sleep tips

Dear Maigler: My sleep cycle is all messed up. I’m tired in the day and up all night. I figured out a way to get myself through school but I’m starting a job soon and I’m really nervous that if I don’t fix this it is going to cause me problems at work.

Morning Gory,

Dear Morning: Getting sleep is extremely important, but getting rest is critical.
It sounds like you have poor sleep hygine, meaning your routine around sleeping has allowed some bad habits to sink in.

Some common bad habits around sleep are:
Eating or drinking things that keep you up. Sounds dumb but people do it all the time. If you have an energy drink at 8 PM it may still be impacting you at midnight. If you are lactose intolerant or get acid reflux you are going to have trouble sleeping. If you have to pee, get up and GO! If you do not tend to your body you will not sleep.

Getting out of your sleep pattern on weekends or during vacations. Solution force yourself to wake up EARLY on Sunday and do not take a nap, fill your day with activity and try to go to bed at the time you would like to maintain as your sleep time.

Spending time in your bed not sleeping. Many people use their beds as a command center to talk on the phone, study, read, watch tv, cry, think about things, have important relationship conversations… Their body begins to associate the bed with everything but sleep. Solution: try to stay out of your bed unless you are immediately going to sleep. Try changing your physical positioning in the bed, put your pillow at the foot of the bed, or start out sleeping on the floor or on a couch.

Worrying in bed. Many people have difficulty falling asleep because their brain is spinning thinking about the day’s events or all the things they need to do the next day. If you are going to be thinking and planning things your bed in the darkness is a terrible spot for it. Solution: Get out of bed, go make your plans, write down the things you will need to deal with the next day. Make a commitment to clearing your mind and visualizing something that relaxes you before trying to go to sleep. If you need to wind down and think about the day do that in a different place before getting into bed. If you realize you are worrying and you are in bed attempt your relaxation technique and if that does not work get up and leave the bed.

Back to some general points about sleep. What does sleep really do for us? It allows our body to rest and repair and it allows our brain to transfer information from our working memory into our long term memory. There are some insomniacs who sleep no more than a couple of hours a week. How do they function? They have found a way to get enough rest and ease the work their brain is doing enough to allow some memory transfer to occur.

We know that the harder you try to fall asleep the more elusive sleep becomes. So stop chasing it. Do not go to your bed intent on getting sleep. Find a comfortable place and an activity that your brain can do without much effort. Some people find watching a movie they have seen a hundred times, or listening to music allows enough of their brain to be engaged that they can push out intrusive thoughts about the stressors of the day and yet their brain to be relaxed enough that they can “day dream” and that can give the brain the rest it needs to function well the next day. Often you will find once you are content with resting and have stopped chasing sleep, sleep will come on its own.

Before you examine your problem though you need to ask the more important question, what is working? How is the current way you are doing things working for you. When we have a problem we tend to focus totally on eliminating it. We forget that every solution creates a new set of problems. There is a reason why you have gotten into that pattern. Ask yourself how that happened and what else you have tried. What has worked and what hasn’t. I find it shocking how often people have already know and have used a solution to the problem they are dealing with.