i am one of those people who has trouble turning my brain off at night when it's time to sleep. sunday nights used to the be the worst sleep because i was back to work on the monday morning. thoughts about school would keep me awake and then when i finally did fall asleep, i'd dream about school. now that i've signed on as a tupperware consultant, some nights i cannot turn off my brain.
so what to do if you can't fall asleep. my theory is you just stay in bed. it doesn't matter if you're not sleeping - getting up won't help you sleep. my dad's theory is after 30minutes of non-sleep, get up, write down what you're thinking about, and when you go back to bed, you'll sleep better. well, after many a night of laying awake until all hours, i have tried getting up instead. but then i stay up for hours instead of getting sleepy.
what do you do when you can't sleep?
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i can't ever sleep on saturday nights (because my work week is sun-thurs)... i just worry about the next day, plan the day, think about sleeping the next evening... stress about not waking up. blah blah. there is no hope. nothing helps.
I usually just lay there, tossing and turning for awhile, which Dallas really loves...or not. He often complains about me being "too bouncy." Ha. I hate not being able to fall asleep...and then thinking that every minute you lie awake is one less minute of sleep - just kills me.
I usually just stay in bed because I figure at least you're getting some rest by lying down in the dark. But lately I often get a racing heart when I can't fall asleep, where my heart just races and races and really, lying in the dark or not lying in the dark, I'm getting no rest. Then I get up.
I find it helps to get up for a little while, just to break the pattern of my thoughts and get me going in a better direction. Hopefully in a "relax and fall asleep" direction...
I get up and go out to the couch, get a warm blanket and whatever novel I am currently reading. I read out there for up to an hour. The time passes quickly because I'm engrossed in a story that is not about my own life. It's very unusual that I can't fall asleep when i return to bed.
i have this happen to me OFTEN. i used to think that it was best to stay in bed. there are a few things that i ahve tried. sometimes they work, soemtimes they don't. the one that works most often is moving to my couch and trying to sleep there. if i was sleeping in a bed alone i usually like to turn over to the cold side of the bed whenever i wake up....since i can't do that i move to the couch. sometimes i walk laps around my house (i used to walk around the outside of the mall in the middle of the night but i no longer leave across the street from the mall). also, lately i get up and go to my freezing cold den and read my BC Health Guide. haha....gets gross, or boring and it takes my mind off whatever i am thinking about. my doctor told me one idea that you can try in bed if you don't want to get up. starting at your feet you tighten every muscle in your body and then relax....go slowly. take up to 5 seconds to tighten each muscle group. sounds weird, but you have to concentrate which helps your mind to focus on something else. it also helps your body relax. let me know if any of this ends up being helpful
I start praying for people...anyone that comes to mind... then I start to relax and peaceful sleep arrives...zzzzzzzzzzz
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