Are these things keeping you up at night?
We don’t sleep to just recharge our batteries and stop ourselves being tired. When we go to sleep them our body and brain carry on working to heal any damage we have caused during the day and help to organize all our memories, so it is important that you get enough sleep to let that happen. Yet most of us will at one time or another struggle to sleep, and for some people it is a long term battle to find the elusive embrace of sleep. Here are some methods to help you drift off as soon as your head hits the pillow:
Stick to a daily routine: By having a set routine that you follow then your body and your subconscious mind know what they need to do and when. As you will be going to bed at roughly the same time each night then your brain can help you to wind down so you aren’t full of energy when you go to bed, and if you wake up at the same time every day then it can help you to wake up feeling refreshed too. You will also find that by having a definite time to go to bed each night that you plan your evening a lot better and don’t end up trying to cram too much in which will lead to you going to bed late and/or stressed out.
Try to cut out anything which can distract you: When you are having trouble drifting off then you will notice things that normally don’t bother you, like the squeak of a door or a leaking tap, so try to cut out anything like that during the day so it doesn’t annoy you later. If that means you need to get rid of any clocks near your bedroom which tick all night long, or you need to make the dog sleep in the kitchen, then do it.
There will be a few things though which you can’t really do anything about, like traffic noise outside your window or people shouting to each other on the way home from the pub, but there are devices to help drown that noise out. These machines aren’t going to be able to cope with all noises though, and they don’t get rid of them they just help to cover some of them up, but they are a big help. The machines are classed as noise generators and there are lots on the market but the Marpac Sleepmate 980a is a popular version right now. They all work in a pretty similar way, they produce a constant but relatively quiet noise that you can concentrate on so you don’t notice some of the other noises.
Talk things through with your partner: Is your partner keeping you up? Sleeping the same bed as somebody else is fine as long as they don’t make a lot of noise or move around a lot, but if they do then that can keep you and even wake you up after you manage to get to sleep, yet people refuse to talk to their partner about it in case they upset them. You really have to talk it through with them at some point though if you want to get a good nights sleep. First try to see if there is a solution to help you stay sleeping together, like nasal strips for snoring etc, but if that doesn’t work then you may need to consider sleeping in different rooms.
It is going to take a lot of time and effort to work these tips into your life and try to fix your sleep problems, but if they work then the effort was well worth it. Remember to go to the doctor first though to make sure there is no medical reason why you can’t sleep!
I really enjoyed this very informative post, I do have a problem when sleeping but after reading this I hope I can have more sleep for me to be more relax. And I know that I can share it with other people I know that have the same problem.