Do you struggle to fall asleep at night? Do you wake up in the middle of the night tossing and turning for hours unable to fall back asleep? Then, when you finally fall asleep, your alarm rings because it’s time to start your day? That’s annoying! It can feel like a waste of your night. You have to wake up and function for the whole day with only 3 hours of sleep.
Sleep issues are quite common for many of us. Here are some strategies to improve your sleep:
- Develop good daily habits – Having daily routines can help you sleep better at night. You are training your body for what to expect. Some examples include going to bed at the same time each night, doing regular exercise during the day and not too close to bedtime, reducing alcohol intake, avoiding caffeine at night, and taking a short nap (15 to 30 minutes) as opposed to a longer one during the day.
- Practice good sleep hygiene – Set a consistent bedtime routine that reminds your body that you are preparing for bed. These can be taking a shower or washing your face, brushing your teeth, reading a book, listening to sleep music, and dimming your lights. Give yourself time to wind down prior to sleeping. If you want to be asleep by 10pm, you need to start preparing at 9:30pm (give or take). Some people need longer, some less. Don’t expect to turn off the TV at 10pm then go to bed right away. Your mind may need more time to unwind. For more on sleep hygiene, read this article.
- Journal – Writing things down allows you to take thoughts out of your mind so that you are free to sleep. For many people who struggle with sleep, bedtime has become thinking time. Considering that you have spent the whole day being busy, this is the one time your mind doesn’t have anything to focus on except to roam. Maybe you are processing things that happened in your day, maybe you are worrying about things you did or didn’t do. Write down your thoughts. What are you thinking about? Write it down and remind yourself what is within and out of your control. The only thing within your control in that moment is being in your bed. You can deal with the rest tomorrow. If you wake up in the middle of the night with thoughts, write them down as well. (Read my post on journaling)
- Meditate – Practicing meditation in general and right before bed can help to quiet your mind and relax your body. Check my self-care page for apps you can download that have various exercises you can do. There are also some free meditation exercises on YouTube. Type in “meditation for sleep” and see what comes up. A good exercise for sleep is progressive muscle relaxation.
- Listen to calming music – Listening to calming music or sleep music is a good way to fall asleep. Some people like sounds of water, nature, birds, or musical instruments. People also like listening to hymns or acoustic music. Again, you can find these on YouTube, Spotify, or on the apps on my self-care page.
- Pray – Spend some time in prayer. Praying before you go to sleep can help you to let go of all the worries. Pray about the things that are on your mind and give the concerns to God let him deal with them for you. Ask God to help you to sleep and trust God with the things on your mind.
- Practice visualization – Do you remember a time or a place where you feel at peace? Maybe it is at a beach, in your backyard, or in your house. Maybe this place doesn’t even exist except in your mind. Think of this as your peaceful/happy place. Picture yourself going to sleep in your happy place. One of my happy places is the throne room in Revelation 4. The awe of this place takes my mind off of my petty worries.
- Think about God – Going along with visualization, one of my favorite psalms is Psalm 63. I love when David says, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night” (vs 6). When I find myself worrying and I redirect my focus to God, it makes everything I am worrying about seem trivial. It reminds me of who God is. I picture myself as a baby in the presence of a loving and powerful parent. A great way to redirect your focus to God is to read Psalm 120 to 139.
What not to do
- Don’t stay in your bed tossing and turning for hours. For those who wake up in the middle of the night, if after 20 minutes you can’t fall asleep, get up and do something calming like reading, writing, or replaying your sleep music, etc. Don’t start working on your big project. The goal is to fall back asleep not wake you up even further.
- Don’t pick up your phone or electronic device. It is advisable to not have any electronics 30 to 60 minutes prior to bed. If you wake up in the middle of the night, don’t grab your phone or put on the TV. Those blue light rays will only make you stay awake longer.
- Don’t get anxious about not being able to sleep. Some people get more distressed when they can’t sleep, and this amplifies the problem. Instead, accept it, be kind to yourself, and say “Okay I’m having another one of those nights, I’ll be okay regardless.”
- Don’t try to over-compensate during the day for your lack of sleep at night. This is a big one. When people haven’t had a lot of sleep, they can try to make things better by taking a 3-hour nap during the day. DON’T! You CAN take a power nap of 15 to 30 minutes for an energy boost but not to get into deep sleep. Go along with your day as usual so that you allow yourself to get tired at the end of the day and you can have a good night’s sleep later. You may find yourself going to bed a little earlier that day, this is fine. But if you compensate by sleeping a lot during the day, you might not be tired at night, then you will throw off your sleep schedule even more.
- Don’t beat yourself up throughout the day. After a difficult night of sleep, we can be tempted to think, “oh now my day is ruined because I didn’t get enough sleep.” Well, sometimes the day is harder and sometimes it isn’t. You are a lot more resilient than you might think. Your day does not have to be ruined because you didn’t get enough sleep. Go about your day as you normally would.
If sleep issues are persistent for you, consider participating in a sleep study. There may be one in a center near you if you live in the U.S. Try seeing a therapist. Talking through some of the things on your mind could relieve some of the stress that is keeping you up at night. Or use these suggestions to talk to your doctor about your sleep. For more sleep tips, read this Harvard article.
Very helpful tips/suggestions
Another great piece to help those of us suffering insomnia and anxiety especially in this CoVID-19 era. Thanks!
You’re welcome 😀