STRUGGLING WITH FALLING ASLEEP?

Some people have trouble falling asleep which over time impacts on their efforts to maintain good health and balance their work life effectively.  Combined with our busy life (almost on a daily basis)  and having bad nights or even several in a row can have many detrimental effects on our lives such as tired feelings, being impatient and feeling less able to cope in general. If you are in the category of people having trouble falling asleep or maybe you want to ensure you get enough sleep, I have some laid down tips that helped me when I was nursing my daughter in those earlier days when I had no helper while she fed on demand and responsibilities piled up by the second.

A little more on enough sleep

·         Most of us adults need about eight hours of sleep every night to feel well rested and good to go! When you are sleep-deprived you definitely would not feel or look your best and you are generally irritable, clumsy and have high tendency to make unnecessary mistakes (agree?)

·         When you are  regularly sleep deprived, your health may deteriorate with time cause your immune system become suppressed impacting on your ability to resist illness and your body metabolism  too, increasing your chances of gaining weight a lot more.

Now here are some tips that worked for me, and are still working!

1.       Having a bed time routine

·         When you have a bed time routine just as children, and you are disciplined enough to stick to it, you become in control of your mind.  Your body in turn is triggered to feel relaxed and very ready to fall asleep because you have made your routine to be so.

·         You don’t need ‘an over the top’ kind of routine, Yes!!! I said so. You can adopt a simple routine of having a bath, setting the mood of your place or sleep corner right with some soothing/ calming music and turning the lights off at some point. Drinking a cup of warm milk at this point while meditating on beautiful reading (for me I love reading some of my favourite scriptures from the bible) help a lot and put you in real sleep mood.

2.       The Day time strategies that work!

Some steps have proven to work which when applied throughout the day and into the evening assist with getting enough sleep.

·         When you engage in regular exercise,  you stand a better chance of drifting off to sleep with ease as well as enjoying good hours of sleep. But try not to exercise three hours to bed time to avoid over stimulation of your body which can generally affect your body’s relaxation adversely.

·         Limit your intake of tea, caffeine and even some soft drinks after 5pm. Although the effects of these vary in different people, but for certain others the effects of coffee or tea can last up to three to more hours.  Please bear that in mind.

·         Try not to drink alcohol before bed time, cause although you might feel relaxed afterwards, but it might make you wake up later at night and eventually affect your entire sleep in the end.

·         As much as possible try dealing with troubling tasks like bill payments or any work related task much earlier in the day or early evening. If you deal with them just before bed time, your thoughts will roam around them which will affect your ability to fall asleep or even get enough sleep.

·         Watching over stimulating TV programmes or listening to one just before bed time can affect your sleep in general.

3.       Where you sleep matters

How is your bed room?  This can have a great impact on how well you sleep.  In reality it’s not easy to perfect this, but here are some basic things to do to your bed room just about bed time:

·         As much as you can, keep the bed room dark. Keeping the bedroom lights on will stimulate you to stay awake. For help with bathroom trips, you can have a torch light by the table lamp or keep light in your hall.

·         You should reserve your bed/bedroom for sleeping and not for work. This will associate your mind with sleeping any time you are in your bed room. Bringing paperwork or laptops will set your mind active for informal work which will not allow you fall asleep. switch off your handheld devices too.

·         Ensure your room temperature is soothing and comfortable.  Keep an extra blanket handy in case your spouse or friend prefers a colder or warmer room.

4.       When you can’t just sleep

There are times when you can’t sleep even after ‘getting it right’ throughout the day.  When you find yourself in such state of being up over 20minutes after waking up in the middle of the night, lying in bed will rather make you feel anxious and you may end up not sleeping at all.  It is better to leave the bed and do something relaxing.

·         Try some soothing music in a low volume

·         It can be therapeutic to write down what could have made you not to fall asleep or worried about or need to do the next day.

·         Deep –breathing exercise also helps by counting 1 to 5 as you inhale and reverse the count while you exhale, or walk around your surroundings.

5.       Try napping but don’t over nap

When you have a bad night or bad nights in a row, taking a nap during the day can help get you back refreshed, energised and active again, however, try not to nap more than 45 minutes as it can affect your sleep routine and do more harm to you than good by making it a lot harder for you to fall asleep at night when you really need good hours of sleep.

6.       Lastly but most importantly, Tell it to God

The first thing to do when you notice a problem in your sleep pattern is to tell it all to God in prayers by bringing all your worries to Him. God made sleep for our good pleasure, and when your do not get enough of it, it does not fulfil the pleasure God intended it for in the first place. While you pray to God, make effort also to adjust your lifestyle to avoid sleep deprivation.  Don’t forget to see your doctor who can help you locate the source of the problem and work towards bringing solution to it.

Have a more pleasant week. X