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This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in August of 2020. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/J2s-GSUTLiA?t=112
Bob: The topic today, “How to Fall Asleep Fast.” We’re going to show you a three-step approach that works for me, Bob, every time. Alright, Brad, I rarely have trouble sleeping. It’s probably one of my superpowers, that I sleep pretty well. My wife is just like, “you’ve got to be kidding me,” sometimes. We’ll lay down in bed and like 20 seconds later she can hear me breathing like I am sleeping already.
Brad: You don’t snore?
Bob: I snore sometimes especially if I’ve been drinking.
Brad: That’s another video.
Bob: But if I do have trouble sleeping, it’s one of thress things usually. One, I’m worried about something, that’s probably the most common reason I can’t get to sleep.
Brad: You ruminate perhaps?
Bob: I ruminate, we all do. Two, something we all do, the bed environment is off. Like if we go to a hotel and it’s too hot, it’s too noisy. Even when we go to our cabin, there’s a different mattress, a different pillow. I’m trying to get things all the same if I can.
Brad: Are you going to paint the walls the same and everything?
Bob: No, that doesn’t bother me, but you know the things that typically bother you. Number three, something hurts, like I remember my hip was bothering me for a while. Just that little ache, you know, just kind of keeps you awake. So, you know after I’ve been on this planet for 60 years, you learn a few things.
Brad: 60 plus years, Bob. You’re older than 60.
Bob: I’m not really older than 60; 60 rounded off! You don’t say I’m 60 year and 2 months!
Brad: I do. Carry on Bob.
Bob: All right. Number one, I realized I have to clear my mind. I know if there’s a problem, I will not go to sleep until I have to come up with some type of solution. Or at least the next step of what I’m going to do.
Brad: Right, if you’re worried about something.
Bob: Yes, I’ll go over it and over it. A lot of times I solve it, when I’m sleeping or trying to sleep, but that doesn’t help sleep. So, I’m amazed this works for me because I always thought once I get up, I’m going to wake up and I’m going to stay awake. So, I get up and I put the problem on paper. I put down every possible solution that I can think of. I just write and I write, and I write, and I write. When I get to the end, I’m like okay, I put down everything, then I say to myself, I’ll address this in the morning. I’ve got all the ideas down. I’m just shocked how well it works.
Brad: How long does that take you to write your list?
Bob: Maybe five, ten minutes. You know, you do wake up but when I put my head back on the pillow, I just slept like a baby again. You could say like a baby, crying every few minutes. LOL. The second thing I’ll do then, when I lay back down, I just try to think of something pleasant. We’ve talked about this before. I like to go, if I’m golfing well, I like to think about golf. Which isn’t very often. But you can think about yourself being on like, one person talked about using a black velvet hammock in a dark room. It just envelopes them. You used to do a beach one didn’t you?
Brad: Yeah, but I have my new thing now. The couch. I keep going back to the womb. That works for me.
Bob: Oh yeah that’s right. He lies on the couch, with his back against the couch. You’re enveloped with your hoodie.
Brad: Yep, my hoodie and a nice soft blanket and it’s very soothing.
Bob: You look to me when you’re on the couch like that, you look like a serial killer.
Brad: Why Bob, Why! Why ruin my image!
Bob: So, my office manager, who's heavily into cats, and that’s to say the least, she actually has a place for cats, like runaway cats, a place for them to go to be safe. They are trying to get them all adopted. They have 40 of them at least.
Photo by Abdullah Arif on Unsplash
Brad: So, what does this have to do with sleeping?
Bob: Well, she thinks about cats when she can’t sleep.
Brad: Oh, that relaxes her.
Bob: Yeah, and cats are kind of a relaxing thing when you look at them, you know, I mean they just lay around. They don’t do anything. All right, so, clear my mind. Next thing, I always check my breathing because I can guarantee you, my breathing is rapid when I’m not sleeping well. It’s more shallow, it’s rapid. This is something you can use throughout the day. There’s different types of breathing you can do. I like the 4-7-8.
Brad: One way or another, they’re all slowing your breathing down and bringing in more air, exhaling it, like you said, the 4-7-8, the 4-4-4.
Bob: Yeah, so let’s talk about the 4-7-8 Brad. You breathe in through your nose for four seconds, hold for seven seconds and then breathe out the mouth, kind of in a pursed lip, like you’re blowing out candles for 8 seconds. So, in for four, hold for 7, out for 8.
Brad: If that’s too long, just count a little faster. You still use that ratio though.
Bob: Right. I don’t know how they came up with that; I don’t know that I’m exact on it. This one is the one that, I heard that it was mentioned by people who are about to go on a mission for special forces or something like that.
Brad: In the military.
Bob: They call it the four square. So, it’s four, four, four, four. Breathe in for four, hold for four, out for four and hold again for four.
Brad: So that’s how they get the square.
Bob: And now you can do that for five seconds, six seconds, whatever works for you. That one works for me too. I think that one is really great. The thing is, I think if along with the breathing, you do a little bit of visualization, I think I’ve mentioned this before, where like, when I breathe in, I visualize I’m breathing in bubbles. Then the bubbles all go into my mouth. Then I hold them, and they get bigger and bigger. All of a sudden, they blow out and I’m just visualizing that. It clears your mind. That’s always what you want to do is focus on something else. I heard some people say you count back from a hundred. That one doesn’t work for me. You know, counting sheep, it’s all a matter of trying to clear your brain.
Brad: Everyone has their own little things that their mind responds to better.
Bob: The third thing I do, is change the environment. I definitely did it this weekend. We had a lot of people at our cabin, a lot of family members, and I used my ear plugs. I normally don’t, I don’t wear earplugs during the week.
Brad: I suppose you go to bed at seven and everyone else is up playing cards or something?
Bob: Well I went to bed at 12, and she’s got a brother that can stay up till 2. He’s just a late nighter.
Brad: Is he carrying on and having a good time?
Bob: No, no, well they had a good time but not bad. Or if it’s hot, I’ll put an overhead fan on, try to lower the temperature. I’ve done that at hotels, I get up and it’s like, it’s hot in here isn’t it? And I’ll lower it down. It’s amazing, all that makes a difference. Or I’ll try to use pillows for positioning, if something’s hurting. That’s basically it, Brad. That’s the three steps. I clear the mind; I checked my breathing and I change the environment. Usually one of those three things will do the job and I’m sleeping once again like you do in the womb. Do you have anything else?
Brad: Why Bob Why!?!
Bob: That’s all clear for you?
Brad: Yeah, just look at my video on sleeping on a couch, and you’ll, it’s very clear.
You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7wZDWVTo-I&t=249s
Bob: It’s disturbing.
Brad: Many people liked it. "If You Can’t Sleep, Try This," was the name of it. There’s a picture of a brown leather couch on there. You’re going to have wonderful success if this doesn’t work.
Bob: Remember Brad and I can fix just about anything,
Brad: Except for,
Bob: A broken heart.
Brad: There you go Bob.
Bob: But if we fix your sleep, you won’t care about a broken heart.
Brad: Well, it’s a step in the right direction, there’s no doubt about it.
Bob: Alright, Adios fans.
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