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BETTER SLEEP

An inability to sleep well is just another of the many symptoms of general metabolic dysfunction - along with the usual suspects - diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, snoring, sleep apnoea, cardiac insufficiency, fatness, headaches, cardiac insufficiency ...

The doctor and the chemist would be the last places you'd go to (not the first) in your quest for a good night's sleep.

(Of course, as avid reader, Veronica pointed out to me, there's always the risk that your headache, crook gut, tight chest ... might be the indication of a deadly serious complaint. That's a risk to living we all have to deal with. You need to express your own caution on these matters.)

The advice of the drug industry's is not to ask yourself 'Why am I not sleeping as well as I'd like to and what can I do about it?' On the contrary the advice is to go to a doctor and get another prescription for another pill that will put you to sleep without dealing with the problems that are keeping you awake. Hello!

As Andrew Weil (MD) says, 'Don't go to doctors for things doctors can't cure.

Get yourself into exceptionally good shape and you'll sleep like a kitten.

I've had a couple of goes at Norman Swan (ABC Health Report) when people have come onto his program comparing the efficacy of one drug to another, but not comparing the efficacy of either drug to the effects of getting fitter, eating wisely, meditating ... He lets them get away with blue murder.

Not comparing drugs with known lifestyle interventions is the cardinal sin of medical (code word for pharmaceutrical) research.

Primary health care

So, whenever you feel dreadful and, in particular, whenever you're not sleeping well, ask yourself, 'What do I need to do to get myself back into exceptionally good physical and mental shape and sleep like a kitten?' Don't ask what your doctor can do for you, ask what you can do for yourself. That's primary health care!

SO HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOURSELF

FOR A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP?

WORK OUT HOW MUCH SLEEP YOU REALLY NEED?

In the first instance you need to decide how many hours sleep you reckon is about right for you. A lot of people are spending too long in bed. They don't need as much sleep as they've been led to believe they need. If you fall into this category and you're spending too much time awake tossing and turning, go to bed later or get up earlier.

There are times when I'm lying in bed at 7.30am and I think, 'Sheesh, John Howard's already had his walk, made a dozen phone calls, read the papers, done his pressups, had a shower, eaten his breakfast, spoken to the Parrot, he's on his way to Canberra and I'm still lolling around.'

Some time ago a bloke in one of my seminars said he didn't sleep well. I asked him what was the problem. He said he kept waking up at 4.30am. I said 'What time do you go to bed?' He said '9.30pm.' I said 'That's 71/2 hours. Get up - or go to bed later.' If he'd gone to bed at 11.30pm and woken up at 6.30am he'd have thought no more about it.

Tom Hafey told me that Percy Cerutty told him that the 'formula' for sleeping was '6 hours for a man, 7 for a woman and 8 for a fool.' Someone else said it came from Napoleon in the first place.

The spread of hours sleep people need varies greatly, from as little as 3 or 4 hours for someone like Phillip Adams (as I under stand it). You'll need to work out how much you need by trial and error, but start with six hours every day for a week and see how you go.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE THE SAME AMOUNT OF SLEEP EVERY NIGHT

Who said you need to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every night? You can survive on five.

GET YOURSELF INTO EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD SHAPE

It's in the nature of the healthy human being to get to sleep quickly, sleep like a log and wake up refreshed.

Complete the Mind and Body profile. If you score more than 30 it's a sign you're not in great physical or mental nick.

EXERCISE

It's a tough assignment going to sleep quickly and getting a good night's sleep if you're not tired. No-one ever got physically tired sitting cooped up in a cage all day and watching TV for three hours a night.

You need a regular and systematic vigorous aerobic fitness program.

Nathan Pritikin said that if you don't have time for exercise take an hour off your sleep. You'll need less sleep and you'll sleep better.

What does a vigorous aerobic fitness program do? It washes out of your system the stress hormones - adrenaline, cortisol ... that get you all fired up. It washes out of your system the waste products of your own metabolism and the waste products of a toxic environment. You'll feel heaps better.

ANXIETY

Of course the first casualty of anxiety is sleep. Find out what's causing your anxiety and deal with it.

Go and see a good counsellor who can dig around and

a.  help you find out what's bothering you

b.  give you a signpost that encourages you to go in the direction of dealing with

     your anxiety.

The anxiety could come from your life, your family situation, your work ... Some of it might come from stuff that was bedded down years ago, it's so deep in your subconscious you need a crow bar to lever it out.

Find out what it is and fix it. Then you'll sleep like a log.

Gurdjieff said that one of the best things you can do when you're stressed is to spend the day gardening. Others have said 'Clean up' your environment - your bedroom, your house, your garden ... It will clear your mind.

Boot home some winners

'You wouldn't believe the level of satisfaction you get when you run faster than ever before, or when you beat people you haven't beaten before - the feeling lasts for months. You feel great, you feel invincible, you feel you can do anything. That's why you do it. And also because you wouldn't believe how sh*t you feel when you don't go well.'

Craig Mottram champion Australian runner, Weekend Australian magazine, March 24-5 2007

Boot home a few more winners, kick more goals. Of course if you don't have any goals you're going to have to put up with what ever comes your way. For a lot of people that's a big tsunami.

GET AHEAD OF YOUR STRESS

Stress is the difference between what you're getting and what you want. The further away you are from what you want the more miserable you get. Treat misery as a symptom. Look for the cause.

And if you don't know what you want you're going to have to put up with what you're getting. For a lot of people, by the time they're 70 they're on a pension, on their own, in a trust home, with a crook back, a bypass, a hip replacement, they're depressed and diabetic. If you want to avoid that, start setting some goals - particularly for the big things in your life - health, family, career and finances.

Most people aim at nothing in particular and achieve their aim with remarkable accuracy.

WAKE UP TO YOURSELF

Imagine Albert Einstein tossing and turning trying to go back to sleep when he had the theory of relativity on his mind. It's absurd. He'd get up and get on with it. He'd bless that fact that he'd been woken up.

If your sub-conscious mind is smart enough to wake you up to consciously think about something, think about it, write something down, get up and send off an email ... and then go back to sleep. Think! Most people don't think they just have random thoughts.

Don't just lie there, do something.

It's normal and healthy to wake up with something on your mind. It could be a blessing in disguise. Get up, deal with it and then go back to sleep. It might take you a few minutes, a few hours, a few days, weeks or months to finish dealing with the problem, but deal with it., Then  you'll sleep like a kitten.

Keep a pen and pad by your bed. If you think of something and don't write it down, you'll either forget it when you wake up, or you'll spend half the nigh awake worrying that you'll forget it. If it was important enough to you to be woken up, write it down, clear your mind and then go back to sleep.

One person in one of my seminars said that when he wakes up in the middle of the night it's because 'God' wants to talk to him. I said 'What do you do?' He said, I get up, go to the foot of the bed and start praying. When I've got the message I go back to bed and back to sleep.

Now I'm not here to give you a religious instruction lesson but it reminded me of the story of Samuel in the Jewish book of Fairy Tales who as a small boy kept being woken up.

If you're waking up, there's a reason - whether it's 'God', or your subconscious mind wanting you to deal with something, deal with it.

TEACH YOURSELF HOW TO GO TO SLEEP

Most children are told to go to bed, very few are taught how to go to sleep.

You're awake and the monkeys are chattering. Switch off the chattering and you'll go to sleep quickly.

I've done the training and use it to get to sleep some nights and when I want to get to sleep quickly on a plane.

Purchase the Silva Method of Mind Control.

The technique

Imagine yourself in front of a nice clean whiteboard. it has a ledge with a whiteboard marker pen and a duster on it.

Pick up the pen, take off the cap and in the middle of the circle draw a nice big circle. In the middle of the circle write the number 100. Outside the circle, between 4 and 5 o'clock, in your best hand writing write the word 'deeper' sloping it down toward the bottom right hand corner of the board.

Put the cap on the pen put the pen down, pick up the duster and rub out the number 100 without rubbing out any of the circle. Put the duster down, pick up the pen, take off the cap and write the number 99 in the middle of the circle and go over the word 'deeper'.

Put the cap on the pen put the pen down, pick up the duster and rub out the number 99 without rubbing out any of the circle.

Put the duster down, pick up the pen, take off the cap and write the number 98 in the middle of the circle and go over the word 'deeper'.

Keep doing this until you go to sleep.

For the first week you might find yourself counting down and down into the 80's, 70's 60's even lower. That's normal, it's a training program. Over the 21 days you'll start going to sleep quicker.

If you get to zero, that's not uncommon, just go back to the beginning and start again.

If you forget where you've counted to, just go back to the beginning and start again, it's a training program.

At the end of 21 days you'll have a habit that your subconscious mind recognises as a trigger to get you to sleep and in future if you're having trouble sleeping you'll be able to pluck this routine out of your mental tool box and go to sleep quickly.

LET THE SUBCONSCIOUS DEAL WITH PROBLEMS WITHOUT WAKING YOU UP

In the Silva Method of Mind Control it is suggested that you take a small glass of water to bed with you. Just before you go to sleep, drink half the glass and say to yourself that in the morning you'll wake up with the solutions to any problems you have.

You want subconscious to work on the problems while you're asleep, and not keep waking you up.

Edison (or one of those chaps) would use this technique during the day. Being stumped by a problem have a short nap. The other side of this coin is, being stumped by a problem? Go for a walk. Either way you may be surprised what jumps out of your subconscious mind.

LET TOMORROW DEAL WITH IT'S OWN PROBLEMS

^'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.'
 

Go back to the Jewish book of Fairy Tales, read Ecclesiastes and the Sermon on the Mount. Let's get some perspective here.

CAFFEINE

Even a small of caffeine (coffee, tea, cola drink, chocolate) will keep some people wake half the night.

If you're not intolerant of it altogether, have a couple of cups a day and don't drink any more of the stuff after lunch time.

Go without caffeine for a couple of weeks and see what happens to your sleep patterns. For a few days you may have caffeine withdrawal headaches - that'll let you know what sort of harm it's doing to you.

FLUID INTAKE

Some people drink too much (of anything, water, coffee, cool drink, alcoholic beverage ...) in the later part of the day and have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. Then they can't get back to sleep. You train your children to sleep through the night without urinating, so retrain yourself.

ALCOHOL

Alcohol has a half life of 5 hours. You go to sleep at 11 pm with a few drinks under your belt and at 4am you're waking up as the effect of the alcohol starts wearing off. Then you have to go to the louvre. Then you wake your sleeping partner up. Then the two of you can't get back to sleep again.

Stop drinking. The fittest and healthiest people I see are people who don't drink.

PAIN

Have you ever had a crook back where you can't sneeze and you can't cough because when you do it feels like a red hot poker in your back?

If you've got back, neck and shoulder pain fix it up. Click through to the Crookback website.

SNORING

Snoring is driving the women of Australia nuts - some of them wish their sleeping partners would snore their heads off altogether!

The recipe for a good snore is to

- be male

- be 20 or more kilograms over-fat

- have a neck larger than 45cms in diameter

- be stressed out of your brain

- have a few drinks and

- lie on your back.

If your neck has a circumference larger than 45cms you're a prime candidate for sleep apnoea as well. Then they'll put you on the mask. That will definitely give your romantic life a shot in the arm! Pigs!

AND WHILE WE'RE TALKING OF MEN

As men get older the prostate gland may become less resilient and enlarged, the effect being to clamp off the urethra and as a by product increase the desire to urinate - especially during the night.

Providing, of course you don't have prostate cancer, your health food shop can steer you in the direction of a few herbs and spices (saw palmetto is the most common) that will loosen the prostate up and save yourself the bother of getting up in the middle of the night. There's a good chance the stream will improve, though probably not to the same extent as it was when you were in primary school!

For women this is an important message. You don't want your sleeping partner or your dad to keep getting up in the middle of the night and disturbing ever one else's sleep.

TURN OFF THE IDIOT BOX

While you're watching TV your brain  switches off. Then when you go to bed it wakes up again, ready to go. You want to go to sleep. Your brain wants to go to work. It wins, you stay awake.

Or worse, you fall asleep in front of the box and then wonder why you can't sleep when you go to bed. Hello!

TO SLEEP: PERCHANCE TO DREAM - and not to watch TV

Advice about keeping the bedroom as a place to sleep and not as a lounge room appears to be good advice. There's nothing worse than falling asleep watching TV, and then waking up in the middle of the night to turn it off. At least in the old days the sound of 'God Save the Queen' got you up out of the couch - or the snow on the screen - and you went to bed. Now the thing is on all night.

Take the tele out of your bedroom. And while you're at it take it out of your kids' rooms as well.

GET LOST

A useful sleep strategy is to include a spot of reading in your going to bed routine.

There's a good chance that getting lost in a book will gradually slow you down and drift you off.

GET A LIFE

The people I see who are most stressed are people who don't do the things that unstressed people do - they don't exercise, don't have hobbies and interests, don't take good long holidays, don't read books, (I've just finished reading a biography of Richard Burton - on a good day he could read five novels; on a bad day he could get through three bottles of vodka!) are in the wrong job, don't particularly enjoy the people they live or work with, don't even get away from their desk at lunch time.

Go to the pictures mid-week. Have friends around for cards. Sing, dance, play a musical instrument ..., laugh, exercise ...

Complete the Stress Risk profile and see whether you're doing the things unstressed people do.

Complete the Career Satisfaction profile. See if you're in the right job.

DEEP RELAXATION

Click here and you'll be taken to a spot on my website where you can read more about relaxation. There's a relaxation technique there which it you read it into a recorder you can play it back to yourself at night and drift off to sleep with the sound of your own voice.

LISTEN TO THE WIRELESS

I drift off to sleep listening to the wireless. I set the sleep button for 24 minutes and I'm gone well before it goes off.

Someone said recently you shouldn't go to sleep listening to the wireless because you start to absorb a lot of negative stuff. I listen to Tony Delroy's quiz, so I reckon I'm getting smarter.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and you'll get a good night's sleep

Sweet dreams.

John Miller