How to fix the most common sleep problems and feel awesome

Learn about some common ‘sleep problems’ and their solution. Reject the idea of sleep-inducing interventions and see how sleep improves your mental acuity. Look at your sleep rhythm and natural ways to fall asleep more easily. See the value of sleep and see the absurdity of using stimulants. 

What if all so-called ‘sleep problems’ could easily disappear when their causes are discontinued? How would you feel when you can utilise your full mental and physical capacity towards realising your aspirations? How would you feel when you are consistently full of energy without relying on any external means?
 
There are no ‘sleep problems’
 
What is mistakenly called ‘sleep problems’ are merely symptoms of suboptimal health. The same violations of life’s laws that compromise health, disturb sleep. So, the solution is to re-align yourself with the requisites of wholesome living and start to enjoy restful nights again.
 
Insomnia is an inability or disturbed ability to sleep. Instead of attempting to induce sleep with drugs, it is wiser to investigate the possible causes of the condition. Usually, it comes down to excess stimuli. Body toxicity is the main one, improper sleeping conditions, excess mental baggage, consumption of stimulating content or ‘beverages’, cooked foods, and condiments are some of the other usual suspects. Remove the conditions that lead to insomnia and it will disappear as well.
 
Apnea is a condition of breathlessness experienced during sleep. During the night, one or a few breaths can be missed. This creates an air fast that can last up to a few minutes in some individuals. Either the breath fails to issue an inhale signal or there is an obstruction of the air passageways (crooked sleeping position or internal growth). The air hunger becomes so severe that the sufferer wakes up to consciously take a breath. The fact that this would occur indicates less than normal body condition. Apnea is almost always overcome with healthful living and fasting in some cases.
 
Snoring is not normal and not to be accepted as ‘it is just the way I am’. The loud ‘flutter’ is usually produced by enlarged tonsils or adenoids that block the air passageway. The diverted current of air flutters the soft palate. Flabby muscles, growths, fatty tissue in the throat, swelling or nasal deformities may be causing this diversion. A vigorous exercise program, some fasting, and a restoration of normal body weight usually eliminate snoring.
 
Narcolepsy is a “seizure of numbness”. An uncontrollable urge to sleep overtakes the sufferer without warning. The gap between the initial urge and the following unconsciousness is usually so short that the person is barely able to position themselves harmlessly. This condition is not to be mistaken for a strong urge to sleep when rest is needed. The way to correct these malfunctioning control mechanisms usually goes through detoxification and healthy living.
 
Sleep problems in infants and children, such as extended wakefulness, abnormal demands for food, crying, head-banging, nightmares, by large spring from the abnormal condition caused by the ignorant mistreatment from carers. The only food for babies under six months is mother’s milk. Putting anything else, besides water, through their mouths should be a criminal offence. After this age, freshly squeezed meat juices and small amounts of pulped meat can be cautiously introduced. Feeding infants cooked foods, or ‘formulas’ or any caffeinated beverages wrecks their delicate faculties. Babies fed on formulas, starches and cereals, or even worse – cooked animal flesh or by-products are destined for a childhood of pathologies and disturbed sleep.
 
Sleep inducing-poisons
 
The list of sleeping pills, tranquilisers, herbs, chemicals, alcohols, supposed to induce sleep makes a dreadful reading. Mistaking the ensuing comatose state for sleep has grievous consequences for one’s physical and mental well-being. The fact that a moderate overdose of most of these leads to death should be a sufficient warning against their use. Do not fall prey to the ‘treating’ professionals that excel at speeding you to the grave by masking your symptoms and keeping the causes intact. In most cases, sleeplessness is nothing but a symptom of toxicity (including mental and spiritual). Even the most severe and long-lasting sleeping problem would not survive the treatment of several days of meditation coupled with fasting. Most will go away with proper living and correct eating.
 
Our biological clock
 
Our physiological processes follow an approximately 24-hour cycle, called circadian rhythm. The wake/sleep patterns of people kept in darkness for extended periods show little variation. The health of shift workers who are forced to try to sleep during the day inevitable suffers. We have limited ability to accommodate time zone changes. In summary, the dark period of the day is for sleeping, the light period is for activity. Observe the natural laws and enjoy pristine health.
 
Better sleep, higher IQ
 
Study after study demonstrates worsening cognitive decline across every conceivable metric with increasing sleep deprivation. Mental acuity is determined primarily by the availability of nerve energy and the absence of circulating toxins. Periods of fasting coupled with ample rest are an absolute must. Hence, remember this…

Your brain works best, with no food and plenty of rest.
 
Counting sheep
 
If you are convinced that you need sleep but it doesn’t come, there are some skilful means you can use. If the mental exercise of counting sheep fails to produce the desired result you can attempt something different. Assuming that it is only your monkey mind that keeps you awake, what you need to do is to occupy your attention with something systematic and calming that substitutes the arousing thoughts.
 
One technique suggests that you lay down on your back with hands and legs lying next to the body and calm your breathing. You then gently close your eyes and imagine walking over to a blackboard with imaginary chalk in your hand and draw a vertical line from top to bottom. Do this several times slowly and naturally. Next, start filling the board with gracefully written numbers from one onwards. Take plenty of time to write each number with care and attention. In all likelihood, you’ll be asleep before you reach ten.
 
Another technique, which I favour, is to perform a body scan as you lay down on your back in bed. You take a few calming breaths allowing a complete and natural exhale. Next, you systematically and progressively bring your awareness to and relax each body part starting from the top of the head and finishing with the toes. This body-mind relaxation and integration technique brings greater body awareness but when performed in bed at night is an excellent transition into restful sleep.
 
Embrace rest
 
Energy is always noted in its expenditure, never in its accumulation. This may be one of the reasons why we sometimes fail to recognise the importance of rest. This apparently passive condition is the prime enabler of exuberant living.
 
There are two general types of fatigue – muscular and nervous. The former is easily alleviated by a short period of rest, the latter requires a longer time of total inactivity (sleep). If nerve energy is not regularly and properly restored, physical and mental decline follows.
 
Overwork, improper living, sexual excesses and any prolonged strain waste nerve energy. Emotions, however, are more important than all of these. That the strong anxiety associated with significant uncertainties in our life is energy draining is not a secret to anyone. That the extreme ecstasy of a personal success can be equally enervating is not always so obvious. As Dr Trall noted, "A life cannot be both intensive and extensive." Emotions should neither be suppressed nor juiced and indulged. Let them arise observe them without judgment and let them dissolve into the ocean of consciousness whence they came. You will be free from nervous depletion and breakdown and enjoy a calm and peaceful life.
 
Lying down for a few minutes during the day with closed eyes and relaxing is a most wholesome habit. While it will benefit everyone, it may be most necessary for the elderly. This is an active step that prevents the build-up of fatigue during the day. It rests the heart and restores the energy of the brain and nervous system.
 
The progression of tiredness towards the end of the day seems to be almost geometrical. The seventeenth waking hour of the day will exhaust you far more than 1/17th of the day. Hence, be proactive – take regular rest brakes during the day and go to bed before it’s too late (pun intended).
 
If a physical rest is impossible for whatever reason, a complete change of mental activity will often act as re-energiser. Most of us are familiar with feeling tired at the end of the working day, until we engage with our favourite hobby – be it reading an interesting book or working out in the gym.
 
The alteration of activity and inactivity is an immutable law of nature. Align yourself with this great wisdom by providing your body and mind with the regular rest breaks they need.
 
Stimulation exhausts
 
For the sake of your own health and longevity let go of all forms of stimulants. The false appearance of increased energy generated by a caffeinated beverage, a cold shower, a stimulating drug, or a pill is merely an aggressive and forced draught upon the energies of the body. The energy expenditure is directed towards resisting and expelling the introduced poison. The depletion of your energy reserves is proportionate to the amount of stimulation you subject yourself to. The practice of preserving and regenerating energy through rest is much more wholesome and beneficial.
 
The period of depression that inevitably follows each burst of stimulation must be a warning sign. The fact that a stronger and more frequent dose necessitating a longer recovery period will be required to produce the same results indicates addiction. Stimulation seeks to increase vitality while ignoring the causes for its lack or temporary decrease. Thus, all stimulants are shortcuts to dis-ease and ultimately the grave.
 
Instead, I invite you to choose the way of nature – when tired rest, when sleepy sleep. When you live in accord with the laws of nature, its laws will fill your life with energy, health and fulfilment.

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