Your Brain Changes Based on What You Did Two Weeks Ago | A workout or restless night from two weeks ago could still be affecting you—positively or negatively—today.

[u/chrisdh79]

https://www.newsweek.com/brain-changes-neuroscience-exercise-sleep-health-two-weeks-1965107

[u/chicklette]

Something that helped me a lot was reading an article that basically said laying quietly in a dark room with your eyes closed is almost as good as sleep.

This really helps my anxiety when I start to spiral over not getting enough sleep and freaking out about my insomnia. Hope it helps.

[u/craftasaurus → u/chicklette]

My mom told me this when I was a little child. It does work.

[u/hellogentlerose → u/chicklette]

So real. I keep that in mind when I cant fall asleep right away or wake up in the middle of the night.

[u/xflameshadowx → u/chicklette]

Sounds like a paradoxical metal exercise. Basically you stop trying to force yourself to sleep. You just submit to whatever your mind will let you do and the act of accepting you won't sleep often helps you do that very thing.

[u/CountVanillula → u/xflameshadowx]

paradoxical metal exercise

New band name. I call it.

[u/chicklette → u/xflameshadowx]

Ehh, this is more of a resting vs. tricking. There are some nights that I am just not going to sleep, and I still have to be productive the next day. So I just lay quietly, let my brain do whatever it wants, and the next day, I'll be tired, but not dangerously exhausted. It's almost like lucid dreaming, but you're not that far under.

[u/Wassux → u/chicklette]

I have the same and came to the same conclusion/discovery.

Insomnia sucks so much more than people realise. I didn't sleep at all the night before the last one, and it still took me an hour to fall asleep last night. It's wild.

I try to look at the positive, at least accidentally falling asleep behind the wheel isn't going to happen :)

[u/wowwoahwow → u/chicklette]

Yeah I read something similar about how when you can’t fall asleep it’s better to at least rest than to try to actively do things because you’re awake. I used to think that since I couldn’t sleep I may as well clean all not. Rest was way better for me, and I would usually eventually fall asleep anyways

[u/Ms_Emilys_Picture → u/chicklette]

I have been averaging three hours of sleep a night and I'm starving because I just started a cut. I got an hour and a half last night and ended up crying in the shower this morning.

Thank you. I'm going to try this.

[u/offthewall1066 → u/Ms_Emilys_Picture]

You might want to lower your deficit a bit and eat carbs at night before bed

[u/chicklette → u/Ms_Emilys_Picture]

I really hope it helps!

[u/YOLOSELLHIGH → u/chicklette]

I wonder if this is why when I lay down to nap, even if I don’t sleep, I still feel better when I get up

[u/mozgw4 → u/chicklette]

Another thing I read was just telling yourself the next day that you did have a good sleep, rather than keep remembering the poor sleep. Convince yourself. It does actually help.

[u/NoamLigotti → u/mozgw4]

Yes, I heard about research supposedly suggesting this.

Maybe not just "telling yourself," but believing you got enough sleep — something like that.

I think it was people who got less than six (?) hours sleep but believed they got (either more than six hours or an adequate amount of sleep) felt more well-rested the next day than those who got six hours sleep but didn't believe this.

[u/soofs → u/[deleted]]

Isn’t this similar to progressive muscle relaxation? My psychiatrist recommended doing this and mentioned yoga nidra as he learned about it while living in India

[u/Psinuxi_ → u/chicklette]

I read similar way back when I first started to really struggle with sleep. I really think it works. Knowing that, even though I'm not sleeping but still contributing something to my rest, is comforting.

[u/ceebee4564 → u/chicklette]

Used to do this in high school for theatre. The teacher made it part of the class (it's a long time ago so can't remember if it was for a regular class or that I was apart of the school's ensemble) and even took it a step further by having us practice mindfulness. Basically pretend there's a ball of energy starting at the top of your head and you "feel" it slowly work it's way down your body, through your arms, fingers, legs and toes.

Still try and use the technique today and it helps. I'm sure it's one of those things that feels different for everyone, but for me, it always felt kinda like cleaning with a lint roller. Like any minor, negative, physical feeling I have is being taken with the ball.

[u/BluBoi236 → u/chicklette]

Huge if true.

[u/LemonBearTheDragon → u/chicklette]

Yes! I think I remember that the scientists measured brain waves/activity when just lying down with your eyes closed and found it was similar to that when you were actually asleep. I'm going off memory so someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[u/trobsmonkey → u/chicklette]

I do this every single day.

I have a floor mat, I lay down with my dogs and a fan with a 30 minute alarm. Not long enough to sleep. But enough to just rest.

I swear to god it's amazing and everyone should take a short break like that if they can.

[u/Admirable-Job-7191 → u/chicklette]

This really seems to vary from person to person. I know someone for whom this works whereas it does absolutely nothing for me apart from probably getting my blood pressure even more non-functional. 

[u/Reallyhotshowers → u/Admirable-Job-7191]

The point of this is its supposed to take the pressure off of you to sleep, as a lot of insomnia is anxiety driven and a cycle of worrying about not sleeping that keeps you awake. Telling yourself that laying down in a dark room is basically the same is a way of mitigating the anxiety of not sleeping.

It didn't work for me either. Had a therapist tell me to just get up and start doing stuff when I couldn't fall back asleep instead of laying around in bed. I'd get up but reserve generally unpleasant tasks for this time, like studying for a test (as a professional adult it would probably be writing documentation or learning a new technology). This wore me out faster and wound up being a bit helpful in my initial falling asleep, and occasionally I'd get in a nap before actual day to day activities began. Basically a combination of giving up control of your sleep schedule + pairing when you should be sleeping with extremely mentally exhausting activities.

Just some food for thought.

[u/NoamLigotti → u/Reallyhotshowers]

So, just lying in a dark room with one's eyes closed isn't actually nearly as good as sleep, it's just meant to help people fall asleep?

That's a big difference.

Anyone know what the science would suggest is true?

[u/jayraan → u/chicklette]

I've done this a lot when I can't sleep and I definitely feel like it helps too! I personally suspect it might work similar to meditation, or at least it makes me feel similarly calm and slightly energized when getting up, even if I didn't get the sleep I needed. You're definitely still giving your body a rest, and if you're not actively doing anything, I'm guessing a good part of your brain is resting too.

[u/ehead → u/chicklette]

Unfortunately, this is the best I can do sometimes.

[u/PM_me_your_whatevah → u/chicklette]

Getting checked for mineral deficiencies is a really good idea. Over half of people are low on magnesium.

I’ve started magnesium supplements 3 days ago and I’m no longer clenching my jaw, back muscles loosened up, anxiety and all the meaningless chatter in my brain has mellowed out. I even slept 6 hours straight without waking, for the first time in forever.

As you mentioned, controlling anxiety is crucial. You can definitely get into a loop of your head messing with your body and your body messing with with your head right back. Just keeps amplifying itself. 

[u/toan55 → u/chicklette]

Source please?

[u/tyrico → u/chicklette]

Something that helped me a lot was reading an article that basically said laying quietly in a dark room with your eyes closed is almost as good as sleep.

I've read this too, yet it doesn't stop me from feeling like ass when it's finally time to get out of bed.

[u/chicklette → u/tyrico]

Yeah, doesn't always work, but for me it's the difference between "I can get through today" and "I have to call out because I can't remember where i work."