I feel desperate in my need for sleep. It takes me several hours to fall asleep and when I finally do fall asleep it lasts for 2 to 3 hours if I am lucky. I then wake up and am unable to fall back asleep. I feel thoroughly exhausted. I am trying to remain upbeat and positive but the lack of sleep is getting to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Sick of Being Tired
Karla Says:
Sleeping issues can be extremely stressful and ironically they are often caused by stress. So first I will share some solutions then I would like to address the cause. First and foremost no caffeine 8 hours prior to sleep. Next I encourage you to incorporate exercise. Exercise is essential for overall health but especially for sleep. Exercise will help regulate your hormones and reduce stress. I encourage you to have a routine prior to sleep. Wind down and sit quietly. Next prior to getting in bed while you are still sitting up I invite you to try this breathing technique that has been highly successful for many of my clients and patients. Close your eyes and inhale through your left nostril and think the number 100 imagine that the breath reaches to the space between your eyes... then exhale from your right nostril and think 99.... inhale through your right nostril and think 98 imagine the breath reaching the space between the eyes... exhale through the left nostril and think 97.... Keep going until you reach zero. Please note it is not important if your actually physically breathing through your left or right nostril what is important is the intention. This breathing technique helps to balance the left and right brain and it can be quite soothing. This is a good time to lay down and try to sleep. Once you are lying down f you are having a hard time instead of counting sheep simply count down from 100 to 0. Use your breath thinking of 100 with the inhale... 99 with the exhale... inhale think 98 and you keep going until you fall asleep. Once you are asleep if you wake up again count down from one hundred using the second technique until you fall asleep.
Sleeping issues are often caused by stress. It is essential to deal with the cause. Stress will always be present in your life so it is important to change your mental reaction. This will take time, perseverance and dedication. Every time you feel stressed I invite you to close your eyes and take a deep breath. Have present in your mind a moment in your life when you felt complete peace... focus on the peaceful feeling for a full minute or more until you calm down. This is a lifestyle shift you must make if you are to deal with the heart of the problem. Changing our mind on a foundational level takes time and intention but the results are amazing and have the power to change all aspects of your life. I wish you the absolute best!!! May you find peace and sleep.
Fabian Say's:
Yes sleep is important to rejuvenate the body, mind and soul. We always hear that statement, so is it really true? We all want to get a good night sleep because we think it will make us perform better, so from the start you are programming yourself to think if sleep is missing, performance goes down. Scientist's have said the most complex efficient computers in existence is the human body, it can fix itself over time, it has several operational systems that are independent of each other yet they all work in conjunction to accomplish a single mission, it knows when to shut down systems to maximize production and it does not need an outside entity to function. So why do individuals choose to tell them self’s, things that are contradictory to what the body and mind can accomplish. We all know the saying “sleep when you’re dead” and if we hear someone famous talk about what got them to where they are, they would say I only sleep “X amount of hours a night”. They live that philosophy of “sleep when you are dead”. I found this list which is from interviews or personal accounts of several individuals and their sleep habits:
1. Jay Leno – four hours
"He subsists on four hours' sleep per night. Out of fifty-two weeks, he gets
four weeks off, during which time he is miserable. "I hate those weeks off," he
tells me. "To me, a week's vacation just means you're now a week behind."
2. Madonna – four hours
"Madonna has revealed she only grabs four hours' sleep a night because she
constantly worries about everything that is going on her life."
3. Florence Nightingale – four hours
"Florence Nightingale only slept four hours a night"
4. Anton Ballard – four hours
"Ballard keeps pushing himself to get better. He averages around four hours of
sleep per night, and works about 12 hours each day between his meat counter and
his studio."
5. Michelangelo – four hours
"Both aboriginal peoples and highly creative people (such as Thomas Edison and
Michelangelo) rarely sleep for more than four hours at a time."
6. Napoleon Bonaparte – four hours
"Napoleon Bonaparte learned to live with the fact that he was only existing on
three or four hours sleep a night and got on with his grand schemes."
7. Bill Clinton – five to six hours
"President Clinton grabs 5-6 hours"
8. Winston Churchill – six hours
"It was claimed he only spent 6 hours in bed every night. However, he wrote
that one needs to take a complete nap every afternoon, to get fully undressed
and really go to bed. No "halfway measures". He claimed the reward was to "get
two days in one - well, at least one and a half, I'm sure." He claimed this nap
was absolutely necessary to cope with his responsibilities during the war. His
naps were 1.5 to 2 hours long, for a total of about 8 hours a day!"
9. Nikola Tesla – two hours
"He is said, by some of his followers, to only have slept 2 hours a day. He was
definitely a night owl. But his staff has told of him taking many naps during
the day. And it seems he may have been narcoleptic, and able to sleep with his
eyes open."
10. Leonardo Da Vinci – 15 mins every four hours (ie. 1.5 hours)
" It was said that he would sleep just 15 minutes of every four hours."
11. Margaret Thatcher – four hours
"Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister, was famous for getting by on
only four hours a night."
12. Martha Stewart – four hours
"“There’s not enough time in the day,” complains the woman who says she needs
no more than four hours’ sleep a night."
13. Thomas Edison – four hours
"Thomas Edison slept 3-4 hours at night, regarding sleep as a waste of time"
"He subsists on four hours' sleep per night. Out of fifty-two weeks, he gets
four weeks off, during which time he is miserable. "I hate those weeks off," he
tells me. "To me, a week's vacation just means you're now a week behind."
2. Madonna – four hours
"Madonna has revealed she only grabs four hours' sleep a night because she
constantly worries about everything that is going on her life."
3. Florence Nightingale – four hours
"Florence Nightingale only slept four hours a night"
4. Anton Ballard – four hours
"Ballard keeps pushing himself to get better. He averages around four hours of
sleep per night, and works about 12 hours each day between his meat counter and
his studio."
5. Michelangelo – four hours
"Both aboriginal peoples and highly creative people (such as Thomas Edison and
Michelangelo) rarely sleep for more than four hours at a time."
6. Napoleon Bonaparte – four hours
"Napoleon Bonaparte learned to live with the fact that he was only existing on
three or four hours sleep a night and got on with his grand schemes."
7. Bill Clinton – five to six hours
"President Clinton grabs 5-6 hours"
8. Winston Churchill – six hours
"It was claimed he only spent 6 hours in bed every night. However, he wrote
that one needs to take a complete nap every afternoon, to get fully undressed
and really go to bed. No "halfway measures". He claimed the reward was to "get
two days in one - well, at least one and a half, I'm sure." He claimed this nap
was absolutely necessary to cope with his responsibilities during the war. His
naps were 1.5 to 2 hours long, for a total of about 8 hours a day!"
9. Nikola Tesla – two hours
"He is said, by some of his followers, to only have slept 2 hours a day. He was
definitely a night owl. But his staff has told of him taking many naps during
the day. And it seems he may have been narcoleptic, and able to sleep with his
eyes open."
10. Leonardo Da Vinci – 15 mins every four hours (ie. 1.5 hours)
" It was said that he would sleep just 15 minutes of every four hours."
11. Margaret Thatcher – four hours
"Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister, was famous for getting by on
only four hours a night."
12. Martha Stewart – four hours
"“There’s not enough time in the day,” complains the woman who says she needs
no more than four hours’ sleep a night."
13. Thomas Edison – four hours
"Thomas Edison slept 3-4 hours at night, regarding sleep as a waste of time"
Now I remember being in the Marine Corps and only having to survive on couple hours of sleep a night and still performed well the next day, I also remember being in school and after only couple hours of sleep did poorly. I think it is the task you are doing that makes you feel the way you do not the fact you only received couple hours of sleep. You might be bored in the task you are doing and your body is telling you something. Get a hobby that will require physical, mental and spiritual fatigue outside of your professional life, this might do the trick. If all else fails having wild SEX before bed time will tire you out and might keep you asleep throughout the night.
