You turn to the right, you turn to the left, a little face down, you also try on your back. Nothing. The mouth yawns, but the eye shrimp. You count little sheep, little pigs, the bad wolves. They reminded you of Little Red Riding Hood, you take it in stride, go for a walk in the forest with your mind.

Nothing. Again from the beginning, right and so on and so on, back. They keep their eyes open for so long that they get used to the darkness. You can now also see the small cracks in the ceiling. Now that you’ve counted the herds and they’re all in the fold, let’s go to the cracks now.

And again, nothing. Somewhere around here you’re getting on your nerves. Even now it will be impossible to manage to sleep. Insomnia has led you to irritability, which in turn intensifies your insomnia, a vicious cycle.

Bad sleep vs insomnia

A 30-40% of the population complains about the quality of their sleep and reports symptoms of insomnia. Coincidentally bad sleep, however, which can happen temporarily, usually due to overexertion, does not mean insomnia.

Insomnia affects 10-15% of the population and has clear characteristics. It lasts more than 3 months, during these months it occurs at least 3 times a week and its intensity is such that it affects the way the sufferers function during the day as well.

Prolonged lack of sleep is a factor that affects the body’s resistance to insulin and obesity. Thus, chronic insomnia is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. At the same time, our memory, concentration and ability to learn are negatively affected. And we are characterized by irritability, poor judgement, tension, anxiety, and often depression.

All this together, ultimately increases the risk of accidents. About 30% of traffic accidents are related to driver fatigue. So in this case we do not delay, we contact a specialist as soon as we notice it.

What do we do with bad sleep?

Back to bad sleep now, for which quite a few treatment tips have been given and are being given. We try to establish a consistent sleeping schedule, uniform for weekdays and weekends. We do not consume heavy and rich meals in the evening hours. We limit the consumption of caffeine and alcohol.

We go to bed without delay as soon as we feel sleepy. And we avoid sleeping at noon, or even that our siesta does not exceed 30 minutes. We exercise regularly, averaging 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous exercise. However, we plan it at least three hours before bedtime, to avoid tension.

We take the electronic devices out of the bedroom and take care of the surrounding area. We eliminate noises and possible disturbances, keep soft lighting or ideally no lighting at all. We adjust the temperature suitable for sleep, between 16 and 19 degrees Celsius. Our sheets help us when they are clean and smelling of musk.

By consuming banana, we equip ourselves with tryptophan and magnesium, nutrients that both help deep sleep. Magnesium and melatonin can also be found in almonds, which in turn contribute to the fight against anxiety and stress. Cherries, sour cherries, pineapple also have melatonin. The same goes for oats, only there, the carbohydrates it contains, additionally enhance sleepiness. If it is combined with yogurt or milk even better, since the tryptophan in dairy products helps the production of serotonin, which has an anti-anxiety effect. All about nutrition.

Now for the psychological part

If we feel very worried and tense, we spend 15 minutes before we try to lie down, decompressing. If we finished work or housework late, we need some time to unwind by doing something relaxing.

If that’s not enough and the thoughts keep racing like other Olympians, we reach for our notebook or journal. We write down our ideas, our obligations, all the things we want to do tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and worry about forgetting them. We thus try to get them out of our minds and put them down on paper. If there was still no decompression, it was time for the big media.

Chapter orgasm

For better or worse, as soon as our bodies become inactive, our minds begin to wander. Clearly, managing to come to a state of inner calm and quiet is ideal, but few manage to do so and again not always. An orgasm here is the most effective solution.

Think of it as the healthiest and most natural sedative, capable of dramatically reducing the stress levels that stand in the way of your sleep. 65% of participants in a study published in ScienceDaily saw an improvement in the quality of their sleep when they had just had an orgasm.

Our brain is an amazing organ. It controls all the functions of our body, it guides our emotions, it helps us tear into our new job, it guides a love conversation at a romantic dinner.

And it can also associate specific images, smells or textures with correspondingly specific memories of the past. It’s no coincidence that smelling a sunscreen reminds us of summer or that the smell of buttery popcorn takes us back to our childhood. Just like that, as Australian scientific research proves, the same brain connection can be achieved with orgasms. If we train our minds to believe that an orgasm is the fast track to deep sleep, then it will eventually work.

In other words, reaching orgasm either through sex or masturbation could somehow become part of a routine in the good sense, where the person regularly associates this process with the onset of sleep.

And there’s more here

Aside from this brain connection, orgasm is one small treasure in our arsenal of weapons against poor sleep. The quality of our sleep is affected by whether and for how long our body went into deep sleep rather than REM. That phase when we tend to say that we slept like a brick in short. Orgasm before sleep helps the body to get into this state.

In women now, orgasm can also reduce period pains, which are often the cause of shrimp-eye. Research has also shown this. At the moment of climax, blood flow to the genitals increases and the muscles of the uterus contract. This movement helps relieve the well-known cramps that we feel at the spot, during the difficult days of the month.

With orgasm, our body releases hormones such as oxytocin and dopamine, which trigger feelings of pleasure and joy. A quality sex or a successful masturbation can also reduce the levels of cortisol, a hormone directly linked to stress.

And it is of course the act of love itself that plays a role. Whether with a partner or self-satisfied, our heart rates skyrocket. And then comes the sudden release with the orgasm, to instantly calm anxiety and tension. I guess it’s time to leave the little sheep and the cracks alone, and start counting orgasms.