(HG Wells, When the Sleeper Wakes, p.7)
Mr. Isbister is probably right. No amount of laborious physical work could lessen mental fatigue. Even when you tire out your body, the mind keeps on spinning. Therefore, cease straining your physical strength. Let your mind flow but not the body. You cannot do two things at a time.
(Photo from here.)
Are you hungry for sleep but cannot get one? Sometimes that happens to me. There are times my mind is clogged with worries. When mental stress attacks I read until my mind becomes very tired. Or I watch boring television shows.
I noticed that the more I force myself to sleep, the more my thoughts prevail, the more I can’t sleep. That's when I learned there is no use fighting the very awake mind.
Now, spare some time and share your technique beating mental stress.
my secret?
ReplyDeletemagic sing. =)
well, truth is, mostly listening to classical music (debussy, satie, faure)
i've been getting that lately...i want to sleep but i can't due to deadlines.
ReplyDeletewell if there's no rush and still can't sleep, i lie down, close my eyes and don't think of anything like shutting down your brain off.
okay it's hard but it works sometimes. :)
1. Pray.
ReplyDelete2. Read a good book.
3. Listen to classical music.
These always work for me.
Oh, I forgot....
ReplyDeletethe best way to get a good night sleep is to have a great and regular form of exercise daily. Climbing stairs, walking, and even doing some household chores are alternatives. :)
hi, mr houseband, classical music is like a lullaby, too, but i'll get sleepy easier with boring shows he he with music, i am inclined to listening more than sleeping.
ReplyDeletei think, it's about focus, too, jepapertz, dont you think? ha ha focus on sleeping
doc emer, i never forget to pray, but most of the time, it does not bring me to sleep because it is when i pour out my heart's desires. e, marami kasing supplication kaya lalong di natutulog. reading a book is always effective.
i think i have to work out (seriously). work is partly sedentary.
hi ms. bing. yep. exercise helps. when i was just here at home (read: unemployed :D), naku, erratic ang sleeping patterns ko. reading books or listening to music didn't help. when i began working again and getting a little exercise (dahil lakad ako nang lakad), my sleep patterns are now normal. pero talagang gusto ng katawan ko 7 to 8 hours. kaya pag napuyat ako, out of whack na naman ang internal clock ko.
ReplyDeletedo try focusing on your breathing once you're in bed. don't think of anything else but regulating your breathing. works for me now. try it lang. :D
eversince i worked in a call center, ive learned to accept that irregular sleep is regular. argh. i dunno, im used to it already. and yes exercising does help. it tires you. lol.
ReplyDeleteFor me, surprisingly, I sleep it off. When I'm awake, I watch movies, listen to music and clean my closet. :)
ReplyDeletethanks, mayo, when i cant sleep, i'll try that. :-)
ReplyDeleteuh-oh, call center jobs, the sleep wrecker he he kidding aside, chelsea, i think you dont have a choice but to get used to it. try to get some more when you have your free time like saturdays and sundays.
clean your closet? hmmm... that gave me an idea, ipanema!
They say it is easy to rest a tired body than a tired mind. After a 5 hour gruelling game of chess, former world champ Bobly Fischer plays tennis. Former Russian champ Anatoly Karpov plays a few game of billiards. I think the trick is to distract the mind from what we are thinking and do something amusing and pleasurable , keeping the body busy. Sometimes just going out with your partner to a coffee shop or a cozy pub to have a few drinks and talk could be quite relaxing. The body can drag the mind to relax. Staying in quiet places and avoiding a noisy crowds certainly helps.
ReplyDeleteIf there's something I need to get off my chest, I write about it, sometimes on my blog. Then, once it's written and edited and expressed as much as I can, there's nothing else left to say and I can take the issue off my brain for a while.
ReplyDeletetrue, bw, it is easier to rest a tired body. i agree the body can drag the mind to rest but when it is very tired or has worked very hard, it could also cause unrest.
ReplyDeletethat's one way, too, aurea, jotting down the things that boggles the mind. it doesnt work for me though.
I read MY blog. Hehe. Beer is also effective for me. :-)
ReplyDeletethe more tired i get, the more sleep eludes me. seems like the body doesn't want to rest after being used and abused the whole day. sort of like payback.
ReplyDeleteanyway, i read, read, read. sometimes i leave the TV on at very low volume just to tire my eyes out. or i find a comfortable (sleep) position and i drift off to la la land.
I'm an insomniac so no matter what they say, I can't sleep till 2 or 3 a.m. I learned long ago that there is no use fighting this because I just get more stressed (worrying that why I'm still wide awake, that I may not get enough sleep, etc.). So at 2 or when I feel sleepy, I go to bed, put on the tv and read a book. In less than 20 or 30 minutes, I'm fast asleep.
ReplyDeleteI heard this from the Pastor's sermon yesterday. "If you're an insomniac, read the Bible. You can get a good sleep after a few minutes."
ReplyDeletePraying is a good habit to beat not only mental but also physical stress.
ReplyDeleteA friend advices me that and it works!
Praying is a good habit to beat not only mental but also physical stress.
ReplyDeleteWhen you pray, your mind is relaxed and if your on that state, you'll get a better sleep.
when it's bedtime, and my kids' hyper imaginations doesn't want to slow down, i tell them to pray a decade for someone sick or ill. if that doesn't work, i tell them to pray another decade for somebody else . . . they eventually fall asleep soundly. i have adopted this advice for myself :)
ReplyDeletemy apologies for not being able to reply ASAP. been busy, folks!
ReplyDeletenico, or brandy?
we are very much the same when we get tired, rhada, sleep eludes me, too, when i am very tired.
agree, bugs, no use fighting. hope i am not yet an insomniac.
the trouble is when one use the Bible as a sleeping pill, not as a guide to finding the right path, lazarus. :-)
if it works for you, malaya, it could probably work for others.
ha ha ha that is funny, gayle. but it looks like it worked for the kids, and is working for you.
Ako naman, I can't read when my mind is tired. I wouldn't be able to concentrate. I watch TV to relax my mind. I even stay away from the computer.
ReplyDeleteI go to bed at 1:00 am almost everyday and I usually fall asleep within 10 minutes. Except of course if something's bothering me.
wow, almost everyday 1:00 am? di ko siguro kakayanin.
ReplyDeletebut you are right about the reading, i cant concentrate, too, but i use it as something to bring me to sleep. yun nga lang, i read the same lines over and over to understand he he