A lot of my women friends have trouble sleeping. For some, it started when they had their first child, and constant night feedings threw their sleep patterns out of whack.
For others, menopause arrived with hot flashes that woke them up in the middle of the night. Still, others have been troubled by worries about work, relationships, or societal issues that keep their minds spinning at night.
1. Track Your Sleep
The first step is to figure out how much sleep you are getting and when. Why? First, people who have sleep problems often focus only on their most terrible nights and forget that some nights are better than others. It helps to get a more realistic picture of the problem. Second, if you want to see how much better you’re doing over time, you need a baseline. That way, once you try out various changes, you’ll know whether or not they’re helping. A sleep log sheet is included in the book.2. Eliminate ‘Sleep Stealers’
Harris includes a long list of things that you can do to give yourself the best support for falling asleep more easily and staying asleep longer. Many of these are well-known tips, but for those who don’t already know about them, they are worth reiterating:- Avoid alcohol, nicotine, and heavy meals within three hours of your bedtime
- Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool
- Don’t exercise right before bed
- Don’t drink caffeine after 2 p.m.
- Wind down before bed
- Don’t nap to make up for lost sleep
- Always set a morning alarm to get up at the same time every day
- Don’t look at the blue light of screens for at least one to two hours before going to bed
3. Learn to Love Your Bed
A key to getting better sleep is to reserve your bed for sleeping—not for resting or relaxing. It’s important to train your body to associate going to bed with sleeping, rather than other types of activities. That means going to bed at bedtime and getting right out of bed when your alarm goes off, too.If you like to read in bed, don’t ... or don’t read for more than 15 minutes, Harris says. And, if you can’t fall asleep within about 20 minutes, you should get out of bed, rather than lie around waiting to get sleepy.
4. Spend Less Time in Bed
This may sound totally counterintuitive, but if you have insomnia, it’s often better to restrict your sleep than to let yourself sleep whenever you’re tired. Rather than napping at the first sign of fatigue, focus on sticking to good sleep hygiene—like trying to sleep at the same time every day, getting regular exercise, not drinking caffeine late in the day, etc.The reason this works is that it builds up your body’s sleep drive, which ultimately makes it easier for you to fall asleep and sleep well when bedtime arrives. Of course, you have to be careful about doing this, and Harris gives detailed instructions in the book.
5. Take Care of Worrisome Thoughts
Many women have a lot to juggle in their lives and may spend hours in bed ruminating about everything. So, in addition to changing your behaviors, it’s important to cultivate skills for handling your thoughts, too.Of course, you still may have to experiment to see what works best for you, and Harris encourages that. But if you can create a plan and stick to it, the rewards are great—namely, the possibility of finally sleeping soundly and waking refreshed. You’ll not only feel better, but you’ll also likely improve your relationships, your work life, and your health, too. And everyone around you will appreciate that!