YOUNGER AND HEALTHIER FOR LONGER
Stephen Lau
Stephen Lau
Beauty Sleep
To be younger and healthier for longer, you need beauty sleep, among other things.
Beauty sleep is a birth right, and going to sleep is a natural human instinct.
Research studies have shown that all living things sleep. A Swiss research study indicated that gold fish, having been deprived of sleep for an extended period of time, would become still for a protracted period of time to make up for its sleep deprivation. The research findings have attested to the importance of beauty sleep.
Unfortunately, many people have problems going to sleep: they have sleep disorder, or insomnia. They are constantly deprived of beauty sleep, or they have to rely on medications to help them go to sleep. We all want to sleep, but not all of us can sleep, because many of us do not know how to get beauty sleep.
How to get beauty sleep
(1) Environmental factors
To get beauty sleep, you require an optimum sleep environment that not only promotes natural sleep without the aid of sleep medications, but also makes you sleep better.
Temperature
Temperature affects your sleep. Your body temperature changes according to your biological clock, which makes you want to go to sleep. Your body temperature rises in early evening, and cools down around 4 o'clock in the morning. Accordingly, the temperature of the bedroom and that of your bed must be optimum to induce beauty sleep: that is, a temperature in the range of 62°F (16°C) and 71°F (24°C); anything above or below that range may cause restlessness that prevents beauty sleep.
Humidity
A too-dry environment may cause bronchial passages, leading to constant coughing, which interrupts sleep. To prevent dryness, place a bowl of water to humidify the bedroom environment.
A too-humid bedroom causes dampness, which may raise your stress levels. To remedy this, you may want to have your bed linen made from natural fabrics to help absorb any perspiration as well as to allow your skin to breathe more freely.
Sounds
The quality of sounds affects the quality of your sleep. Your ears convert sounds into nerve impulses, picked up by your brain, which interprets the messages. If these messages have some emotional connection, they will wake you up in the middle of the night, disrupting your beauty sleep.
Harsh background noise, such as the sound and vibration of heavy traffic, may disturb and interfere with your beauty sleep. In contrast, soothing sounds of the sea, such as the gentle lapping of waves against the shore, make you not only fall asleep faster but also sleep better throughout the night. Go to my blog: How To Relax.
Light and darkness
Light, with its intensity and color, may have an impact on how fast you will fall asleep, especially if you have acquired the habit of sleeping in the dark. Your body’s cycles change as you age, because your biological clock also changes and so does the level of your melatonin hormone (responsible for making you sleep).
If you need to sleep in a dark environment, use dark drapes or shades. Colors may also promote beauty sleep because they affect your mood. Generally speaking, blue and green are more relaxing than red and yellow. Bedroom walls should be neutral in tones, such as white, such that they may not be unduly affected by the addition of other colors in your bedroom décor.
Furniture arrangement
The positioning of your bed may affect your beauty sleep. According to Chinese feng shui (literally, it means "wind" and "water"), which is a science based on internal balance and harmony, your bed should be raised, that is, not touching the floor, and it should not be placed between windows and doors, or between two doors. The explanation is that there is internal life energy, known as qi, coursing through the human body. Any disruption of free flow of that energy may lead to imbalance of yin and yang, which is the major cause of disharmony and disease in the human body. The position of the bed should optimize the free flow of qi in the bedroom in order to facilitate beauty sleep.
(2) Human factors
Behavior
Your behavior can affect not only the sleep quality but also the ability to fall asleep.
Eating increases your metabolic rate as well as your body temperature. You need to make your body temperature drop slowly and gradually in order to make you fall asleep. Therefore, you should not eat at least three hours before going to bed; even a late heavy dinner may deprive you of beauty sleep. In short, a high body temperature prevents you from falling asleep fast, not to mention the bloated feeling as a result of eating too much and too late in the evening. It is better to eat smaller meals than to eat one heavy meal and one or two light meals.
Be gentle to your digestive system. Your eating behavior also includes the types of food you consume during the day. Cheese is said to give nightmares because it contains tyramine, an ingredient in Cheese that can elevate your blood pressure. MSG (monosodium glutamate), a taste enhancer in most restaurant cuisines, may cause digestive upsets, heartburn, and headaches, which often interrupt sleep. Yellow tartrazine (E-102), often added to fizzy drinks, candies, and cookies, may increase hyper-activity that may deprive you of beauty sleep. In short, if you eat unhealthily, you tend to have sleep problems.
Many seniors have the misconception that if they drink too much, they need to frequent the bathroom more often, and this may affect their sleep patterns. However, dehydration may adversely affect the brain, and hence the ability to sleep well at night. To remedy the situation, drink at least two liters of water a day, and drink it early in the morning so as to avoid bathroom trips at night.
Lifestyle
Avoid smoking or drinking an alcoholic "nightcap." Nicotine may relax your body and mind, and make you fall asleep. However, once nicotine is metabolized, it will wake you up in the middle of the night. Research studies at the University of Pennsylvania indicated that smokers took twice as long to fall asleep as non-smokers. Alcohol can have a calming effect, but too much alcohol interferes with the quality of your sleep by reducing the amount of sleep and REM sleep that your obtain. Given that it is often difficult to control the amount of alcohol consumed, and that alcohol is known to cause people wake up periodically, perspiring heavily, and experiencing palpitation, it is better to avoid alcohol before going to bed.
Caffeine remains in the human body for several hours -- especially in pregnant women -- it is best to avoid caffeinated drinks, such as coffee and tea. Avoid caffeine from the middle of the day onward.
As an alternative, drink a herbal drink made from rosehip, peppermint, and fennel.
Meditation
Life is full of stress, which may come from work, finance, family, and relationships, among others. Stress causes blood sugar elevation, breathing rate acceleration, muscle tension, pulse rate ad blood pressure increase, and sweating--they are the internal mess that adversely affects beauty sleep.
Meditation is going deep into your internal world to clear up your internal mess. Meditation is internal cleansing, after which you feel only balance, composure, and wisdom. Through clarity of mind, you may be able to release any blocked energy that interrupts with beauty sleep.
In practicing meditation, you should remember the following:
Beauty sleep is a birth right, and going to sleep is a natural human instinct.
Research studies have shown that all living things sleep. A Swiss research study indicated that gold fish, having been deprived of sleep for an extended period of time, would become still for a protracted period of time to make up for its sleep deprivation. The research findings have attested to the importance of beauty sleep.
Unfortunately, many people have problems going to sleep: they have sleep disorder, or insomnia. They are constantly deprived of beauty sleep, or they have to rely on medications to help them go to sleep. We all want to sleep, but not all of us can sleep, because many of us do not know how to get beauty sleep.
How to get beauty sleep
(1) Environmental factors
To get beauty sleep, you require an optimum sleep environment that not only promotes natural sleep without the aid of sleep medications, but also makes you sleep better.
Temperature
Temperature affects your sleep. Your body temperature changes according to your biological clock, which makes you want to go to sleep. Your body temperature rises in early evening, and cools down around 4 o'clock in the morning. Accordingly, the temperature of the bedroom and that of your bed must be optimum to induce beauty sleep: that is, a temperature in the range of 62°F (16°C) and 71°F (24°C); anything above or below that range may cause restlessness that prevents beauty sleep.
Humidity
A too-dry environment may cause bronchial passages, leading to constant coughing, which interrupts sleep. To prevent dryness, place a bowl of water to humidify the bedroom environment.
A too-humid bedroom causes dampness, which may raise your stress levels. To remedy this, you may want to have your bed linen made from natural fabrics to help absorb any perspiration as well as to allow your skin to breathe more freely.
Sounds
The quality of sounds affects the quality of your sleep. Your ears convert sounds into nerve impulses, picked up by your brain, which interprets the messages. If these messages have some emotional connection, they will wake you up in the middle of the night, disrupting your beauty sleep.
Harsh background noise, such as the sound and vibration of heavy traffic, may disturb and interfere with your beauty sleep. In contrast, soothing sounds of the sea, such as the gentle lapping of waves against the shore, make you not only fall asleep faster but also sleep better throughout the night. Go to my blog: How To Relax.
Light and darkness
Light, with its intensity and color, may have an impact on how fast you will fall asleep, especially if you have acquired the habit of sleeping in the dark. Your body’s cycles change as you age, because your biological clock also changes and so does the level of your melatonin hormone (responsible for making you sleep).
If you need to sleep in a dark environment, use dark drapes or shades. Colors may also promote beauty sleep because they affect your mood. Generally speaking, blue and green are more relaxing than red and yellow. Bedroom walls should be neutral in tones, such as white, such that they may not be unduly affected by the addition of other colors in your bedroom décor.
Furniture arrangement
The positioning of your bed may affect your beauty sleep. According to Chinese feng shui (literally, it means "wind" and "water"), which is a science based on internal balance and harmony, your bed should be raised, that is, not touching the floor, and it should not be placed between windows and doors, or between two doors. The explanation is that there is internal life energy, known as qi, coursing through the human body. Any disruption of free flow of that energy may lead to imbalance of yin and yang, which is the major cause of disharmony and disease in the human body. The position of the bed should optimize the free flow of qi in the bedroom in order to facilitate beauty sleep.
(2) Human factors
Behavior
Your behavior can affect not only the sleep quality but also the ability to fall asleep.
Eating increases your metabolic rate as well as your body temperature. You need to make your body temperature drop slowly and gradually in order to make you fall asleep. Therefore, you should not eat at least three hours before going to bed; even a late heavy dinner may deprive you of beauty sleep. In short, a high body temperature prevents you from falling asleep fast, not to mention the bloated feeling as a result of eating too much and too late in the evening. It is better to eat smaller meals than to eat one heavy meal and one or two light meals.
Be gentle to your digestive system. Your eating behavior also includes the types of food you consume during the day. Cheese is said to give nightmares because it contains tyramine, an ingredient in Cheese that can elevate your blood pressure. MSG (monosodium glutamate), a taste enhancer in most restaurant cuisines, may cause digestive upsets, heartburn, and headaches, which often interrupt sleep. Yellow tartrazine (E-102), often added to fizzy drinks, candies, and cookies, may increase hyper-activity that may deprive you of beauty sleep. In short, if you eat unhealthily, you tend to have sleep problems.
Many seniors have the misconception that if they drink too much, they need to frequent the bathroom more often, and this may affect their sleep patterns. However, dehydration may adversely affect the brain, and hence the ability to sleep well at night. To remedy the situation, drink at least two liters of water a day, and drink it early in the morning so as to avoid bathroom trips at night.
Lifestyle
Avoid smoking or drinking an alcoholic "nightcap." Nicotine may relax your body and mind, and make you fall asleep. However, once nicotine is metabolized, it will wake you up in the middle of the night. Research studies at the University of Pennsylvania indicated that smokers took twice as long to fall asleep as non-smokers. Alcohol can have a calming effect, but too much alcohol interferes with the quality of your sleep by reducing the amount of sleep and REM sleep that your obtain. Given that it is often difficult to control the amount of alcohol consumed, and that alcohol is known to cause people wake up periodically, perspiring heavily, and experiencing palpitation, it is better to avoid alcohol before going to bed.
Caffeine remains in the human body for several hours -- especially in pregnant women -- it is best to avoid caffeinated drinks, such as coffee and tea. Avoid caffeine from the middle of the day onward.
As an alternative, drink a herbal drink made from rosehip, peppermint, and fennel.
Meditation
Life is full of stress, which may come from work, finance, family, and relationships, among others. Stress causes blood sugar elevation, breathing rate acceleration, muscle tension, pulse rate ad blood pressure increase, and sweating--they are the internal mess that adversely affects beauty sleep.
Meditation is going deep into your internal world to clear up your internal mess. Meditation is internal cleansing, after which you feel only balance, composure, and wisdom. Through clarity of mind, you may be able to release any blocked energy that interrupts with beauty sleep.
In practicing meditation, you should remember the following:
| • | Focus on an object as your point of concentration: your breathing, a candle, a sound (such as water from a fountain), or just about anything that can draw you back to your meditation. If your mind wanders away (which is quite common), gently direct your mind to focus on the object of your concentration. It is your act of noticing that your mind has wandered off as well as your repetitive efforts of returning to your meditation that help you learn how to focus. Make focusing a habit. |
| • | Keep yourself in full consciousness: you must be fully aware of what is going on around you. That explains why in meditation (except in the walking meditation) you need to sit erect in order to keep your body in full consciousness. Do not lie down (or else you may fall asleep); do not slouch (this does not help you focus, nor does it promote correct breathing, which is essential to meditation). |
| • | A full lotus position is not required. However, maintain a consistent position or posture with your thumb tip and forefinger tip of each hand touching very lightly your abdomen, while the other fingers are either curled or extended out. A consistent posture and hand position will promote a meditative mind to practice your meditation techniques. |
Copyright©2010 by Stephen Lau
The content of this site cannot be copied or reproduced in any form without the author's permission.
The content of this site cannot be copied or reproduced in any form without the author's permission.
For more information on meditation, visit my web pages: How To Meditate and Meditation Healing.
