How is your sleep hygiene? I was talking to a friend a couple months back and they mentioned that they were struggling to sleep. I didn’t know how much sleep mattered until I had children and slept poorly for an extended period of time.
While at the mercy of my babies, I spent a lot of time reading about how to get them to sleep, which I mostly failed at (in my case, am still failing at, although things have gotten significantly better ~6 years later). However, I DID come up with a handful of ways to make sure that when the chances for sleep were there, I got as much out of them as possible! In no specific order, here are some ideas for improving your life by improving your sleep habits:
Buy the best mattress you can afford. You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping in bed. This is something worth investing in! This step may involve some significant research- If possible, it’s probably worth lying down on your mattress in a store before you buy, and make sure it has a good warranty.
Make and commit to a sleep schedule. I don’t deviate from 9:45-10pm -> 5:45am. I don’t know if you need to be that hardcore (some people would probably sleep in an hour or two on weekends), and it will probably take some sacrifice because going to bed early tends to cut into free time, but if you give your body a few weeks of consistency it should adjust.
Fix your environment. Get some blackout curtains (we have some you cut to fit your window and attach with velcro), get a white noise machine, and, if necessary, use earplugs. I like the earplugs because it feels like it keeps the chaos in my head contained and it’s oddly comforting like a weighted blanket or something. Keep the temperature in your room a little cooler- if you’re too warm it can negatively impact sleep.
If you do have kid(s) or other people you’re responsible for who are huge a-holes and keep you awake do the best you can. If you can, try to get into a headspace where you embrace the chaos because with that comes regained sanity. If you fight it you’ll be angry and bitter and exhausted instead of just exhausted.
Minimize screen use before bed. No blue light! I like to relax with an e-reader before bed as an alternative. Charge your phone outside your room. You may need to get a cheap alarm as a replacement- I found one that vibrates and that has been a much more pleasant way to wake up.
Avoid stimulants before bedtime.
If you haven’t already, having a chat with your doctor might be in order. It’s possible you might have a problem that structure and preparation won’t fix.
Don’t hang out in bed. You need to create an association in your brain that if you’re in bed it’s time to shut down.
Make sure you get your exercise of choice in during the day.
Don’t eat too much garbage, especially before bed!
I didn’t make all these changes all at once- they added up over time and now I have a pretty good thing going. Sometimes going to sleep is easy but staying asleep is hard, especially if I have an active stressor in my life. If I do wake stressed out of my gourd for of any number of reasons, I’ve found there are a handful of ways for dealing with this that work for me. Reading my e-reader for a few minutes helps break the cycle in my brain and lets me relax. Learning to breathe consciously/slowly or meditate helps. Mundane, repetitive thought exercises (i.e. counting sheep) help. I have to be diligent with forcing the count forward or my brain starts churning again.