How To Sleep Through The Night
Are you someone who feels tired at night but your body refuses to co-operate when you lie down to sleep? If this is you, the answer could be one quick read away.
The key to getting a good night’s sleep is to understand your body must be in the parasympathetic state - the rest and digest side of your nervous system - in order to sleep. It’s impossible for an overactive nervous system to sleep.
You know those nights when you’ve got something troubling going around in your head and your thoughts just won’t stop? It’s because your nervous system is in fight or flight - the sympathetic state. But the good news is you can teach your body to switch to rest and digest.
The less you can do to disrupt your nervous system before bed, the easier it’ll be to go to sleep AND stay asleep.
Remember 3, 2, 1 and follow these steps:
Pre-set your iphone’s Display & Brightness mode to Night Shift, Sunset to Sunrise and Sound to silent.
Set a regular bedtime – mine is 9:33pm (it’s just os happens to be the time my eyes start drooping in front of the TV!).
3 hours before bed – stop eating
Take sleep supplements with food – magnesium citrate, melatonin, antihistamine. I take mine at 7:15pm.
After you’ve had the last meal of the night, put in place a regular calm down schedule to get ready for bed even before you sit down and relax for the night. Here’s what do:
Make a sleepy tea.
Get everything out I’ll need for bed. To give you an idea, here’s what I do:
Put wheatie bag in microwave ready to be turned on later.
Place the book I’m reading out on my bed.
Turn lights in my bedroom down low to reading light level.
Do necessaries before settling in front of a series for the night – brush teeth, take off makeup, skincare, dressed into PJ’s, slippers and dressing gown.
Fill my water bottle with electrolytes. If you’ve got POTS this one is key. You’ll have your electrolytes when you wake up in the morning, ready to drink before you get out of bed.
Make everything calm and cosy around you. Think sight, sound, touch, smell: a calm show on TV, soft voices, comfy seat, lavender room spray, dim light, cosy PJ’s, comfy temperature, no deep and meaningfuls, no activities – just quietly sitting.
Stay warm before you go to bed but cool while you’re asleep.
Relax in front of my show with a cup of sleepy tea.
2 hours before bed – stop drinking
Make sure you drink your @Healtheries herbal sleepy tea before this time (I like the Chamomile & Blackcurrant combo)
1 hour before bed – no small screens – phone, ipad, computer
NB. You have to stick strictly to this otherwise you will almost certainly wake in the night. If you absolutely have to look at your screen, wear blue light blocker glasses.
I take my last meds at 9:15pm because I have to have 2 hours between eating and taking my HRT. I also take my candesartan (BP), cetirizine (antihistamine) and Panadol osteo (pain) at the same time. I take less than a second look at my screen to mark off the meds on my @medisafeapp.
When I start getting sleepy, I take a less than a second look at my screen to see what the time is. It’s usually 9:33pm!
At the exact time you’ve set as your bedtime, begin your going to bed routine.
To give you an idea, this is mine:
Stop watching TV at 9:33pm.
Turn microwave on to warm up the wheatie bag. If you’re like me and your temp doesn’t regulate, then you’ll need something to warm your feet up so you can fall asleep.
Go to the toilet and take out my contact lenses.
Turn on the air conditioning in my bedroom to 21C cool – no fan.
Get my wheatie bag and hop into bed.
Do my gratitude journal for the day. This helps settle my mind onto positive things so I’m not having recurring thoughts going around my head.
Sort things out with God in my prayer journal if I’ve had a tough day and too many conflicting or negative thoughts are filling my head.
Begin reading my book and turn off the light when I feel sleepy.
If I don’t feel sleepy, I’ll do breathing exercises which will usually put me to sleep (use Breathe+ App).
When I strictly follow this routine, I’ll get to sleep quickly and stay asleep during the night – waking at around 6:00am.
Other things to try (with POTS these are more difficult):
A good exercise routine.
Walk out into the sunlight first thing in the morning. Your brain will begin to recognise the beginning of the day and set your internal circadian rhythm to match. This makes you sleepier at bedtime.
OH, I ALMOST FORGOT BECAUSE IT’S NOT SOMETHING I DRINK ANYMORE:
Stay away from caffeine after about 3:00pm (that includes caffeinated teas) and avoid excess alcohol. Caffeine keeps your system wired and alcohol causes dehydration. If you have POTS, I’d take the cut off time earlier to around 12:00pm.
