Be okay with having a hard time sleeping, it will get better

The changes in our usual schedule during isolation paired with the anxiety of the virus and economic downturn has most likely wreaked havoc on everyone’s sleep patterns. A lot of us may not have been so healthy with our sleep patterns before the virus. I personally go through periods of super rigid practices for sleep and then fall prey to stresses from work or family situations that call for more work, more worry, more stress, and less sleep. If you have never tried any technique to help you get better rest, now is the perfect time. We are all in isolation and if you are not then you need your sleep even more than the rest of us. Besides, what else are we going to do, right?

Who knew there was a whole science behind sleeping correctly?! As I have promised before, resources are at our fingertips. If take just a second after reading this posting to look up healthy habits you are sure to find healthy sleep cycles to be somewhere in the top ten habits to form for increased health benefits. Here are some easy tips to get you thinking about how to change our bad bedtime habits:

If you’re resting quietly without distractions, try to start in a position that keeps you from losing feeling in limbs or kinking your neck. Try not to create issues with discomfort that will wake you up later. If you find yourself wide awake for more than 15 minutes, get up and change the environment to accommodate your worries. Most of the time it is as easy as making a list of things on your mind and a short plan to accomplish the tasks needed to clear those worries from your life. Avoid watching TV. There are a seemingly infinite amount of studies concerning the hormonal responses of our bodies that keep us awake because of the light emissions from our TVs. Essentially, we are tricking our minds into thinking it is still daytime if we are watching TV in bed. Additionally, there are studies that suggest we may not find quality rest even if we do sleep after watching TV at night. If this seems to far-fetched for you, lets think of it as playing the odds. The worst you are going to experience is watching your favorite show tomorrow and you just might find truth in the theory coming out the other side with feeling more rested.

While meditating at the direction of the many apps out there to help clear our minds of worry is helpful in many cases to prepare to go to sleep, remember that meditating to cause you to fall asleep is often counterproductive. This is because we begin to worry during our meditation if we do not feel sleepy. Worry is the greatest enemy of our wholistic rest and adds to our anxiety both during the night and the next day. We must find ways to release the worry and its okay to fail at several attempts before we begin to successfully rest. No single technique works for everyone and professional help is available on almost every media platform you can think of. Don’t worry about it. You will find your peace if you keep trying! Here’s to Healthy Minds and sweet dreams!

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posting by: Trey Atwater. Manger of Operations. Healthy Minds