The internet is full of articles on how to sleep better. Sleeping better and trying to sleep better may seem like a paradoxical idea. Most people have, at some time or the other, tossed and turned, fought with their pillows, and risen for several bathroom breaks in an effort to catch some beauty sleep. However, it has proved to be illusive.
Art of Living teacher, speaker, and co-author of a book called Ready Study Go! – Smart Ways to Learn, Khurshed Batliwala believes one can do things to sleep better. The wellness lover, who also has a sensitive side demonstrated in his love for food and music, believes good sleep can easily be induced by adopting good habit patterns. In addition, he believes some practices must be avoided if one wants to effortlessly drift away into ‘a blissful state’.
Melatonin barriers
It is important to avoid exposure to white and blue light after sunset. “It delays your melatonin cycle,” Batliwala explains. “Melatonin is the ready-set-go to the brain to start the sleep process. For every hour of white or blue light exposure melatonin secretion is delayed by about half an hour. Ideally, melatonin secretion should start at around 10 pm. But say from 7 pm to 10 pm you have gone for a film which is all white and blue light. In that case, melatonin secretion will only start around 11:30 pm or 12 am, which will delay the sleep process. The second thing is getting morning light. Just as melatonin starts the sleep cycle, there are chemicals which start the awake cycle. You need to be fully awake to be fully asleep. One needs 1000 lux of light every day before noon for an hour. Sitting in a cubby office hole is not so good. Sunlight needs to go to the eyes. So if you’re sunbathing the whole day with goggles on, it’s not going to count towards your 1000 lux, because the goggles are filtering out the white light. So in the evening you want to ban it, in the day you want to have it. The third thing I would say is to get off any sort of caffeine after 2 pm or 3 pm. For your body to remove half the caffeine that you have had in one cup of coffee it would require 8 hours. Say, you have coffee at 4 pm, your body is not ready to sleep till 12 am.”
“Teenagers need to sleep late. Asking a teenager to sleep at 10 pm, which is what most parents do, is like asking an adult to go to sleep at 6 pm. It’s an evolutionary response.”
Not too much
An insomniac’s existence is often a life of being moody, being irritable, losing one’s temper often, and a feeling where the world seems like a weight. Performance at the workplace slacks off, relationships are affected and the quality of life may not be as satisfactory. Batliwala talks about not creating associations in the mind of one’s bed with discomfort. “If you cannot sleep, get out of bed. You want to equate your bed with comfort. Don’t toss and turn in bed because then it becomes an indicator to the brain saying, ‘Hey, this is not a
nice place’. So if you cannot sleep, sit on a chair and read a book until you feel sleepy.”
Batliwala has devoted a major portion of an upcoming book called the Happiness Express to sleep. Due to release by the end of November, the book elaborates on five pointers that will enhance one’s probability of happiness.
‘Sleep is for wimps’
It may even be so that some among us are “special”. Batliwala says that there are some who have a genetic mutation that enables them to survive with very little sleep. He alludes to ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who supposedly said, “Sleep is for wimps”. “About 99% of the population needs seven and a half hours of sleep. However, there are a few adults with a genetic mutation who can get away with less sleep. But they are one in a few million. So chances are you are not one of them. Margaret Thatcher didn’t need much sleep because she had that genetic mutation.”
“About 99% of the population needs seven and a half hours of sleep. However, there are a few adults with a genetic mutation who can get away with less sleep. But they are one in a few million.”
The ‘undisciplined’ teen
Ever wondered why teens sleep till noon and often found sleeping through breakfast during days off from school? Studies have shown that a teenager’s biological clock corresponds with stages of puberty which leads to later sleep and wake-up times. Batliwala emphasises the point, “Teenagers need to sleep late. Asking a teenager to sleep at 10 pm, which is what most parents do, is like asking an adult to go to sleep at 6 pm. It’s an evolutionary response. You don’t want the entire village going to sleep at the same time. So the youngest, strongest, healthiest are programmed to sleep a little later because they can handle whatever danger might occur at night. After the age of 23 – 24 it shifts back to adult sleeping. Seventy percent of people will sleep between 11 pm – 7 am which is ideal. Someone or the other is awake to take care of danger. One big thing that can help education in this country is to start colleges at 11 am. Finland has done this over the last 15 years and they are now considered to be offering the best education in the world. No college or school (in Finland) starts before 11 am. So the kids get to sleep during the time that they are supposed to sleep. Right now in our country, it is an adult-oriented business model. I think that is what is causing so many disorders. You keep hearing about ADHD, and all kinds of crazy diseases. I feel not enough rest (for teenagers) is the problem.”
Batliwala’s tips to sleep better
1. Sleep a little early, by 11 pm.
2. Eat early, before 8 pm.
3. Create a bedtime ritual. Don’t go to sleep wearing your day clothes. “It’s a disgusting habit,” says Batliwala. Get into your pyjamas. You need to give signals to your body that you are now getting ready for sleep. You could have a hot water bath, maybe a hot chocolate or herbal tea. You could snuggle into bed with a nice book.
4. Most new phones come with a white and blue light filter. On IOS it’s called Night Shift, on Android it’s called Twilight. Set your phones and gadgets to remove white and blue light in the night. For computer screens there is f.lux which you can install which adjusts “colour temperature” depending on the time of day and the location. New TVs also have features that help one sleep better and Batliwala says that one doesn’t even notice when day and night mode kick in.