"Sleep Less but better" - Sonnon

[john.sifferman]

After reading Coach Sonnon's My 10 Step Plan to Defrag Your Brain (http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/?p=172) I was a bit wary of point number 8, which I pasted below:



8. Sleep less but better.

Sleep less??? WTH? Yes, you did just read that. More than food, sex, or drugs, sleep is the biggest addiction in the world. The reason people “need” 8-10 hours of sleep in order to be healthy is because they’re only getting about 40-50% of the recuperative value from that duration. If you were able to receive 100% of the value from the sleep you had, you’d only need 4-5 hours to feel fantastic, energized, and ready to LEAP out of bed to tackle the adventure for the day.

One of the best ways to do that is to move your bed so that you’re not sleeping within 6 feet of any electrical outlet, and to make sure that every electrical (including clocks) device is turned off during your sleeping hours. If you sleep within an electromagnetic field, you will not have optimal sleep, as Graz Institute of Technology has proven in their research findings.

If you sleep less, but have twice as much benefit from your sleep, you’ll gain an additional 4-5 hours a day to enjoy life (and stop complaining that you don’t have time to exercise and prepare your own meals.)

In thinking about it, I have been sleeping much more than usual lately, getting about 9 hours every night - it's been almost a year with this schedule. I haven't had this much time for sleep since elementary school! What I don't understand is that I don't have the energy levels or quick recovery ability that I used to have - even when on a regular sleep allowance of 6-7 hours/night. I used to have a much more hectic schedule and would train for 2-3 hours every day - nowadays it's more like 30-90 minutes/day.

While I'm not a heavy sleeper, I do sleep very well and will doze off after a minute or two of hitting the pillow. It's very obvious that my quality of sleep has gone down in terms of recovery though, since I am more tired throughout recent months and it takes longer to abate DOMS.

So, beginning tonight, my wife and I are trying an experiment. Since there is almost nowhere in our home that is 6 feet away from an electrical outlet, we're cutting the power to our bedroom via the circuit breaker to see if it will have any impact on our sleep. We're going to do this for a few days, reevaluate, and if nothing changes - we may cut all the power to our entire 2nd floor and see if there is any difference.

I don't know if this matters, but we will also move our cell phones further away from our bedroom when we sleep.

Does anyone have any experience with this, or any evidence to back it up (I looked over the pdf that was supplied as evidence, but I didn't understand it)? What should we look for as results?

Anyone else want to try our experiment too?

[stevenhogg]

Hey John,

I was also intrigued by this post. I am trying to get to bed on time, 10, and wake up earlier 4:30-5:00. I just can't seem to get by with 5-6 hours of sleep (bed time is usually 11:30/12. Health and energy go down hill quickly. I was hoping that going to bed earlier would help.

As for my bedroom; I think if I stand in the middle of the room I'll be six feet away from all outlets, but that won't leave any room for my wife. ;) I hadn't thought of the circuit breaker, but for my house that would mean shutting down just about every plug in the place.

I'll have to think about this and some of the other 9 points as well. I sure could use the extra hours.

I may have to invest in a wind up alarm clock.

Look forward to the sucess of your experiment.

Later,

[sebastian andrew]

My wife is from Bavaria and she mentioned something like this a long time ago;i.e. that some Germans are wary of being in close proximity to electrical and "water" waves as touching living quarters. Frankly, I pooh-poohed the idea as something a little far out there. However, I'm all ears now that this has come up again.

[Kathryn Woodall]

Cross Currents is a book discussing some of the reasoning behind this. Body Electric is a forerunner, but more technical.

[john.sifferman]

Well, tonight will be day 7 of our experiment with shutting down the power to eliminate the electromagnetic field around us while we sleep and the results are in thus far - neither my wife or I have noticed any difference in sleeping habits during the past six days. The first night of our test, I slept very well and I woke up thinking "wow, that must have really worked!" but I think this was just placebo or chance.

On Easter Sunday, we tested the theory in practice by only allowing ourselves 5 hours of sleep - as opposed to our usual 8-9 hours. That was an awful day energy-wise - I took two naps :)

Has anyone else been trying this?

[Scott Sonnon]

John,

It's a skill, brother. Think of it like food (the world's 2nd biggest addiction). If you start eating great food, you'll immediately feel great, but you'll still go through withdrawals from over-eating junk.

Give it 3 months, without increasing caffeine, and you'll detox it out.

[stevenhogg]

Hey John,

I haven't shutdown the power yet, but I have been trying to keep bedtime more consistent (before 11:00) and not eating anything too late.

So far it seems that the closer it gets to 12, the lower quality sleep I get, even if it is 7-8 hours. If I make it to bed by 10:30, I feel much better and am ready to get up at 5. But with 4 kids and March being a very busy month, consistency was not happening.

Do you go to bed at a consistent time?

Does anyone have any info on the effects of an inconsistent bedtime?

With everything regarding our bodies working on a rhythmic cycle, it seems logical that varying bedtime would have an effect on sleep quality.

The last two nights I’ve also been able to almost complete a full AM session with the DVD and that has some effect also.

There are a lot of variables – another reason to journal your life to keep track of it all.

Later,

[john.sifferman]

Scott,

I was thinking along the same lines as I wrote my update - one week is not enough time to say for sure of any results. And addictions take time. If this EMF science is true, then I want to see what it can do long-term.

Honestly, my wife and I have gotten used to having no power in the bedroom that we don't even switch it on during the day anymore. If we need to see, then we use candles instead. I've always felt the need for the bedroom to be a sanctuary, an escape from the daily rigors of life - somewhere that you can sleep peacefully, no matter what.

This comes to mind because we just recently moved. Our old apartment did not have a very good floor plan which made it impossible for me to have a separate office. Instead, my office was in the kitchen/dining room and living room. This basically meant that my work was always in front of me. I couldn't go anywhere in the apartment to "get away." Every time I went to eat a meal or just relax, I had that computer screen and to-do list staring at me in the face. Our new home has a separate office area now which has been amazing to witness the difference. I'm able to go into the kitchen and living room and forget about the work to be done so that I can focus on other important things like my relationship with my wife.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Best regards,

[john.sifferman]

Steven,

My schedule fluctuates frequently, so some weeks I have a fairly regular bedtime, usually before 11pm, and other weeks it's different every night. The weekends are always a killer for me because there are always people to see and late nights.

There is definitely an effect on my sleep based on my bedtime consistency. And I find that the earlier I get to bed, the better. I think that every hour before midnight must count for 2 hours after midnight, or something along those lines :)

Best regards,

[stevenhogg]

I've always wondered if those that lived in simpler times were more relaxed. No radios, tvs, computer, phones, electromagnetic radiation, etc. When the sun went down it wasn't easy to do anything but maybe read by candlelight and go to bed and by the time the sun came up you were ready to go.

As they say "the good ol' days" had their ups and downs, but some of it would be nice to go back to.

[shadow]

I've been noticing that I can get by with slightly less hours of sleep per night now.

I think it is largely related to several major things in my life:

- High intensity exercise
- RESET
- A cleaner diet
- Cranio-sacral therapy

I would love to remove the power from the room but its so hot here that we couldn't possibly sleep without the fan on.

[Coach Gostnell]

So far it seems that the closer it gets to 12, the lower quality sleep I get, even if it is 7-8 hours. If I make it to bed by 10:30, I feel much better and am ready to get up at 5.

My mom always said, "You get your best sleep before midnight." I'd roll my eyes, but after years of trying it both ways, I believe her (Thanks, Mom. Better late than never).

[Ryan Murdock]

My mom always said, "You get your best sleep before midnight." I'd roll my eyes, but after years of trying it both ways, I believe her (Thanks, Mom. Better late than never).
Jeanne, i heartily agree. I get some of my best sleep between about 8 and 11am ;)

[wiggy1]

About 3 months ago, I started Dr. Schwarzbein's supplement regiment recommended for Low Serotonin. Since then I have had some of the best sleep in my life.

[Paul Keith]

My current job prevents me from sleeping "normal" hours (I work from midnight to 8 AM), I usually get to bed about nine, but I tend to only sleep around 4-5 hours, this leaves me dragging for the rest of my day, but I cant seem to get back to sleep when I try to sleep longer, I end up taking a nap in the evenings before work, but this disjointed sleep schedule really messes with my energy levels, especially since I return to a "normal" sleeping schedule on the weekend. I am interested in trying the electrical interference thing I am trying to figure out the logistics of keeping 6 ft from an electrical outlet it will prove an interesting challenge.

[Coach Bentz]

I took Paul's suggestion and just cut the power to my bedroom at the circuit breaker (and bathroom... good thing I'm blind anyway!)

So far, I'm pleased with the change. I don't notice that I'm sleeping any less yet, but I am waking up a little less groggy, with a little more energy.