A good night sleep

"A  good night sleep, ahh." I think that everyone has had a problem getting sleep from time to time in their life. I was aware that it is in itself nothing concerning, when it is happening night after night, and getting you down that is when it becomes a problem. 

good night sleep

I am going to give you some ideas here that you may be able to use in your life. Experiment, and use what works for you.

Personally I started to have a horrible time getting a good night sleep. (as a young adult) Looking back it was no wonder. I was stressed out on my job, (also hating it didn't help), my finances were stressing me. I was haveing some family and, relationship problems. Overworking was the norm. I'm sure that many of you are going through similar life issues.

I would lay awake half the night. Sometimes it feels like I never slept, or I would just get a deep sleep early in the morning. Then the alarm would go off! The day would slip.  Low in energy was making it difficult to focus to get anything done. Living like this is not good. 

I started to read everything so that I could help myself; I just needed some sleep.

Eventually, I managed to create a ritual, getting a good night sleep when I am tossing and turning. Find your way that suits you.

I hope this helps you get a good night sleep.

here is my ritual, for a good night sleep

  1.  Get up.  Make a cup of chamomile tea. Warm, milk works, also.  I only turn on enough light to see the way.
  2. Take it into the living room and sit and relax and forget about trying to sleep.
  3.  I make a list of all things that were keeping me awake.
  4.  I would go over the list and find things that I could do right then as long as I could do it quickly. 
  5. Then I would make note of things that I could do tomorrow or schedule for another time in the future. The next part, the things that I had no control over I would cross off my list.

I would think about the first verse of that at little Serenity prayer, by Reinhold Niebuhr. ( had to look up who wrote it)

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

6. I then go back to bed and do a little relaxing of my body head to toe. 

7. Name a few things that I felt good about during the day and what little things to be grateful.

9. Take a deep breath through my nose. Hold for a few seconds. Blow out through the mouth.

10. Count backwards from 100 to 1. 

This little ritual helped me immensely to get a good night sleep.

Sleeping like a baby for years.

still can't sleep after trying my ritual

Through all my research, I learned a lot about getting a good night sleep. I will share them with you here.

You should not eat heavy, fatty foods before bedtime. Don't have alcoholic beverages or drink too many liquids. It can make you feel awful and give you acid indigestion or heartburn.

If this happens, take a teaspoon of vinegar or a half teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda  mixed with a glass of water. My family always used bicarbonate of soda for heartburn.

I learn to meditate. There are many techniques and good books about it.

Read beautiful, pleasant things until your tired. 

Go to bed a decent hour so that you have the number of hours available to sleep before you need to arise.

Get a real ritual that you follow. 

Get things done that may keep you thinking before you go to bed, so it's not keeping you awake later. Get your clothes and briefcase or whatever it is you will need ready for the next day. 

Suggestions are to take a warm bath, put on some cream, brush your teeth turn the temperature down. Put on some soft music or a meditation tape.

Shut out noise, and light. You may need to wear ear plugs or an eye mask.

I function best with about at least eight hours sleep. You might feel great with 7 and others need 10. If you have an afternoon siesta, you may be good on 5. 

If you go too early and are not tired, you will just toss and turn. Most people need about 15 minutes to go to sleep.  

Discover the time a night you're tired but can still get enough hours before you have to get up that you feel rested. To function at your best the next day. Try to get closer to that hour every night with little adjustments at a time. Then set that as your regular time. Try arising around the same time every day. Try not to break your routine too often. 

If you can and it works for you try to take naps during the day. When I feel tired sometimes just lying down and resting for 15 minutes to a half hour helps.

Are you a night or morning person? I am a night person, sleeping to 7 or 8. ( not always possible) My husband is an early bird. I am not good at daytime napping. If he can, he loves his naps.

If you have a problem with insomnia maybe you're just taking too many naps. 

Do you have a special ritual at bedtime?

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