Project #TifaSuperbrain Day 6 | Top 5 Sleep Hacks + A Tip to Manage Stress

I am writing this post after working for more than 18 hours and awake for 23 hours, and I will be awake for another 6 hours. I am seriously lacking sleep and I feel extremely groggy, foggy, can't think, can't remember, my mind is literally blank. Zombie best describes me now.

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Now I know how important sleep is, after experiencing extreme lack-of-sleep state.

Sleep actually

• flushes out dangerous proteins that it makes during the day

• makes your brain go through a beneficial process that makes your smarter, perkier and healthier during your waking hours, as explained by Jeff Iliff, a neuroscientist at Oregon Health & Science University

• helps form strong memories

• allows our muscles, bones and organs to repair themselves

• helps strengthen the immune system

• prevents dementia and Alzheimer's disease

• dreams new ideas

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Top 5 Sleep Hacks to sleep better

1. Remove digital devices before you sleep. Keep them charged in a separate room. Why? Because you're getting doses of dopamine which makes you awake. Blue light from screens inhibits the production of melatonin which is an important hormone that makes you relax.
   
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1. Darkness. Research from Harvard University shows exposure to light in the middle of the night will make us difficult to return to sleep and difficult to enter deep sleep.
   
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1. Keep the bedroom free of work. Bedroom should only be a place of rest. Keep your work out of your bedroom so that you will not condition yourself "Bedroom = Work".
   
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1. Keep the bedroom on the cool side. Cold always makes us easier to relax and enter hibernation mode, where we're ready to sleep.
   
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1. Exercise. Research shows working out in the early hours promotes deeper sleep at night. Also, if you exercise outdoors, you will get plentiful of sunlight which will help you regulate your sleep/wake cycle.
   
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Bonus: A tip to manage your stress

Mindfulness practice.

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Meditate mindfully first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. Meditation comes in a lot of forms. Personally I use Omvana, which has guided and non-guided meditation. Some are breathing exercises, while some provokes thoughts. It has a good combination of different types of meditation.

How mindfulness practice reduces stress?

• Learn to pay attention to the present moment without judgement
• Create a space in our minds to figure out tasks which are actually essential and which are not
• By training our mind, it increases our mental resources and become more capable
• Have more space to respond and be more aware of how to work with situations, i.e we will be able to process our emotions.
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Do you find the hacks and tips useful? Share your thoughts below!

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