My relationship with sleep has always had its ups and downs. I’ll go through periods where I feel like I’m sleeping pretty good, and weeks where I’m not sleeping well at all.
In high school after spending a night in a sleep lab hooked up to all kinds of wires and monitors, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Throughout my teenage years up until my mid 20s, it was normal for me to wake myself (and my husband) up gasping for air, and to have my sleep disturbed many times a night. Luckily I haven’t woken up gasping for air in awhile, and I think I may have outgrown the condition if possible.
Years ago when I used a Fitbit, it was not helpful to see how it gaged my hours of “rest” — Seeing 36x of restlessness in a night (even though I was probably awaking watching TV for the first hour in bed) has a way of making you feel more tired!
I’ve never been one to fall asleep on planes (red eyes are guaranteed to be a little torturous) and I’m jealous of people that can seemingly pass out in a moment’s time. My dad is one of those people who can go from talking to you while laying on the couch to snoring in 2 minutes flat. Ugh!
I just got the above pictured Trtl travel pillow for Christmas, and am looking forward to seeing if it makes me a tiny bit more comfy trying to sleep on planes.
While I’ve never been a person that lays in bed, falls asleep 2 minutes later, and doesn’t wake up until morning (though that would be my husband), whether I’m going through a good sleep spell or a bad one, I’ve noticed that when I’m stressed out, it’s harder for me to fall asleep. I’ll feel like I just can’t shut my brain off, but in recent years, I’ve developed a couple of techniques that’ll help me fall asleep when I’m having a hard time doing so. I know I’m not the only one who isn’t the best sleeper, so I thought I’d share what works for me with you guys today. After all, we all know that getting enough sleep is important to overall health, so I do my best to be well rested!
No one sleeps better in my house than my dog Harley!
1.) Count backwards from 100 slowly, taking deep breaths. I started this method years ago, and it quickly made me realize that when I can’t fall asleep, it’s almost always because my mind keeps drifting into busy thoughts. This technique goes as follows:
Deep long breath in through the nose, deep long exhale out from the nose…say 100 in your mind…deep breath in, deep exhale out…99….deep breath in, deep exhale out..98…and so on.
If you start thinking of something and lose track of what number you’re on, start again. The combination of deep, meditative breaths and slowing your mind down by focusing only on a little number instead of everything else you could be thinking about has a way of deeply relaxing the body. I’ve literally never gotten down to 1!
2.) Diffuse calming sleep essential oils. Essential oils are oils extracted from plants that have been used for thousands of years as treatment for countless ailments and enhancements in beauty and the home. It’s believed that essential oils date back to ancient Egyptian, Indian and Chinese cultures, when they were the best antiseptics available at the time.
I believe in the power of essential oils as holistic remedies and I use them for a lot of things, from my homeopathic floor cleaning solution, to tea tree oil on my face at night with my toner. One of my nightly rituals that helps me to decompress is diffusing sleepy time essential oils in a diffuser on my nightstand. My favorite nighttime oils include lavender, lemon and peppermint, and the brands I usually use are doTERRA and GuruNanda.
This is the diffuser that I use in my bedroom.
3.) Match the breath of your partner. I remember starting this way back when I studied abroad in college in Italy. My friend and I shared a bed, and sometimes when she fell asleep but I couldn’t seem to nod off, I would start to match her slow breathing to my own. Again, this method uses breath to slow down the body and get into more of a slow rhythm.
Since my husband almost always falls asleep before me, I use his slow breathing pace to aid in me falling asleep. It definitely helps me to feel more calm and relaxed, and before I know it, I’m sleeping too.
Tell me.. Would you consider yourself a good sleeper? Any sleep tips to share?
Have you tried doing any restorative yoga before bed? I find it really helps when I feel restless at night?
Good suggestion! Yes, I have tried restorative yoga before bed, but I haven’t done so in awhile. I find that it definitely relaxes me, but I also kind of feel like late at night right before bed, I honestly don’t feel like doing yoga… but it might be nice to give it another shot 🙂
Great tips! I really wish I could sleep as well as my animals, they do it with no effort. Lol
…My pup is sleeping at my feet at this very moment!
Great tips here, Nicole! You’re definitely right that you aren’t the only one with sleep troubles. I’m the exact same way as you when I’m stressed. I just lay there in bed and toss and turn for a good 2 hours. And I keep looking at the clock calculating how much time I have left before the alarm goes off. It’s not good! I love the ‘counting sheep’ method. We’ve had our fair share of stress here lately with the house buying/selling, so I’m going to remember this tip for sure. Thanks for the post!
Oh my gosh, calculating how much time before the alarm goes off is the WORST. I totally hear you, we are in the midst of purchasing another home.. we’re gluttons for punishment with moves & buying/selling homes!
I used to be able to fall asleep at a moment’s notice and sleep all night, but that was younger and before kids. 🙂 These are great tips Nicole!
Ugh, jealous that you ever had that though! I was never able to do that.
I totally feel you on this! I’m the same way where it takes me a while to fall asleep sometimes. I noticed that it’s gotten worse since I started working from home. I would stay up too late and wake up too late which totally threw off my circadian rhythm. It’s crazy how sensitive it is! My husband is the same way as your dad though. Literally can fall asleep anywhere in minutes. Only downside is that he snores really bad so if we go to bed at the same time, I’m left trying to fall asleep while he starts snoring. It’s torture!
Girl, I’ve been guilty of that sometimes too! It’s been better lately because I’ve been juggling less jobs – I used to do a full-time job on top of freelance work & the blog, now I’m just freelancing & blogging – so nowadays I’m usually not working as late as I used to.
That’s funny, my dad is a bad snorer too! Ugh, I feel for you.. I would not be great sleeping next to a snorer!
haha yup I feel you! My sister and dad can both fall asleep on a whim and it drives me MAD!!! I can sleep great some nights and then others I have trouble turning my brain off. I can use all the tips I can get!