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💸 you don’t need that supplement
No you don’t need to buy that supplement. No, a new massager is not going to help you. Please read this before buying anything on Shopee or Lazada ahaha. I understand, when it comes to personal health whether it’s losing weight, getting good sleep, having nice skin, our first instinct is to Buy! Buy! Buy! But not everything can be solved entirely with money.
“Let’s get this air humidifier! Might just help with the overall dryness of the air in my room! Oh wow they have different scents? Hmmmm I heard lavender helps with…” STOP RIGHT THERE BABYBOY / BABYGIRL! NO! STOP!
I started experiencing Insomnia in December 2022, eventually after a few months I got back to a normal sleeping pattern. However, in the past week, I have had nothing but bad quality sleep. Even with having a great sleeping schedule, not using screens at least 2 hours before getting to bed, tiring myself out throughout the day, I was still:
- sleeping 2 hours at a time
- waking up many ‘o’ times in the night
- never getting deep sleep or even continuous sleep at that
What has this caused? I know most people need that good night’s rest. That one night of not sleeping can and will lower your mood, energy, enthusiasm and productivity throughout the day. This could lead to triggers of depression and anxiety too, if not acknowledged properly.
Here I will share some tips and tricks to getting a beautiful sleep so that you can have a clear mind throughout the day to pursue your goals!
👇 Try These Out
Save your cash and let’s get into some tips on how to help with your insomnia or even just to get better sleep. By the way, these tips are from my personal experiences and not professional advice. I am not a doctor or a medical specialist, these are merely my ways of getting back on that good good sleep with having my own experience of Insomnia
1. No Screens 📺
Stop! 2 hours before getting to bed, be aware of screen time you are consuming. I know in todays time, we want to be connected at all times. But do we really have to look up a butter chicken recipe right before bed? That extra 10 minutes of consuming media can drastically alter the production of melatonin. Melatonin being the hormone that your brain creates when faced with darkness. Melatonin kicks in and boom, your brain understands it as, “sleep time”.
Using your phone a.k.a a false creation of sunlight, basically blocks these melatonin producers from understanding that it is “sleepy time”. So as you close YouTube and step into bed. You may wonder why it’s taking so long for you to get to sleep. It’s because of the screens dummy (referring to myself).
Of course it could be anything else but if you personally are aware that you have a phone problem like most of us on earth, try to consider this as the first step. It is free, and who knows, you could benefit more that not from this. You could start reading again? Like when you were young! Or you could dedicate this time to going for a night walk or maybe meditating. Realizing that there is more to life than butter chicken!
2. Posture 🚶♂️
This is a direct callout to me. Having very bad posture throughout the day and basically waking up every morning to a sore neck and aching shoulders. It sucks I know. This past week was a wake up call. I’ve realized that I have been slacking immensely on my posture, especially when sitting down.
Behind my computer there is a mirror leaning against the wall. The weird thing is I will sit in a way whereby the laptop is facing 45 degrees at an angle towards let’s say my right, and I will face 45 degrees towards it. This is to ensure I can see myself in the mirror as I would turn slightly to get a glimpse of myself all day.
I know what you’re wondering. Why? No! I’m not vain. I’m not self-absorbed. It’s not like i’m hot either…. I think i’m just curious. You know? AHAHAHAH I’m just curious on how I look when busy doing work, or if I need to comb my hair. Honestly, writing about this now, it is definitely unrequired to do this.
Granted, isn’t it a blessing to be able to see what beauty God has created though? 😇
I digress, It’s just what I inherently do. Naturally. The caveat to this comes with the posture I take with this angle. I will rest my right elbow on the table, kind of let my right shoulder loose and push my neck forward (nerd neck). Additionally, resting my head on my shoulders and basically ruining my neck, shoulders and back for the entire day. I have no idea if my explanation here makes sense, but trust me it is worse than nerd neck you get when gaming.
After realizing that, yesterday I made sure to be aware of my posture at any given moment in the day. During meals, media consumption, hanging clothes on the rack, etc. I genuinely think posture is absolutely important to prevent neck soreness, as I woke up from bed, having none! Alhamdulillah AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
3. Your Environment 🏠
Is your room dirty, dusty or just filled with stuff? Is light blaring from the outside? Is it too warm causing you to sweat? Is it too cold causing you to bunch up in your sleep? These questions (and many more) need to be answered. I could make these into separate chapters but we’re trying to simplify this.
Make sure your environment is comfortable. I know realisitically, it can’t always be the case. Living with people, there are things that are out of your control. Somebody may need the lights on because they are scared of the dark. Somebody may want the temperature of the room icy cold whilst you don’t. Best I can say to you is, communicate.
It is a skill to be able to communicate properly, with whomever you’re dealing with. But it starts with talking about it. You don’t have to shout at them and you most definitely should not blame them for your ill-sleep. All it takes is a simple dialogue. Telling them that the little light that does enter your room, honestly makes it hard to sleep. Granted, how they respond is to here nor there, but communication starts with you.
If per say, talking doesn’t work, we can maybe work on other factors that are in your control. For example, the temperature. Is it too cold with the windows open? Close them, or maybe open it only a slight crack. Maybe instead of wrapping yourself with a blanket tonight, try a thinner one or maybe even none.
Is your room just stuffy? Filled with things that don’t need to be there? Is there dust constantly flailing around your skull as you lay your gentle little head on your pillow? You might find it necessary to have a scan-through of your bed, your book racks… anything that has not been touched in a while. I know you have that area that is like a dinasour bone waiting to be discovered. Buried under dust and debris. Have a look see! Cleaning these areas could just lead to better hygiene, thus better sleep. Oh and you might just clear up your room while you at it!
4. Worrying / Anxiety 😟
Worry less, sleep more. To be frank, that is what keeps us up at nights, right? Thinking of the assignment to finish, or wondering about that boss we hate for having us stay late at the office just for a report HE is supposed to do! Thinking of ways you could start showcasing yourself online to create an audience of your own…..
Whatever it is, experiencing racing thoughts at night is a problem that we wish we didn’t have. To turn that switch off. In actuality, this might be your only factor from not having proper sleep. Or at least getting to sleep a.s.a.p. You’ve been trying steps 1.2.3. but ultimately your mind before bed is just wandering aimlessly.
Maybe your worried if you’ll even get good sleep tonight, making you stay awake because your thinking about sleep. Its dumb but that’s how advanced our minds are, being conscious creatures after all. There’s a few things I can think of to solve this. At least give them a go:
a) a mental practice is to say fuckit to if you will have good sleep or not. “Whateverlah, if I happen to wake up in the night, let it be. If it happens it happens”. Accepting it could very well be the first step to actually getting some rest.
b) a practical effort other than steps 1-3 is to ensure your eyes are closed. Constantly. Do not check the clock. Do not check your phone (refer to step 1). Keep your eyes closed and relax. Keep reminding yourself, “I am fine, I am safe, I am going to sleep”
c) deep breathing. 4 seconds in, 4 seconds hold, and 4 seconds out. Repeat over and over. Deep breathing regulates your heart rate and with more oxygen entering your brain, makes you calmer thus easier to fall into slumber. It also helps with anxiety. On top of that, it can work at any point in the day, try it out right now!
d) something that weirdly works tremendously well is to have a book and a night light to write any thoughts so they don’t ruminate or even extend beyond. Let’s say I have a plot for a YouTube video, I will write them down in my trusty handy dandy notebook (ala bob the builder). As soon as I do that, my brain knows to not have to remember it. I can simply forget about it and have a look at these thoughts tomorrow.
e) weird but if I happen to think of something that makes me feel rested, I continue that thought. Realistically we can never really not think, correct? Same as we can never not care, we at least care to not care, correct? and so, if we happen to find a thought that makes us sleepy, calm, and rested, at ease, keep that thought in mind.
Keep your eyes closed, breathe deeply and eventually, sleep will be your final blessing for the night, as you fall into a beautiful slumber.
5. Tire Yourself 💪
I’ve dealt with insomnia to the point that however much exercise I do, carbohydrates I consume in the day, it still won’t change the fact that I will have woken up 2 hours into my sleep. This could be your very issue. That you are extremely fatigued from the day, yet your body decides to wake up just because.
I am honestly still lost at this fact. Speaking on it now, I could just say hey, go for a run and burn some calories to tire yourself out. Yet, I don’t believe that to be true. You shouldn’t have to tire yourself even more if you are already tired, right? Thing is, you ARE tired, but your body says “wake up” at random times in the night.
Okay, here’s the idea. I don’t know how plausible this is but here me out. I am an introvert. Truly. I have an issue socializing, in which I will get immensely tired afterwards. In layman terms, my social battery drains very2 quickly and drastically. For example, hanging out with my friends for an hour at a given time and I am already thinking of going home. Not because I hate them ahahahha, but because I should get back before I’m too tired to benefit from the hangout session anymore. Also, quite dangerous to drive sleepy
Basically, try to do things that you are for sure going to be tired of. If you easily get tired reading a book, do that. If you hate walking because your legs get weak, do that. Try do to things either physical or mental, that can assist in getting that deep deep slumber you wish to achieve. If you’re an introvert like myself, go talk to someone for 5 minutes and see what happens.
6. No Water 🥛
I kid you not most of my nightly wake ups are due to needing to go to the bathroom. To pee. Personally, I drink a lot of water throughout the day (according to my friends). At times I continue drinking till the wee hours of the night. I’ll drink right before setting the bottle beside me, and closing my eyes. *chug chug chug*.
Try to not drink (as much) before your bedtime. To make it easier for yourself, you could combine this with the “no screens” step. For example, if you aim to sleep at 10pm, by 8pm turn off your devices (screens) and take your final sip of water for the night. If you do end up having to pee, it would be before you sleep, not during.
Even though I love chugging some liquid before bed, I know overall it will deter me from getting good rest as it will ultimately disrupt my sleep. Even if I continue my rest until morning, totaling up to 8 hours, that sudden rise just for the bathroom break had already determined my fate to not wake up fresh and ready for the day.
🙌 Jangan Risau (Don’t Worry)
Don’t fret, you will get sleep, sooner or later you will. Everybody is aiming for good sleep because we know it benefits us in the long run. Our health, our skin, our energy, our desire, our mental health, our being and presence are tied to good sleep, so try these methods that I’ve personally done and see if you can benefit from them 🙂
Just remember that you didn’t ask for this, but it is still your responsibility. Love and care for yourself enough to make sure you are in good shape. Always be aware of yourself and the actions that you take. Self-loathing does not help you or the people around you, it only worsens the situation. Self-criticism however, is critical to improve, but not in excess.
Trial and error is key, with that comes much needed patience. In the short-term, yes it may seem absolutely annoying to have to go through these efforts. But trust me, once you know what makes you snore, that 1 week of trial and error is going to be a heavenly year of unbothered rest.
The best thing is that sleep happens everyday, or at least the idea of it huhu. Meaning, you have a chance everyday to get good sleep and it’s up to you to understand your body and mind and see what ticks it and what doesn’t!
💤 go to sleep
These methods aren’t surefire ways. They aren’t even remedies. but if you are short on cash, like most of us, I think these are definitely some solid naturals ways for you to reset your sleep schedule, even towards understanding yourself. Thank you so very much for stopping by.
Insyaallah, you and I will both be able to get good sleep in nights to come 🙂
byebye!