The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It

by W. Chris Winter

WANT TO TURN THE PROCESS of quieting your mind into a futuristic video game on your iPhone? Muse (www.choosemuse.com) is a small biofeedback device that wirelessly connects to your phone. Muse detects your brain waves and can convert them into the sound of the ocean. By using the device, you can “hear” the activity level of your brain and practice calming it down. The more you calm your brain, the quieter the ocean becomes. By practicing this skill, you’ll be able to expertly shut your brain off as soon as you get into bed. One useful component to the bedtime routine is a hot shower, or preferably a hot bath. While cooler environmental temperatures typically result in a higher-quality sleep, vigorously heating the body via bathing before sleep has been shown to improve sleep quality, most likely because of the cooling and body heat release that follows. Therefore, a hot bath about an hour before you hit your cool, comfy bed can be very helpful for difficult sleepers.