It preserves health, repairs the body, boosts immunity, harmonizes mood and ... increases performance.

Since very serious studies have made the connection between sleep debt and economic loss of income, the regeneration by the dodo affirms as the guarantor of better living but also better work.

According to an analysis by the RAND Corporation, the lack of sleep costs the American economy $ 411 billion a year, according to Arianna Huffington. The founder of the famous "Huffington Post" newspaper, and author of some fifteen bestsellers, is formal: a successful society is a society that sleeps well.

His cult book "The Sleep Revolution", finally translated into French * under the title "The great book of sleep", offers a true ecology of sleep well. An emergency in all the industrialized countries where we sleep less and less and more and more badly. In France, 1/3 of people complain of at least one sleep disorder and a quarter of the population confesses sleepy, even very sleepy during the day. **

The importance of listening to his tiredness

For the doctor and acupuncturist Maurice Tran Dinh Can, going on a quest for quality sleep requires a review of our relationship to fatigue.

The author of "How to find all his energy" (Ed Le Rocher) believes that we live in a world refusing to take into account the physiological limits of the human body.

"We seek to do more, to push the boundaries that nature imposes on us: so many catastrophic behaviors for our health and well-being.It is this frantic, often unconscious race that is born this chronic fatigue, background .

A state whose repercussions are innumerable, explains this Parisian doctor: many psychosomatic diseases derive from brain exhaustion. Insomniac, Maurice Tran Dinh Can has discovered, through research, the "golden point", or Paé Roé ("hundred meetings" in Chinese).

This micro zone of sleep and recovery, located at the top of the skull, reconfigures the entire autonomous system of the body when it is well stimulated.

For more than twenty-five years, the doctor has been treating fatigue and psychosomatic disorders using this cranial acupuncture point, which promotes brain recovery. The first sessions bring back the deep fatigue, often accumulated for years. Gradually, energy circulates better, sleep disorders and psychosomatic diseases fade, provided to rest as soon as you feel the need. Still, he must listen to his fatigue, "a friend who has many things to tell us."

The right to disconnect to get back to sleep

A third of French people say they use a computer, a smartphone or a tablet in bed, before going to bed and 52% keep a smartphone in operation or standby in their bedroom (INSV study).

However, the so-called blue light of these screens prevents sleep. Sleeping experts are formal: the bed should be a space reserved for sleep, with the exception of sexual activity.

Build a custom bedtime ritual. Reading, breathing, sophrology ... and exile the screens out of the room.

Cap on the nap

Scientists continue to prove the benefits: the nap increases creativity and boosts memory. It is no coincidence that dedicated rooms are flourishing in South Korea.

For Dr. Tran, it's best to take a break at the first signs of fatigue. And do not hesitate to lie down and close your eyes between 5 to 20 minutes, while relaxing the body. This is often enough to boost energies.

The train of sleep does not wait

Yawning, heavy eyelids, itchy or blinking eyes, grumpy mood? We go to bed, because the sandman works only a quarter of an hour!

After, the desire to sleep flies away and will not tickle you until the next cycle, 90 minutes later. In this case, you do not need to go back in all directions under the duvet. Get up, practice a quiet activity for an hour, waiting for the next cycle.

Cocooning her bedroom

Wraparound shapes, relaxing tones, noise-absorbing materials (such as cork) ... the new trend in bed cocooning accompanies our metabolic needs. Arianna Huffington invites to make order in the room, which she advises to keep airy, at a temperature of about 18 ° C and "low tech".

According to many studies, noise is the disruptive element No. 1 of sleep. Think of earplugs! Besides calm, you need darkness. This allows your pineal gland to produce enough melatonin to plunge you into a deep and restful sleep.

Another reason to ban mobile phones, tablets, computers and televisions before going to sleep: their light stimulates the production of serotonin, the hormone of sleep, which disrupts the sleep-wake rhythms.

Escape Alcohol, Sleeping Pills and Exciting Before Sleeping

For Dr. Tran, it is not enough to sleep, it is also necessary that the brain reaches a quality of recovery that allows him to manage the innumerable adjustments that incumbent on him.

Thus, this major organ detoxifies only during the deep sleep phase. It is therefore better to avoid alcohol which disturbs the phases of sleep and results in superficial and split rest.

Same reserve for nicotine: it delays falling asleep and promotes nocturnal awakenings. As for the excitants (tea, coffee, caffeine based soda, vitamin C), exclude them after 15h.

Take care of your sleep with a vegetal boost

The plant kingdom is full of resources

A few drops of essential oil of true lavender (natural sedative) of petit grain, orange leaf, rose or neroli reduce stress and anxiety. Chamomile is soothing and pre-anesthetic, recommended in cases of depression and anxiety. A drop on your pajamas, the pillow, or a dozen poured into your diffuser of essential oils helps with falling asleep and relaxation.

Another precious ally: The essential oil of basil. Particularly effective against anxiety, brain fatigue, muscle spasms or digestive and insomnia nervous, it is used in diffusion or massage before sleep. It is then diluted in a neutral vegetable oil, sweet almond type.

In tea or decoction, linden, chamomile, orange leaves or marjoram promote sleep - sweet dreams in addition. Practical capsules are also a reliable remedy (valerian, eschscholtzia ...).

Do not hesitate to consult a phytotherapist who will guide you according to your profile and your troubles (difficulty falling asleep, awakening at night ...)

A healthy lifestyle, the guarantee of sweet nights

To put all the chances on your side, practice a regular sporting activity, ideally daily and before 19h.

On the food side, prefer a light dinner. Choose vegetables and slow carbohydrates of quality. Flee sugar, meat, refined flours.

Finally, take time with your loved ones and fill up on cuddles to trigger the secretion of oxytocin. Both hormone and neurotransmitter, this strange molecule is also called the hormone of love. After all, the bed is also made for that!

* To be published on September 20, 2017 at Éditions Fayard.
** 2015 survey of the National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance (INSV)