Change Your Life: Living Skillfully

As we saw in my last post in this series, losing sleep isn’t something to be taken lightly. But what can you do about it?

photo credit: Lee Nachtigal

Here are seven recommendations:

1. Learn to relax and let go of circling thoughts.

Running round and round the hamster wheel of worry instead of sleeping won’t get you anywhere – in fact, it will only impair your ability to deal with the issues you are worried about. But people do it anyway, because they don’t know how to stop. Cultivate the skill of letting unrequired thoughts go. Write down your worries in a bedside notebook if you need to, to get them out of your head and avoid anxiety about forgetting something important to do the next day.

2. Exercise.

The best time to exercise for good sleep is, of course, not right before bed. Exercise wakes your body up. Allow at least three to six hours for it to settle down again before you go to bed.

3. Give your body nothing to do but sleep at bedtime.

That means, finish any food two to three hours before bed, so that your body isn’t in the middle of digesting. Don’t give it alcohol to deal with just before bed – as you’ll see in the next post, the body has to go to full action stations to deal with alcohol, and although it may make you sleepy it will disrupt your night’s sleep. Don’t give it stimulants like caffeine or nicotine to deal with either.

4. Give yourself a quiet, comfortable, cool and dark environment to fall asleep in.

Even a low level of light, such as from a luminous alarm clock, can interfere with your body’s sleep process by stimulating the waking mechanism in the brain. And part of the process of falling asleep is allowing your body temperature to drop – a hot room will make that harder. (Though cold hands and feet will also do so. Socks may help you fall asleep.)

A snoring partner, traffic, an old mattress or pillow, all can make it harder to sleep. (Don’t get rid of the partner, by the way, get rid of the snoring, if possible. If not, move to another room if you have one, or get earplugs if all else fails.)

photo credit: decor8

5. Use your bedroom only for sleep (and sex).

Difficult if you’re a student or otherwise renting, I know, but if you can, move all working and worrying activities out of the bedroom into another room, so that you only associate that room with relaxation.

6. Wind down before bedtime.

A soothing, relaxing ritual becomes a signal that it’s time to sleep. A soak in a bath (with time enough to cool down), listening to quiet music, or reading a book are all good pre-bed rituals. Avoid stimulating activities like working or gaming, and bright lights.

7. Establish a regular sleep/wake rhythm.

This is a piece of advice that I have to confess I have never managed to implement; I do sleep in on the weekends. It’s preferable, though, for good sleep that you keep to the same sleep and waking time all week, calculated in such a way that you get adequate sleep for your age and bodily needs.

A brief “power nap” during the metabolic dip in the mid-afternoon may help to refresh you if you find you are flagging. However, if you have trouble sleeping at night, don’t nap extensively during the day.

Technorati Tags: sleep, insomnia, wakefulness, awake, bedtime, bedroom, relaxation

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