Can’t Sleep? Stay Calm
The process of falling asleep isn’t one of the things that science knows a lot about. The act of simply becoming unconscious is not easily explained. Yet, all humans sleep. The average number of hours required for a human adult is said to be eight hours….the actual average is 7.75 hours, but eight is close enough. Now every adult human does not require the prescribed eight hours of sleep. Some require more than eight hours of sleep and some require less. Eight is the AVERAGE.
There are only a few things that researchers have determined that are required for humans to fall asleep. The most important factor of natural sleep for all human beings is calmness. People who are agitated, excited, angry, frightened, stressed, or tense will not fall asleep easily, nor will they stay asleep long enough. Sometimes those who are depressed will suffer from insomnia, but others who suffer from depression might sleep 20 hours a day, so depression is not always a cause of insomnia.
It is obvious that if we want to enjoy a good night of rest and all of the advantages that a good night of rest can provide for us, then we all need to pursue calmness before we try to sleep. The question, then, is what promotes calmness (?), not what promotes sleep (?).
Believe it or not, one of the best things to promote calmness is exercise…vigorous exercise. Now, this vigorous exercise should not be engaged in anywhere near the time that you want to sleep, because during and immediately following vigorous exercise, excitement rather than calmness is the effect. However, about four hours after vigorous exercise, the blood pressure drops and the heart rate slows. Calmness descends.
Most people believe that exercise should be done in the early morning hours, but for the purpose of promoting the calmness needed for sleep, exercise is best done in the late afternoon or early evening hours.
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