In today’s fast-paced society, more and more people are having a hard time turning their brains off at night. Between to do lists, work or school schedules, appointments, and everything else, we manage to fit in-between, our brains are working extra hard to remember events and solve problems.
Set a designated mental and physical wind-down time: Sleep doesn’t work like an on/off switch; you have to allow yourself to wind down from your busy day. Plan to relax for at least an hour right before your bedtime to help your brain and melatonin get you ready for sleep. Create a calming environment outside of your bedroom with dim lights, turned off electronics and try soothing activities such as stretching, reading, writing and meditating.
Ban worrying from your bed: An overactive mind will kept you awake and you don’t want your body to get used to being awake in bed. If you haven’t fallen asleep after 20 minutes, get up and go back to enjoying your wind down time. Your body just may not be ready for sleep and you want your thoughts of stress to be off your mind.
Learn mental imagery tricks: The more you don’t want to think about something, the more you simply can’t think of anything else. Try to focus on thoughts that require little effort. Examples include, drawing the outline of the United States in your mind, building a Rubik’s cube, counting backwards by 3’s from 100, or even repeating a word such as, “the,” over and over again until you fall asleep.
Discern between good stress and bad stress: Productive worry motivates us to solve problems and complete tasks that we can control at the right time, while unproductive worry keeps you stressed and well, unproductive like when you are lying in bed at 3 am.
Try creating a list with 2 columns at least an hour before your bedtime with, “tasks/worries,” on the left, and “next step solutions,” on the right side. This technique will ease your anxieties about what’s to come now, that you have a plan and you’ll be able to see what you need to let go. When you get done, put the list away and get into your mental and physical wind-down time.
If you find that these techniques aren’t working, it’s okay to see a licensed behavioral sleep medicine therapist about what you can do to solve your insomnia. We all deserve to get high-quality sleep every night to be happier, healthier more energetic and productive. Let us know how these tips work out for you!
Thanks for the sleep tips the help.
Thank you for stopping in Vivian! We hope those sleep tips help you wind down at the end of the day for grade A sleep and that you are off to a great start this morning!