Sleeping more will not cure your fatigue, sleeping "right" will

Do you lately feel tired all the time? Like no amount of caffeine or sleep is helping? Do you have trouble sleeping? Do you wake up with droopy eyes, wanting to snooze the alarms?

Take a look at these data charts: the top 10 most fatigued countries mapped against the top countries getting the most sleep. New Zealand, for example, is on both these lists, clearly pointing out that sleeping more does not necessarily make you feel fresher.

What is Sleep?

Oxford describes sleep as "a condition of body and mind that typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the eyes are closed, the postural muscles relaxed, the activity of the brain altered, and consciousness of the surroundings practically suspended".

Notice the words carefully-a condition of both body and mind.

Healthline recommends 7-9 hours of sleep for an adult to feel refreshed. However, even after catching that, and stocking up on extra sleep during the weekends, we still reach for our alarms with droopy eyes, negotiating with ourselves for a few extra minutes of sleep. Although your body has gotten the rest it needed, your mind has not.

Why Has Your Mind Not Rested?

Because it hasn’t really shut down like your body has.

Our minds are constantly working. While awake, the conscious mind is active, and while asleep, the subconscious mind wakes up. The problem today is that even while asleep, we aren't able to shut off our conscious mind, leading us to either toss and turn in bed, unable to fall asleep, or to shut our eyes but not really sleep.

The 4 stages of sleep

The Sleep Foundation describes the 4 stages of sleep:

• N1: The lightest sleep stage.

• N2: A slightly deeper stage.

• N3: Deep sleep.

• REM: The deepest sleep stage.

Think of it as diving—at N1, you're at the surface, and at REM, you're touching the seabed—deep silence and stillness. Since you can't hold your breath at the bottom of the seabed for long, you’ve got to come back up and repeat the cycle. You can perhaps do this 4-5 times until you're "done" for the night. Each of us goes through the 4 stages in a cycle and 4-5 cycles in one night for a good night's sleep.

So if you end up hovering around the surface and never get to the bottom, there's a problem. You’d end up having a light and disturbed sleep.

Or if you end up with 1 or 2 full dives, while the recommended is 4-5 for a full experience, you wont feel completely rested.

One of the above is what happens when we feel unrested in the morning and dont want to wake up from the comfort of our beds.

How Can You "Go to the Seabed" and Have the "Full Experience"?

Determination

In order for a person to go to the seabed after a long time, one needs to start with a determined thought: "It has been a long while since I have gotten rest, but I know I can. I have done it before."

The Right Seabed

Choosing the calmest waters is probably the right decision when doing your first few dives or a dive after a long while. Make your sleeping place a haven—no energies other than that of sleep. For example, it’s not a good idea to watch television in your bedroom or to eat dinner on the bed.

Preparation

Having the right gear is a prerequisite to making your dive. Poor quality gear is a huge risk to your life as you go deeper. The right gear here is your state of mind. You have to slow your mind down before hitting the bed. Here are some ways to do so:

Slowing Your Mind Down

By evening, our minds are like racing cars at full speed. If a car needs to come to a halt, it needs to slow down first, and then the brakes can be applied. Applying the brakes when the car's running at full speed will cause a skid and an accident.

Similarly, our minds need to slow down before we hit the 'sleep' brake.

So how can we slow the mind down? Here are some ways:

1. 📺Digital Detox: Try not to consume digital information (Netflix, news, or work messages) at least an hour before bedtime. Our minds are already racing with thoughts accumulated throughout the day. Feeding it more thoughts—especially low-quality ones like negative news, stressful work messages, or Netflix shows creating overwhelming emotions like fear—makes it worse.

2. 🚶‍♂️Physical Activity: Swap some mentally taxing activities for physical ones. Start with just a few minutes of walking, for instance. So the next time you have a few minutes of break in between meetings, hit the street for a walk versus scrolling through Facebook or Instagram. Yale talks about how nature is an antidote for stress. After getting back from work or post-dinner, instead of switching on the TV or Netflix for some "chill," try to engage yourself in light physical activities—like even meal prepping or washing the dishes: things that don’t demand the engagement of your brain.

3. 🥗Dinner Timing and Size: Have your meal at least an hour before bedtime and try making dinner your lightest meal. As the saying goes, "Have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar." Sleep Foundation talks about how both overeating and meals with close proximity to sleep affect the quality of sleep.

Remember to aim for better quality sleep, not just more quantity.

🌟 Sleep tight and wake up bright!