A lot of people have trouble sleeping. But when you're anxious or going through a stressful time, it can be even harder to sleep. Spending hours in bed trying to sleep is not only uncomfortable and boring but it can also bring you a lot more anxiety since you may be having negative thoughts that you can't fight with anything since you have nothing to distract yourself with. It is typical to get anxious in that time you are not able to sleep. And it is also typical to develop anxiety to the time previous to sleeping time, when sleeping time begins to approach and you start to think in anticipation how you're not going to be able to sleep and all those negative thoughts and all that anxiety is going to crawl inside your head.
I remember spending as much as 5 hours in bed just trying to sleep, not doing anything else, and not being able to. So when this had happened a few times, I dreaded the time of going to sleep so I started to postpone it as much as I could. But in that time that I was postponing it, I started to feel anxious.
Improving your sleep is an essential step in order to improve your lifestyle. It's simple: if you're tired all day you can't be as functional as you would be otherwise. You can't concentrate as much, or enjoy things as much, or have energy enough to do the things you may want to do (or have to do). So sleeping is one of your main priorities.
So what can be done in order to sleep when you cannot sleep?
· Have a sleep routine
This is probably the most important point. If you didn't manage to get sleep until very late, you may feel tempted to stay in bed until quite late to make up for that (I know that I did, some days I would wake up at 1pm or 2pm). But that way you're not helping to stop having sleeping problems. You have to set a time at which you will go to bed and a time to wake up. Even if you don't manage to sleep all those hours, get up at the time you had set, don't stay in bed for longer. And next day, try the same thing. And keep on doing this day after day.
You should keep on going even when you have no trouble sleeping in order to not have issues with your sleep again. In the long term, it works really well and it is the one that has helped me the most!
· Do something boring before sleeping
Reading is good, however reading a very exciting book can make you not want to stop reading or keep thinking about it once you have closed it. Reading something a bit more boring is probably a better idea if you're struggling with sleeping issues.
· Stop studying at least 1 hour before going to bed
Maybe in exam period this is a hard one, but try to stop studying a while before going to bed.
· Create a comfortable sleeping atmosphere
Your pajamas, your bed etc must be something your brain associates with sleep. So try to avoid spending a lot of time during the day on your pajamas or in your bed watching TV etc.
· Do some relaxation exercises
Don't think about sleep or about what you'll have to do tomorrow because that will only make you more anxious.
Concentrate on your breathing, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, and focus on how the air comes in and out.
· If you wake up halfway through the night and you can't sleep leave your room and do something boring
As the point above said, you must associate certain things with sleep. And in order to avoid associating your room and your bed with the anxiety of being unable to sleep, if you wake up in the middle of the night and you can't sleep, leave your room for a while and do something boring until you get sleepy, and then try the steps again.
· Avoid long naps
Naps may help you feel less tired throughout the day, but if you have trouble sleeping at night, they will make it even more difficult. So part of creating a sleep routine means avoiding sleeping at other times. If you feel like you really need a nap, you shouldn't nap for longer than 45 minutes.
What has helped you sleep better?
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