The New Magical Cure For Insomnia

If you are one of the approximately one in three Australians struggling with getting to or staying asleep at night, you might want to try a new method that’s being touted as a ‘The New Magical Cure for Insomnia’.

The “10-3-2-1-0” approach has been developed by Craig Ballantyne, a fitness coach and health blogger, who claims that it will help you to also wake full of energy, instead of being groggy and unable to deal with the alarm going off.

It’s estimated that somewhere between 20 and 35% of Aussies experience either disrupted sleep, inadequate sleep duration, daytime fatigue, excessive sleepiness and irritability – half of which are attributed to sleep disorders and the rest to poor sleep habits or choices that limit opportunities for sleep.

Insomnia is a common disorder and population surveys have revealed that between 13 to 33% of adults in Australia either have regular difficulty in getting to sleep or staying asleep.

It’s estimated that sleep disorders cost our economy $5.1 billion a year, with $800 million of this being direct health care cost and the rest attributed to productivity losses and non-health costs of accidents related to sleep loss.

Ballantyne claims that his solution will help those who need it “get to bed on time, sleep better, and wake up the next morning well rested and ready for battle”.

What are you meant to do?

10 hours before bed – No more caffeine

3 hours beforebed – No more food or alcohol

2 hours before bed – No more work

1  hour before bed – No more screen time (this includes phones, televisions, tablets and computers)

0 – This is how many times you will hit the snooze button in the morning

Why does it work?

There’s science to back this stuff up, of course. This is how it works:

1. Caffeine

You need to stop drinking caffeine 10 hours before you go to bed as this is generally the amount of time that is needed to clear it from your bloodstream and eliminate its stimulatory effects.

The half-life for caffeine is between 4 to 6 hours and that’s when you’ll stop feeling its effects. But it will still be present in your body.

So if you’re tempted to have an afternoon coffee because you feel you’re no longer caffeinated, it will perk you up, but it can really screw up your sleep later on.

2. Food and alcohol before bed

No more eating or drinking three hours before bed means that if you eat dinner late, or snack in the evenings, or enjoy a tipple or two or three or ten before bed, you’ll need to change things up.

Ballantyne reckons you need to finish eating and drinking big meals and drinking alcohol three hours before bed because it will help you avoid heartburn (gastric reflux) and interrupted sleep. And even though alcohol can make you feel sleepy, it impairs your natural sleep cycle and messes with your ability to have valuable deep sleep.

3. Working before bed

It’s really easy for many of us to work around the clock, thanks to flexible working options and/or demanding bosses who expect us to be available around the clock. Many psychologists believe it’s important to let your brain power down before you attempt to get a restful sleep.

Ballantyne instructs all work-related activities need to be finished two hours before you turn in. That includes taking phone calls, reading reports, checking emails or even thinking about the work you need to do the next day.

4. Screen time

Experts have been telling us for ages now that using screens before bed is very bad and plays havoc with our sleep. Studies have shown that exposure to the light that is emitted from phones and tablets can prevent the brain from releasing melatonin, which stops our bodies from realising that it is night time.

As a result, it’s recommended we have no screen time at all for an hour before we go to sleep. Ballantyne suggests that last hour can be spent reading books/magazines (actual ones, not on a screen!), talking to your partner, having a bath, or enjoying other bedroom activities. You know, the special cuddles and such.

5. Snooze button

If you’re guilty of hitting the snooze button one or thirty times, you need to give the habit away. Ballantyne says “It’s your one and only life, one that is not rewarded for staying in bed, one that does not move forward because you stole an extra five minutes of sleep. If you want more sleep, you need to get to bed earlier, not wake up later. You cannot miss out on your magical fifteen minutes in the morning.”

For those who have trouble giving up the habit, he suggests placing the alarm across the room so you actually have to get up and leave your bed just so you can turn it off.

Have you tried this technique?