Many people should be getting more sleep, and I am certainly in that camp. I suffer from a condition I'm calling brain-fires-up-the-second-the-lights-go-out-itus. I think a lot of people do. It's almost impossible to stop my mind from wandering when I'm lying down to sleep, and specifically wandering into places that make me anxious or stressed. I get to enjoy my mind scaling such terrain as 'worrying about the academic paper I turned in a week ago and am still waiting for the marks for' and 'what will I do with my life in the interim between my MA and a PhD?' and 'What if my family, boyfriend and all my friends secretly hate me and throw big parties together where they do nothing but talk about how glad they are that I'm not there?'
It's not fun but it's definitely not unusual, I think most of us struggle with it from time to time. I've recently begun to implement a routine in order to help me sleep better, which then means that I wake up rested and happy and enjoy my days more.
TECH The major thing that's helping is how I'm using my laptop. I've found an extension, on the suggestion of my boyfriend, that turns my screen an orange colour, meaning that the bright blue light doesn't affect my eyes so much. I've also made a point of avoiding social media in the evenings, and lessening the time I spend on places like Twitter and Quora in general. I love the discussions I can find on there but the fact is that much of it is simply circular arguments, and seeing people on there saying things that make my skin crawl is a surefire ticket to having me lying awake, at 2am, arguing with an imaginary person about why nationalistic ethnogenesis is a really poor hill to die a racist death on.
Finally, I'm trying my best to put my laptop away an hour before I go to bed. I can still play music on it, but no staring at a screen and filling my brain with media before bedtime. I do the same with my phone, although I still message my boyfriend until I go to sleep, I don't sit scrolling through Instagram or check my emails, or do anything that might get the wheels turning.
JOURNALING I have many notebooks and journals, I have a daily planner, an art/magicky journal, a line-a-day diary, a generic little notebook just for scribbling and a sweet little 'wellbeing journal' that my boyfriend got me for Christmas. Aside from my planner I don't use them all every day, I'd never get anything else done. But I've found that doing some watercolour work in my art book, or making gratitude lists in the wellbeing journal can just bring my mind into a steady and positive space before I settle down for the night.
If I find myself lying awake for hours on end, I've found that a great way to settle myself is to just get out of bed (even if it's 3am and I have to be asleep RIGHT NOW!), remake my bed, turn on my lamp and sit at my desk, and just free-write in my little notebook for twenty minutes or so. It helps so much, not only getting all my thoughts down on paper and out of my mind, but it also resets my brain so that I essentially go to bed all over again, rather than lying there in the dark being frustrated.
BEAUTY ROUTINE I have a really horrible confession. I used to never take my makeup off. I have incredibly sturdy skin and never get spots so I thought, what's the point? I'd wash my face in the morning before I put new makeup on, but I generally would just trust an evening shower, or a quick face wipe to sort me out, and sometimes I'd just go to bed having not even done that! I've since learned that spots are not the only way you can have 'bad skin', and by adopting a simple but regular skincare routine I learned that though spot free, my skin had been dull, uneven and had actually looked older than it needed to. All I use is coconut oil to remove heavy eye and lip products, and then wash my face with mango butter soap. I use Dream Cream from LUSH as a moisturiser, sometimes patting on some argan oil beforehand if I feel like it. Other products I use are a lovely lavender scented body cream that's soft and gentle and actually mean't for babies, but has a wonderfully calming effect, and I use face masks sporadically, just when I want to treat myself. It's not just a vanity thing either. For a long time I went to bed by effectively noticing the clock, putting down what I was doing and getting into bed. Having a nightly skincare routine means that my body and mind start recognising the lead-up to bedtime, and start winding down accordingly, which means by the time I've actually closed my eyes, I can fall asleep quickly.
YOGA AND MEDITATION Yeah I know. I'm fully aware that these two things get lobbed at anyone suffering with stress or anxiety or depression, but for me, they honestly work. I can't meditate by myself yet, my mind wanders, and I forget I'm meant to be meditating and end up sat with my eyes closed planning my dinner for twenty minutes. But there are plenty of guided meditations on YouTube or available on Head Space, and they range from body scans, in which you simply take a moment to focus on the sensations and existence of each body part in turn, to guided scenarios, in which you walk to the beach and bathe in the sea and construct a calming experience to enjoy. Depending on your preference and what you feel comfortable with there's definitely something around for you.
Yoga has honestly change the way that I engage with my body. Like a lot of people, especially if you're plus sized, I used to very much live above my chin, partly because I'd been taught that my body was something to be ashamed of, and partly because it felt like it had let me down. I started doing Yoga because it was part of a punishing exercise routine I had decided to start, but in yoga I found something far more rewarding; I learned to engage with my body in a gentle, positive way. Yoga isn't easy, but it is a practice that allows you to explore the movements and poses in ways that benefit you, to notice tension you're holding and move to soothe that space, it's not about sculpting and toning, as if the body was built from the outside in, but sending your consciousness down and into every part of yourself, staying aware of what your toes are doing so you don't topple over, or keeping the shoulders low so you don't hunch over and hurt your wrists.
I do yoga roughly three evenings a week, and meditate maybe once a week, or whenever I feel I need it. Both practices are essentially all about bringing the consciousness back to the self, not floating around in the ethos gathering passing stress-dust. It helps you engage your mind in an active, positive way, and puts you in a restful and gathered state of mind.
DODOW So first of all no I have no idea how to pronounce this so don't ask. For Christmas my boyfriend got me this handy little device, and it took me a while to realise what it was. Essentially it's battery powered and about the size of my palm. You set it on your floor, or bedside table or some other flat surface and when you turn it on, it projects a ring of blue light onto the ceiling, which slowly expands and contracts for either eight or twenty minutes. The idea is that you lie on your back and breathe in time with the movement of the circle, but honestly even if you don't do that, just watching the light gives your brain something to focus on while you fall asleep. I don't use this every night, but when I've had a stressful day and I'm anticipating a bad nights sleep, the dodow helps with the transition between getting into bed and drifting off to sleep.
That's just a little look into the bedtime routine/ practice I've got going on at the moment. I used to be really resistant to the idea of a sleep routine, feeling like it was a waste of time, but a good nights sleep makes each day so much better. If you're struggling with sleeplessness, consider adding a few of these habits into your evening and see what works for you.
Post a Comment