Random Observation/Comment #522 : Sleepy time is one of my favorite times.
A lack of sleep is devastating to all aspects of life. How do you get through the day when you’re physically exhausted? Besides heavy caffeine dosage, you’re probably going to want a few naps throughout the day and hopes that sleeping earlier will “make up for yesterday” (it almost never does).
Instead of constantly catching up, improve your systems and keep a healthy sleep hygiene.
- Keep consistent sleep times and patterns
- Try to go to bed at around the same time each night to synchronize your internal clock
- Get 7-9 hours of sleep per night
- Keep your bed for sleeping only
- Do not bring screens to the bed
- Set a curfew for using devices overall
- If you don’t fall asleep within 20 minutes, go to another room until you get tired again
- Avoid going to bed on a full stomach (give 2 hours to digest to also prevent acid reflux)
- Avoid going to bed hungry (it’ll bug you all night)
- Avoid naps in the evening
- Get some sun during the day so it helps you sleep better at night
- Some experts recommend working out in the morning rather than at night to keep the energy going for the rest of the day
- Create a relaxing sleep and bedtime routine – I like to stretch for 2 minutes before sleeping and cuddle with a large body pillow
- Remove things in the bedroom that distract you from sleeping
- This one is tough: try not to go to bed drunk. You may fall asleep faster first, but you’ll probably wake up in the middle of the night feeling thirsty or hung over
- Don’t talk about emotionally upsetting topics while in bed
- Try not to listen to music with lyrics too close to bed
- Don’t bring your problems to bed
- Change your sheets and pillow cases often so you get that fresh smell before going to bed
- If you’re sniffling and sneezing from allergies, take an antihistamine
- If this works for you, get a white noise machine so you stop paying attention to all the little sounds around the world while you’re trying to rest
- Even if you can take a nap with music playing, it’s recommended to have a quieter sleep environment so you don’t get disrupted by different beats or familiar lyrics
- Make your room as dark as possible
- Change your bedroom so it only makes you sleepy – associate it with sleepy time
- Know what temperature you love sleeping in. I personally like it cold with a warm blanket (and then half way through the night I kick off all the blankets anyway)
- Make sure you have a quality mattress that matches your personal preference to firmness and bounce
- Wear the same pajama clothes that make you feel sleepy. Change into them right before you go to bed or make it a part of that cooling down routine.
- Get the right pillow. I just bought one that has this cooling foam on one side and it’s amazing.
- Convince your sleeping partner to follow the same rules
- Make sure the Henry cat doesn’t wake you up at 5:30AM by nuzzling in your ear and batting your hair
~See Lemons Sleep