We all know that sleep is important, but we’ve all had times when you haven’t had a good night sleep. It could be due to any number of things, but whatever the cause, what do you do when you wake up the next day knowing you didn’t get enough sleep? Do you accept the fact that you’re going to be tired all day, or is there something you can do about it to make sure you feel well-rested?
Upworthy reports that according to a new research study, there is definitely something you can do about it, and it’s not just drinking more coffee; although, that could help too. It turns out the trick to feeling well rested is all in the mind.
You’ve probably heard of the placebo effect, where if patients are given a pill that they believe will help them in a certain way they’re likely to actually improve in that area simply because they believe they are taking a pill that will help them. This same concept can apply to sleep.
In the research study, half of the participants were told that they got a lot of REM sleep, 28.7%, which is really good. Meanwhile, the other half of the participants were told that they only got 16.2% REM sleep, which is below average. Then the participants were given a test that included arithmetic and word association problems. The participants who were told they got a lot of REM sleep performed better than those who were told they didn’t get enough REM sleep.
Did we mention that what the participants were told about their REM sleep was completely made up? That’s why researchers believe that “mindset can influence cognitive states in both positive and negative directions.”
So, how can we apply this to our lives? When you don’t get enough sleep, what can you do to function as if you slept really well? One big suggestion is to switch up your daily routine and do something you believe will make you feel more rested. Here’s where the coffee comes in. If you believe that drinking an extra cup of coffee will make you feel wide awake, it probably will. You could also try doing some stretches, exercise or meditation that you believe will wake you up.
This isn’t backed by research, but one thing I do to trick my mind into not believing I’m tired it not to look at the clock before I go to sleep, especially if I know I’m not going to get as much sleep as I need. If I don’t know exactly what time it is, I won’t know how little sleep I got, so I can let myself believe that I got more sleep than I probably did.
Are you going to try using the power of the mind to trick yourself into feeling more rested?
