How to Get to Sleep

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Can’t Sleep? Do This!

Dr. Eric Berg DC

 

Here’s a question for you: Can you get a good night of sleep at night?

 

 

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Always sleep on your right side.

Why? This is because your heart is on the left side and the liver is on the right side. So many people have either a fatty liver or a congested liver. When you sleep on your left side, the weight of the liver can press on the heart. 

It’s much better if the heart is sitting on top of the liver when you’re on your right side. You’ll breathe better and sleep better when you sleep on your right side.

 

2. Slow your breathing down.

Focus on your breathing.  When your adrenals are overstressed, the breathing is different. The exhalation is shorter than the inhalation. 

Sync your breathing with an equal amount of inhalations and exhalations.  About 4-5 seconds each.  Slow the count to four or five as you’re breathing in.  One-two-three-four- and pause a few seconds. Then out, one-two-three-four.  You’re slowly breathing in and slowly breathing out – as you’re trying to sleep. And that really helps your sleep.

Some people catch themselves holding their breath as they’re trying to sleep. This is a really good thing to focus on as you drift off into sleep.

 

3. Bed by 10:30 pm; at least or maybe even a little earlier.

Here’s the problem – There’s a circadian rhythm that occurs and when you go to bed past 10:30, 11:30, or 12 midnight especially, you would miss out on that circadian wave; all of a sudden you can’t sleep.

You may already know that... like you might get tired around 9:30 and you think, “Man, if I just went to bed now, I can sleep,” but suddenly you wake up  - that’s what I’m talking about.

Get to bed by 10:30 pm because the optimum time of that circadian wave is about 10:45-11:00. That’s when your body drifts off into a sleep. I consistently go to bed at that time and can doze off very fast but if I go to bed around 12, I’ll be laying there for an hour.

 

4. Your pulse rate

If you ever go to bed and hear your pulse rate on the pillow, what that means is that you’re deficient in potassium. If you’re deficient in potassium, your heart will beat louder, harder, and at a higher pulse rate. Normal pulse rate is 72; sometimes 65 or 60 (if you’re in better shape).

What you may want to do for this is tp eat more vegetables because you don’t have enough potassium in your body. The pulse rate is a good indicator of low potassium and if you increase those vegetables, you’ll drift off to sleep better.

But really, what causes potassium deficiency are two things: 1) stress for many years (stress depletes your potassium), and 2) sugar. Eat too much sugar and it will definitely deplete your potassium and your pulse rate will go higher.

 

5. Massage Tool

The massage tool I use before I go to bed is a tool I developed for my own body. I have information on how to use it so you can get some good ideas.

 

 

I work on my neck points before I go to bed. I do my midback points and I do my adrenal points every night before I got to bed. It’s a really simple no-brainer. I take it on vacation wherever I go because it helps me get to sleep fast.

There are certain acupressure points that you work on in your neck and your adrenals will just turn things off and you will sleep a lot better. It helps pull stress out but it’s kind of a do-it-yourself model. Depending on how big you are, you can use the really small knob, the medium one, or the large one. So this is a great tool to pull stress out if you just can’t sleep.

These are some tips. I will see you in the next video.

 

Also, see more Sleep Advice from Dr. Berg Video Blog.