How To Drift into Sleep if You're Suffering from Sleeplessness or Insomnia

Sleep techniques, such as progressive relaxation and deep breathing, can help relax your mind and body enough so that you can drift into sleep. In fact, there are far more effective and natural ways to deal with insomnia than your average sleeping pill. However, today I will explain a simple and basic sleep technique that you will be able to follow with ease.

It’s simply impossible to will the mind and body to sleep as you may have already tried. By focusing on merely relaxing the body and mind, you can gear yourself for sleep. When the conscious mind drifts and the sub-conscious takes over, you are in a prime state for sleep. This exercise will help you do just that.

1. Once you’re ready to sleep, ensure that your bed and bedroom are dark, comfortable and not too warm. It’s best to lie on your back for this. So get yourself in a comfortable position and close your eyes.
2. Now begin to breathe deeply and slowly. Listen to each slow inhale and exhale. On each exhale, feel your body sinking down into the bed. Feel your body heavy and tired. Continue this until you feel relaxed from head to toe.
3. Now it’s time to begin with some affirmations. Imagine a calm and soothing voice and tell yourself, ‘You feel sleepy and tired. You will sleep better and better every night.’ Feel free to adapt and change the affirmations. Just ensure that you use positive language.
4. Now continuing with your deep, slow breathing, begin to count up on each exhale. Working from your head to your toes, relax a part of your body on each exhale. Imagine and feel your body heavy and sinking deeper into the bed. Continue this until you reach your toes.
5. You may find that you lose track when counting. This is a good sign that you’re drifting, if this happens, don’t worry exactly where you were, just continue roughly where you left off. If at the end, you are still awake, don’t panic! You can’t expect miracle cures. This is just a simple sleep technique that helps your conscious mind drift and your subconscious to take over using your imagination.

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How To Fall Asleep

People who meditate often have trouble staying awake. You can turn their problem into your solution for insomnia.

1. Lay on your back with your hands clasped on your chest, or in a comfortable position.
2. Take several deep breaths through your nose and release them.
3. Mentally count down from 50 to 20 on each inhale and exhale. On 50, exhale. On 49, inhale. On 48, exhale…and continue this pattern until you reach 20.
4. From 20 to 1, count only each exhale.
5. Now follow each inhalation and exhalation attentively. Notice the pause at the end of each exhalation. Notice how the temperature of the air feels different on an inhale than on an exhale.
6. Acknowledge distractions. If you hear a sound, don’t worry – just notice that you are hearing a sound; you might mentally take note of this process by repeating silently to yourself, “hearing, hearing”. If you notice a thought has appeared in your mind, just watch it until it fades away; mentally take note of this process by repeating silently to yourself, “thinking, thinking”. Or you could be more specific – “remembering, remembering” or “planning, planning”, or even “worrying, worrying”. In any case, do not try to suppress the thought, but rather just step back and notice it until it disappears and then return your attention to following your in-and-out breaths. If bodily sensations like itching or twitching or pain occur, just notice them also until they dissipate, and once again return your attention to following your breathing.
7. When you feel drowsy enough, adjust your body to your normal sleeping position while continuing to follow your breathing and let yourself fall asleep. If it seems to be taking a long time, remember that following your breath in this way is just as restful, if not more so, than sleeping itself.

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How Does Getting More Sleep Help You Lose Stomach Fat?

Your training routine and diet are in check, but that stubborn stomach fat just won't budge. It would appear that you're doing everything right, but you could be missing one final component of the fat loss equation -- sleep. While you might not immediately think so, sleep plays a big role in how successful you are in beating the bulge, and getting more of it could lead to faster progress.

Hunger

• When you miss out on sleep, you eat more. If you're feeling tired and your biorhythms are out of sync, you have higher levels of the hormone ghrelin, writes trainer Jennifer Cohen of No Gym Required on the "Forbes" magazine website. Increased ghrelin production makes you crave sugar and junk foods, which aren't good for your waistline.

Cortisol

• Cortisol is another hormone, often known as the stress hormone. You do need some cortisol for regulating your metabolism, blood pressure and immune system, but too much can be detrimental. When you lack sleep, your body produces more cortisol than when you're well rested. Cortisol can directly affect fat gain, particularly around your stomach area, according to Christine Maglione-Garves and Dr. Len Kravitz of the University of New Mexico. Deep abdominal fat has four times more cortisol receptors than subcutaneous fat just below the skin, meaning that a high cortisol level could make you gain belly fat.
• Fat Loss vs. Weight Loss

• Calories aren't the only important factor in losing stomach fat. A study published in a 2010 edition of the "Annals of Internal Medicine" showed that sleep deprivation affects the amount of fat you lose. Participants were placed on a restricted calorie diet and allowed either seven and a half or eight and a half hours of sleep. Weight loss was similar between both groups, but the group sleeping more had a much higher percentage of fat loss, while the sleep-deprived group lost more fat-free mass. If you want to lose fat and preserve muscle, sleeping more is the answer.

Considerations

• While getting more sleep probably won't have much of a direct impact on stomach fat in particular, bar the cortisol connection, sleeping more could help you lose more total fat both directly and indirectly. Getting a few extra hours in bed each week can also give you more energy, resulting in higher motivation levels and an increased enthusiasm for training, meaning you'll work harder in the gym and burn more calories.

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