5 tips to help you sleep better.

Sleep seems to be a highly desired human commodity. I hear about it almost everyday,...

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Sleep seems to be a highly desired human commodity. I hear about it almost everyday, someone is almost always talking about how stressed out they are on how they aren’t sleeping. When I was on Facebook there were several people always talking about their insomnia issues. Sleep seems to be a common issue among people of all walks of life.

My sleeping issues started after my deployment to Iraq and got progressively worse after my trip to Haiti. I struggled with sleep for nearly 10 years before I got it under reasonable control. While these sleeping tips might not work for you, I could see a pattern with my sleeping habits that I am sharing here with you.

1. Get your anxiety under control.

I dealt with a lot of anxiety issues, most of which I brought upon my self. What makes you anxious? Is it financial worries? Is it politically driven? Finding the source of my anxiety and getting rid of those factors greatly affected the quality of my sleep. Facebook was a big source of my anxiety and rightfully so when nearly every meme or post has negative connotations. It was simple. I deleted my Facebook.

Setup a schedule to read the news once per day or even once every other day. All main stream news is meant to get you riled up so they get you coming back to boost their advertising income. News also causes drama and creates opinionated people that happen to surround you.

2. Check your blood pressure.

One night I had an extreme episode of Anxiety (later diagnosed with PTS) which landed me in the hospital. My blood pressure came back at 190 over 110. Clinically speaking I had a 90% chance of having a stroke at any given moment. I ended up getting on blood pressure meds which I stopped taking once I started exercising. After losing some weight my blood pressure came way down my I noticed my sleep quality and length of sleep increased.

3. Get rid of negative friends.

Lose the friends that drag you down or make you feel like shit. Find a couple of close friends that get you and keep them close. Remove the negativity and drama from your life. Many people are addicted to drama and that drama will create hidden stresses in your life. Think of it like a stress bucket that you can’t see. Eventually that bucket will over flow and it will suck hard. Stop hanging out with losers.

4. Be a carnivore.

Lowering my carbohydrate intake and eating more meat really helped with me sleep. Humans were not meant to eat processed and sugary foods. Both evolutionary and biblical based science agrees that humans need meat. We’ve been lied to for many years. Meat and fat is not the enemy, processed food and sugar is. Sugary foods will inhibit production of chemicals your body needs to help you sleep.

5. Stop drinking alcohol.

I took a two and half year break from drinking alcohol. What I noticed after the first couple weeks was improved sleep. Alcohol has been scientifically proven to disrupt sleep cycles and I’ve seen this personally within myself. Drinking alcohol raises your blood pressure, increases anxiety, makes you paranoid and just isn’t good to have on a regular basis.

In conclusion,

I noticed the biggest difference when I worked on all 5 of these suggestions together. Diet is related to alcohol consumption as is blood pressure issues and even anxiety. Blood pressure issues are related to sugary and carbohydrate rich foods which can also be link to anxiety. They all feed off each other and I am finding that if I keep all 5 in check, I sleep much better at night.

I went from maybe getting 3 or 4 hours per night to sleep 6 to 8 hours per night by working on these 5 things.

The post 5 tips to help you sleep better. first appeared on James Burnett.