Sleep Better

A year ago I was having some real sleep problems. I’m not talking about anything to serious like waking up screaming, crouched in the corner saying something about spiders attacking me, I’m talking about sleep problems that most of us deal with on a nightly basis.

A typical night went something like this:
10:00- Go to bed
10:05- Realize that I wasn’t tired, start watching T.V.
10:40- Remember that I forgot to send an email and hop on the computer.
10:50- Finish sending the email, then check facebook.
11:59- Realize I’d been on facebook for over an hour and turn off the computer.
12:00- Go to bed
12:50- Still awake cause I never actually fell asleep.
1:15- Finally fall asleep.
2:30- Wake up thirsty.
4:30- Wake up and have to go to the bathroom. Then realize I have to get a bunch of crap done the next day and stress out.
5:30- Finally fall asleep again.
6:00- Wake up thirsty
7:25- Wake up five minutes before my alarm goes off and realize how tired I am.

How did I overcome my sleep problems? Simple I made a sleep plan. A sleep plan consists of more than just having a time you go to sleep and a time you wake up. Let me show you my sleep plan looks like on a nightly basis.

If I want to go to sleep at 10:30 at 9:30 I start my sleep plan. The first step is eating my last snack of the day, cottage cheese & beef jerky (no spicy foods, they give you weird dreams), the next step is writing down the things I need to get done for the next day in my planner and making other adjustments for the next day, followed by brushing my teeth and going to the bathroom, getting a glass of water, reading a fiction book (nothing to make you think deep) then turning off the light and closing my eyes. This plan of attack for getting better sleep has drastically improved my sleep patterns.

A couple other tips include:
Making sure your room/house is clean. It will make you more relaxed and clear your mind, it works, trust me!

Turn out the lights. Sleep in a dark room, preferably pitch black. The light entering the room can either affect your sleep patterns or make your body think it’s bright outside and simulate a sunrise, which is more likely to wake you up.

Exercise. When you exercise during the day, your body craves rest at night. In turn, you’ll fall asleep faster and spend more time in the deeper, most restful stage of sleep.

Keep the bedroom for sleeping. If you constantly do work or watch TV in bed, your mind may find it difficult to associate sleep with your bed. Keep it simple and use the bed for what it’s meant for.

Here is another interesting sleep improving article.


What does your sleep plan look like?