Sleep Better Tonight with These Five Tips
Kristen Scarlett, LMHC, NCC
It’s 3:00 a.m. and you’re awake again. Should you get out of bed and move to the couch, close your eyes and count backwards, or do you have a tried and true technique like listening to a guided meditation or drinking warm milk?
Whatever you do, it’s distressing. Sleep is important not only because we need energy to get through the day, but also it’s imperative for our overall health.
We know we need sleep but experts aren't 100% clear why. One theory is that sleep is an innate internal drive, like hunger, that makes us uncomfortably tired so we'll get the sleep we need to restore our bodies. We know that going without sleep long-term can cause substantial health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, a lowered immune system, obesity and even a lowered mortality.
Sleep also increases our cognitive abilities. In fact, it helps to strengthen the neural connections that form memory. During sleep, neurons consolidate all the new skills you learn in a day and make them easier to retrieve. So, in addition to your lack of focus and bad mood, sleep deprivation can also affect your memory.
But understanding why you need sleep isn’t going to help you get your zzzz's, so what will?
Write it down:
Sleep with a pen and pad of paper by your bed. When those intrusive anxiety thoughts or to-do lists keep you from falling asleep, write them down. Imagine yourself purging the thoughts from your mind on to the paper to address tomorrow.
Create a peaceful environment:
Once you've had several nights of disturbed sleep, bedtime and even your bedroom can cause anticipatory anxiety. To ease this, develop a calm routine starting an hour before bed. Turn off all phones and devices, wash your face with warm water, use lavender oil, read a book, play soft music or try a guided meditation.
Exercise:
Exercise, if possible, in the morning. It helps to reset your sleep-wake cycle. Exercising, especially in bright light signals to your brain that it's morning and time to wake up. Your cycle resets, allowing your body to become sleepier at night.
Sleep apps?
Wait, how am looking at an app if I have to turn off my phone an hour before bed? Here is the only exception. Listen to a guided meditation or sleep story to help your mind ease into sleep. There are several apps that offer guided meditations and sleep stories for adults – at different lengths of time, with different voices so you can find one that works for you. Progressive muscle relaxation is one that has been proven to work to calm your mind and body.
Go on a walk
Think of a place and time where you felt most at ease. Maybe it was your childhood home, a vacation home or your college dorm. Close your eyes and take yourself there. Imagine yourself walking down each hall and entering each room. Look around, what do you see? This exercise can be both calming and restful. It helps to distract from your anxiety thoughts and changes the way you feel, preparing your mind and body to fall back to sleep.
Next time you find yourself awake in the middle of the night, try one or several of these techniques. Even developing a plan can be enough to ease your mind and allow you a restful, undisturbed sleep.