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| The result of not a good night's sleep. |
If you've had enough of walking around, drinking warm milk, exercising, or checking and rechecking social network at minute intervals...then I may have a solution for you.
A popular thing I read during my research on trying to fall asleep involved the way your room was set up. From lighting to your bed sheets to the lifeline of your pillow--your sleep depends on it!
First things first: cleanliness. Ever get that feeling that you feel so dirty, you can't focus on anything else but how unkempt you are?! Or, your mind will not rest until you've done your daily goals like cleaning your room, washing dishes, sweeping the floor, etc. (This need for clean may also show up during a thing I'm a PRO at--procrastination). Well, this article suggests that a clean room leads to a clean mind and even better sleep. Try washing your sheets weekly or making it a habit to fix up any messes the moment it happens, this way you reduce your messes and are more likely to see your bedroom floor than most days! Your mind will be at ease and you'll be catching those Zzz's in no time!
Secondly, it all depends on the darkness of your room. My textbook dad once gave a lecture on the importance of sleeping in the dark. No nightlights, no rays of light shining through, nothing. And if you are still anything like me, you and the dark are not besties. So this next trick, is very tricky for us. But no light vs. light does make a difference, especially to your body. And it's all because of this little-big thing we like to call melatonin. We constantly harbor levels of melatonin, but it's not as high during the day than it is at night. This article goes further into explanation to show that increased levels of melatonin are good for you and depending on how much you have will determine how fast/good of a sleep you'll have. Think about it this way, during the day you're active and have all of this energy, but when the night falls, you retreat and rest. Resting/Sleeping sans light, you're essentially recharging your body until it meets light again to be able to start the day with more energy. So no phones, no computer, and no T.V. before bed (unless you are still very much like me and need it on for a good month to recover from watching a scary movie). To which my dad ends the lecture with this line, "...and that is why God created day and night."
The final part: pillows. What's a bed without a pillow? Just a flat surface that can easily act as a bed, but a very uncomfortable one. My request for a good room to sleep in is that it be cool and conditioned and with lots of pillows. Luckily, these two articles are with me on this. Like I said before, the make up of your bed is vital to quickly falling asleep. And if you have a pillow, you're halfway there! Many articles say that the placement of pillows (body pillows work best) with our bodies can help with sleep. "Living on the Run" provides a few ways, but I found (and most articles suggest) placing your head at the top of the pillow, arm underneath, and knees/legs wrapped around the bottom to be effective and comfortable.
There are two things that tell me I had a great night's sleep.
1. If my hair-tie comes out of my hair
Annnnd
2. If I drool
Since I am pretty much nocturnal and like to work during the weee hours of the night, that only happens about once or twice a month.
Is it bad for me to do that to myself and to my body? Probably. But I have never loved to rebel against authority than to stay up past my bedtime. So instead of getting into the habit of cleaning my room after every little mess, I picked up the bad habit of staying up late.
Clearly, I like to live life on the edge.
But if none of the above works for you, I would turn to my last resort--listening to music.
If I don't feel like looping a band's playlist, then I have my own sleepytime playlist.
I recommend having these guys on yours: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzIK5FaC38w
Happy Zzz's!
