by David Button

Created on: January 29, 2011

Sleep is a highly critical part of our lives. Many of us obsess over having enough sleep each night, even if it's just for the sake of not having to attend to more strenuous tasks. If you want to fall asleep easily and quickly, sleep soundly and deeply, and wake up feeling refreshed, there are some things that should be avoided before falling asleep. These include:

1) Eating and Drinking

By eating, you may accidentally slip-up by consuming a stimulating food that contains caffeine, sugar or anything else that artificially keeps you mentally awake. You do not want to be eating these kinds of things if you want to fall asleep. Also, eating will cause digestion to interfere with sleep, making your sleep lighter and taking away certain amounts of energy to process this food. This means DO NOT eat within 3-hours of falling asleep.

By drinking, you are creating the inevitable - as what comes in must come out. That is, you will need the toilet during the night if you drink before falling asleep. Just like with eating, stop drinking 3-hours before going to bed. And before you nod off to the land of the fairies, be sure to go to the toilet.

2) Watching Television or Computer (Avoid Light-Sources!)

For some, watching television is an effective way of winding down before going to sleep. However, if we refer to the majority of people and science, we are told that these activities are not conductive to falling asleep quickly at night. This is because light sources that are received by the eyes trigger the production of serotonin - the chemical responsible for keeping us awake during our awake/asleep cycle.  As humans are wired to be awake during daytime, we are conditioned by the sun and other light sources to be awake when these lights hit our eyes.

This means: Avoid the television and computer an hour before bedtime. Also, dim or turn off lights an hour before bed. This should ensure you're sleepy by the time you want to fall asleep.

3) Thinking and Worrying

This is a very common cause of insomnia - being held awake at night by the mind as it obsessively thinks over the daily worries and problems.

An active mind cannot fall asleep. In order to nullify the worrying and thinking, there are a few things you can do:

- READ. This reduces mental activity and focuses your mind on something other than your problems.
- MEDITATE. Same as above, but allows you to enter much deeper and more relaxed states.
- JOURNAL. Writing out our worries and thoughts is a form of expression

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