Well, I almost never have trouble falling asleep when I get into bed.
I hit the pillow and I’m out in pretty short order unless I’ve gone to bed hopping mad about something (which doesn’t happen very often).
My problem more often is that I might wake up to use the bathroom at 3:00 am, and then when I get back into bed, I can’t fall asleep.
And usually the reason I can’t fall asleep is that my brain is busy thinking about stuff.
If nothing particular is bothering me, then my mind might rest on pleasant things and I can usually go back to sleep.
But if something is bugging me or I’m worried/stressed about something, then my mind starts to turn it over and over and I have a terrible time going back to sleep.
I can be lying there, thinking, “I know it’s dark, I’m tired, I’m not thinking rationally, it’s not helpful to dwell on this.” and still, my thinking gets stuck on a miserable hamster wheel.
Or I try to pray and give my worries to the Lord, but that does not always mean I can go back to sleep.
And of course, the harder you try to sleep, the less likely you are to, you know, actually go to sleep.
And the harder you try not to think about what’s stressing you out, the more you think about it!
The best solution for me is to
- not drink a bunch of water before bed
- put earplugs in so that things are less likely to wake me up
That way I don’t have to deal with getting up in the middle of the night.
What do you think about when you can’t fall asleep?
P.S. You might wonder how I managed to nurse four babies multiple times each night and then go back to sleep…well, I think at that point in my life, I was so, so tired, it would have taken a lot to keep me awake!
Yup, I have the same issue. Although almost every night, there is something that wakes me up. My children are still young enough to wake up occasionally because of nightmares/blanket issues/bed wetting, and then we have the two dogs patrolling all night and making enough noise to drive off coyotes, or the mice and rats (I KNOW) that are constantly trying to get into our house and getting caught in traps . . .
For some reason, this mostly all seems to happen between 3 and 4 in the morning, and then I’m done for the night. I usually stay in bed until at least 4:30 a.m. even if I can’t go back to sleep (if I’m tired enough, I will), but otherwise I lie there and worry about school starting or the upcoming election or one of the other million things the current world has so kindly provided me to dwell on.
It’s very productive. 🙂
Ha! Something will wake me. Nowadays, it’s usually the dogs barking at an animal in the night or I have to go the bathroom. Gone are threats the 5 kids used to wake me. Sometimes the youngest does. But I laugh because I have a bad habit of looking at my phone and reading thing like this blog in the early morning hours. It’s either close to the time getting up and it’s nice to lay in bed or it’s often to distract me from not being able to go back to sleep due to worrying. I never have a problem falling asleep. I’m usually so tired that happens right away.
Kristen, you are my favorite distraction from my worries!
Aww, I’m glad my posts at least provide you with something fun to read when you can’t sleep!
I rarely have trouble falling asleep and rarely have trouble falling back to sleep. At least three times a week, a kid wakes me up for some reason — as long as I don’t, like, stare into a 100-watt bulb, I’m good to sleep some more. If not, I can count breaths, or wander off to God for a while, and it’ll happen.
That mind not turning off, thing, though. Yeah. That does happen occasionally. It’s usually when I know that I absolutely cannot fail to get out of bed in the morning. (It is normal for me to realize I’ve been hitting snooze for an hour, every four minutes, fully integrating it into whatever’s going on in my dreams.) School starting yesterday? I could not sleep for anything Sunday night. But we were on time for the bus. So there’s that.
When I get into bed I always reply the day in my mind and usually fall asleep by about mid afternoon 😂😂. A friend who is an anthroposophist told me recently that this practice has a specific name which is Rückschau = backward look. I never knew!!
Anthroposophy is a niche belief espoused by Rudolf Steiner who founded the Waldorf education movement which my sons attend(ed). I also work at a Steiner Waldorf school. Don’t believe in the anthro side of things but interesting to know that what I have always done to fall asleep has a name!!
My answer is the same as yours Kristen. But sometimes…after worrying and praying, I practice deep breathing. I breathe in through my nose to the count of 8, , hold breath to the count of 8, then breath out through my mouth to the count of 8. Sometimes I go right back to sleep.
I could have written this post and most of the replies. I do the deep breathing/meditation thing and occasionally that works, but mostly I can’t turn off my mind and judging by this blog and everything I’ve read on the internet, sadly it’s pretty common.