Fast Asleep - This is how it's done Part 1

Updated: 2 days ago

Do you always have difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep? Do you feel weak in the morning and can hardly get out of bed? Are you moody, depressed and stressed during the day because you haven't got enough sleep? Are you already afraid of going to bed because you are fearing another sleepless night and wallowing in bed for hours? Have you already tried so many natural remedies for better sleep and nothing seems to help?

If these problems sound familiar to you, then you are like me: I have been struggling with my sleep for some years now. In the past three years there have been barely three nights in a row in which I have had a good night's sleep. Night after night I was wallowing about in bed without finding any sleep, after a few hours of being awake a negative thought would arise which would form other negative thoughts. This way I often spent hours lying in bed awake thinking about the ambiguous comment of my boss from last week, or about the recent argument with my boyfriend. At this point, no meditation exercise would have helped. It was too late, a flood of negativity had spread over me like a wildfire and I felt completely exposed to my dreadful situation. I often only fell asleep at 6 a.m., to wake up at 7:30 a.m. from the alarm and then drag myself into work, where I spent 10 hours at the computer and came home in the evening feeling drained and aggressive. The closer I got to bedtime, the more I was fearing a sleepless night. There was no escape from this vicious cycle. Every attempt to introduce more positive thoughts into my everyday life was doomed to failure under these conditions.

Learn more about Sleep I have decided not to simply accept this situation, but to look at the problem in more detail and find a solution to finally get rid of my sleep disorder. I firmly believe that if we gather knowledge about sleep and then try to implement what we learn into practice, we will improve our situation significantly. The latter point is more difficult but, as usual in life, action is essential for any change. My sleep has improved significantly in the past few months and I want to show you how you can progress as well. First of all, it is important not to dismiss this difficult situation or to neglect it, but instead, try to find a rhythm by following new daily habits to improve our sleep quality significantly. When we would fall back into old habits (and without any doubt this will happen), we know how we can manoeuvre ourselves out. Sometimes it already helps to know that others in this world feel the same struggle. Approximately every third person in Austria and Germany suffers from a sleep disorder. This is around 30 million people for whom the bed has changed from a place of rest to a place of horror. 80% of employees have constant difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep. Sleep problems have quintupled in Austria and Germany since 2007. According to scientific research the reasons for this are due to an increase in stress and the modern day addiction to the smartphone. The real figure is believed to be much higher because many of the sleep deprived keep their problems secret and thus miss the opportunity to interact with others, which would alone provide some help and comfort. But I hope that these people find confidence again, through my blog or other online support, to realize that they have the power to alter their situation.

It is possible to learn to sleep well! Congratulations, you have taken the first important step to improve your sleep and to finally get rid of your sleep disorder. This blog post is based on extensive research of scientific articles and books, which I have summarized based on my own experience. In this article, I don't want to go into the importance of sleep and the negative effects of lack of sleep, because we are already too concerned about the health and aesthetic consequences of a chronic sleep disorder anyway, which in turn means poison for healthy sleep - an eternal vicious circle! Therefore, in this article I would rather like to focus on the remedial methods of a sleep disorder. In Part 2 of this Article I will tell you about the Top 10 natural remedies for better sleep which really helped me to improve the quality of my sleep and I will also discuss the pros and cons of sleeping pills. At the end, in Part 3 of this Article, I will describe in detail how to use the Fast-Asleep-Program to get rid of your sleep disorder. Before that, you should know some facts about sleep. When do you speak of a Sleep Disorder? Get to know the different Sleep Cycles and why Men Sleep Better Healthy sleep is affected by a variety of factors. For example, age or gender play an important role. Although, in principle, everyone can be equally affected by sleep disorders, studies have shown that sleep problems in women occur more frequently than in men. "Suppressing is a good quality when it comes to sleep," experts say. A phenomenon that is mastered much better by men than by women. According to scientists, that has evolutionary-biological reasons: Women feel more responsible for the social fabric and therefore have a lighter sleep than men waking up more easily during the night. Men are more likely to switch off and "release" themselves from any responsibility. This also explains why women sleep better on their own. The opposite is true for men. Women were responsible for the group in the Stone Age. They made sure that everyone was well looked after and that the fire was still burning. For the man, on the other hand, the Stone Age Hunter, the group offers protection against attackers. He therefore feels safe, secure and relaxed in bed together. But also because of hormonal changes during menopause women often have difficulty sleeping, which is another reason why women sleep less well than men. Scientists have determined humans need 7-8 hours sleep per night on average. Of course there are differences from person to person. The usual sleeping time for an adult is generally between 6 and 9.5 hours. But as in many things, quality is more important than quantity when it comes to sleep. It is not important how long you sleep, but how rested and relaxed you feel through your sleep. The goal of “better sleep” is therefore not to sleep long, but to recover better and optimally during your bedtime. The individual sleep phases are more important than the duration of sleep. A year ago I thought that a healthy sleep means sleeping through the night without interruption and experiencing the dream phase shortly before waking up. Then I have attended a sleep yoga class at Dr. Angelika Ployer (https://www.angelikaployer.com/) in Vienna, in which I have learned that our sleep consists of several sleep cycles in which we move up and down between the four stages of sleep: the stage of falling asleep (Stage 1), the REM or dream stage (Stage 2), the light sleep stage (Stage 3) and the deep sleep stage (Stage 4). During these sleep stages, we sleep at different depths and with different levels of relaxation. A healthy sleeper on average passes through five sleep cycles per night and his sleep stages follow one another undisturbed. In total, these five stages of sleep result in an approximately 90-minute sleep cycle, which is repeated several times a night. Between the cycles we therefore always come back to the dream stage or even to the waking state. Good sleepers fall back to sleep very quickly and often do not remember the next morning that they were awake at night at all. Bad sleepers often stay in the lightest sleep stage for hours or cannot fall back to sleep at all. Experts suggest that during the night humans spend in total approximately 20% in the REM stage and 50% in the light sleep stage. It helped me a lot to get to know the different sleep cycles because I only then understood that it is normal to wake up briefly every night or even go to the toilet, and that does not necessarily mean that you have a terrible night ahead and an even worse next day to come. Even the best sleepers are not constantly in deep sleep but, like us, move up and down between the different sleep stages. The different sleep cycles also have their origins in evolutionary-biology. A study of an ancient ethnic group in Tanzania shows what we consider a disturbance could be a survival mechanism from earlier times. In the Stone Age we couldn't afford to sleep through the night without fear for our lives. Different sleep cycles, regular wake ups and switching between light and deep sleep stages are options to safely get through the night. The African "Hadza" are modern hunters and gatherers. They live and sleep together in groups of 20 to 30 people. Their lifestyle is very similar to that of primitive people. The study showed that during the 220-hour observation period, the 33 test subjects in the ethnic group were only in deep sleep for 18 minutes at a time. Scientists also found such behavioral patterns in birds and mice (study "Chronotype Variation Drives Nighttime Sentinel-Like Behavior in Hunter-Gatherers" , Proceedings of the Royal Society B., July 12, 2017). Here you can find a good overview of the different sleep cycles and sleep stages of humans:

4 signs that you have a sleep disorder:

• If you sleep less than five hours on at least three nights a week and this problem lasts more than a month;

• If you regularly need more than 45 minutes to fall asleep;

• If you wake up regularly at night and cannot fall back to sleep;

• If you suffer from persistent daytime sleepiness;

• If you are sleeping a lot, but still feel weak and drowsy during the day.

If any of these points apply, I would also recommend that you talk to a doctor about your sleep problems in order to rule out any physical complaints. A GP may refer you to a specialist. If you have symptoms such as persistent daytime sleepiness during the day no matter how much you have slept the night before, also rare neurological sleep disorders such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea can be the cause. In the case of narcolepsy, it comes to a  disturbed sleep-wake rhythm, which result in many cases to an extreme daytime sleepiness. In the case of sleep apnea, breathing interruptions of at least 10 seconds occur at night. Due to the very long and repeated interruption of breathing, the body is supplied with too little oxygen during sleep and those affected do not feel rested despite supposedly relaxing sleep. This can also occur in the case of particularly strong snorers, where breathing interruptions occur repeatedly between the snoring noises. If you suspect that you have one of the two sleeping disorders, the best thing to do is to get tested in a sleep laboratory. A sleep mask could be a lifesaver in the case of sleep apnea. The air pressure in your throat remains open, which in turn prevents breathing interruptions. The main reason why many people snore is overweight. If you have a neck size of 41 cm as a woman and 43 cm as a man, you are most likely to be a strong snorer, experts say. The best way to combat snoring is to lose weight quickly and effectively. Also try to lie on your side when you sleep, as this will reduce snoring. However, be careful not to strain your neck and spine by curling up like an embryo

Psychological Reasons for Sleep Disorder Most causes for lack of sleep are psychological. Brooding and worries are sleep robbers. Some of us, and I don't exempt myself from it, simply lack a basic trust. Trust in the wheel of life. Trust that everything will be fine no matter what. Confidence that we can let ourselves go and let ourselves be carried through the wave of life and arrive where it is right for us. That sounds so beautiful and actually simple, and yet it is so incredibly difficult for so many of us to let go, give up control and trust the waves. We adhere desperately to things and beliefs. We convulsively cling to a basic idea that something should be as we think it should be, as we consciously or subconsciously imagine it to be. We need this job to be successful and this relationship to be happy. But the truth is, that we do not know that at all. We do not know what our future looks like with this job and this relationship and how we are going to feel, and yet we believe that we cannot survive without these things and we start to fight. So life becomes a miserable struggle. A struggle that never stops and continues until the end of our lives if we don't learn to let go. A fight that we cannot win, and yet we take on. How much fear and restlessness has to weigh on our shoulders. The fight continues for us in bed. The fight for sleep. But we haven't learned to let go yet, so it cannot work. We start to get angry; that we are so weak; that we are completely at the mercy of our thoughts and feelings; that we cannot fall asleep. But we can not help it. It is not our fault that we struggle with these "simple" things in life as others float around the world smiling and prancing. Our parents have not demonstrated this basic trust to us and have not passed it on, because they themselves had no basic trust in life, they themselves were not smiling and prancing through the world. It is important that we do not blame ourselves, that everyday things are so difficult for us, and that we do not remain at the stage when we blame our parents for our mistakes. It is important to recognize these things, but then we should move on and look ahead. This is the only way for development. It took me many years to realize that healing can only come about if you treat yourself and your own story with patience, care and love, instead of secretly putting yourself down, blaming yourself and looking down on yourself. Of course we don't learn these things overnight. It is a process. A process that we should look ahead with patience because it will go on until the end of our lives. The earlier we start, the sooner we will look at life and our uncertain future with more calm and serenity; the sooner we will release this burden on our shoulders into the universe. If you want, I will accompany you on your process. Until then, I would like to show you which natural remedies have helped me to improve my sleep and to get rid of my sleep disorder. It takes strength and courage to allow help. If you suspect psychological reasons for your sleep disorder, such as persistent fear or depression, I would recommend that you also speak to an expert about your problems. In Austria you can find a list of psychotherapists at https://www.psyonline.at/ and in Germany at https://www.deutschepsychotherapeutenvereinigung.de/nc/patienten/psychotherapeutensuche/, where you can restrict your search depending on your personal problem. Then visit the psychotherapists' website and choose the person whose website you feel most comfortable with. It is important to feel comfortable and safe at the psychotherapist in order to be able to open up completely. Many therapists also offer a free initial consultation. If you feel uncomfortable, do not be shy or afraid to speak up openly and to cancel the therapy sessions. There are often deeper causes for this, which you cannot or do not have to explain rationally. Just look for a new therapist. You will never be able to open yourself up to a person if your nervous system signals "danger". Many give up psychotherapy entirely at this point because they wrongly believe that psychotherapy is not the right thing for them - but in fact they were just seeing the wrong person. Listen to your body clock

Everyone has an internal biological clock, a natural sleep-wake rhythm, that is determined by our cells deep in our brain. If it strikes rather quickly, you're an early bird, if it strikes rather slowly you're a night owl. Your body clock is daily readjusted with the exposure to light. The sun light signals your brain cells that the day has begun and you should become active. At the same time, the production of the sleep hormone melatonin is inhibited. Your breath becomes faster, your blood pressure and your body temperature rise. Your internal clock also signals when you need relaxation in the evening and should go to bed. For a healthy, restful sleep, it is therefore important to listen to your internal clock and your natural sleep rhythm. Which type of sleeper you are (early riser /lark or late riser/owl) can best be determined in a relaxed phase of life or on vacation if you can afford getting up without alarm clock. If you have then determined a pattern, try to integrate it into your everyday life - as far as it is compatible with your work and family - and stick to it as best you can, even over the weekend. To help your internal clock, you should be exposed to sunlight for half an hour in the morning after getting up. I do this by drinking my coffee in the morning on the balcony or doing yoga exercises on the balcony. If you don't have a balcony, go for a walk before breakfast. Sitting at the open window is better than nothing, but according to experts, it has nowhere near the same effect as taking in light outside, even if it is cloudy or overcast. It is of course difficult to get enough sunlight in the winter, but you can help yourself by investing in a daylight lamp (lamp box). A good daylight lamp produces 10,000 lux, a similar amount that you would get outside on a bright spring morning. How to change from an owl to a lark - Change your sleep pattern within 3 weeks

Were you an owl all your life and could afford going to sleep at 1:00 a.m. at night and getting up at 10 a.m. in the morning? Was your sleep pattern - due to work or children - totally messed up? Your internal clock cannot be easily changed from one day to the next, but you can still manage to change from an owl to a lark within a few weeks by reprogramming your brain and your internal clock. If you would like to know how you can change from an owl to a lark and change your sleep-wake rhythm over the long term, then register here for my free newsletter. Within a few weeks, I will support you with helpful tips and tricks to reprogram your brain.

Continue reading Part 2 of the Fast Asleep Article in which I describe 10 ways how to effectively improve your sleep.

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