7 Tips To Get You Sleeping Like Sleepy McSleepyface.

Posted By in Healthy Living, In the Home, Parenting Teens, Talking About Stuff | 248 comments

A good night’s sleep.

It’s a small thing, isn’t it? I’m actually blessed in that I can sleep anywhere. Anywhere at all.
I think we absolutely take it for granted in our youth… and then we have babies.
I was lucky that pregnancy never affected my ability to sleep (I’m well known for my ability to nod off anywhere. On my honeymoon I slept through a drive along a river bed in Kenya, my snoozing head bouncing not-very-gently on the window, much to the amusement of my fellow 4×4 passengers). No matter how big the baby was, them stomping on my bladder was never urgent enough to rouse me from my slumber.

But then of course, the baby arrives… and, like every single parent ever in the history of ever, I discovered that sleep is would never be viewed in the same way again.

You suddenly realise that sleep is an absolute essential to every part of your body and brain. Like nutrition and exercise, sleep keeps us healthy and happy.

And I think anyone who’s ever been short of sleep (and poor sleep and fatigue affect millions of people world-wide) knows just how quickly the opposite takes effect – just one bad night’s sleep affects our mood, concentration and alertness.

But now sometimes weird stuff happens sometimes. I’ll fall exhausted into bed. But as I lay there, my eyes aching for rest, do I sink instantly into uninterrupted sleep as is my lifelong habit?

No. I do not.

My brain continues to spin, reminding me that I still haven’t ordered Boy’s new trainers, that I didn’t send *that* email, that I need to book No.1 in for a haircut, that we should take the children out on Monday… Sleep skates around at the edge of my brain, unable to slip between the speeding thoughts with it’s warm blanket of rest I so desperately want and need.

See this comphrensive review of the best mattresses you can find online

But it’s no good worrying about it. As many of you know, my eldest son was diagnosed when he was 10 with M.E. One of the symptoms, coupled with the stupendous weariness, is an inability to fall asleep. It’s agony watching your exhausted 10yr old at nearly midnight, eyes hollow and grey with tiredness, yet brain active and unable to simply nod off the way he has done ever since he was tiny.

Thankfully, he’s a bright and healthy 17yr old now. But those tricks and techniques we learned to help him cope and manage his condition are things that he still lives by now, things that we’ve used time and again over the years to resettle broken sleeping patterns. And now I’m sharing them with you.

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Image courtesy of Shutterstock

7 Tips To Get You Sleeping Like Sleepy McSleepyface.

  1. Beds are just for sleeping. Sounds obvious, but how often do you use it for reading? Or using your iPad, or watching TV? Either have a comfortable chair in your room, or else keep those activities for other areas of your house. Your body needs to know exactly what will happen when it goes to bed if you want it triggered to start shutting down.
  2. Make your bed comfortable. Obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people are still sleeping on 10yr old lumpy mattresses – when I wrote this for the Sleep Council  it was disgustingly eye-opening. And I headed out and bought a new mattress straight away. Comfortable mattresses make for easier sleeping. Fact.
  3. Go screenless – for an hour before bed step away from the screens. Backlit screens suppress your melatonin, and so keep you awake for longer. Turn off and go read a book, sit in the garden and look at the stars, chat to your partner. It’s a great way to end the day, you’ll come to treasure that peaceful time and you’ll always sleep better for it.
  4. Routine – your body works from triggers, so let it know what’s happening. It works for toddlers and it works for grown ups. It doesn’t matter what your routine is, but if you keep to it, your brain will recognise the signals.
  5. Exercise. Not necessarily a full-on workout, but stretching your big muscles with a 20 minute walk may be all you need to reach that wind-down zone you’re looking for.
  6. Cool down. The body begins lowering body temperature in the evening, and Melatonin works in part by lowering brain temperature. So cool your bedroom – keep the curtains drawn and the window shut against the sun on a hot summers day to prevent it heating up, and keep the heating lower in your bedroom in winter (though don’t go too far – it’s impossible to sleep with icy feet and a cold arse, too…). So add a nice hot bath or shower  into your bedtime routine – heat is relaxing and soothing, and then drying off afterwards speeds up your body cooling as your body overcompensates, radiates out more heat than was gained in the bath, and so you slip towards sleep.
  7. Get Up! If you’re not asleep within 20 minutes, get up again! Don’t just lie there fretting and brain-spinning. Keep the lights low, and move back to the chair to read – reading by a small spotlight or torch is very effective for tiring the brain. Those clip-on reading lights are perfect. Or maybe quietly listen to the radio or an audio book. Something soothing, not exciting! Give yourself 20 minutes, and then go back to bed again. Don’t wrap up warmly either – allow yourself to cool down, so that when you go back to bed it instantly feels soothing and inviting as you wrap up.

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Tips for sleeping

Author: Laura

A 70's child, I’ve been married for a Very Long Time, and appear to have made four children, and collected one large and useless dog along the way. I work, I have four children, I have a dog… ergo, I do not do dusting or ironing. I began LittleStuff back in (gulp) 2004. I like huge mugs of tea. And Coffee. And Cake. And a steaming cone of crispy fresh fluffy chips, smothered in salt and vinegar. #healthyeater When I grow up I am going to be quietly graceful, organised and wear lipstick every day. In the meantime I *may* have a slight butterfly-brain issue.

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248 Comments

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    25 March 2016

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    26 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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    29 March 2016

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