Tips to Help You Sleep Like a Baby

There is a sleep struggle each evening for some 70 million Americans. More than exasperating, lack of sleep poses health risks that can include impaired decision making and emotional distress. Additionally, insufficient sleep can contribute to obesity and result in lost work productivity. To underscore the seriousness of sleep issues, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared sleep disorders a public health epidemic.

While studies have shown how to plan for a good night’s sleep on the practical level, from an emotional perspective anger, exhaustion, and interactions with toxic personalities can wreak havoc on one’s sleep. Researchers tell us that sleep is so important that even losing an hour or two a night can interfere with a person’s judgment and attitude.

We are plugged in society. There is rarely a time when we are not responding to the sound of text messages, alerts, voice mails, and emails. Not only do we become exhausted during the day, but when we should be preparing for bed, we are too addicted to our devices to shut them off.

Unplugging devices saves us from the blue light of the screen, and also the “one more thing” compulsion.

Staring at the screen and feeling compelled to do one more thing, even though we may be physically exhausted, is becoming addictive. If you always think you have one more thing to do, save it for the following day and write a to-do list instead.

Creating a to-do list

For people who long for a refreshing sleep, the news from Baylor Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory offers hope through the simple act of creating a to-do list. As reported in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, (January 2018), “The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep,” researchers found:

“Bedtime worry, including worrying about incomplete future tasks, is a significant contributor to difficulty falling asleep. Previous research showed that writing about one’s worries can help individuals fall asleep. We investigated whether the temporal focus of bedtime writing—writing a to-do list versus journaling about completed activities—affected sleep onset latency.” To-Do list.

From the CDC here are Tips for a Better Sleep; these are easy to follow, but take discipline.

Be consistent. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning, including on the weekends
Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing, and at a comfortable temperature
Remove electronic devices, such as TVs, computers, and smart phones, from the bedroom
Avoid large meals, caffeine, and alcohol before bedtime
Get some exercise. Being physically active during the day can help you fall asleep more easily at night.

In today’s political climate you might try to avoid watching the nightly news. What can you do instead? Read a book. Hand write a note to someone. Listen to music. Watch programs that are uplifting.

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