Tag: sleep

How to Quiet an Active Mind for Better Sleep

Posted on by simonc

Not Sleepy? Stay Up

It’s helpful to stick to a consistent bedtime, but sometimes your mind may be too active for sleep. If that happens, don’t force yourself to lie down. Doing relaxing activities like taking a warm bath or listening to soothing music can help calm your mind until you feel sleepy. This way, you’ll spend less time in bed and more time asleep.

Put Off Paying the Bills

Thinking about stressful things like work or money can keep your mind busy. It’s better to handle bills and emails another day. Also, avoid watching intense movies, TV shows, or news. Logging out of social media can also help because even just reading or watching arguments online can make it hard to relax.

Make a To-Do List

It’s tough to fall asleep when your mind is racing with all the things you need to do. Take a few minutes before bed to write down everything you need to do the next day. This way, you can clear your mind and sleep better.

Let Your Muscles Fully Relax

Relax your body to ease stress from your mind. Lie down flat and let your body become loose. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, tense and relax each part of your body one by one, starting from your toes and working your way up to your forehead. Feel the tension melt away as you do this, and enjoy the feeling of relaxation.

Slow Your Breath, Slow Your Mind

You can use your breath to help calm your body and quiet your mind. Put your hand on your heart and feel its beat. Breathe in deeply for 4 seconds, then exhale slowly. Keep repeating this until you feel your heartbeat slow down. Your thoughts should start to calm down too.

Make Your Bedroom a No-Screen Zone

Your phone, tablet, and other screens can disrupt your sleep because they emit blue light. This light tells your body to stay awake by stopping the production of melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy. Plus, the noises and notifications from these devices can wake you up during the night. To sleep better, it’s best to keep computers, TVs, and your phone out of your bedroom.

Meditate

Learn to relax your mind whenever you need to, and falling asleep will become easier. If you’re new to meditation, it’s helpful to choose something to focus on. You can focus on the sound of your breath or repeat a calming phrase in your head, like “I am calm.” At first, you might find it hard to stop your thoughts. It’s okay to take a break after a minute or two, but try again the next night. Eventually, you’ll be able to meditate for longer periods.

Call Out Your Worries

If your worries are stuck in your head, they can keep growing. Say them out loud, and they might disappear. You can try this trick: Start saying the alphabet in your head. After a few letters, say something out loud. Did you notice that your ABCs stopped? That’s what can happen when you speak your worries out loud.

Channel Your Inner Yogi

Many people find yoga helpful for better sleep. You can try the “child’s pose” before bed. Kneel on the floor with your big toes together. Spread your knees hip-width apart and lower your chest towards your thighs. Let your forehead touch the ground. If you have issues with your hips or knees, you can try the “corpse pose” instead. Lie on your back, with your legs apart and arms resting by your sides. Take a deep breath out and feel yourself relaxing into the floor. Stay in either pose for 3-5 minutes.

Go Ahead and Worry

Spoiler alert: You can’t get rid of all your worries forever. The more you try not to stress, the more you might feel stressed. One way to help is to set aside a “worry time” during your day. Pick a short time to sit quietly. Think about the things that are worrying you and how you might solve them. Doing this may help you worry less and sleep better.

How Much Melatonin Should You Take To Reap Its Benefits?

Posted on by simonc

Melatonin is yet another hormone that we can find in our bodies naturally. Its main purpose is to regulate our sleep and wake cycle, which directly correlates to our night and day cycles too. If you have trouble falling asleep, you probably have lower melatonin levels. While melatonin is certainly powerful for situations like jet-lag, or daily sleep cycle changes; you should dose it appropriately. You can actually “overdose” on melatonin, so it is good to know how much melatonin should you take to gain the most benefits!

Can You Actually Overdose On Melatonin?

Taking too much of a melatonin dose from supplements can actually do the opposite of what you want – disrupt your sleep-wake cycle (circadian rhythm). Other than that, some negative side effects may occur. You may feel tired and very sleepy during the day because of the circadian rhythm disruption. Also, you may get some excessively vivid dreams during the night. Other common symptoms of too much melatonin are dizziness, headaches, nausea, anxiety, and muscle joint pain. One dangerous cause of too much melatonin is increased blood pressure.

Determining the melatonin overdose is often hard because it depends on several factors. These factors are age, body weight, and sensitivity to melatonin itself.

So, you can overdose on melatonin, technically. Of course, the overdose won’t be fatal, as this is just a hormone. Nevertheless, you should pay attention to your melatonin dosage.

So, How Much Melatonin Should You Take For Optimal Benefits?

Most studies conclude that taking melatonin in low doses is the most effective way to reduce insomnia and promote better sleep quality. Generally, you should start with doses between 0,2mg to 5mg, as this range is the safest starting dose. Make sure to dose melatonin an hour or hour and a half before sleep. That way, you will ensure the best sleep quality for yourself.

Of course, the recommended dose of melatonin depends on your age, your body weight and height ration, as well as your sensitivity to the hormone. If you don’t feel the benefits of melatonin on your sleep quality, you can increase your dose for a bit. Just don’t go over the top with the dosage, and always take the melatonin supplement before you go to sleep at night.

Also, please don’t take melatonin supplements with alcohol and caffeine, as these two substances interfere with your sleep-wake cycle and your natural production of melatonin.

Melatonin supplementation is certainly effective for increasing your sleep quality, and is actually one of the best approved supplements for depression! Nevertheless, for some people, melatonin will just make things harder. Some people are overly sensitive to its effects, even at low doses. If you notice that this supplement isn’t helping you sleep better, even with the higher dosage, you should consult with a specialist to determine the cause.

Anyway, we hope that now you know how much melatonin should you take to reap its benefits! It certainly has many benefits, from improving the sleep quality to boosting the moods.