Tricks To Fall Asleep When You Cannot

Many years ago I used to not be able to fall asleep till 4-5 am. Many times, around 5 am, when I’d have enough of not sleeping I would put my running kit on and go for a long, refreshing run.

The biggest problem was that I was always very active and creative at night, and still am, and I could always focus and learn better after everyone else would go to bed and I was alone in a very quiet house.

Sometimes that happens even now, actually some of my best blogs you see here were written after midnight.

Sometimes I don’t even try to fall asleep if I cannot because I know I create some cool things, including poems. Much of what I write is never seen by anyone else but I still write them.

The other side of the coin is that I am also a morning person. I like and I am able to wake up even at 4:30 am to do my training.

So do you struggle to fall asleep….but would like to? These are tricks I used to do and still do if I cannot sleep. Not all may work for you but you can try them out. You don’t sleep anyway.

Here are a few tips to help you fall asleep, things I do myself:

1. Open the windows for at least 1h to get some fresh air in your room before you go to bed. If it’s winter it’s even better, believe me.

2. Stop tossing and turning, if you cannot fall asleep you won’t. Stand up, walk around or just lie down and stop moving.

3. Work the muscles, get them tired. When you lie down in bed they will just relax to maximum. Some say that this will keep you awake. In my case it actually helps me sleep better. You can try it a couple of time, you won’t sleep anyway. If it doesn’t work for you then you don’t do it anymore. Try the others.

4. Practice some fluid movement. If you don’t know how contact me and I will show you a few movements. And you don’t have to commit to anything at all.

5. Breathing meditation. I have to admit this doesn’t work for me all the time. Fluid movement and getting my body tired work better for me.

6. Stretch your body to release that tension you gathered throughout the day. And here’s the perfect stretch for this.

7. Count. When you count you do something very boring your brain will go “I can’t take this anymore, I will shut down” and you fall asleep. It may take up to 100 or even 1000. When you start losing track it’s a good sign, keep counting though.

8. Focus your attention on sounds from outside. Every little sounds. Listen. It’s a beautiful feeling.

9. “Listen” to the silence. One of my favourites. Listening to that deep silence. If the environment allows you to do that it’s a wonderful experience.

10. Go for a walk, if that’s possible. Yes in the middle of the night. It’s one of my favourite things. But make sure you don’t go alone, for safety purposes.

11. Read a book, paper book not kindle. Preferably nothing violent and horror. Poetry would be nice and different for many people.

12. Have a glass of water. Cool your body down.

13. Write and draw. Write and draw what? Anything. Anything at all. Take a sheet of paper, a pen or pencil and let your hand do whatever it wants. Scribble. If it doesn’t help you fall asleep you might create a beautiful piece of art. If you think you cannot write or draw, think again, you are a creative being. We all are.

When you cannot fall asleep, never:

1. Turn on the tv

2. Check your email

3. Check facebook and other social media

4. Make phone calls or text

June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

What Does The Warm Up Actually Do

A warm up simply brings your body into a state of readiness for the movements to come.

A warm up raises your heart rate, your body temperature and sends blood flow to the muscles to be used later on as well to tendons and ligaments. It also lubricates joints.

Remember the webinar I held where I talked about synovial fluid and fascia? If you haven’t seen it already you can request access here.

Benefits

Some of the benefits of warming up or preparing your body for physical activity include:

• reduced risk of injury

• increased flexibility

• better physical performance – you might have noticed that if you just start running the first 10-20 min are very difficult and then it gets easier; that’s because your body has warmed up

• better focus – you get into “the zone”; but this happens ONLY if you stop checking your phone, facebook and texting during your session (unless there is a good reason for it of course)

The warm-up is like a heater. Some heaters don’t heat up the room until they have reaches a certain temperature themselves.

Same with the body, the body needs to reach a certain temperature, flexibility and level of preparation to function at its best.

Components

1. Low intensity cardio – to raise your heart rate and body temperature
2. Dynamic movement – to mobilize the muscles, tendons and ligaments
3. Agility, acceleration, deceleration, speed drills – specific to your sport
4. Sport specific skills

Guidelines for warm-up

• start with low intensity cardio

• start slow and build up

• do dynamic movements (for example this one) and not static stretches (static are the ones you hold for 10-15 sec and are for cool down section)

• mimic movements you planned for your main section of your workout or specific to your sport

• “wake up” your core – do a couple of planks, some pressups, squats etc

• but don’t fatigue your muscles – particulalry the core as you’ll be using this no matter what you plan for your workout, even if you isolate muscle groups

Mental preparation

Having your body is in one place and your mind in another is the recipe for injury.

The 7th Guiding Principle Of Karate-Do says that Calamity springs from carelessness. That’s just lack of awareness.

Throughout time I noticed that it takes about 20 min to get the mind out of the work – family – other things and into the present moment. So this is the warm-up.

This is one of the many reasons the sessions with my clients are 1h30min and not 1h , 45min or 30min. I put a lot of emphasis on being aware of what we do at any given point in time.

This being said, do you have a proper warm up set for your training? If you need advice and guidance book a free call with me.

April 17, 2015April 26, 2015

Do This NOW To Revitalize Your Body

Feeling achy and your body stiff and tired? If you sit a lot, type a lot and your shoulders and neck probably hurt also if you are stressed out, especially if you are stressed out, then this blog post is for you.

To get rid of many of these physical pains and stress all you need it 5-10 min. OK, I know I am asking a lot from you. But do you want to hurt and be tired all the time? If you answered YES then this article will not help you. If you answered NO then keep reading, I’ll go straight to the point.

Here’s what you need to do. I have the pictures for these stretching exercises below but you may actually want to have a look at a webinar I hosted a few days ago. There I take you through the exercises and explain in more detail what they do for you.

#9. Triceps – your hand reaches down along your spine, pushing the elbow down gradually and lightly with the other hand, keep your chin up and shoulders down and levelled, breathing out when you stretch to release tension. This one also mobilized your shoulders besides stretching your triceps.

#8. Forearms and fingers – stretch the arm out in front of you and slowly push the fingers down and towards you, push forward through the top of the hand to stretch the forearm (again a detail many overlook), breathing out when you stretch to release tension. It’s good to stretch the thumb after that as well.

#7. Shoulders – arm goes across the body, straight. The other arm pushes it towards you, under or above the elbow not on top of it to avoid injury. Keep the arm straight and shoulders down, breathing out when you stretch.

#6. Chest and shoulders – one of my favourites. Interlock the fingers at the back and slowly lift up without leaning forward (you can do that as well, but not in this example). Besides stretching you also mobilise your shoulders. It’s an awesome feeling. Keep your arms straight and shoulders down, breathing out when you stretch.

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (5)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (4)

#5. Sides of body – the hand below pulls down the hand above. Instead of bending to stretch you pull your arm down slowly. It is important here to lean to the side not forwards of backwards. If you are not sure of the position of your body it is safer to lean forwards slightly to protect your back. When you come back from such stretches use your abdominal muscles instead of your lower back. breathing out when you stretch.

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (10)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (11)

#4. Back/front of neck – this is easy to understand, avoid lifting your shoulders and breathe out on the stretch. When your head goes back you can open your mouth to relax the neck and get a nicer stretch….and a minty breath even.

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (8)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (7)

#3. Sides of neck 1 – here the ear goes to the shoulder rather than lifting the shoulder to the ear. This is a common mistake as many of us are not mindful of our bodies. Breathe out on the stretch

#2. Sides of neck 2 – important here is to bring your chin over your shoulders and not your forehead. The chin leads the way and the forehead follows. Keep the chin down , keep the shoulders down and breathe out on the stretch.

#1. THE MERISOIU OFFICE STRETCH. If you have a look at the webinar, in the comment box you have the link to the video with this stretch. Believe me….you will forget all the others when you do this one.

It’s fluid, it’s going with what your body needs, how it needs it and you are flowing rather than forcing. It’s a wonderful feeling and everyone who tries it feels amazing.

And I do recommend and encourage you to watch the full Webinar “Take Your Body From Shut Down To Fully Functional And Age Gracefully”. Get instant access here.

So stretch, stretch and stretch some more

January 12, 2015January 15, 2015

How to stretch your fingers and toes and why

This is a question I received from a reader of my ebook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body”. One of the habits I mentioned in it is to stretch your fingers and toes.

There are many ways to stretch fingers and toes. By stretching your fingers, toes and consequently wrists and ankles you:

– improve the blood circulation to those areas

– you relax your tendons, ligaments, muscles which leads to relaxation further up the arm or leg and better connectivity to the hands/fingers, feet/toes

– reduce the risk of plantar fascia or carpal tunnel syndrome

– improve range of movement in your hands, wrists, feet, ankles and thus freedom of movement

Today I will talk about 3 ways to stretch your toes or fingers.

1. To stretch your fingers. Stretch your arm out in front of you, without bending it and with fingers facing down (as much as it goes alone without pressure).

Take each finger and slowly pull it down and towards you. When you reach the thumbs it gets a bit tangled. For a good thumb stretch follow these 3 steps:

Step 1: place the back of your hands together, so that one palm faces you, one palm faces away from you. The hand facing you will be the hand you will stretch. Both thumbs are now next to each other. Got that?

Step 2: now wrap the thumb and the index finger of the hand facing away from you around the thumb you will stretch (that is the hand facing you)

Step 3: slowly start pull the thumb down

Repeat on the other hand

2. To stretch your toes, one at a time, sit down with your knee close to your chest so you can reach your toes. Then simply take on toe at a time and slowly pull it towards you.

This is the stretch I use mostly because it is easier to control. There is no body weight on them and you stretch as far as you feel comfortable.

3. Another method to stretch your toes is to kneel, and sit on your heels with your toes tucked in. This is a great stretch for toes and sole of the foot. This can be a deep stretch and sometimes painful if the range of movement in the toes is limited.

4. For fingers, instead of stretching one at a time you can stretch them all in the same time by holding your palm facing up and slowly pulling your fingers down towards the floor. This one will stretch all fingers except the thumb. For thumbs use the technique at point 1.

However, because every finger has a different range of mobility some may stretch less or more than others.

Try these stretches, let me know how you get along and if you need any further guidance. Practice the finger stretches especially if you type a lot. Take 30 sec from time to time and stretch your fingers. It will make a big difference.

And remember Be Mindful

If you’d like to learn more please download my free eBook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body” or book a free consultation with me.

December 8, 2014December 24, 2014

10 Habits for a Happier, Healthier Monday

Do you dread Mondays? No need to, it’s a day like all the others. But here are my top 10 tips to get your week started positive, healthy and full of energy.

1. Push yourself into an early morning WORKOUT.

Better yet do it outdoor. The fresh, crisp air will wake you up, boost your immune system and get the engine going for the rest of the week.

2. Start with a healthy, colorful BREAKFAST.

And looking forward to it the evening before.

3. Start your week with a morning MEDITATION.

It can be any type of meditation, you can do Tai Chi, walking meditation, yoga, visualization or meditate like a monk. Whatever works for you.

4. Watch and listen to INSPIRATIONAL, POSITIVE speeches and videos.

Nothing better to get your brain into thinking positive from the beginning of the week and get motivated.

Try this amazing track on youtube, one of my all time favorites 50 Positive Thoughts To Live An Awesome Life

5. Start with a SMILE.

Whoever passes your way smile, it will make you feel better and it will brighten up their day as well.

6. Morning STRETCH.

This always wakes me up and relaxes tight muscles from the night before. Don’t be too harsh on yourself, just light stretching. If you have injuries or pains leave the stretches for a bit later after your body moves a little.

7. SILENT your phone at night and don’t use it for 1 hour after you wake up.

According to some studies people who don’t check their social media or use mobile devices are more productive during the day. I would add more clear minded and have more energy. Tried and tested many years ago before reading any statistics. Try it.

8. Make someone a COMPLIMENT

Throughout the day make at least one person a compliment, it can be anyone and about anything. Like the smile this will make their day and you will feel better as well. Win-Win.

9. Start with a list of five things you are GRATEFUL for.

Appreciate the little things as much as the big, important events in your life. They are all part of you and complete your life, and the more you acknowledge them the more often they will happen to you.

10. Each time you meet someone, silently wish them HAPPINESS, JOY and LAUGHTER.

I think this is my favourite. I do all of the above throughout the week and like all of them but this is so powerful that it has to be at the top of my list.