Whether you sleep well or poorly depends on a myriad of small things you do or don’t do during the hours of the day. When sleep works, you can slack off—it’s only when it doesn’t work that it needs extra attention.
Sleep is a fickle friend. It’s nice as long as it comes when we want it—when it stops coming despite our longing for it… uh oh.
If you want to fix your sleep: Think “many small streams…”. Do everything right until you get it right.
Here are some small streams that together form a river to the land of dreams:
- Limit or skip the nap
- Stop drinking coffee ten to twelve hours before bedtime.
- Connect the bed to just sleep: No TV, computer, or work
- Avoid all screens and strong light after 10pm
- Don’t go to bed stuffed
- Dim the lights a few hours before bedtime
- Air out the bedroom in the evening, sleep in a cool and dark bedroom
- Catch the first sleep wave—go to bed early if needed
- Have a little bit of boredom a few hours before bedtime, skip the screen
- Read a book, meditate, or write in a diary to clear your thoughts
- If you wake up and can’t fall back asleep, get up and move around
- Sleep and wake up about the same time every day, even on weekends.
Routines are all well and good, but how do we fall asleep once we go to bed? Thinking “sleep, sleep, sleep” doesn’t work. Trying to control our thoughts is an effort that keeps us awake – when we let go of the thought, we start daydreaming: A relaxed state on the border of sleep.
That’s why many people with anxiety disorders have difficulty sleeping; trying to steer away from thoughts that trigger unpleasant feelings is an effort that keeps them awake. Read more about curing anxiety disorders in previous posts.
Let go, let your thoughts wander wherever they want—follow the thought train that takes you deeper into the nonsense that becomes the first dream of the night.
