Sleep as an emotional regulator and resolver, a self control factor and a learning device

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As I delve deeper and deeper into understanding and figuring out all the significant elements necessary for self control (and my book on it), certain things seem to be more significant than originally thought, while other things proposed in the books prove to be ineffectual and/or mostly theory.

Though we all want to be "strong" (per our evolutionary inclinations), sometimes the easy way is the better way (of course!).

What is easier than sleeping?

And hardly anything else is as effective at body repair for full functioning AND emotional settling down and resolving AND consolidating that which we want to learn/remember.  (We'll discuss how to use the latter in a way to affect the second item, in a way that not only affects how we feel during the day, but in a way that makes us "stronger" and more able to exert effective self control (= self mastery) to get more of what we want out of life.

As in the Farnam Street article The Science Of Sleep:  Regulating Emotions And The Twenty Four Hour Mind, we can passively let the mind do its own reconciliation and consolidation of emotionally upsetting events during the day.  This function allows us to down regulate negative mood overnight and prepare to have more positive emotions during the day.

"What we experience as a dream is the result of our brain’s effort to match recent, emotion-evoking events to other similar experiences already stored in long-term memory. One purpose of this sleep-related matching process, this putting of similar memory experiences together, is to defuse the impact of those feelings that might otherwise linger and disrupt our moods and behaviors the next day."

"Dreaming modulates disturbances in emotion, regulating those that are troublesome."

We could leave off the discussion right now and you, hopefully, would get the idea, and then follow the practice of getting good sleep, that a full night's sleep is necessary to be more emotionally healthy.


THE ROLE OF SLEEP IN LEARNING

If one truly wants to learn something, then it will pay to utilize sleeping to assure that something is better learned (and that means "retained for recall and use when needed").  

As the author of The Twenty Four Hour Mind writes:  

"Want to improve your golf stroke? Concentrate on it before sleeping. An interval of sleep has been proven to bestow a real benefit.

Most researchers agree “with the overall conclusion that one of the ways sleep works is by enhancing the memory of important bits of new information and clearing out unnecessary or competing bits, and then passing the good bits on to be integrated into existing memory circuits.” 

In REM sleep, these new bits of information are then matched to older related memories already stored in long-term memory networks. This causes the new learning to stick (to be consolidated) and to remain accessible for when we need it later in waking."

Surely, we want to learn things in the most efficient way, so that we are more effective and/or save learning time.

But it would seem first that we might look at what is most important to learn - and that should, of course, be what affects life the most, certainly!

WHAT AFFECTS US MOST?

In answering the question, if one looks at life from on high, the clear winner, by a wide margin, is "beliefs"!!!!!!

Beliefs guide our actions in life and are the causers of emotions and how we feel about life.

What could be more important than that?

If you follow what I am about to propose, it will most likely affect your life more than any other practice you engage in - ever!  

I suggest that you read, and do, Using Sleep To Consolidate And Learn Corrected Beliefs - For A Much Greater Life!  

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Again, if you find this to be of potential benefit for a human being you know, click on the little white envelope below this post to share the link to it.  

Energy and staying in the The Zone

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One of the few top rules to remember in life is to stay and/or return to The Zone as quickly as possible to avoid wasted energy and to avoid damage - and to remain in a high functioning state in order really, really be able to lead a great life.

Some of the strategies to ensure staying in The Zone are anticipatory.  They are "precausative" in the chain of causes.

One of the best that prevents, or substantially reduces, free fall or spiraling downward later in the day is to use the simple strategy, as a #1 priority, of getting to sleep at the exact same time every night and getting up at the exact same time.

When I say "exact" I mean EXACT, not a "well, within a half hour is good enough".  Setting the body clock so that it works requires the primitive body practices that work for the natural functioning of the body.  (When I say "for the body", I am including the mind, as the body is "repairing" neuronal connections and making sense, in a crude manner, of what occurred during the day - and that improves sanity and lowers emotional reactivity, such as with anxiety and fears.)  

You should never experience fatigue during the day.  Don't tolerate it.  Nap if you have to, but use a full night's sleep as your weapon to head off low energy during the day.

A full night's sleep is the one where you feel fully rested and fully alert when you awaken.  It is usually about 8 hours.  Test to see what works for you and then set the exact time to get up after adding those hours to your bedtime.  (Although lots of have written on this, the current popular book about it is Thrive, by Arianna Huffington, who collapsed from overachieving and undersleeping.)

There's probably nothing here you haven't read, but the point of this whole piece is for you to start doing this process religiously right now - and then do it for at least 30 days - and then continue it forever after.  And do it at the EXACT times every day.   Please let me know what a difference this makes in your life.
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So, to implement this, you should set an alarm that goes off probably about 40 minutes before the established bed time, so that you have enough time to assure that you can be in bed and ready.  If you're ready early, then just use a filler, like a few minutes of light reading or writing a little in your journal (always, at some point in the day, "reflect" on your day and your life will change massively for the better).

I use "Reminders", which do not clutter up my calendar but do make a sound for me to respond to (on both my iPad and iPhone).

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I am "bemused" when I see people trying to be maximally efficient or to be massively achieving,  but failing to do the #1 base requirement for being set up to be productive, alive, alert, and well functioning in any aspect of life.

Screwed up, so I set sleep rules...

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As the rule in my life that I find most useful says "if I see anything not working or out of balance, I will handle it as soon as possible", I did the following.

I noticed that three nights in a row there was disjointed sleep (and that I felt a bit sloggy during those days).  So I asked "well, what is causing that and what do I need to fix?"  Of course, I had to guess a bit, but the solution worked magnificently, as I plugged all the holes that would allow through anything that would disturb my sleep.

The result was that I worked up a list of simple rules to follow to correct those current items (I didn't add everything on the whole sleep checklist, but only what was of relevance right now).

Then I printed them out, in a small format, stuck them in the middle of the bathroom mirror and set up reminders to assure I would do it, until each becomes a habit.

See My Personal Sleep Rules Reminder List, in the sidebar of The Sleep Checklist on the site.