The “10-3-2-1-0” formula for a perfect morning. What is it and how does it work?

It is the morning that largely determines how and in what mood the whole next day will pass. Therefore, it is very important to devote the first hours after waking up to useful activities. Recently, the “10-3-2-1-0” morning formula has been gaining popularity.

10 hours before sleep

doctor-somnologist, head of the Sleep Medicine Department of the Central Clinical Hospital of the UDPP of the Russian Federation

10 hours before bedtime – no caffeine. Of course, this is an average value. There are patients for whom caffeine will not completely “disappear” from the body during this time. There are those for whom caffeine is eliminated much earlier, for example, in seven hours. If we take the average, then it turns out that it is already impossible to drink coffee at lunchtime, in order to clearly follow the figure of 10 hours.

In general, caffeine does not affect everyone in the same way. There are people on whom it affects as a sleeping drug. That is, they sleep well after it, there is no activity or excitement. Therefore, there is always a “but”, we must consider the case of a particular person and his situation. If he has some deviations from the average statistical norm, they must be taken into account.

3 hours before bedtime

The last meal or alcohol should be three hours before bedtime. This is also an average figure. It should be taken into account that a person with a fast metabolism can feel hunger three hours before bedtime, if he had a light dinner or during the day he consumed less than his daily norm of kilocalories.

In this case, hunger will not contribute to a good night’s sleep. Therefore, everything is individual. Before going to bed, a light snack is allowed – an egg and a leaf of salad, kefir or some vegetables. The main thing is not to fall asleep on a full stomach, do not eat sweet, fatty and heavy food.

Alcohol affects people in different ways, and it is believed that one glass of wine will not negatively affect falling asleep in any way. In general, it can be a ritual for people to have one glass of wine an hour or two before bedtime.

2 hours before bedtime.

Two hours before bedtime, it is recommended to stop all work. However, modern life in a metropolis like Moscow does not always allow you to fulfill this recommendation. Then it is desirable to stop work at least 30 minutes in advance.

Try to switch to relaxation – turn off bright lights, put aside all the working gadgets and just do something quiet. This can be listening to music, audiobooks, meditation. Or bathing procedures – take a shower, lie in the bathtub.

1 hour before bedtime

One hour before bedtime is the “no screens” rule. For many, it’s already a ritual to take your phone to bed with you and scroll through the tape. However, it’s not the screens as blue spectrum that you should be afraid of – all this is easily solved by switching to “sleep” mode. The danger is different – when a person is constantly reading news, watching funny short clips, each video (even 15-second) causes a new emotion.

Such a shift is very uncharacteristic for our brain, especially before sleep. It excites it, which subsequently prevents it from falling asleep. Therefore, if a person can not part with the phone an hour before sleep, you need to reduce the brightness of the screen as much as possible when using it and choose something monotonous. For example, a video, where one speaker speaks, or a calm movie or program, where there are no sudden changes of emotions.

What is the number 0 about?

It means the number of times you press the “delay” button. In order not to turn off the alarm clock several times in the morning, you need to pour out your minimum norm of hours. We need to realize that postponing the rise time and falling asleep again causes us to fall back into deep sleep. Each new sleep cycle consists of three stages, and when we are “pulled” out of the deep phase – it always causes a terrible condition, headache and brokenness.

Is this method suitable for everyone?

doctor-somnologist, professor, honored doctor of the Russian Federation

This approach works, such rules promote healthy sleep, so the formula can be used by anyone. The only “but” is that it is suitable for people without sleep disorders or with minor sleep disorders.

If a person has pronounced insomnia, especially long-term insomnia, he will need to make more effort and implement more recommendations. Fortunately, in many cases, even chronic insomnia (longer than three months) can be treated without pills using the method of cognitive behavioral therapy. It teaches skills for falling asleep quickly and maintaining sleep, relaxation and overcoming anxious thoughts.

You can also add a few more recommendations:

• get enough sleep. If you get enough sleep at night, you will be more alert in the morning;
• get up so that you can comfortably get ready for work, without rushing and stress;
• exercise regularly (not necessarily in the morning). This will make your sleep deeper and more restorative.