Sleeping Gadgets

USE NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES

Certain models of in-ear headphones are designed to isolate outside noise by 35dB. Best used for airplane rides, studying, or while meditating to

Shure SE530 Sound Isolating Earphones
 Etymotic ER-6i
 Sony Fontopia in-ear headphones


USE A BRIGHT LIGHT ALARM
Everyone has their preferred method of waking up. If jumping out of the bed to an obnoxious buzz isn’t your thing, then you might prefer a light alarm. Light alarms wake you up with, well, light. The light gradually increases in intensity for an easy transition into wakefulness.


USE A SUN BOX
Sunlight resets the body clock and stabilizes circadian rhythm, which promotes proper timing and release of hormones. This is why lack of sunlight causes depression and low energy.
Sunlight is good, but we can’t control its timing or intensity. There will always be cloudy days and winter months. This is where technology comes in.
Light boxes simulate sunlight by producing a wide spectrum of light. Normal artificial lights do affect circadian rhythm, but not nearly as much due to their limited wavelength spectrum.
Unfortunately, few people think to use light boxes outside of therapy for S.A.D. or circadian disorders. Yet they’re the perfect sleep hacker tool for even healthy sleepers.
Turn on a light box for 30 minutes in the morning as you work at your desk. Circadian rhythm balances, energy increases, sleep quality increases, performance and mood increase.
Cheat nature by using a light box during winter months or cloudy days. Strut around with better mood and more energy while everyone around you mopes because they assumed light boxes were only for those with "disorders".
The two most popular models currently are by


THE SLEEPTRACKER WATCH
 SleepTracker watch. You wear it at night like any watch, but it can detect where you are in a sleep cycle. In light stages your body tosses and turns a bit, although we never know it. In REM our bodies are paralyzed and in deep sleep our muscles are relaxed and motionless. The SleepTracker watch can detect movement from light stages, so it always knows when you’re in a light stage and when you’re in a non-light stage. Its alarm only goes off during light stages. You wake up feeling refreshed and energetic.
Your brain cycles through the different stages of sleep, oscillating between Deep sleep, and light/REM sleep at a period of about 90 minutes.
Deep sleep is very important for cognitive performance. A lot of "neural housecleaning" occurs during deep sleep, which makes it so important for mood, performance, motor skills, productivity, and creativity.
Deep sleep has specifically been evolutionarily programmed to not be interrupted. Some researchers suspect that one of the main reasons light sleep evolved was to act as a transition stage to and from deep sleep and to provide opportunities for awakening. During deep sleep your cerebral cortex – the consciousness part of your brain – nearly shuts off. Neural activity in the cerebral cortex break down into little islands that can't talk to one another.

This is why we feel groggy when we’re woken up from deep sleep. Our cerebral cortex (i.e. our consciousness) is turned off! It takes 20m of waking activity for it to reboot itself. There are thought to be health consequences too, since you’re not giving your brain the opportunity to finish what it started.

A cool sleep hacker tool is the

USE AN MP3 ALARM CLOCK

Use your computer as an alarm clock. Download alarm clock software to play your favorite mp3s as an alternative to the obnoxious
Picking your favorite wake-up song has some advantages. Choose something that really strikes a positive nerve in you. Waking up will be easier. Or go for a gradual wake-up process choose a long mp3 that you can soak into your conscious for a few minutes before hopping out of bed.
Got a Mac?
Use Windows? Download beep beep beep beep... Use Alarm Clock 2.0 for OS X. Citrus Alarm Clock. NatureBright and Apollo. - $40. Can be found on Amazon for around $25. Sound quality is average (but much better than the default iPod headphones). Reduces outside noise by 10dB, compared to 35dB from the Etymotic ER-6i’s. Still the best in the low-end price range. - $150. Optimized for use with iPods. Stellar sound quality. Isolates outside noise very well (by 35dB… you won’t be able to hear the TV). To the extent that a human being can fall in love with tiny headphones, I have certainly fallen in love with these things. Amazon has them for $75 now.- $500. Expensive, but these headphones are heavenly. A dream for audiophiles. Easily the most popular headphone in this price range. Amazon has them for almost $100 off. meditation CDs.

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Optimize Your Sleep Environment

SLEEP IN COMPLETE DARKNESS

The tiniest amount of light can disrupt circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. LEDs from alarm clocks and computers, although dim, actually do have a measurable effect on sleep quality. Darker sleep increases melatonin which increases sleep quality and promotes good health. Turn off or cover all LEDs.

If you wake up to go to the bathroom, turning the light on will immediately cease all production of melatonin. Don’t drink water to the point where you have to wake up at night. It seems like a small detail, but the pineal gland really is that sensitive.
Sleep masks

SLEEP IN THE COLD
Temperature is closely linked with circadian rhythm. Core body temperature drops around bed time. Sleep in a cool room so as to not counteract your circadian rhythm.
Cool temperature will give you higher quality sleep. More SWS throughout the night. If possible, keep the room as cool as possible without making it uncomfortably cold. Too cold and you’ll wake up in the middle of the night.
Humans did not evolve with central heating. Our bodies were designed to sleep optimally at cooler temperatures. Most people keep their homes far too warm during night.
However, daytime naps can – some experts say

should – be taken at warmer temperatures. are effective, too. I don’t use one every night, but I own one because it’s good to have around. If I’ve been sleeping poorly for a few days, I start using a sleep mask for an easy and effective sleep quality boost.

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Learn To Lucid Dream

Lucid dreaming occurs when you become conscious during a dream. This allows you to control your dream character.
Lucid dreaming is a skill. Anyone can learn it, but it takes time and practice. The time and practice are well worth it. I had my first lucid dream 5 months after hearing about it. Some people are faster learners.

The most common way to induce a lucid dream is to program yourself to notice the "weird" stuff in dreams… you perform "reality checks" to see if you’re dreaming or not. For example, you might be dreaming and notice that you can’t read the numbers on a clock. "Why can’t I read those numbers? I can normally read… wait, this must be a dream". Then

Check out the excellent website

USE LUCID DREAMING TO CULTIVATE PEAK PERFORMANCE, SOLVE PROBLEMS, AND OVERCOME FEARS
Dream imagery is convincingly real and vivid. There’s depth, color, dimension, and experience interwoven into dream imagery. An apple in a dream feels real and can be experienced with all senses, despite it only occurring in your head. On the other hand, when you imagine an apple in your head while you’re awake, it appears dim and weak, like a small flicker. Yet we rely on waking imagery all the time to envision futures, set goals, and mentally rehearse and practice skills (public speaking, sports…). Dreams can be used instead for these things. Learn to become conscious during a dream and use it to become a better public speaker, overcome the fear of approaching women, or simply envision your ideal future self.
Dreams are the most vivid type of mental imagery most people are likely to experience. The more the mental rehearsal of a skill feels like the real thing, the greater the effect it is likely to have on waking performance. Because of this, lucid dreaming, in which we can make conscious use of dream imagery, is likely to be even more useful than waking mental imagery as a tool for learning and practicing skills.
 This technique has been explored heavily with great success by the community of avid lucid dreamers. It’s a shame that a fundamentally useful skill like this hasn’t entered the mainstream.

The possibilities are limitless. Dream of approaching the opposite sex with power and self-confidence. Perform piano recitals in a lucid dream before doing it in real life. Rehearse your martial arts moves. Overcome anything. –pg 185 of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming Lucidipedia. click, you become conscious in your dream and can now control your dream character. Next step usually is to fly around for a bit then go make out with your favorite celebrity.

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Master The Art of Napping

 Sara Mednick, PhD, napping will allow you to
According to



Adult humans are naturally biphasic. We’re neurologically wired for the afternoon nap. The "afternoon dip" occurs between the 6t

Naps naturally (i.e. without an alarm) last for 20-60m, sometimes up to 90 but rarely longer. I can wake up after 20m without an alarm. If a nap lasts longer than 90m it can mean two things:
1. You are sleep deprived.
2. Your nap occurred much later than 3pm

Napping is a skill. At first you may find it difficult to fall asleep even if you’re tired. Or maybe you can’t cut your snooze button addiction and tend to oversleep naps. Give it time and practice. The effort is worth it. h and 8th hour after waking up – that’s 1pm-3pm if you rise at 7am. But there’s no hard and fast rule on when you should nap. Listen to your body.

 Increase alertness	 Speed up motor performance
 Make better decisions	 Improve perception
 Preserve youthful looks	 Improve your sex life
 Lose weight	 Reduce risk of heart attack and stroke
 Improve stamina	 Elevate mood
 Boost creativity	 Reduce stress
 Help memory	 Reduce dependence on drugs/alcohol
 Alleviate migraines	 Improve the quality of your nocturnal sleep

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Optimize Sleep Pattern Via Proper Diet

One of the greatest expenditures of energy in the body is from digestion of food. Large amounts of blood flow are directed toward the digestive system after a large meal. This means less blood flow, thus less energy, available for the brain. Low blood flow in the brain during sleep means poor sleep quality, since the brain conducts all sleep processes. So eat light in the evening. 

EAT LIGHT IN THE EVENING




EAT A SMALL PRE-BEDTIME SNACK

An overhauled digestive system is bad. But a small amount of energy in your system might improve sleep. Eat a 150 calorie snack before bedtime. Nothing artificial. Preferably no sugar or carbohydrates, unless you need aid in falling asleep. A spoonful of slow-digesting, omega-3 rich flaxseed oil is a good choice. It will be easily and slowly digested and provide energy for your body throughout the night.


DRINK CAFFEINE IN THE MORNING, NOT AT NIGHT
Caffeine in the system reduces the amount of deep sleep that occurs at night. You will wake up feeling less refreshed, and over time your body will want/require more time in bed to compensate for the poor sleep quality. You’ll have less energy, which you would fight with more caffeine. Don’t fall into this cycle.
Caffeine is safe and perhaps has decent health benefits. The key is in the timing. The safest time is in the morning, right when you wake up. The caffeine will be flushed from your system by the time you have a nap in the afternoon. By then you can have more caffeine immediately before or after the nap.
Caffeine 6 hours before bedtime will disrupt sleep.


EAT BREAKFAST
Eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking up. This does 2 things.

1. It regulates your hormonal rhythms (e.g. cortisol rhythm).
2. It acts as a zeitgeber. Just like sunlight, it will reset your body clock. Ensures that your sleep schedule is properly synced with your body clock.
It will give you more energy throughout the day and better sleep the following night.
Experiment with different foods. I prefer a smaller breakfast. Brown rice, eggs, spinach. Sometimes just a fruit smoothie (bananas, water, frozen blueberries, frozen spinach).


CONTROL YOUR CORTISOL
Levels of cortisol, the "stress hormone," spike in the morning and decrease throughout the day. Cortisol levels should be as low as possible when you go to bed. High cortisol levels during sleep drastically decrease slow-wave sleep (SWS) amount, meaning you won’t wake up refreshed.
Facilitate the natural decrease in cortisol levels by :
1. Eating breakfast in the morning
2. Eating low glycemic index meals instead of high GI meals.
3. Don’t go 5 hours without food.
4. Don’t skip meals, but don’t eat heavy meals either.
Follow these rules and cortisol will decrease, your sleep quality will improve, daily energy will improve, sleep need will reduce


AVOID FOODS THAT YOU MAY BE SENSITIVE TO

It is estimated that 70% of the population is lactose intolerant (dairy). 33% have yeast sensitivity. 15% have gluten sensitivity (wheat). And 35% have fructose or sugar sensitivity.
In other words, you probably have one of these sensitivities. And these dietary intolerances are tragically under-diagnosed. So statistically speaking, you probably have one but don’t know it. This can be very bad. Gluten sensitive people, for example, may develop major health issues later in life like multiple sclerosis if they continue to eat wheat. Your body destroys itself when exposed to food it can’t digest.
In terms of sleep, it’s important to eliminate or minimize ingestion of sensitive food products, especially close to bed time. Wheat and dairy products in particular greatly disrupt sleep in sensitive people.
Your digestive system will be forced to work in overhaul, disrupting the sleep process and using blood flow during sleep when it’s better spent on the brain.  

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