Does counting sheep work…
Counting sheep is the age old method of falling to sleep, but does it really work?
Those finding hard to sleep often seek distraction and some distractions work better than others, a team at Oxford University has found. Researchers have discovered that picturing an engaging scene takes up more brain space than the same old sheep. In addition it is easier to focus on an engaging scene because its way more interesting that sheep.
Harvey and her colleague Suzanna Payne asked 50 insomniacs to try different distraction techniques on certain nights, to see which helped them fall asleep more quickly. One group conjured up a tranquil and relaxing scene such as a waterfall or being on holiday, while a second were asked to think of a distraction such as counting sheep. A third group were left to their own devices.
On average, those picturing a relaxing scene fell asleep over 20 minutes earlier than on nights they didn’t try the technique. But both the sheep-counters and the controls took slightly longer than normal to fall asleep on the nights of the experiment. The researches concluded that counting sheep is just too mundane to effectively keep worries away.
If you find it difficult to conjure up vivid visulisations, aromatherapy may help. A few drops of lavendar, chamomile or neroli essential oils may assist you to relax and unwide, and counjure up tranquil springtime fields.
References
A G Harvey, S Payne (2002) The management of unwanted pre-sleep thoughts in insomnia: distraction with imagery versus general distraction. Behaviour Research and Therapy vol 40, issue 4, 267 – 277
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More how to chill out…
In my previous post I said that the activity you do to chill out doesn't matter it you just need to enjoy it and it absorbs you. So why not consider paying video games, yes video games. If you ask any gamer, who enjoys playing them and they will tell you it help them relax or de-stress. I know this may sound unlikey. However that is scientific research to support the idea that regularly playing video games can help people unwind an dimprove their ability to handle everyday stress. In 2010 Associate Professor Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson of the Texas A&M Public Research Facility demonstrated that both men and women who play violent video games long-term seem to be able to adopt mental skills to handle stress, become less depressed and get less hostile during stressful tasks. In 2014 reserarchers from University College London found that people who played video games after work experienced faster recovery from work related stress. While there are a number of video games on the market which are specifically aimed at helping people unwind and manage stress, it seems that almost any form of game playing will do the trick. Spending half an hour each day on a video console could be be as effective as going to the gym for helping you “chill out” at the end of a busy day. References http://www.christopherjferguson.com/hitman.pdf http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1418103/
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Whats the most effective recovery strategy from after a run?
Fatigue in sport has become a topic of interest among athletes, coaches and sport scientists because it affects athletic performance across a wide range of sports. Sports related fatigue can be defined as a decline of muscle force or an exercise induced impairment of performance. (Knicker, 2011).Scientists recruited 46 healthy male recreational runners taking part in the same half marathon event and assigned them to four groups of equal ability, which either had sports massage, cold water immersion (ice baths), active recovery or passive rest within 15 minutes after the event.The sports massage group had a 20 minutes post event sports massage focusing on the legs. The cold water immersion group sat in cold baths where the temperature was maintained at fifteen degrees centrigrade plus/minus 1 degree. While participants in the passive rest group sat at rest on a bench. While those in the active recovery group jogged at 60% of their anaerobic threshold for all 15 minutes.24 hours before the half marathon, immediately after the intervention and then 24 hours after the race jump height, muscle soreness, perceived recovery and stress were measured. The results show the sports massage and cold water immersion had no effect on objective markers of fatigue such as changes in muscle and the blood but they did have a significant effect ont he subjective fatigue measures, including perceived recover and muscle soreness. These interventions were more effective than passive rest while active recovery had no physical advantage and a negative effect on perceived recovery.Reference
