It’s time to sleep. There is lots to do tomorrow... must, sleep...
Look at the dog; one stretch of the legs, one yawn before flopping down, and then the animal is asleep within seconds. No tossing, no turning. Let’s figure out how they do that, and maybe we humans can start getting some good rest, naturally.
In order to mimic the dog’s ability to fall asleep, we might find clues on the technique by looking at our own instincts for a second.
Remembering a Few Old Habits
Humans have been busy for the last few thousand years, and most of us don’t have time to learn about our brains or bodily functions. Somewhere along the way though, we forgot many of our instinctive habits that allowed us to survive this long on Earth. With our fancy brains, we got so smart that we abandoned some of the simpler things that made life on Earth comfortable and good.
The Natural Way
When we humans go to sleep, it is normal for our bodies to then automatically go around releasing stored energy from the muscles and organs that won’t be used, relaxing the entire body in order to reach a deep sleep.
Until these muscles are relaxed, the brain stays awake taking care of these chores so that it too can rest.
An automatic system, each muscle must be relaxed before a true deep sleep can be reached, and this involuntary bodily process takes time to complete. The brain cannot rest until the chores are done, thus shortening our good rest time.
Hacking Your Own Brain
Given that the relaxation of the body happens automatically as we sleep, most people trust that system to work each night, naturally shutting down all waking functions as we begin to rest. This process may take minutes to complete, or it could take hours, but either way, no real rest is happening until the body is completely relaxed.
Manual Shutdown
Are you sure you want to shut down your body now? If so, there is a way to speed up the shutdown by doing it ourselves before sleeping.
By combining the instincts of the animals with our human reason and intellect, there are tricks which make it possible to shorten the time that we need to sleep each night, while still getting the deep sleep that is needed for proper rest.
Relaxing on Purpose
Remembering how the dog stretched before laying down, we can borrow that technique as a way to relax our muscles:
1. Laying down flat, take a deep breath of air and, holding it, tense up every muscle in the body, as if you were lifting a gigantic boulder-- every toe, finger, and even the muscles in the face.
2. Now completely tensed up, release that breath as you relax everything, while picturing the energy from each muscle being released, drifting easily away from the body.
3. Repeat. (This is where we have an edge over the animals; if a stretch is good before sleep, then we might reason that two good stretches is even better.)
4. Starting at the toes, manually imagine the energy in those muscles drifting easily away. Next are the ankles, then the lower legs, then the upper thighs. Back muscles are next, then hands, arms and shoulders. Don’t forget the stomach muscles, and entire front of the torso, then relax the neck muscles, ears, head and finally the facial muscles. All energy, floating away from the body.
As the energy leaves these body parts, check back down to the feet (they have probably worked hard for much of the day) and scan the whole body with a relaxing glance from the imagination, until each section is completely loose and is at rest.
Are you still awake? There’s a chance that you will fall asleep before the above steps are completed, but it's ok, you will still have taken the short cut to deep sleep, or the natural route.
By manually shutting down our bodies, even slowing our breath on purpose as we prepare to sleep, we have relieved the brain of some last-minute chores in that department, and the manual, conscious shut-down of the body is quicker than our brain’s automatic relaxation features.
One Last Thing
Still awake? There is one more step then, now that the body is relaxed;
Think about the spot between your eyes.
If you are still awake after the manual shutdown of the full body, put your attention on the spot between your eyes, and while still relaxed all over, concentrate on that spot.
The mind may try to wander away, and that’s ok, because it won’t get far now.
Concentrate on That Spot, Again...
Yes, the mind may still try to flit around, but now, there is a thought-- a spot-- to focus on, and the imagination can be thus herded into a selected place to prepare for sleep-- that spot between the eyes.
Remembering how to go to sleep like an animal may require a slight change in habit for a fully grown human, but even a good stretch and a yawn, just like the dog, will give the body a head-start towards that deep sleep that is needed, and can even mean that less sleep time is needed each night.
The quick version, for those in a hurry to get some rest:
DEEP BREATH
Deliberately flex tightly every single muscle from eyebrow to fist, hip to toe.
Let it all out, then focus on the spot between your eyes. Goodnight!
Taking back some of the animal instincts that we were born with might seem like the opposite of evolution, but learning how to put our bodies to sleep could be seen as intelligent, and might mean that we can fall asleep as easily as a dog or a cat-- just like that.
images above thanks to Pixabay. For more variety on this page, click below these birds:
