Getting the Most Out of Your Sleep

VIDEO

So many of the benefits you will get from the transformation of yourself will occur when you are fast asleep. Pro athletes will tell you that, as much as they work during the daytime, the actual rest, recovery, and building of new muscle occurs at nighttime while they are unconscious.

As you go through this process of detoxification and regeneration, rest is such an important factor. However, with the world we live in and the constant pressure, I realize that many individuals cannot afford to take a walk around the garden in the morning, do yoga, take a long meditation in the afternoon, and do things like this during the day. It’s just not always realistic to fit that into somebody’s schedule given the day-to-day demands of making a living or raising a family.

For me personally, I struggled a lot with this over the years because my days were jam-packed with working my butt off and trying to put myself in a better position and solve some economic problems I was having. This caused me to neglect to a certain degree what so many natural wellness people will tell you about taking personal time for yourself and enjoying the present moment.

If this sounds like yourself in any way, that means that the importance of sleep is that much more paramount. Because if you are firing on all cylinders throughout the day, you need to make sure that you are maximizing the benefits and effects you are getting at nighttime when you are asleep. There are a few key elements that have helped my rest and recovery tremendously, and I want to share them with you.

First of all, try and keep your room as dark as possible that you are sleeping in. This can be a bit challenging and could perhaps take an afternoon of creative thinking and handiwork. The idea is to try and replicate the experience of you being in a cave, from an anthropological point of view. The deeper you are in a cave, the darker it would be, and the most deeply you would be able to slumber. This makes natural sense, because the more deeper and insulated your shelter was back in the old days (in the cave), the more protected you would be from threats, so it would make sense for you to be able to sleep more deeply.

There are actually numerous studies and scientific investigations confirming that the darker your sleep environment is, the more meaningful rest you will get — so don’t just take it from me.

Blackout curtains can be expensive, so you can also consider a DIY solution. You can simply use blankets which tend to work pretty well, although you’ll need a thick enough blanket to make sure no light is coming through the fabric. Typically with the blinds of the window pulled down, and also a thick blanket, you can block out 99-100% of light coming in at night. You can put a nail in the wall or a thumbtack (make sure it’s the large kind with a large knob on it and not the smaller thumbtacks) and cut a little hole in the corner of the blanket to hang it up on all four corners surrounding the window. This works as a solution that can be hung up at night and taken off during the day, because I realize that some people still want to look through their bedroom windows during the day.

You should also consider getting insulation strips which can be attached to the edges of a bedroom door, creating a complete seal when the door is shut in the frame — otherwise, you’ll get light coming through the cracks of the door.

Personally, I sleep in the pitch black. It takes some getting used to, but once you do, let me tell you — it will be the deepest and most effective sleep you have ever had.

Another thing you may consider doing is lowering the temperature in which you sleep — and again, please don’t take it from me. There have been so many scientific confirmations especially from the pro athlete community that recovery and rebuilding of tissue occurs faster and more effectively at a lower temperature. You are ultimately like a piece of produce — you will last longer and stay fresher when kept in the cold. The colder temperature will also encourage alkalizing benefits of the body, as cold is naturally alkalizing to body chemistry.

If you’ve been sleeping at 72 or 73 degrees Fahrenheit, try sliding down the temperature to 70, 68, or even lower. Personally, I keep it at 66 degrees. When I am below the covers, it is completely cozy and I am snug as a bug under a rug (although if I do have to get up for some reason, it is slightly chilly). This is the ideal target area of temperature because it shouldn’t be so cold when you’re in bed where it actually distracts you from falling asleep.

Just as you might notice the difference after eliminating artificial light coming through and interfering with your sleep quality, so too does sleeping in a colder temperature make a huge difference. Once I discovered this, my healing and recovery during sleep really went to a whole other level.

Something else you might consider is using a weighted blanket. I sleep with a 30-pound weighted blanket, and it has helped me fall asleep faster, wake up less times in the night, and achieve deeper slumber. There is just a very cozy feeling about it that feels like you are constantly being embraced in a hug by your own blanket. Consider trying it out for yourself.

RapidRegeneration.com/WeightedBlanket

I would be remiss not to mention the benefits you can get of sleeping using a fitted sheet, top sheet, and pillowcases made from fabric which has silver threads sewn in, and a connecting plug which is plugged into the grounding outlet on a wall socket. This therefore connects the silver conductive thread to the frequency of the grounding rod which is buried three feet into the nearby earth (you can learn more details in another segment when I cover Grounding / Earthing in greater detail). I can’t overemphasize how intensely good it feels to snuggle up under the covers being surrounding by this frequency, feeling my body heal and repair itself as I lie there resting, and how much more clarity and energy I have felt upon waking after putting this into place.

RapidRegeneration.com/Grounding

EMFs, electronic pollution and radiation are also covered in another section, but I will re-emphasize here that, to the degree that you wish to have clear, uninterrupted rest and recovery, you should remove electronic interference from your sleeping environment. Consider turning your phone to airplane mode right before you go to Dreamland.

You can also utilize crystals to create certain frequencies and vibrations around your bed or sleeping area. This is a fascinating creative area and you can play around to see what you respond to. Sleeping is really a divine gift, and a chance to connect with other dimensions through our dreams, which you can enhance in this way if you wish.

RapidRegeneration.com/Crystals

Also, how about the air you are breathing while slumbering? It should be clean and pure as possible. I use an air purifier for my room. I actually also enjoy using a humidifier as well, filling it with water from my shower (filtered by my shower filter) and this seems to be quite soothing and relaxing.

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RapidRegeneration.com/Humidifier

Lastly, I would like to mention a couple things you can do in the daytime in order to fall asleep more quickly and easily at nighttime. First, you can exercise in the morning or early in your day. When you do so, it changes your hormone production through the day, and by the time the day is winding down, you’ll find yourself ready to rest and recover and hit the sack with great aplomb. Exercise and sleep are a marriage made in heaven, as each one enhances the other.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that it would be ideal to not eat at least two hours before bedtime. This gives enough time to allow your body to digest the food. By the time you finally do go prone (horizontal), your body does not have to devote any more energy to your digestive organs. At this point, it can fully focus all resources on rest, recovery, and regeneration of your different systems.

We live in a world with constant artificial stimulation, in this case specifically in reference to artificial lights coming from screens, lights, electronic devices, cars, and many other sources. This throws off our circadian rhythm and tricks our optic nerves into thinking the sun is still out. This can delay how long it takes you to fall asleep, and after falling asleep can delay the process of your brain and body dropping into truly deep sleep cycles.

You can use certain settings on your phone and computer which will change the light after a certain hour, eliminating blue light. I actually keep this engaged all day long anyway, because I am concerned about the intensity of the light being unhealthy to look at for hours every day. This can immensely help you not stay up so late or keep you awake at night.

You can also invest in a pair of ‘blue-blocking’ glasses. These glasses block out all frequencies of light which will overstimulate the optic nerves in your eyes and keep you awake. I like to wear them at least 30 minutes or perhaps 1 hour before bedtime, when I am wrapping up my day, doing some light reading, taking care of some tasks on the computer, doing my nighttime stretching routine, or brushing my teeth. After about a half hour and definitely after one hour of wearing the glasses, I definitely feel tired and ready to fall asleep. This has helped me immensely to fall asleep faster and get deeper sleep.

RapidRegeneration.com/NightGlasses

The same concept applies if you have to get up and go to the bathroom at night. If you do this, and turn on the light, it is very disruptive and confusing to your brain — once you go back to bed, you’ve completely interrupted your sleep cycle. Consider getting a nightlight which is a very low light, and keep the night glasses in your bathroom. Put them on if you have to use the bathroom, then turn on your nightlight. You’ll likely notice you’ll fall back asleep instantly and experience no significant interruption to your sleep cycle. I have gone so far recently as to go to the bathroom if needed in the middle of the night without any light whatsoever, and have noticed an ever greater degree of rest and recovery.

RapidRegeneration.com/NightLight

One other thing you can do is get an alarm clock that uses light to wake you up rather than sound. This is such a refreshing way to wake up and start the day. Because I am not a fan of lights which emit electronic radiation that is more resembling EMF pollution like LED, I actually recommend plugging it into a lamp which uses an incandescent light bulb.

Since switching to this method of waking up, I have been waking up in a good mood, in that mindset of the divine, having just come from the dream world. I can take a few minutes and lie there in my bed before getting up in the warm light. I’ve even started keeping a dream journal. This never used to happen when I would be jolted awake in a jarring fashion by some noise coming from my phone which is a very annoying way to start my day and caused me to have to get up to go turn it off.

RapidRegeneration.com/AlarmClock

I almost forgot to mention the importance of getting enough sleep. While I do understand there is a small minority of individuals who seem to be wired differently, and just don’t seem to need as much sleep as the rest of us, for the rest of you out there, please don’t neglect getting enough sleep. What’s the point of going to these extra measures to create an ideal sleeping environment, if you are just going to try and pull off getting five or six hours of sleep instead of the seven and a half or eight hours that you know you need.

I can personally feel a huge difference when I get eight hours of sleep versus six, especially since I stopped drinking caffeine. Eight hours seems to be the natural healthy amount for an adult. I realize that the world is demanding and sometimes this is not always possible.

In you get behind on sleep, try and compensate later in the week. It’s been said that you can’t catch up on sleep. To some degree I believe this is true, because if you deprive yourself of sleep long enough, it can cause some cellular trauma ultimately that can be engrained. However, there have also been studies showing that a sleep / rest cycle for a human operates more along a weekly basis than it does on a daily basis. So try and make up for it on another night, and sleep extra time. If you have found it hard to sleep in before late into the morning, try implementing the dark environment and I think you’ll find as long as it is completely dark you’ll have no problem continuing to sleep if you really do need the rest.

Sleep is going to be your best friend as you travel from where you are now to where you want to be in terms of your health goals, which will no doubt involve transforming your body (as well as your mind). To do that, you will absolutely need to consider all of the details that go into creating an ultimate, restful sleep experience — you will achieve far greater results taking great care in this area.

You’re going to be spending almost a third of your life asleep. Set yourself up for success by using these strategic methodologies that have taken me many years to distill. Once you have done that, going to bed, getting under the covers, and drifting off to a deep, beautiful sleep will be the easy part. Goodnight…