Kick insomnia to the curb! Here's how:
If you, like me, are finding the new year unsettling, your sleep may be affected. If you are waking up in the middle of the night with racing thoughts or a pounding heart, there is more that you can do than suffer through the dark hours, dreading the beep of your alarm. To reclaim your incredibly important and precious hours of sleep, start your day and continue as follows:
When it is the normal time to get up for your usual weekday routine, get up. Even if you lost hours last night, get up. Even if it's the weekend or a holiday, get up. This is your circadian rhythm's wake up call. You are now calling the shots by sending a shot across the bow: you are in charge.
Have some coffee. Eat something when you are able to. Take a shower if that's your weekday routine. Do your workout if that is your weekday routine (and kudos to you!).
Go about your normal day. If you don't have to be at a work location, be active with other activities. If you can get outside, go outside. If you can't get outside, get bright lights or a bright window in your face. This tells your system it's time to be awake, alert and doing.
Eat as if you are filling the tank of a Porsche with ultra-high quality fuel. Don't treat your fuel tank to junk. Eat good quality carbohydrates, proteins and fats. After 11am, lay off the coffee. Caffeine does nothing but encourage your body to get used to adrenaline shots. Your organs and brain will respond with a jolt, sure, but they'll send you pathetic shouts for more caffeine as soon as the last one wears off. The same goes for refined sugar.
If you insist on drinking and smoking, they are not to occur after 6pm. Both will mess with your sleep. Nicotine is a potent stimulant, and alcohol famously is a sedative that will wear off in the wee hours, leaving you wide awake. So do an end run around stimulants and sedatives: leave them to the side. And it goes without saying (but of course I'll say it anyway) quit smoking and drinking. They both cause cancer. Just for starters. This goes for smoking cannabis, too. And, as for cannabis, today's offerings are like 100 proof everclear compared to a beer. No comparison.
After 8pm no social media in your face (the light beaming into your retinas tells your brain it's full daylight). It's ok to watch television but it shouldn't be something that gooses your adrenaline. Do you re-live horror movies in your dreams, only now YOU are the one being chased? Don't watch them)
At 10pm take some melatonin if you like, then turn off all devices and pick up a book. A real one. Turn on a low-intensity light (or even better a battery powered candle) and read by it till your eyelids begin to droop. If you start to yawn, it's sleep's calling card. Don't ignore it. If you push through you'll enter a new game of losing at sleeping.
Make sure your room is dark, cover any glowing lights. Put a pad of paper and a pen on your nightstand. Put your phone on airplaine mode. Turn off your bedside light and snuggle under your covers. Keep the room at around 68 degrees or so. If you get cold in the middle of the night add a light layer over your covers.
Tell your brain what time you want to wake up. Pick a time that is at least 7 hours from the time you are laying down in the dark. Tell your brain that under no circumstances is it allowed to wake you up unless there's a true emergency. By the way, all the things that we can perseverate about in the middle of the night are NOT emergencies.
IF you wake up comfort yourself that you are early in your brain training. Remind your brain that nothing can be fixed until your agreed-upon wake up time. If something seems incredibly important, write it down on the pad of paper that you placed on your nightstand. Immediately go back to darkness (unless you need to use the bathroom, which you will use with a nightlight).
If you have a hard time getting back to sleep, begin with your head, neck & shoulders and consciously relax every muscle. You will likely find that they were tensed. This isn't conducive to sleep. Once you've relaxed your upper muscles, you can keep going down your body. Anything tensed? Play dead. As you release muscle tension you will notice that you are feeling sleepy again. This is your parasympathetic nervous system taking over. Give in and drift.
When you wake in the morning, get up if it is at least 6 hours since you went to bed. Going back to sleep will put you into a new sleep cycle that is mismatched to your wake up time. You'll be jolted by your alarm and off to the races with adrenaline. We're not playing that game anymore. When your eyes open after at least 6 hours of sleep just go with it and get up. Start over with #1 and begin the new day on top of your sleep game. You'll soon be sleeping at least 7 hours per night and your brain and body will thank you. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's to you, - Dr. Browning
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