.     Reduce negative feelings

Negative feelings tend to invariably ruin our sleep.  In turn, a lack of sleep can cause negative feelings.

Sleep not only provides rest to the body but also to our emotional expression and experiences.  In addition, it takes us away from the frictions of social relationships and interaction difficulties.

Most importantly, our motivational equilibrium called homeostasis is restored during sleep.  When there is a lack of sleep, there is an accumulation of stress in the body.

A hormone called cortisol is produced whenever there is a lack of sleep and cortisol is the reason for stress.  The greater the sleep deprivation, the greater the production of cortisol.  To warn us about this disturbance in the equilibrium, the body keeps informing us that we need rest.

Simple negative emotions like fear, anger, and sadness can prove very costly by interfering with our sleep.

Whenever such emotions are present, we must learn to reduce their impact before going to sleep.  Damage-repair mechanisms like talking it out, laughing it off, crying it out, etc. can help us towards this in addition to using ego-defense mechanisms.

We need to look into this vicious cycle to understand how much we are stuck in it.  Lack of sleep leads to worrying and worrying, in turn, leads to lack of sleep.  As we are unable to cope with our daily stresses, we start using ‘worrying’ as a mechanism to reduce our stress.  However, the more we worry, the greater the stress build-up.

In one of my live TV interview programs on stress, a woman once asked me ‘why she worries too much about everything in her life?’  I told her to make of list of all her worries and keep ticking each one of them when it occurs.

She admitted that not one of her worries has come true!  She immediately asked me why she should worry when none of them are going to be true?  The answer lies in the question itself.

·         Our study revealed that about 76% of the respondents worry a lot!  This figure itself is a reflection of why the majority of them are not able to sleep better.

To come out of this vicious cycle, we have to start taking action rather than resort to keep thinking about the same thing over and again.  Become proactive in your approach and start thinking positively.

Our preoccupation with the whole day and our stressful living often leads us to precipitation of our emotions.  Our pent-up emotions also do not have an opportunity for venting out.  This results in worrying.

When we worry, our sympathetic system and negative emotions are active.  This prevents us from sleeping.

The solution is to engage in some pleasant activities that can relax us and then go to sleep.  Another solution is to take the worry to its fullest conclusion so that it does not remain with us.

Actually, the more we try to avoid worrying, the more it comes back in strength.  Hence, we should take it to its logical end, think out the pros and cons and make decisions based on these.  Once this is done, it no longer troubles us.

·         In our study, 78% of the respondents had this problem, which prevented them to go to sleep.

Figure 5: Negative Feelings & Sleeplessness

One major cause for worry is the guilt that we carry right from our childhood.  Never do these guilts feelings resolved nor do we make attempts to overcome or prevent them.

Guilt occurs when we do something against our conscience.  Sometimes guilt occurs because we have not done anything when we knew we could have done something.  Cleansing the guilt is a time-consuming process but what we have to understand here is to continue to accumulate less guilt.

Did you know that to cover up guilt, we may err in multiple ways and pack more guilt?  Such packing of guilt almost daily not only affects our psychological well-being but also hampers our sleep.

·         We found that about 53% of the respondents feel guilty most of the time.

Stronger emotions like depression can have serious consequences.  The increase in the suicide rate, as well as the homicide rate in the modern era, is due to depression.

·         In our study, around 64% of the 213 respondents said they have bouts of depression quite frequently.

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Tip 5.     Avoid medications daily

Normally, we are not supposed to take any medicine in our life.  However, when the body’s immune system is weak or when we have disorders like diabetes or blood pressure we need to take medicines regularly.  Some people make it a habit of taking medicine every day even when they do not need it.

For instance, sleeping tablets, mood elevators, narcotics, and scores of drugs are available as prescription medicines.  Though the medical practitioner would have prescribed these medicines for a particular duration, we try to think that they can be used whenever we want.

Please keep in mind that every extra chemical we ingest also has side effects.  A majority of the drugs interfere with our sleep patterns and will not allow us to obtain full advantage of our natural sleep.

So, unless your doctor has told you to take medicines regularly, please do not self-medicate.

·         In our study, only 5% of the respondents said that they take medications daily.

However, we were dealing with a younger sample. If elderly people had been included in the study, the story would have been different.

·         While only 3% of our study reported taking sleeping pills, it is heartening to note that the majority have not succumbed to this method of going to sleep.

When the doctor prescribes you sleeping pills, it is usually for a short duration.

People often tend to continue the pills and this may lead to dangerous consequences.  Sleeping pills not only interfere with our natural sleep cycle but also disrupt brain chemistry.  Many a time, there is a dependency on sleeping pills, and stopping them may lead to serious withdrawal effects.  It is better to consult the doctor and reduce the dependency as early as possible.

Dependency means that you are not able to carry on with normal functioning without it.  People who are dependent on alcohol will not be able to sleep until they consume alcohol.  They feel very comfortable thinking that they are getting a night of good sleep.

However, please keep in mind that induced sleep due to alcohol consumption is not healthy and is not normal sleep.  Alcohol is a depressant and keeps us away from having a deep sleep as well as from dreaming.  Even though we sleep for eight hours after alcohol consumption, this duration is not beneficial for us.

Smoking dependency is when we are not able to go to sleep without having the last cigarette.  There are some people, who get up in the middle of the night to have a few puffs and then continue with their sleep.

We need to understand that smoking leads to heightened cortical activity and that nicotine is a stimulant.  In addition, nicotine increases the cortisol level, which is a stress hormone.  When we go to sleep after smoking, our brain is still active and will not allow us to get into a deep sleep, which is essential for rejuvenation.

·         In our study, about 7% of the respondents were dependent on either alcohol or smoking.

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Tip 6.     No aches and pains

Sleep acts as an automatic painkiller.  A good night's sleep is so relaxing and refreshing that whatever fatigue, strain, stress, and pain you have picked up from the day’s events evaporates during the sleep so that you can come back the next day with vigor and vitality.

If you continue to have a lot of body pain, it indicates that your sleep is not qualitatively good.   You have to take corrective measures to sleep well so that the pain is relieved.

One technique that I have seen working well is to first relax and then go to sleep.  However, much you are tired, do not immediately fall asleep.  Close your eyes, take deep breaths, observe your breathing slowing down and gradually go to sleep.

This helps you in passing on from alpha activity to theta activity and then to delta activity so that you can get up highly charged.

·         In our study, we found that 63% of the respondents had a lot of body pain.

Body pain is caused because of either overuse of muscles in the body or because of fatigue.  The best reliever of body pain is sleep but many people cannot go to sleep because of body pain.

If the pain is localized to the hands or legs, try to relax those muscles.  If it is generalized for the whole body, it is necessary to relax the body.  Physical stress combined with psychological stress lead to body pain and until both these are relieved, sleep becomes elusive.

Resting the body with a warm bath also helps.  Mild exercises can also relax the body but please be cautious before doing any exercise.

My suggestion is to go for a short walk.

·         In our study, 44% said that they are not able to sleep because of body pain.

It should be noted here that most of the respondents in our study complained of lifting heavy weights during work.

Suggestions were given to them to use scientific techniques while lifting weights.  Though all of them were trained to use these techniques, they rarely did so, daily.

A headache is a symptom indicating that there is something wrong either in the neurological system or in the muscular-skeletal system or in the cardiovascular system or else in the digestive system.  A headache, like a fever and a cough, is a signal sent by our body that there is stress and needs to be corrected.

Ignoring frequent headaches is ignoring the signals that may lead to dangerous consequences.  Taking painkillers or putting on ointments is only able to provide temporary relief.

A permanent solution is available for free and this solution is to engage in deep sleep.

Such sleep not only removes stress but also eliminates all problems related to stress.

·         In our study, we found that about 45% suffered from frequent headaches.

Apart from medical reasons, if you feel tired the reason could be lack of sleep.  Another manifestation of fatigue apart from body pain is tiredness.

A good night’s sleep can take off most of the tiredness but many people are unable to sleep as a result of tiredness.  This calls for rest.  If the tiredness persists over a while, it is necessary to consult a doctor as many physical states can cause tiredness.

Psychologically, stress and anxiety can cause tiredness and you need to find a hobby to allow you to relax.

·         In our sample, 32% attributed tiredness as a cause for not being able to sleep.

Figure 6: Extent of Discomfort shown by Participants

Aches and pains are only symptoms of an underlying problem and not the problem itself.  We try to kill the messenger by trying to kill the pain.  The pain is trying to inform us that there is something wrong with a tissue, organ, or system in the body and our primary concern would be to first remove the problem so that the symptom goes away.

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Tip 7.     No dozing off

Some people keep dozing off now and then without knowing about it.  When someone tells them that they were dozing, they refuse to acknowledge it.  They are not wrong because they do not remember having dozed off.

This condition could indicate sleep disorders like narcolepsy, sleep apnea, or circadian rhythm disorder.  Or it could simply be because of a lack of sleep.

However, there is an immediate need to correct this situation by getting it checked by a medical practitioner.

Imagine these people working as drivers, operators of heavy machinery, surgeons, etc.

·         In our sample, almost 18% reported affirmatively, which indicates that many times sleep disorders go undiagnosed.

Some people fall asleep while working.  This calls for a greater alarm because it may indicate narcolepsy.

·         In our study, about 10% of the workers indicated doing so.

Please check with your doctor before this becomes a danger.

Some people sleep off while talking to someone.  This is a similar problem as outlined earlier.

·         In case you feel you have done so in the past, as did 7% of our respondents, it is necessary to consult a doctor.

As much as the need to sleep is there when certain activities are taking place, our arousal systems are active.  However, sometimes this system is bypassed due to the precipitating problem and hence a thorough check-up is necessary.

Drowsy driving is a common problem among drivers who are working late into the night.  They not only have irregular sleeping habits but also tend to sleep whenever they find the time.  Most of their sleep periods are disturbed and the lack of continuous sleep is one of the major reasons for this problem.

In some cases, they may have medicated themselves for a cold or a cough.  Quite a few drugs including alcohol may induce drowsiness while driving.  It is always better not to drive when we feel drowsy.  In case you get a hint of drowsiness while driving, stop the vehicle, take a nap of 5 to 10 minutes, have some coffee or tea, wash your face and then continue driving.

If this is caused because of a sleeping disorder, then it is essential to consult a doctor.

·         Around 8% of the workers in our study indicated that they have this problem.

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Tip 8.     No sleepwalking

Sleepwalking or Somnambulism is another type of “parasomnia” like sleep terror.

In case you have this problem make sure it is not dangerous to yourself and others.

If the problem persists, then please consult a professional so that this problem can be resolved.

·         In our study, only 2% said they walk in asleep.

This problem is usually seen in children but a few adults too manifest it.  Causes and severity vary from person to person.  Hence, professional help is advisable.

Some people talk in sleep.  Though this is considered to be a mild problem, it still indicates that a sleep-related problem is present in the person.

If this problem persists and becomes consistent, it is necessary to consult a doctor who can prescribe medicines to overcome this problem.

Disciplined sleep behavior helps in alleviating this condition.

·         In our study, about 14% reported that they talk in their sleep.

Some people snore too much during sleep.

·         Though 14% of the respondents in our study said yes, a lot of others who live alone may not even know that they snore too much.

This is not an alarming problem in itself, but it is a symptom of an underlying problem.

Occasional and light snoring is not considered dangerous but the severity of snoring is due to several causes: blockage of air pathways, bulky throat tissue, sinus infection, regular drinking, being overweight, etc.  Whatever the cause, this condition should be checked out.

If someone at home reports that there is a stoppage of snoring suddenly for a few seconds, this should be corrected as early as possible.   This is due to a disorder called sleep apnea.

·         In our study only 2 people out of 213, that is less than 1% reported this problem.

This disorder should not be taken lightly and should be checked out by experts in the medical field.

In some cases, however, people make jerky movements during sleep.  This usually happens when you have irregular sleep schedules.

·         Only 26% of the respondents reported such movements in our study.

There is nothing to be worried about if this happens once in a while but if it becomes regular, then it is necessary to go to sleep relaxed.

Make sure you try out some physical routine like walking or exercises like meditation before you call it a night.

Some people wake up from sleep screaming in terror.  A night terror is an indication that there is something wrong with our sleep cycle.

Almost all of these people do not remember having screamed and refuse to believe when others tell them so.  This happens during sleep and should not be mistaken for nightmares, which happen during dreams.  Drugs and alcohol also contribute to this problem.

Though this problem is usually observed in male children below eight years, a few adults have shown this tendency, too.

·         In our study, only 4% reported having woken up from sleep screaming in terror.

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Tip 9.     Desirable body weight

Many studies have shown that sleep deprivation is one of the causes of excess body weight.  Several other studies indicate that good sleep reduces body weight.

Not only nutrients are supplied to the brain during sleep but also the brain is cleaned of debris during deep sleep.  Lack of sleep induces the person to eat more than what is needed to reduce temporary stress.

One way of regulating this problem is to always eat a little less than the full stomach so that the body can properly absorb nutrients.

Too much body weight itself can interfere with sleep.  Hence, there is a need to come out of this vicious cycle.

Bodyweight can be a cause of lack of sleep while lack of sleep can be a cause of body weight.  On the other hand, a disciplined sleep pattern reduces body weight.  Try not to go to bed on a full stomach.

Engage in some interesting and fulfilling activities that can relax you and then go to sleep.

·         In our study, only 27% responded saying that they have undesirable body weight.

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Tip 10. Low Stress

Your sleep is not helping you if you feel a lot of stress.  Stress is necessary for survival but when we do not cope-up with stress, it results in damage to the nerve cells in the body.  This damage is repaired during deep sleep so that we are ready to take on more stress the next day.

However, if the stress is not resolved, this carries over and there are continuous damage and deterioration of nerve cells in the body.  As indicated earlier, a lot of hormones are produced during sleep, which is essential for growth and development.  Children who do not sleep properly have stunted growth both physically and mentally.

During stress, the sympathetic nervous system is activated and all our autonomic functions like breathing and heart rate are increased.  During sleep, the parasympathetic function is activated and it acts as an antidote for stress.

We can do away with a lot of medicine, especially because sleep itself acts as a natural doctor providing the necessary chemicals to repair and recover the cells in the body.

·         In our study, we found that over 58% felt that they are under a lot of stress.

The feeling of tiredness and irritability is a sign of sleep deprivation and disturbance.  Without your knowledge, you are irritated at very small events in your life and the people whom you meet every day seem to always make you feel uncomfortable.

This is how you carry stress and when you do not resolve stress, it leads to a lack of sound sleep.  This, in turn, results in tiredness and irritation.

·         In our study, about 61% of the workers reported this feeling.

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Tip 11. Relaxed

Disturbing thoughts and worries keep us away from sleep.  Our brain is highly active when we start thinking about something.

Sleep is a function of low brain activity.  Hence, how much ever we try to sleep we may not be able to do so because our body does not allow us.  Get up from the bed, continue with these thoughts and take them to their logical end.

This ensures that the thoughts will not haunt us.  Another solution is to switch our thoughts to something pleasant so that we can go to sleep normally.

·         In our study, about 49% said they were negatively affected by disturbing thoughts.

Distress is caused when we are blocked from reaching our goals.  The goals could be physiological, psychological, or social.  The goals could be very small or too big.  As long as we feel that we are unable to reach our goals, we will be under stress.

Reallocation of goals and redirecting our goal-oriented behavior can help in reducing stress.

However, this is not easy.  A systematic approach to tackling stress is the only solution.

·         In our study, 45% reported that stress was causing them not to go to sleep.

Anxiety is the fear of the unknown.  Whereas in normal fear we can identify the object of fear, in irrational fear like phobia, we are unable to provide a justifiable reason for our fear.  In anxiety, we do not know what exactly we are afraid of.  Some simple examples are stage anxiety, exam anxiety, interview anxiety, etc.

Unless we learn to face threatening situations, we may not be able to overcome anxiety.  This also needs a systematic approach to remove the problem.

·         Our research showed that 24% felt the anxiety to be the cause of sleeplessness.

Guilt is a very strong negative emotion.  We are guilty of omissions and commissions.  We don't need to do something wrong but the moment we do something against our conscience we feel guilty.  Sometimes, if we do not do something, where we should have taken action, it causes guilt of inaction.

The only solution is to resolve the guilt and try to minimize situations that result in carrying the guilt.

If sleep is being disturbed because of guilt, then the solution is to think of undoing the guilt or taking measures for repentance.

·         In our study, 30% of the workers attributed guilt as a cause of not getting sleep.

Figure 7: Causes of Sleep Disturbances

Disturbing thoughts, stress, anxiety, and guilt must be removed or reduced to relax.  And relaxation is a major key to opening the door to sleep.

Learning to relax helps a lot.

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Tip 12. Sleep within two minutes after going to bed

People often experience a “wait & watch” phenomenon until they fall asleep.  Counting sheep does not help them in any way and how much ever they are tired, somehow sleep eludes them.  They are often given innumerable tips to make them go to sleep, but the more they try to adopt these strategies, the more it becomes difficult for them to go to sleep.

The major reason why we are not able to sleep whenever we lie down to go to sleep is that our sympathetic nervous system is still active.  Without our knowledge, our autonomic functions like heartbeat, respiration, blood pressure, etc. are in an increased state and the body is ready to ward off a threat or danger.

Until our body is relaxed, we will not be able to go to sleep.  As a mental activity, the situation is even more pronounced.  Our active state, where the EEG (Electroencephalograph) shows electrical activity in the brain to be above 13 Hz per second, is not allowing us to go to sleep.

This is because sleep occurs during an electrical activity that is below 8 Hz per second.  We need to get into a relaxed state between 8 to 12 Hz per second, which is known as an alpha state.

Bypassing the alpha stage is a straight gateway to bypass surgery – is one of my mantras.

For most people, it takes a lot of twisting and turning on the bed before they get to sleep.

·         Our research shows that this figure is around 36%.  Among the rest 64%, we found that a majority of them do not know when they go to sleep because they are already in an inebriated state.

Having an extra dose and going to sleep is not a solution but a royal road to innumerable problems.

Sleep is a natural process and if we are not able to go to sleep, then we are doing something against nature.  This is what we need to correct, rather than finding shortcuts to circumvent our problems.

Some people twist and turn on the bed for hours before they go to sleep.  Some others sleep as soon as they hit the bed.  While the former indicates that the body is not yet ready to go to sleep, the latter signifies the body’s readiness for sleep.  One major cause of not going to sleep is due to stress.

The solution for this is to relax first before going to bed and then go to sleep.

As indicated earlier, sleep involves the deeper electrical activity of the brain.  When the brain is engaged in unwanted thoughts that are quite active, it becomes highly difficult for the parasympathetic system to take over and induce sleep.

·         In our study, about 50% of the respondents said that they have problems getting to sleep.

If you can go to sleep within one or two minutes after going to bed, then the sleep pattern is regulated in you.  Otherwise, the body is not ready for sleep as the sympathetic nervous system is still active in you.

One better solution is to engage in some activity that can relax you and then go to bed.  Reading a novel or magazine is a choice you can take or else you can listen to some light music.  Wait till you feel sleepy and then go to bed.

·         In our research, 88% of the respondents could not go to sleep within zero to two minutes.

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Tip 13. Sleep continuously without a break

Lots of people wake up in the middle of the night for one reason or the other.  The reasons could be that they are thirsty; they want to visit the toilet; are hungry, they are woken up because of some sound, light, or change in temperature; they had a nightmare; and so on.

Whatever the reason is, all these reasons are telling us loud and clear that something is not okay with our body or mind.  Rather than trying to rectify the underlying problem, we just ignore such warnings and pay the price without our knowledge.

If these disturbances during sleep happen once in a while, then there is nothing much to worry about.  However, when the frequency of getting up during sleep is higher, then it becomes a habit and interferes with our efficiency.

·         In our study, we found that only 24% of people have this problem.  Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the average age of our group was 26 years.

If we ask this question to middle-aged and senior people, then the answer can be predictably different.

One major reason why people get up during a night’s sleep is to go to the bathroom.

This can be avoided by consuming less fluid just before going to sleep.

The other reasons are not so simple.  If this problem is persistent, it is better to consult a doctor.  Some people, even after waking up in the middle can continue their sleep.  Some others stay awake and are unable to go back to sleep.  If this becomes a habit, then there is a need for correction.

·         Our research showed that 18% of the respondents wake up at least 2 times or more.

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Tip 14. Wake up on your own

How does this matter?  It does, because, our body generates its rhythm of wakefulness and sleep.  This rhythm is known as “Circadian Rhythm”.  It is a biological clock set up by us under daylight and night.

In ancient times humans were dependent upon sunlight and hence slept for a longer period.  The advent of electricity and consequent changes in lifestyle has made us depend on ourselves to provide the body with the needed repair and restoration.

Though our time is set for 24 hours a day the biological clock operates for an extra 30 to 45 minutes.  This difference upsets our regularity and results in several sleep problems.

In addition, our alertness during the day is also negatively affected.  For instance, we feel sleepy during the post-lunch period but we are very attentive during the early night.  In case we make it a point to wake up every day at the same time our circadian rhythm gets adjusted and works uniformly and regularly.

However, when we wake up at different times, our circadian rhythm becomes irregular and gives us restlessness and fatigue throughout the day.

·         Our study showed that only around 7% of the sample can wake up at the same time.  The rest 93% do not have control over when they get up.

Do we wake up from sleep on our own?  Technology has made us lazy and we depend on gadgets like an alarm clocks to wake us up.  Sometimes someone in the family wakes us up.  In rare cases, other sounds disturb us from our sleep and we wake up.

This dependency on external factors to wake up is a great danger because without our knowledge we are interfering with our sleep cycle.

The sleep cycle moves through four stages, the electrical activity of which ranges below 8 Hz per second.  Suddenly the alarm bell sounds or suddenly someone wakes up, and our body is not ready to face the activity outside our sleep stages.

Suppose the electrical activity in the body is too low, let us say 3 Hz per second (known as Delta Activity as against the light sleep which is known as Theta Activity) and suddenly we are woken up, the body’s homeostasis is disturbed and it results in an imbalance.

·         In our study, 78% of the adults said they are dependent on other sources for waking up.

This problem is more pronounced among children, who are always woken up by someone else.

The ability to wake up on one’s own will is another positive aspect of one’s life.

Suppose we are woken up during the deep stages of sleep or when we are dreaming, our cognitive functioning may not be able to adjust immediately to external demands.

For instance, you may notice that some days we wake up satiated and most days we wake up feeling that the sleep was insufficient.  The latter could be the effect of being woken up by an external agent.

The most workable solution is to decide what time to wake up just before we go to sleep.

Our internal clock sets itself to wake us up at the exact time.  This works quite well so that we can wake up satisfied almost every day.  It is true that in an emergency we are woken by someone else and in some instances, we may wake up to some sounds or disturbances. However, these are not common occurrences.

·         When we asked our respondents to rate themselves (to wake up on their own) on a scale of 1 to 10 the average obtained was 1.21, which was negligible.

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Tip 15. Wake up refreshed

During sleep, the motor activity is too low and the body is quite rigid and lethargic; temperature regulation keeps happening; thinking is slowed down; autonomic reactivity is quite low; and so on.

In normal instances, we gradually come to a higher mental activity, the body stabilizes to receive higher-level inputs and we get used to the environment outside.

We know from our experience that some days we wake up quite refreshed while other days we feel that we should continue to sleep.

The purpose of going to sleep is to wake up refreshed and rejuvenated.  If we are not refreshed after a night's sleep, then the reason is that the sleep was qualitatively lacking in something.

·         We found out that around 47% of the respondents were unhappy with their sleep.

Sometimes we are under pressure to do something after we get up from sleep, which we may not like to do.

For instance, a child may not want to take bath, eat breakfast, go to school, etc.  A majority of the students are woken up to continue their studies, which they seem to hate.

Similarly, one may choose to go every morning to jog with a friend but may not like to do it at all.  Due to the pressure from the friend he or she may continue to do it.

When we wake up to do something we do not like to do, our brain tells us that we need not have to do it.  However, we are forced by the circumstances to do it and this builds up stress.  Consequently, our sleep gets negatively influenced.

In such instances, we go to sleep carrying a lot of stress and we wake up with stress.  Such stressful sleep does not stimulate our restoration mechanisms and hence becomes our enemy.

·         About 22% of our respondents admitted that they were forced to do something that they do not like as soon as they woke up.

Hence, the solution lies in picking up to do something we love to do immediately after we wake up.  This way the brain gets ready so that we can wake up on our own as well as feel refreshed.

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Tip 16. Feel the sufficiency of your sleep

“How many hours should I sleep?” This is a question most people keep asking.  Generally, we say that around six hours of sleep is necessary for adults and around eight hours of sleep is necessary for school-going children.

However, some people take this as a norm and someone who sleeps for say, five and a half hours, thinks s/he is sleeping too less and someone who sleeps for seven hours thinks s/he is sleeping too much.

In reality, some people sleep for four hours a day and yet think they have enough sleep whereas some others keep on spending most of their time sleeping and yet may think that their sleep is not enough.

When we say six or eight hours, we do so, based on an average obtained from several studies.  It is not the exact time that you spend on sleep that is important but it is the quality of sleep.  This is indicated by your feeling of sufficiency.

·         Our research shows that about 21% of the 213 respondents say that their sleep is sufficient for them whereas the rest 79% feel that their sleep is insufficient.

It is the latter who need to take corrective measures so that their sleep becomes a matter of pleasure.

Make sure you are sleeping continuously every day between 6 to 8 hours.  In one stretch of sleep, we cycle from light sleep to deep sleep, come back to light sleep, and move on to the dream phase.  Several dream phases should occur in each day’s sleep for us to get the maximum benefit of the regeneration process.

Even if you have to work night shifts, make sure that you have a continuous sleep of 6 to 8 hours when you are free.  In addition to going to deep sleep and dream phases every time we sleep the body temperature comes down gradually.

People who do not get around 6 hours of sleep may not be able to reach the lowest body temperature, which is conducive to repairing the damage and cleaning the dead cells of the brain.

·         Our research indicated that almost 83% were able to get 6 to 8 hours of sleep.

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Tip 17. One sleep per day

Do not wake up too many times during sleep.  Excessive intake of fluids just before going to sleep is one of the reasons for waking up several times during the night.

However, people develop various habits where eating, smoking, chewing pan, etc., are done during this break from sleep.

·         About 30% said they wake up several times during sleep and this causes sleep disturbance whereby they may not wake up in the morning refreshed.

It is always desirable and essential to have a continuous stretch of sleep period every night. Except for infants, toddlers, and preschool children, all others must learn to complete their sleep in a one-time period in a day.

·         Almost 47% of our respondents woke up early in the morning and could not go back to sleep afterward even if they wanted to.

When the body gets enough rest, it recovers into active mode.  There is no need to force ourselves to go back to sleep.

The best thing to do here is to get up from bed and engage in some pleasant activities like walking, gardening, listening to music, etc. so that we stay relaxed.

If this happens regularly, maintain a diary and keep note of the days it happens.  Make sure that you do not consume too much fluid before you go to sleep and keep the room temperature warmer.

As mentioned earlier, our biological clock needs to be set every day.  Once we break this cycle with extra sleep daily or once in a while, it results in disarray.

Whether you work in shifts or not, it is better to have one stretch of sleep every day rather than breaking the sleep.  In case you feel like sleeping on a Sunday or off day, it is advisable to take a nap sitting on a chair or sofa rather than going to sleep.  My suggestion is that the nap should not last more than 15 to 20 minutes when you wake up refreshed.

·         In our study, about 55% of the respondents reported that they sleep more than one time every day, which is not desirable.

·         As almost all the respondents worked in shifts, they were asked if they sleep during the day.  They were told to answer this question excluding shifts.  The majority of them (59%) said they sleep on Sundays or off days during the daytime.

Modern research has shown that daytime sleep can disturb the gene activity in the body apart from giving rise to scores of other problems.

Adults should stop sleeping during the day, even on Sundays as this disrupts their biological cycle.  Shift workers who work at night will have to sleep during the day and they can take a few measures to ensure that they have undisturbed sleep for at least six hours continuously.

Most of these workers tend to go home after the night’s work, have breakfast and immediately go to sleep.  They will only find that they will wake up after a few minutes and they are not able to continue to sleep.

Instead, they can wait out a couple of hours, have lunch and then go to sleep informing people at home that they need not be disturbed.  They should draw curtains and make their sleeping room as dark as possible.  Switching off their mobiles will help.

One major reason for normal people to feel sleepy during the day is a lack of quality sleep at night.  Another reason is to have woken up from sleep at different times.  Stick to a particular time to wake up and make sure you are up and active at that time, irrespective of what time you go to sleep.

Increase brightness in the room and keep yourself active.  If you feel fatigued, then you will have to see a doctor.

·         In our study, about 51% reported that they feel sleepy during the day.

In most cases, this condition is due to a disturbance in their sleep cycle.  Once this disturbance is corrected by sleeping continuously for six hours each night, they will find themselves to be more active during the day.

Some experts suggest “Power Sleep” (Dr. James B. Maas) that can be taken for around twenty minutes, which will restore mental functions.

Some others talk about Sleep Rationing or Polyphasic Sleep but their effects are still under study. This is clear in the following video:

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Tip 18. Sleep in a familiar place

The body somehow gets acclimatized to a familiar place.  Frequent travelers find it difficult to sleep mainly because they are unfamiliar with their surroundings and hence it takes a long time for them to go to sleep.

A husband who is forced to sleep on a sofa finds it painful to sleep or is uncomfortable after he wakes up, partly because of the change in place.

The best solution for all others is to reserve a place strictly for sleep and not do anything else in that spot like eating, drinking, reading, relaxing, etc.

Go to that spot only when you feel like sleeping and not otherwise.  Do not force yourself to go to sleep but wait for it to come.

·         This problem is not found in the majority of the people as we found in our study that only 39% said that they sleep in an unfamiliar place.

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Tip 19. Remove barriers to sleep

We tend to blame outside noise whereas the actual reason for us not to get to sleep, is our state of mind.  When we are tensed up, we become sensitive to outside interference.

You must have seen thousands of people sleeping while traveling, on the railway platform, on the pavement, and elsewhere!  If noise were to prevent them from sleeping, these people would never have slept in their lives.

Do not force yourself to go to sleep if you find that the outside noises are troubling you.  Get up from bed; try to do something pleasant for you like listening to music, watching an informative program on TV, or reading something.  Don’t do this while you are in the bed.  If you have a hobby, try to think about it.

Try to recall some pleasant experiences from your past.

Once your body and mind are relaxed, you will feel sleepy, and then you can come to bed and go to sleep.  We cannot force sleep when our body does not need it or when our body is not ready for it.

·         In our study, 68% of the respondents felt that noise hindered their sleep.

Outside noises may come in the way of our sleep because we become sensitive to these noises.  The more we do not want these noises to affect us, the more will be the impact of these noises.

Once we go to sleep, our brain has a mechanism to filter out these noises so that we no longer will be able to hear them.  Unless we are tuned to a particular sound, like for instance, an alarm clock or a mother’s response to a child’s crying, etc., we rarely can hear other sounds.

But when sleep is evading us, these sounds will haunt us.  Try to minimize the sound by closing windows or try to engage in some activity you like and then come over to the bed.

·         In our study, 61% reported being affected negatively by noise disturbance.  This is more pronounced in people who sleep during the day because they have to work night shifts.

In some people, the outside temperature becomes uncomfortable.  Our body has an intelligent mechanism for regulating temperature.  The body restores the equilibrium, known as Homeostasis, whenever there is a change in temperature outside.

The normal temperature of the human body is around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  During the sleep cycle, this temperature comes down.  On the other hand, it is only during the dream cycle that the brain temperature increases.

The deeper we move into the sleep cycle, the lower will be our body temperature.  While people who can afford can use air conditioning and a thermostat to maintain the temperature within their homes, most people depend upon fans to cool the temperature and blankets to keep the body warm.

However, much you can keep the outside temperature under control, please keep in mind that the body cools down as you go to sleep.

Some people who are dependent on fans will have to get up to reduce the fan speed or switch off the fan.  This disturbs their sleep. A few people among them may not be able to continue to sleep afterward.

Research has shown that a warm water bath just before going to sleep helps in getting good sleep.

·         In our study, we find that only 36% felt uncomfortable sleeping due to temperature whereas the majority did not have any trouble with it.

The body has a mechanism for regulating its temperature to the outside temperature.  Despite this homeostatic condition, a few people find that they feel hot or cold.  Try to adjust this by using a fan or blanket, as the case may be, but if you still feel like this the whole night, it is better to consult a doctor as certain physical problems may cause this.

As per the groups we tested, we found that about 36% had this problem.

Another cause for worry is light.  Some people want absolute darkness.  These people will have difficulty when they have to sleep during the day.  Any light coming across the sleeping room will disturb these people and they cannot continue to sleep.

Closing the eyes can solve the problem in some and wearing eye masks can also help.  However, unless we remove this thought from our mind that it is disturbing us, it will continue to haunt us.

·         The research showed that 39% felt this to be the cause for not being able to sleep.

Figure 8: Factors Disturbing Sleep

When we are calm inside ourselves, things happening outside us will not trouble us. 

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Tip 20. Sweet dreams

·         Though 1/3rd of the sample we enquired about claimed to have a dreamless sleep, this is an almost impossibility.

Just because we do not remember the dreams in our sleep, does not mean that we never had one.  It is estimated that around 20% of our sleep contains dreams.  Some dreams that occur early in the morning or just before we wake up are more remembered than those in the early and middle part of the night.

In case you have nightmares once in a while, there is nothing much to be worried about as this is a normal phase of life.

However, if the nightmares are persistent and they come in the way of your going to sleep or normal functioning, then you should do something about it.

Normally, the stress and anxiety we go through in the waking stage manifest themselves as nightmares.

·         In our study, around 33% of the respondents reported dreams troubling them during sleep.

Dreams are conducive to healing and repairing damaged cells in the body and we should leave the dreams as they are.

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TO RECAPITULATE

1. Regulate alertness: Regulate alertness by increasing the value of what we do daily.

2. Safety from accidents: Be safe from repetitive accidents by identifying them and allocating sufficient time for the activities.

3. Avoid working late: When working late, take 10 to 20 minutes of nap time and get at least 6 hours of continuous sleep.

4. Reduce negative feelings: Reduce negative feelings by taking action rather than worrying about the same.

5. Avoid medications daily: Avoid any kind of addiction because dependency will ruin sleep.

6. No aches and Pains: Remove the underlying problem in the body so that the deep sleep itself can remove the pain.

7. No dozing off: If dozing off is due to a sleep disorder, then it needs to be checked by a medical practitioner.

8. No sleepwalking: Any activity during sleep including snoring should be looked into and corrected.

9. Desirable body weight: Eat a little lesser than a full stomach and spend some time fruitfully before you go to bed.

10. Low stress: Manage stress and use sleep itself as a stress buster.

11. Relaxed: Learning to relax and reallocating goals can help in overcoming disturbing thoughts.

12. Sleep within two minutes after going to bed: Lie on the bed only to go to sleep and make sure you relax before reaching the bed.

13. Sleep continuously without break: Any break in sleep resets the biological clock and disturbs the sleep cycle.

14. Wake up on your own: Depending on external cues to wake up upsets the circadian rhythm and your internal clock.

15. Wake up refreshed: Plan to do something you love as soon as you wake up so that you are refreshed throughout the day.

16. Feel sufficiency of your sleep: Get up from bed immediately after you open your eyes so that you feel that your sleep is sufficient.

17. One sleep per day: Any other time you sleep should last no more than 20 minutes and should happen away from your bed.

18. Sleep in a familiar place: Reserve a place for sleep and do not do anything else in that place.

19. Remove barriers to sleep: The barriers are in your mind and so think of something pleasant while waiting for sleep to come.

20. Sweet dreams: Do not try to change the content of your dreams but enjoy them as you experience them.

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The Final Word

Feeling restless, tired, bored, agitated, and distracted are all reasons for lack of proper sleep.  If any of these symptoms are present, it is necessary to get them corrected as early as possible before it explodes into a major problem.

We must learn to use sleep as medicine.

Regulating sleep, wakefulness, relaxation, and alertness goes a long way in making our lives better.

Reducing stress, avoiding working late, reducing negative feelings, engaging in pleasant activities, avoiding daily medications, and eliminating aches and pains are essential to a good night’s sleep.

Sleeping immediately after going to bed, sleeping continuously only once in 24 hours, waking up without support, waking up refreshed, and feeling fulfillment in sleep, are some of the important ingredients.

This can be ensured by removing barriers to sleep, sleeping in familiar places, and valuing what we do every day.

Sweet Dreams!

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