Do you sleep like a baby or a bear? You always hear about how important it is to get sleep. And there are many reasons to do so, but did you know that weight loss is one of the reasons to get more sleep? The more you are trying to lose weight the more you need to get regular sleep. This admonition is all well and good, but I have trouble going to sleep, staying asleep, and going back to sleep. So, what can I do to try to get more sleep, and more regular sleep?
I’ve been advised to count sheep (or something like that)… the details of the advice are simple: count backwards from 200. I ignored the advice for a few weeks and then I took a yoga workshop at the beginning of this year (which was an awesome workshop held by Nancy Cottong). During the workshop we did a deep meditation and relaxation where you don’t want to fall asleep, you just want to relax, deeply. Nancy had us count backwards from 200 and if we got to 0, we were instructed to start over. She would ring a gong every so often so that we stayed in a deep relaxation phase without falling asleep. I started over twice, or at least I only remember starting over twice. We were in savasana for 45 minutes. It felt like 15.After that workshop, I was a believer. I’ve been counting backwards from 200 almost every night since. In fact I tried it last night and I tried it every time I woke up in the middle of the night waiting for my alarm clock to go off at 4:30 am… And my fitbit sleep reading says it takes me an average of 7 minutes to fall asleep. (Sometimes it doesn’t feel like 7 minutes and feels much longer). I rarely get past 180 before falling asleep. 200, breathe in, 199 breathe out, 198 breathe in, 197 breathe out, 196 breathe in, shootwhat number was I on? and so on. I don’t ever remember getting past 134.
I have slept much better since trying this counting techique. It forces you to forget everythign else and focus on a number. This focus lets go of the rest of the things floating around inside your head. It forces all other thoughts out. It forces you to relax (AND fall asleep).
I know all of the regular recommended things to try to fall asleep – keep a regular sleep routine, try to go to bed at the same time each nght, don’t watch scary, active movies or news before going to bed; don’t spend too much time on screen activities with the back lighting before bedtime, block out all ambient light, etc., etc. None of that made much of huge difference except the regular bedtime until I tried the backwards counting. It’s not exactly counting sheep, but it is a sleep technique that works for me. I encourage you to try it!
What helps you get to sleep? Sex, drugs, and rock & roll, or some other technique, like counting backwards from 200?
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