The one small change which made a big difference in my sleep
Most nights I get in bed each evening, I read until my eyes start to close. Then I put my book or magazine down, close my eyes and fall asleep within minutes. I sleep really well for the first few hours, and then this ideal sleep pattern goes out the window.
I wake up several times a night, sometimes I’m able to fall back asleep, sometimes I get out of bed and read for a few hours before maybe getting a little more rest. As a result, I’m frequently tired and struggle to get going in the morning.
Sleep Hygiene Matters. . .
I’ve tried a number of different things to help and within reason, I have a pretty good sleep hygiene practice. I put my phone down and walk away from all electronics at least an hour before I want to fall asleep.
Leading up to bedtime, I use a dim light in the bedroom that is bright enough to read by, but much lower than traditional lighting. I stop eating several hours before bed, and I avoid almost all caffeine (occasionally a cup of green tea in the morning and of course the naturally occurring caffeine in chocolate). I listen to a guided meditation to relax on evenings I’m having trouble winding down.
If sleep hygiene is a new concept to you, or you want more information, you can learn about good sleep hygiene here.
But sometimes it isn’t enough
There are a few things which are outside my control though when it comes to creating the ideal environment for sleep.
Adam tends to stay up later than me and prefers to watch television if he’s in the living room or use his phone if he’s in bed. He also struggles to sleep, and when he wakes up in the middle of the night he’ll usually go out to the living room to watch television until he falls back asleep.
While he keeps the volume down to almost silent, I can see the glow of the tv in the bedroom, and from his phone when he’s next to me in bed.
In Arizona, we lived in an apartment complex in a large city, outside our windows we had a lot of bright light even in the middle of the night.
We had blinds, but without blackout curtains, light gets in – especially when the cat wants to weave through those blinds creating flashes of light as she hunts imaginary prey out the window.
There was noise from neighbors both in adjoining apartments and outside. And we have a cat who believes that 3 am is the perfect time for cuddling (and who am I to deny her that opportunity).
On top of these other items, I avoid most sleep aids as I’m incredibly sensitive to them and find that it’s mid-afternoon before I shake the groggy feeling most of them result in.
The power of a sleep mask
One night when Adam had gone into the living room to watch tv, I realized when I woke up at 2 am there was a flickering glow bouncing off the wall in the bedroom. It got me thinking about the fact that several of my issues focus on light in the room.
I started wearing a sleep mask and discovered a number of benefits!
My sleeping brain no longer registers those flashes of light from electronic devices and the outside.
When I do wake up in the middle of the night, I now have to make a concerted effort to lift the sleep mask to check the time – I no longer watch the minutes on the clock ticking away as I try to fall back asleep, now I just rest in my darkened world and decide if I need to get up or if I will be able to fall back asleep (spoiler alert – I usually fall back asleep).
Wearing the sleep mask has added one more step to my evening ritual that signals to my body it’s time to go to bed. Once I put it on, it’s a trigger to my body that we’re now sleeping.
Finally, I had long know the benefits of pressure on the face to trigger a vagus nerve relaxation response, and while I am not a scientist, I believe the face mask is doing its part to help me slip into a parasympathetic nervous system response each evening. (This is the same trigger as putting an eye pillow on your face during savasana at the end of a yoga class).
This is a really big topic, but if you’re curious to learn more, you can read about the vagas nerve here and about the points in your face that trigger it here.
Creating a custom sleep mask
I researched several patterns and designed a sleep mask to meet all of my wants.
It’s lined in silk for ultimate softness on my face, extra large to block out more light, padded with an extra layer of dark fabric for light blocking, and comfortable to wear since I have it on for about eight hours each night.
If you’d like to make your own eye mask, the pattern and tutorial are available here!
How’s your sleep? And if you struggle to sleep what keeps you up at night? Could an eye mask make a difference in helping you get a good night sleep? Wishing you a solid eight hours of restful slumber!
[…] If this subject is new to you, learn more about good sleep hygiene here. […]
[…] I start waking up in the morning, before even opening my eyes or pushing back my sleep mask, I begin to repeat my affirmation silently in my […]
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