This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in July of 2022. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/2ca0sWPfibg
Brad: Bob, I have a friend, who brags about how he lies down at night, and within seconds after his head hits the pillow, he’s out like a light until morning. It kind of makes you sick sometimes, doesn’t it?
Bob: That’s a real talent.
Brad: We’ve done several videos on sleeping, and how to get to sleep fast and this is going to go through a culmination of some of our favorites to help you get to sleep faster. So, hold on, and we’re going to be sleeping soon. If you have watched our videos you know if you watch enough of our videos, you’ll fall asleep quickly. No seriously, we have five things we’re going to go through. The first two are preliminaries that are important for always sleeping. We’ll go through those and then the last three are very specific ones that can help you and they’ve helped us out a lot. Number one, a lot of people know this, but some don’t. You need to eliminate the use of blue light. It comes from cell phones, tv, and LEDs. You need to eliminate that.
Bob: At least lessen them. Dim the lights.
Brad: Reduce that light as much as possible.
Bob: You could wear glasses that filter that out. I have some. I also have clip-on ones.
Bob: Oh yeah, they look kind of red or orange. I don't have glasses so I can't clip them on. I don’t have problems. I don’t watch too much television except sometimes in the evening so I must watch myself. Number two is the temperature in the room in which you’re sleeping. 68 degrees, is that kind of the tipping point?
Bob: I think at least 68, lower if possible.
Brad: Sometimes colder, too warm is no good. Then, if you’re going to have a light in the room, make sure it’s a red light. It’s going to be helpful. Even in your clock, if you have a clock in your room. I have a red light. Next, white noise. I know that helps me.
Bob: I have a fan.
Brad: We have a fan going all the time and it works out well. It gets some air moving as well. The other one that works well for me is tea. Not just any tea because you don’t have caffeine in it, it’s chamomile.
Bob: Right. I’ve heard that many times before.
Brad: It does have some sleeping quality. Drink that before you go to bed. Now we’re going to go onto the big hitters that you must really do something with, so hold on. The big “T”, tension. Tension and anxiety are one of the big things that are going to ruin your health and it’s certainly going to take the sleep away from you.
Bob: Things are tight, and you don’t even know it.
Brad: Oftentimes, it’s from the neck up. In my case, I know my temples get tight. I’ll do a self-massage with my finger and hands.
Bob: Mine is the skull.
Brad: Bob’s skull gets tense for obvious reasons.
Bob: Big brain.
Brad: Working on that brain so hard. One thing I find is if you do have tight temples when you rub, you get in deep. If it feels good, you know they’re tight. I go back over the ears.
Bob: You can use fingertips, or you can use knuckles.
Brad: I use the palms sometimes and I get in and do some rotation. It gets that fascia just above it, sometimes not even the muscle but that fascia that’s around it. What do you do on the top of your head?
Bob: Just fingertips.
Brad: A nice area is also the jaw.
Bob: Right, a lot of tension there. That masseter gets tight.
Brad: That one, it seems to me, is a good one for my knuckles. Last, but not least, where the neck muscles connect to the occipital at the back of the neck. You can do the circles, or splaying seems to do a good job where you get ahold of the skin with your fingertips, and you pull apart. You’ll find which area you need to work on. You probably aren’t going to work all of them. Spend a minute or two on it and get that relaxation started before sleep.
Bob: Brad, do you want to mention this?
Brad: Ah, yes. Now, you take one of your socks and put some rice in it. This costs you very little. I have about half a pound of rice or something in there, put it in the microwave for about 30-45 seconds depending on your microwave after you do the massage. Then lie, on your back, or if you’re in a recliner, and it’s amazing, it feels like moist heat, and lay it over your eyes. It covers the light, feels comfortable, and conforms perfectly to your nose and face.
Bob: And it smells good.
Brad: Oh yes, Bob. It’ll last a long time. It’s amazing what that does and how good it feels on your face. Okay, number four, this is just an evolution of number three. We want to get the room dark, as we mentioned with the sock. To add the massage, maybe some music, all these things can help. Obviously don’t play heavy metal, we’re talking about music that’s relaxing. Even just the sound of the ocean, whatever you like, you can get it on your little phone and all that stuff. Bob, you can show me what you do, and I'll show you what I do.
Bob: This is the eye mask. I don’t use it when I go to bed. If I wake up at like four in the morning, it starts to get light out, I'll put the mask on and it blocks out the light and it’s comforting, and I fall right back asleep.
Brad: People that work night shifts must sleep during the day, that can be very helpful.
Bob: These are very comfortable.
Brad: They were not very expensive either. If you want to go to the deluxe that does massage, music, and everything for you, you can use an eye massager. Now, I thought these were a big joke. I tried it and I’ve become a believer. I’ve had friends who use it and are very happy with it. What this does is, put it on. It blocks the light, hits the button and it’ll start massaging your temples and that’s what really sold me. It heats up across your eyes. It has a frequency that’s not the same, so it changes all the time, and a very relaxing tone is playing. There are five different options, you can hook it up to your cellphone and Bluetooth it. It’s a wonderful device.
Bob: You know what I found out that it was funny, Brad, you tried it in the afternoon, and you kept falling asleep.
Brad: Yeah. It goes for 15 minutes, and it turns off automatically. You do have to charge it every fourth or fifth use. Which is no problem, you just plug it in and there it goes. Now, we do have one more and this is the one where I get up in the middle of the night.
Bob: This is the atomic bomb.
Brad: Yeah, this is one that puts me to sleep when I have my mind rolling and it’s three o’clock in the morning and I want to get to bed, and I don’t want to use the eye massager and irritate my wife. In the middle of the night, if I wake up for whatever reason and I can’t get back to sleep because I have my mind on something. Bob’s been irritating me, my wife’s been irritating me, you know how it goes. You start ruminating and you can’t get to sleep! So, I’ll take my hoodie and put my hood over my head and I snuggle back into the corner of the couch, either on my side or on my back. If I'm on my back, I have two pillows and put them under my knees. I’m already starting to feel the calmness. If you have your heat pack, just lay it over your eyes or use the eye massager. I’ll cuddle up and life becomes very good.
Bob: It's like you're back in the womb.
Brad: Yeah, very comfortable feeling. Goodnight, all! I’m sure one of these is going to help you fall asleep when you need to most and feel grateful.
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