This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post.
People in Singapore love to do well at things. In school, it’s always about getting good grades. At the last SEA Games, it was about reaping the gold medals. At work, it’s all about getting the promotion and building up your ‘contacts’. When shopping or dining, it’s about scoring the best deals in town. Heck, on social media, it’s all about finding ‘Instagrammable’ things and places to shoot to get more likes. What about the important things — like being a pro at sleeping?
Even in the great chasm of time (or the lack thereof), sleep is pretty important and should be a priority. It’s time to put away that energy drink, swap it for some high thread-count sheets, and learn to sleep like a boss for +10 productivity.
The Call of Nature
Your sleeping environment matters. Put some effort into prepping for bedtime. A nice duvet perhaps, sheets in your favourite hues, a pair of monogrammed pyjamas if that tickles your fancy, some cute socks, throw in a satin eye mask — now sleep will be something you’ll actually look forward to. Also, keep the bedroom strictly for sleep. Associating the bedroom with an activity hub of sorts would do nothing to ease your mind for some quality rest and relaxation time.
Pro Tip #1: Taking a bath before sleeping helps to put your body into sleep mode.
What You Didn’t Know About Caffeine and Naps
Sometimes, just sometimes, the need to curl up into a ball and get some quality shut-eye occurs at the most inconvenient timings — work, in the middle of a workshop, lecture time…we’ve all been there. Instead of fighting it and downing that crazy sweet energy drink, maybe you should listen to your body, and settle for a short nap.
Pro Tip #2: Take a caffeine nap. Drink a cup of coffee before a 15-minute nap. Caffeine will only kick in some 20 minutes later so when you wake up, you’re a new you. In a hurry to get that caffeine fix? See how these guys do it with this app!
Tummy Tuck
“Don’t eat before sleeping,” they said. “You’ll get fat.” Well yeah, sure, it’s common sense not to eat a heavy meal before bed, but it’s actually bad to go to sleep starving too. Make a pre-bedtime snack a daily ritual and part of your nutritional programme. Of course, we’re not encouraging you to eat a whole cake or a packet of crisps before sleeping — it’s best to stick to a small snack like an apple, orange, some yoghurt or something light and uncomplicated. If you’re going to bed hungry, chances are, you’ll be grumpy too — and that feeling may be brought over to the next day…ah, the horror!
What a Turn Off
The bed is a no-smartphone, no-laptop, no-TV zone. The blue light given off by these devices prevents the production of melatonin — which helps the body become sleepy — so you forfeit some of that quality sleep when you surf the net in bed. This means you would probably wake up cranky or worse, even more tired than before. Bedtime means rest for all your devices too! Although, don’t forget to charge your phone for tomorrow.
Pro Tip #3: When all else fails, try some retail therapy in the comfort of your bed! Shop and browse for the best deals with the DBS Lifestyle app, and get set for the day ahead.
Keep Calm and Sleep On
Total darkness and silence may not be the best for everyone. For some people, it might even be too stressful. If you’re not too picky, try something minimal like white noise or nature sounds. If you want something structural, lyric-less music is perfect to lull you to sleep. Make a playlist of songs that get you in the mood for sleep and let it play while you try to doze off.
Pro Tip #4: Yoga Nidra or yogic sleep is ‘a state of conscious deep sleep for extreme relaxation and subtler spiritual exploration’. It’s like meditation, but for sleep. Hit the Internet for some guided journey to the best sleep ever (if it works).
Bonus: The (Non) Science of Sleep
Keep a logbook charting your daily dream activity. On average, you can have four to seven dreams per night — that’s exciting. Not only are you in control of your busy days and schedule, you can also be in the know of what happens while you sleep. Do note though that once we wake up, our dreams may be forgotten very quickly as they are not laid down in a memory store, so keep that notebook by your dresser.
Pro Tip #5: Instead of just dreaming about money, sleep better knowing exactly where your money sits. All this is possible in the comfort of your bed with this app!
Sleeping like a boss has never been easier!
