I lie down, lying flat is probably best, which side probably doesn’t matter, but it should be comfortable so that I can relax. Why not sleep sitting up? Cleansing processes that take place in our brain during sleep primarily require deep sleep and are synchronized with breathing and our cardiovascular system. Everything is rhythmic and very well coordinated so that it functions optimally. It is likely that lying flat helps these processes to function even better – without having to overcome gravity.
Falling asleep is a magical moment. I let the day go and allow sleep to enter. It’s like letting go. Sometimes I even feel like I’m falling down a mountain and cringe. What is that? A harmless phenomenon – a sleep myoclonia. I flinch during this very transition from wakefulness to sleep. Our brain is probably a little quicker to fall asleep than our body, and the flinching is probably just our body’s reflex to counteract a fall, as if we can break a fall when we stumble while awake.
When I sleep at night I recover better than when I lie down during the day – who doesn’t know that? There are actually many reasons for this. It’s not just the time of day that changes in the dark, but also hormones, metabolism, temperature and brain activity. Light plays a very important role in this. It is the most important zeitgeber we have and is largely responsible for synchronizing our internal clocks. Our internal clock is genetically determined. It is timed to +/- 24 hours but is never completely accurate, which is why we have to constantly coordinate our internal and external clocks, with light being the strongest factor.
Lie down and try to sleep. Now! Always remember that if you don’t sleep now, you’ll fail your exam tomorrow, you’ll get dementia, you’ll make mistakes at work again, you’ll forget the important things when you go shopping. Welcome to the life of a sleep-deprived person. Can you imagine that sleep can be stressful? That the bed is the place of aversion? If you are one of them, then you belong to 10% of the population who try to get to sleep under this stress – an impossibility. Give it a try!?!
If only this snoring next to me would stop and it would just be quiet. Snoring in itself is probably not bad, although it is a harbinger of one of the most common sleep disorders. Probably more than 15% of the population suffer from a sleep breathing disorder that actually requires treatment, and the trend is rising as an increasing proportion of the population is overweight or becomes overweight in the course of their lives. If snoring becomes arrhythmic, i.e. there are pauses in breathing that last several seconds and sleep becomes unrefreshing, concentration and alertness are impaired during the day, it is time to see a doctor who is familiar with sleep.
How much sleep do i really need? have you ever asked yourself this question or perhaps tested it for yourself? on vacation? the average person needs about 7 to 9 hours of sleep, which you should allow yourself in order to stay healthy. Of course, there are people who need a little more or less, but a good measure is that you feel sufficiently rested on the day, alert enough to face the day and that your sleep at the weekend is not completely different to during the week.