To be efficient at work, make peace with sleep
28 December 2010
Read by 1601 persons
Bad mood, difficulty concentrating, tiredness: sleeping badly ruins life. Follow our advice... and your nights will become as beautiful as your days.
The alarm clock is jarring. You painfully pull yourself out of the sheets. And it takes hours to wake up. Know that you are one of the third of French people who feel tired when they wake up, according to a 2007 study by the National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance (INSV). Did you sleep badly? Not enough? Both, maybe. Don't worry: with a few tricks and a little discipline, you'll quickly become friends with the Sandman again.
Make your sleeping space comfortable
It's difficult to expect to sleep well if your bedroom isn't a calm and cozy place. Air it out every day and keep the temperature between 18 and 20°C. Try to get complete darkness by installing shutters or thick curtains. Above all, ban electronic devices that generate stray light. "Even the light of a radio alarm clock is too strong," says Damien Léger, head of the sleep center at Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. "Especially since, in case of insomnia, you are tempted to look at the time, which increases your stress." Finally, don't skimp on the quality of your bed (mattress and box spring) and renew your bedding. "Even by washing and regularly changing the pillowcase, the pillow ends up absorbing sweat," warns Damien Léger. "In the long run, this triggers allergies and repeated rhinitis in some people."
Get ready to fall asleep
Frédérick Fabry, co-founder of the SmartClic private sales website, chose a knockout blow to fall asleep: "I do boxing one or two evenings a week. It allows me to drain my batteries. After a workout, I collapse." But this method can be double-edged. Indeed, practiced after 6 pm, sport risks delaying falling asleep because it causes an increase in body temperature. The same goes for computers and video games after 9 pm. "The strong brightness of screens disrupts the secretion of melatonin, the sleep hormone," warns Dr. Agnès Brion, vice-president of the INSV.
In addition, these activities maintain intellectual excitement." For dinner, eat lightly: the longer the digestion, the slower you will fall into Morpheus' arms. Avoid alcohol, which delays the onset of paradoxical sleep (see above), as well as proteins, which stimulate alertness. "Every evening, just before going to bed, I eat a yogurt," says Mathieu Maréchal, director of the language services company Trad Online. "Establishing rituals is very effective," approves Agnès Brion. "Drinking herbal tea or reading a few pages in bed sends the brain the signal that it's time to sleep."
If you wake up for a long time during the night, get up
How to get rid of the dark thoughts that go round and round and wake you up in the middle of the night? By using different relaxation techniques based on breathing - I concentrate on my breath - or mental visualization - I walk on a deserted beach. "If you don't fall back asleep after twenty minutes, get up," recommends Dr. Sylvie Royant-Parola, president of the Morphée sleep specialist network. "Do a calm activity in your living room until the sleep signals - yawning, eye twitching - return."
Frédérick Fabry, from SmartClic, indulges in regression: "I eat my children's sweets while watching television." He also sometimes takes a mild sleeping pill. "But never swallow a pill whose effects you don't know before an important event," warns Sylvie Royant-Parola. Sleep apnea can also be the cause of disturbed sleep. This pathology, which causes breathing to stop for more than ten seconds, affects between 2 and 4% of the population, mainly men over 40. In this case, it is absolutely necessary to consult a specialist.
Published on December 21, 2010
Posted online on December 28, 2010
www.capital.fr
The alarm clock is jarring. You painfully pull yourself out of the sheets. And it takes hours to wake up. Know that you are one of the third of French people who feel tired when they wake up, according to a 2007 study by the National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance (INSV). Did you sleep badly? Not enough? Both, maybe. Don't worry: with a few tricks and a little discipline, you'll quickly become friends with the Sandman again.
Make your sleeping space comfortable
It's difficult to expect to sleep well if your bedroom isn't a calm and cozy place. Air it out every day and keep the temperature between 18 and 20°C. Try to get complete darkness by installing shutters or thick curtains. Above all, ban electronic devices that generate stray light. "Even the light of a radio alarm clock is too strong," says Damien Léger, head of the sleep center at Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. "Especially since, in case of insomnia, you are tempted to look at the time, which increases your stress." Finally, don't skimp on the quality of your bed (mattress and box spring) and renew your bedding. "Even by washing and regularly changing the pillowcase, the pillow ends up absorbing sweat," warns Damien Léger. "In the long run, this triggers allergies and repeated rhinitis in some people."
Get ready to fall asleep
Frédérick Fabry, co-founder of the SmartClic private sales website, chose a knockout blow to fall asleep: "I do boxing one or two evenings a week. It allows me to drain my batteries. After a workout, I collapse." But this method can be double-edged. Indeed, practiced after 6 pm, sport risks delaying falling asleep because it causes an increase in body temperature. The same goes for computers and video games after 9 pm. "The strong brightness of screens disrupts the secretion of melatonin, the sleep hormone," warns Dr. Agnès Brion, vice-president of the INSV.
In addition, these activities maintain intellectual excitement." For dinner, eat lightly: the longer the digestion, the slower you will fall into Morpheus' arms. Avoid alcohol, which delays the onset of paradoxical sleep (see above), as well as proteins, which stimulate alertness. "Every evening, just before going to bed, I eat a yogurt," says Mathieu Maréchal, director of the language services company Trad Online. "Establishing rituals is very effective," approves Agnès Brion. "Drinking herbal tea or reading a few pages in bed sends the brain the signal that it's time to sleep."
If you wake up for a long time during the night, get up
How to get rid of the dark thoughts that go round and round and wake you up in the middle of the night? By using different relaxation techniques based on breathing - I concentrate on my breath - or mental visualization - I walk on a deserted beach. "If you don't fall back asleep after twenty minutes, get up," recommends Dr. Sylvie Royant-Parola, president of the Morphée sleep specialist network. "Do a calm activity in your living room until the sleep signals - yawning, eye twitching - return."
Frédérick Fabry, from SmartClic, indulges in regression: "I eat my children's sweets while watching television." He also sometimes takes a mild sleeping pill. "But never swallow a pill whose effects you don't know before an important event," warns Sylvie Royant-Parola. Sleep apnea can also be the cause of disturbed sleep. This pathology, which causes breathing to stop for more than ten seconds, affects between 2 and 4% of the population, mainly men over 40. In this case, it is absolutely necessary to consult a specialist.
Published on December 21, 2010
Posted online on December 28, 2010
www.capital.fr
