Best sleeping advice?
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Laying Yourself Down to Sleep
Once you've found the right mattress and matching foundation, you need to go a step further to create the best possible environment for the nights of your life. Here are some factors you should pay attention to:
Turning Down the Volume. Individuals vary a great deal in their reaction to sounds of different intensities. Women are much more likely than men to waken because of noise in the night. But any sound over 70 decibels can stimulate signals from the nervous system to the rest of the body. A sudden noise will push your blood pressure upward and lower the supply of blood to your heart. If its intensity increases, your pupils dilate, the muscles of your abdomen and chest contract, and your heart rate quickens. A sudden change in the sound level -- a motorcycle backfiring in the street or the television buzzing as a station goes off the air -- will jar you more than a persistent noise.
If noise is an inescapable part of your sleep environment, try comfortable ear plugs or masking it with the constant sound of a fan, air-conditioner or a recording of the surf or a waterfall. A good alternative is white noise, a sound involving all frequencies audible to the human ear that lulls the mind. Several white noise machines are on the market today. You can also approximate the effect by setting your radio to the static found between stations.
Keeping Your Cool. The ideal temperature range is in the mid-60s. You'll stay under the covers longer in a cooler room and be more restless in a warmer one. Fresh air is a personal preference, not a prerequisite for a good night's sleep.
Turning Out the Lights. Some people can sleep only in a totally dark room -- for a good reason. Light is one of the body's most powerful time cues, and the early morning sun can stimulate your brain to full wakefulness long before you want or need to rise. Try heavy draperies or a light-blocking shade. If you must sleep in the daytime, use comfortable eyeshades. On the other hand, if blackness upsets you, a soft nightlight will glow just brightly enough to offer reassurance as you rest.
When You Can't Sleep
Sometimes all you need to feel better is a good night's sleep, but when you tuck yourself in for the night, nothing happens. Your bed is comfortable. Your room is cool, But you can't fall asleep. What can you do when you find yourself stranded at the edge of night?
Snack on a snooze food. As scientists have learned more about the effects various chemicals have on the brain, they've identified foods that make us alert and others that make us drowsy. Proteins, such as meat, are energizers, while carbohydrates, such as pasta, are sedatives. In one study at MIT the foods that made volunteers drowsiest at bedtime were English muffins and bananas.
Sip a nightcap. Stay away from the alcoholic variety. Warm milk soothes some sleepless souls. Warm herbal teas, particularly those with chamomile or ginseng, can also make you feel drowsy.
Get wet and warm. A bath that's neither too hot nor too cold can induce sleepiness by sending blood away from the brain to the skin surface. Lie back. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself floating in the tub.
Relax your muscles. One of the best techniques is progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), which involves alternate tensing and relaxing. Focus your attention on a specific group of muscles, such as those in your arm. Tense tightly for five to seven seconds, then release for 15 to 20 seconds and repeat with other muscle groups.
Learn a little yoga. These gentle exercises can loosen tense muscles and help you relax. Here's one you can do on your mattress: Inhale to a count of five, raise your arms backward over your head until they touch the mattress. Make two fists. Raise your buttocks. Tense and stretch every muscle in your body including those of your face. Hold for a count of five. Release, keeping arms over head. With eyes closed, let the tension drain from your body. Each night, try to increase the time you spend in this position.
Breathe deeply. Take five deep breaths, counting to yourself with each one. As you count, tell yourself, "I'm getting more relaxed and peaceful. I am slowly falling asleep." Concentrate on this message. If you wake up during the night, immediately take a deep breath and tell yourself, "I'll be asleep again soon."
Get up. If you're not asleep within ten minutes of shutting off the light, leave your bed, go into another room and read or listen to music. When you start feeling drowsy, go back to bed. Once again, if you don't nod off within ten minutes, get up again. The goal: to associate your bed with slumber, not sleeplessness.
Hypnotize yourself. Many people use a form of self-hypnosis to fall asleep. As you lie in bed, breathe deeply, relax your muscles and repeat a simple message, such as, "I am getting sleepy. I am getting sleepy. I am getting sleepy."
Try to stay awake. This approach, called paradoxical intention, may sound contradictory. Rather than worrying about falling asleep fast, you tell yourself you're going to stay awake as long as you can. With the pressure off, you can stop worrying and start sleeping.
Cut back on your sleep time. If you force yourself to spend less time in bed, a technique called sleep restriction, your body becomes more efficient at sleeping. Insomniacs, who often spend hours in bed trying to sleep, fall asleep faster and wake less frequently when their total sack time is limited.
Play mind games. If your body is weary, but your mind is racing, some mental maneuvers can speed your way to sleep:
Count sheep -- or ducks, or peacocks, or zebras. You can distract both halves of your brain by conjuring up a detailed picture of how they look while counting how many are skipping through your mind.
Play alphabet games. List girls' names, boys' names, states, countries, trees, flowers, food, presidents, animals, and so on, in alphabetical order.
Imagine yourself painting a tall, long wall with a tiny brush. Count your strokes as you dab on the paint.
Imagine you've just won one million dollars in the lottery. Make plans for saving and spending it.
Tell yourself that if you don't fall asleep, you'll have to get up and do an unpleasant chore. (You may have to make good on this threat for a few nights.)
Think of famous people with double initials: AA, BB, CC, and so on: Alan Alda, Brigitte Bardot, Cyd Charisse and so forth.
Name every city, then every country, that begins with q, z, or y.
masturbate!
make urself stay up when u wake up till like 9 or 10 p.m.
drink hot milk
This is pretty personal. I usually jack off and fall at sleep due to its fatigue if I couldn't sleep.
I wish I knew. Maybe if you act like LiLo and go on an alcohol binge, you will pass out for a couple of hours. LOL
pills
you don't go to school ??
"im 13 but never sleep anymore! i always fall asleep at like 3 and wake up at 2:30! i want to get back to sleeping normally. but i dont want to take any pills"
That's about 11 1/2 hours of sleep right there, so you DO sleep. As for getting back on a normal sleep cycle again, buy a bottle of 3mg melatonin at your local drugstore and take one every night when everyone else in your family is going to sleep. When you're finally back on track, then quit taking them. Melatonin is a natural hormone the body produces to help you go to sleep, so it's considered a supplement, not a drug.
To the person who asked about her going to school: It's summer break for them, dingbat.
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