Until recently, I have been a solid sleeper. Head hits pillow, gradually relax, fall asleep fairly quickly and aside from a few bathroom trips (I drink a lottttt of water), stay asleep. Over the past few months though, I have been having sleep issues (side note: they have also cropped up a little bit during particularly stressful times, but quickly go away).
Some nights, I will have trouble falling asleep and then once I finally do fall asleep, I wake up frequently throughout the night, tossing and turning and then having trouble falling back asleep again and again and again. It’s frustrating in the moment and then even worse the next day when I’m so tired and feel like I’m just trying to get through the day.
I figured out a few things that would help me out, which included:
- Lying on an acupressure mat and pillow for about 20 minutes in the evening. I love this thing and now notice that my body craves it towards the end of the day. It’s $20 and so good.
- Heading up to our bedroom around 9pm, washing up, getting into bed and putting my phone away by 9:30pm.
- From 9:30pm, reading a book for at least 20 minutes.
- If I’m feeling particularly stress-y, I will do a meditation with this app.
If I stuck to the above list, my sleep would improve, but then I would again fall into a few nights’ cluster of terrible sleep. Also, there are some nights where I’m just not able to start my bedtime routine at 9pm. Either we will have dinner plans or we will be watching a movie or I’ll head into the city to see friends. And on those nights, I end up worrying that since I’m out later than usual and unable to follow my routine, my sleep will suffer. And because I worry, it suffers. The most annoying self-fulfilling prophecy!
So I reached out to my midwife to get some advice. She has been so helpful to me throughout my pregnancy with Rex and since he was born, so I figured she might have some helpful tips. And she did! She suggested eating turkey slices and walnuts before bed, taking melatonin at nighttime and drinking sleepy time tea. I love having a plan so I will be picking everything up and crossing my fingers that deep sleep is just around the corner.
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