HEALTH

"Your future depends on your dreams, so go to sleep." — Mesut Barazany

Do you think you sleep well? To sleep well, you have to be aware of the process if you want to be productive the next day. Don't just lay down.

It's been underrated nowadays. You need to be aware of its importance and have knowledge of the process.

Think about it, we spend almost 30% of our life sleeping. Can you imagine, "30 percent"?

Consider how you are sleeping and respect that time if you want to take advantage the next day. The difference is massively big between the person who knows how to sleep and who doesn't.

On the other hand, the frequency that we have our sleep time matters in our behaviors. If you prioritize sleeping time, you will surprise how the boost of energy and good ideas come from your mind right away.

Let's break this down to have a better understanding.

Be aware of your sleep stages

Everyone is on autopilot and want to be productive. Sometimes, we don't think that — the story of your day starts with how you sleep.

The stages in your sleep are essential, so it is important to know them better. I didn't know those stages until I wonder what's going on when I am sleeping. And I was surprised after reading more about it.

Many process happen when you are sleeping. From the moment you close your eyes. W. Chris Winter, the author of the book,"The Sleep Solution" said, basically, the sleep time is divided into three stages:

1) Light sleep

This is the stage between full consciousness and deep sleep. In this stage, it is easy to wake up fast. This stage is divided into N1 sleep and N2 sleep.

While you spend a mere five percent of a night's sleep in the N1 state, you will spend around 50 percent of it in the N2 state.

These two stages of sleep can be distinguished by looking at variations in brain patterns.

2) Deep sleep

This a restorative period that causes you to feel rested when you wake up in the morning. Most deep sleep occurs during the first half of your night's sleep. Adults tend to spend 25 percent of each night in a deep sleep, but this number declines with age.

During this period, most growth hormones are produced. Hence this stage helps us to:

• Boost your immune system.
• Help to recover from injuries.
• Strengthen your bones and muscles.

3) Dream sleep

The scientific name is REM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement, which refers to when your eyes move at a fast rate below your eyelids. Scientists still are looking for why this happens.

During REM sleep, your brain's activity is very similar to when you are fully awake, but muscle activity is low. It is almost 25% of your night's sleep, and it occurs four or five times every night in 20-to 40-minute cycles that increase toward the second half of the night.

During this phase, you stop regulating your body temperature, and dreaming takes place.

Over the course of a night, you transition from N1 to N2, then to deep sleep, back to N2, and then to REM sleep.

Practice Sleep Hygienic

If you want to be productive, take your time, and analyze how do you feel after sleep. You can ask yourself these questions:

• Do you feel motivated?
• Do you have the energy?
• Do you want to sleep more?

After a bad night to sleep, I just can't do many things. It affects all my day ahead, I don't have the motivation to sit down in from of the screen to start my writing routine.

And it's a coincidence but the decisions I made after a bad sleep night are always wrong. I wondered why I never changed my sleep habits until now.

So I need to mind and have a routine when I go to bed. These steps help me a lot to find my best way and wake up with a boost of energy and motivation.

Be aware, everything you want to do start from your sleeping time. How well you sleep determinates how you are doing during your day.

Change your Sleep Habits

"The hour before bed should be peaceful. Your routine should be done in rooms with dim lights. Your last step should end in the quiet, dark bedroom with little talking and your usual go-to-sleep technique. Write down your routine, and make it very specific."― Elizabeth Pantley

Let's see these steps to help you have a better sleep hygienic:

• Remove or change the place of your tv. If you are the person who loves to have a tv in your bedroom (I used to) and you want to make a temple to sleep. This is the first condition you must do. It is a terrible habit. Just favor yourself and remove it.
• Put your phone away. I already get used to reading through my phone. Dark mode to read is useful for me. But if you have a real book close to your bed is a better option.
• Have a notebook close to you. If you are in your bed and don't feel you want to sleep, you can start writing; just free writing helps, your thoughts, your feeling what did you do right or wrong this day after doing it. You relax to sleep better.
• Plan your next day ahead. You can visualize what you want the next day when you are in your bed instead of watching tv or whipping out your phone to watch at different pictures' lives. You will have the next day more time to focus on other things and not overthink just act according to how you visualize your actions the night before.
• Maintain the darkness in your bedroom. Keep your curtains close, and without light, doing this would help with the sleep process. Don't hesitate if you have to remove everything that is bothering you while you are trying to sleep.
• Take a shower before. I like to take a shower after sleep. But when I did before sleep it helped me to relax and maintain my focus to visualize my day ahead in the bed — after that, my sleep time come naturally.

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways to clean your place and get comfortable to have a better sleep time. It is the start of your day.

Just think about the importance of sleeping in our daily decision time. And you will be aware of it more. You do not know how many bad decisions you made produced by your lack of sleeping time.

Think about it and give it a try. You will see the difference soon.

If you want more stories like this or different topics, let me know here!

Godofredo Rojas is a writer, chef, and constant learner from Peru. He studied in Le Cordon Bleu in Lima, Peru. He moved to New York in March 2011. You can find him on Facebook and Twit.