Mini-Series on Sleep: Part Three
Thus far we have touched on developing a sleep schedule and a before bed routine so you are really ready to fall asleep when your head hits the pillow. But what if you are doing these two things already but still having trouble falling sleep?
If you get in bed and it takes more than twenty minutes to fall asleep you should get back out of bed. That might sound counter intuitive but there is a good reason to do so, a couple in fact.
First your body and mind need to associate your bed as a place of rest and relaxation. Likely if you have been struggling with sleep your bed may consciously or subconsciously be associated with stress, exhaustion, anxiety, or frustration. To help break that association you need to be sleeping while in your bed rather than laying awake wishing you could sleep. So after twenty minutes if you are still awake, get up.
Now that you are up you need to do something slow down and relax so when you return to bed you can sleep. Maybe that would be reading, or perhaps drinking a cup of tea that does not have caffeine, or doing some light stretches. Whatever it is it needs to be something you find relaxing. Also this relaxation should not involve electronics like your phone, tablet, laptop, or television. All of these electronics can stimulate your body and mind due to the sort of light waves they put off.
Finally if there is something in particular on your mind that is keeping you from falling asleep try to write it down so you can stop ruminating long enough to fall asleep. Once you have written things down and/or done some relaxing activities get back into bed. Hopefully you will fall fast asleep but if you find yourself awake in twenty minutes get back up and repeat. It may take a bit of time to rewire your brain to associate your bed with restful sleep but it will be well worth it when you are able to consistently get a good nights sleep!
If you get in bed and it takes more than twenty minutes to fall asleep you should get back out of bed. That might sound counter intuitive but there is a good reason to do so, a couple in fact.
First your body and mind need to associate your bed as a place of rest and relaxation. Likely if you have been struggling with sleep your bed may consciously or subconsciously be associated with stress, exhaustion, anxiety, or frustration. To help break that association you need to be sleeping while in your bed rather than laying awake wishing you could sleep. So after twenty minutes if you are still awake, get up.
Now that you are up you need to do something slow down and relax so when you return to bed you can sleep. Maybe that would be reading, or perhaps drinking a cup of tea that does not have caffeine, or doing some light stretches. Whatever it is it needs to be something you find relaxing. Also this relaxation should not involve electronics like your phone, tablet, laptop, or television. All of these electronics can stimulate your body and mind due to the sort of light waves they put off.
Finally if there is something in particular on your mind that is keeping you from falling asleep try to write it down so you can stop ruminating long enough to fall asleep. Once you have written things down and/or done some relaxing activities get back into bed. Hopefully you will fall fast asleep but if you find yourself awake in twenty minutes get back up and repeat. It may take a bit of time to rewire your brain to associate your bed with restful sleep but it will be well worth it when you are able to consistently get a good nights sleep!
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