From what I remember of psychology class: there are X different stages of sleep. Some of them are easier to awaken (?) from than other, more deep stages of sleep. That’s about where what I remember trails off. Would there be some way to time the cycles of sleep so that when I want to get up, I would be in one of those stages of sleep that isn’t quite so deep?
For example, instead of going to bed at 10:15, I should wait another 20, 30, or 45 minutes, so that when I do wake up I won’t be in one of the deeper sleeps? Or is the only way to get a good eight hours and a regular schedule? Am I doomed to remain a sleep slave for the rest of my life?
I would like to add that I wake up around 2 AM then toss and turn until about a 1/2 hour before I need to get up. At that 1/2 hour mark I fall into a deep sleep and feel like crap and don’t want to get up.
Well, FWIW I have a roughly 90 minute sleep cycle, so I am good as long as I can get some multiple of 90 minutes. 1 hour doesnt cut it, 2 hours doesnt cut it, I feel tired but if I can get 90 minutes of sleep and a shower or 3 hours of sleep and a shower, I am good for about 12 hours. In general I sleep about 90 minutes at a time, and get up in between to go in and take a whizz. My normal no alarm clock unemployed scum sleep timing is about 6 hours of sleep, about 3 hours on the computer then another 90 minutes sleep.
Oddly enough, the only contradiction to this was a developed behavior from when I was working as a security guard with a serious asshat roommate who would invite the guys frm his division to party in teh evenings, and my shift started at mdnight…I can get seriously good quality sleep in 45 minutes as long as I can keep hitting a snooze button every 5 minutes or whatever interval it comes at. I do have to have a second clock set up across the room for my final got to be awake time that i cant reach.
Avoid stimulants such as caffeine, especially during the latter part of the day. I get better sleep if I avoid caffeine for at least 12 hours before I will want to sleep. Just because you get to sleep doesn’t mean you are getting quality (deep) sleep.
Humans function in brainwave frequencies that have been relegated to four ranges. Anything 0-4 Hz. is called Delta, 4-7 Hz. is called Theta, 7-14 Hz. is called Alpha, and anything over 14 Hz. is called Beta. When we are awake, for the most part, we are using, or emitting the Beta brainwave frequency.
When we sleep we use mostly the Delta and Alpha frequencies, but occasionally a sleeper will be detected in Theta, though it’s not common.
Sleep occurs in several cycles per night, or sleep period. These sleep cycles are approximately 90 minutes long each, and comprise some time spent in Delta and some time in Alpha.
Delta sleep is very deep sleep. It confers physical relaxation. Generally the body is extremely relaxed and immobile. Snoring generally occurs only while a person is in Delta. It is difficult to rouse someone from Delta sleep, and no dreams occur in Delta. If you are awakened from Delta you tend to be very groggy, and may feel as if you had no sleep at all. If you rise, you may stagger or stumble.
Alpha is a lighter level of sleep. It confers mental relaxation, alertness, awareness and thought processing and resolution. A person may move around in Alpha sleep, shift positions, and in extreme cases make significant movements (like sleep-walking). Whenever you are sleeping in Alpha, you are dreaming, even if you don’t remember the dreams. If you are awakened from Alpha you will tend to feel awake, aware and rested. You may remember your dreams.
The above sleep cycle is considered a ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ sleep cycle, and assumes that no interruptions, such as hungry or fighting cats, inconsiderate neighbors, alarms of various kinds, prowlers, full bladders, dehydration, alien abductions, haunting, nightmarish or insecure children, weather anomalies, sleep apnea, structural collapses, fidgeting bedmates or other similar phenomenon have had a significant impact on your sleep state.
A typical night’s sleep consists of several, usually successive, sleep cycles. The earlier sleep cycles typically have more Delta and less Alpha. Your first sleep cycle may comprise over an hour of Delta and only a few minutes of Alpha, whatever it takes to fill the approximate 90 minutes. Successive cycles throughout the night will have reduced periods of Delta and increased portions of Alpha, essentially working toward reversing the quantities of Delta and Alpha sleep.
Ideally, it is best to wake in the morning at the tail-end of a sleep cycle, while one is still in Alpha. Since sleep cycles are approximately 90 minutes long, 7½ hours of sleep would likely be more restful than 8, but this is not a hard and fast rule, since the 90 minute period is approximate, and may vary from person to person, and even from cycle to cycle, but the variation is not usually great, if one’s sleep is undisturbed.
An alarm clock that wakes you out of Delta may leave you feeling as if you got inadequate sleep. There are several remedies.
[ol]
[li]You can plan your sleep time to coincide with multiples of 90 minutes. If it generally takes you a while to fall asleep, you may want to take that into consideration, and make it a part of the calculation.[/li][li]You can develop a ‘mental alarm clock’ through autosuggestion. As you are falling asleep, repeat to yourself mentally that you are going to go to sleep, have a restful and relaxing sleep and you will awaken at x:xx time. It is recommended that you experiment with this first on nights where you do not have to arise at a precise time the next morning. With some practice, your sleep and sleep cycles will automatically adjust, and your need for an alarm clock will be eliminated. [/li][li]You may wish to try to minimize or eliminate distractions and interruptions to your sleep cycle, but you would be well advised to ensure that any steps you take to do this will not interfere with your ability to hear smoke alarms (or other alarms), nor will it exclude you from tending to children when necessary.[/li][/ol]
I have tried to reconstruct this from the ‘lost file’ that I earlier attempted to post. I sincerely hope it will be adequate to assure you restful nights’ sleep.
I thank you snake, I’m going to try the 90 minute rule but I always have trouble falling asleep; have to figure out just how long it really takes. I remember reading somewhere how to adjust your brainwaves from beta (awake) to alpha/delta (sleep mode) I normally fantasize myself to sleep on any number of scenarios, which takes me to a dream like state. Otherwise I end up thinking about this or that. I have always hated to go to bed at night hence I am up reading posts at 2 am, but I am also a habitual and chronic napper. Not that I like that much either, sleep just seems like such a waste of time. Anyway I’ll see how it works.
“US52723285 Central Highlands, Vietnam Jan 1968 to Jan 1969”
THANKS FOR THAT TOO! I was but a little boy and ignorant of peace movements and antiwar marches, but idolized you and your brothers and still do.
You might want to try a “fractional relaxation” to help you get to sleep.
Lie comfortably in bed. Concentrate on the top of your head, your scalp, and relax that part of your body. You can’t force it to relax, you have to let it relax.
When you have that part of your body relaxed, move to the next part, your forehead, and let your forehead relax. Don’t be surprised if it takes even more than a minute to get deep relaxation of each part.
Then continue working your way down. Face & ears, back of the head, neck & throat, shoulders (likely you’ll find that’s a big one!), arms, chest, abdomen, hips, thighs, knees, calves (another surprising biggie), ankles, feet & toes.
It gets easier as you proceed, and goes faster each time. Most people never get to their toes before they’re already asleep.
A few tips:
Some people like to tense the body part before relaxing it. It helps identify the muscles you will be relaxing, and is a valid modification.
Some like to start at their toes and work up. If you prefer, it’s OK.
If you get distracted by irrelevent thoughts, acknowledge them, tell yourself, “OK, I realize hat’s an important thought, but now is not the time. I’ll deal with you in the morning, or in my dreams…” and go back to the last body part you were relaxing and continue. Repeat as necessary.
If you find you’ve lost track of where you are in the process, do a quick check of your state of relaxation starting from the top of your head, and continue where you first find tension.
It’s also a good thing to do to periodically go back and do a quick check and make sure tension hasn’t crept back in to the shoulders, forehead or whereever.
The principle here is that worry thought create tension in the body and tension helps keep you awake.
It may take up to a week to get it working easily, and up to 21 days to break the ‘worry’ habit.
If you get down to your toes and after relaxing them are still awake, do a quick re-check to be sure that tension hasn’t crept back in somewhere. If it has, start where the tension has started and work your way down from there, again.
If you got to that point and you are totally relaxed (it can happen!), then you need to move to relaxing the mind. You focus on a single thing, and if your attention wanders, bring your mind back that thing. Some people imagine some idyllic scene, like a waterfall in a stream, a boat bobbing on gentle waves, etc. I find these too open to intruding thoughts, and go for the abstract: I imagine starless space, black, except for a succession of white circles, like smoke rings, or torii (plural of torus?), fading away into the distance, coming back to that if I get distracted. You gotta play with it to see what works best for you.
Chances are you’ll never get to your toes, but nothing’s perfect, and everyone will respond a bit differently.
If you want additional guidance or assistance I’b be glad to help, either here or via email.
SpiritSnake, I also thank you for your informative post. It occured to me at some point that I might want to calculate my sleep time to coincide with my sleep cycles, but I have some problems in that the time it takes me to fall asleep varies from 15 minutes to more than an hour. It’s frustrating.
I think I’m going to try it again…especially with the natural wake-up time suggestion you made.
Best laugh I’ve had all day! I was so tired I didn’t even notice it till you mentioned it! ROTFL! PMP!
BTW, Kozmik’s cites and ideas are definately worth a look. Some people actually can get by on less sleep than others. In my experience, time spent in meditation during the day in the alpha brain-wave frequency can reduce significantly the amount of nighttime sleep you need. This may translate as well to ‘fugue states,’ which may involve consciousness during reduced brainwave frequencies, and which could have a similar effect.
On the other side of the coin, things like sleep apnea can so fuck up your sleep cycles that you can sleep 12 and more hours and still not get enough sleep.
So far science has concluded that we need a certain amount of Delta and a certain amount of Alpha every 24 hours to be at peak, and quality can make up for quantity, as well.
When it comes to sleep, I agree with Garfield: It is second only to lasagna.
