How restful are your nights these days?
Do you go to bed, close your eyes and blissfully sleep for 7 hours? Or do you toss and turn for hours getting more and more anxious as the time for your wake-up call quickly approaches?
If you’re part of the latter group, I feel for you.
For years, I almost felt like a vampire, wide awake at night, but horribly exhausted during the day.
The moment I went to bed, my mind was filled with tons of ideas about my business and life, which made it impossible to make my brain, well, shut up long enough to fall asleep. I was constantly moody, had headaches, felt depleted and more and more unhappy.
I need sleep better. Lots of it and when I don’t get it, life just seems less glamorous, less exciting and less fulfilling.
That’s why I went on a little discovery tour to find out what might help my sleep-deprived body and mind. I tried all the conventional and supposedly miraculous tips for a healthy sleep. I went to bed at the same time every single night, I exercised every day, I avoided alcohol and caffeine, I even drank warm milk at night.
Yet nothing worked.
Until I watched a German TV show during a particularly sleepless night. It must’ve been destiny because I never, and I really mean, never watch German TV. They talked about insomnia and all the horrible things it does to your mind and then they shared a tip that would change my life.
Are you ready for it?
Make your bedroom a No Gadget Zone
That’s it. That’s the whole secret that has drastically changed my life and freed me of all my sleeping problems. Ever since I stopped having my iPhone on the nightstand I’ve been sleeping peacefully and through the night.
It’s incredible how calm my mind gets when I stop using gadgets about an hour before I go to bed. Everything relaxes and I’m able to let go and give in to sleep naturally.
So, what am I doing with the all time I now have before I go to bed?
I read wonderful, relaxing books. I journal about my day, my dreams and hopes. I mediate from time to time to let go of all anxieties and stress. I stay away from work and TV.
Everything I do is tied to me having a good night’s sleep.
You should try it. It’s simply miraculous.
Need more ideas to help you sleep? Try this related article: 19 Ways To Fall Asleep fast
Featured photo credit: beautiful young woman via Shutterstock
The trick is : TRY TO NOT TO THINK ABOUT A N Y T H I N G during JUST 5 min and you will see the result next day ! it is experienced and works 100%
I’m trying to do this and another couple of things (using f.lux, meditating before bed…). One question: do you consider a Kindle a gadget? In this case, if I read in bed is usually with a kindle.
Good question. I’d say that a Kindle is safe. I’m reading on mine as well before I go to bed and I haven’t noticed any harm.
The emissive light from the kindle triggers your brain differently than the reflected light of a book. Kindle is a gadget.
thanks for your input, Mike.
Great piece of advice. Should try it from today. Once I switch off my system, I open up in my phone. STAY AWAY from gadgets before 1 hour to bed.
Sounds like a very interesting trick, I will give it a try and see how it works. Normally I write down everything that’s on my mind onto a piece of paper, and this puts everything swimming around my head “on hold.”
That’s a great thing to do too, Will. Just getting it out and knowing it’s written down helps to calm the mind. Let me know if stopping to use gadgets will help you.
The best solution to insomnia is not thinking about sleep. Sleep is one of those things where if you think about it, and dwell on it – you won’t get it.
Just my personal experience :-)
Good point and I agree, it’s best to focus on everything but falling asleep.
As the author of Set Your Sleep on Autopilot, I agree with the gadget free zone. We even removed the TV from our bedroom. It helps to make the bedroom a place primarly used for sleep. I used to be like Annie-Sophie, having a really hard time falling asleep. I also developed some meditation and muscle relaxation techniques that helped me learn how to fall asleep, and when combining those with the gadget free zone, it was a winning combination.
What this article says is totally true! I independently came to the same realization. No emails before bed. Bath, read a novel in bed, then sleep comes easily. For a comfortable reading position in bed try a padded slant: headboardguy.com
I don’t think you can label is as an ‘ultimate’ trick since it relies on their being gadgets in the room in the first place. It’s not so much a cure for insomnia as a trick to stop certain people losing sleep from one specific cause.
I have suffered debilitating insomnia for years. My bedroom is a gadget free zone with a bed and nothing else. It is done this way to condition my mind into the attitude that the room has one purpose only.
The ‘ultimate’ trick is this. Concentrate on your left toes and tell them to sleep. Then tell the balls of your feet to sleep. Slowly tell each part of your left leg, then your right, work up through the hips, abdomen, chest and back and then arms. Tell each part of your neck and head and face one by one. You will never get to your scalp.
I’ve never had gadgets or TVs in my bedroom, but I do occasionally have problems getting to sleep when my head is buzzing with ideas. I have found a solution to this which works about 95% of the time: I tell myself a story.
I have a handful of rambling stories that I build on. I pick one, run through the events so far, and then start thinking about what happens next. Most nights I fall asleep before I can advance the plot.
I have tried meditation as well but that is quite hit-and-miss. Sometimes it settles my mind and I drift off to sleep. Sometimes I wind up clear-headed and relaxed but also alert and not even slightly sleepy.
I used to do the same and it really helped me too. Great advice.
great technique dr- strangelove, story-telling in my opinion and from experience worked wonders for me. usually when i tell myself stories in my head, my mind somehow confuses them with dreams and shuts-down my body pretty quickly and thanks Anne, you have just opened my eyes to the one thing i do chronically.