Sleep Hygiene

Like Brushing Your Teeth But For Dreaming



On a much lighter note, with Christmas coming up, I’m sure we are all having a little more trouble sleeping. It just so happens that the next day in Partial Hospitalization, they covered sleep hygiene. It’s kind of like it sounds, tricks to help you sleep better. Unfortunately I was still in and out for some of this, but they did send me the notes! I am eager to share with you what I learned and how I utterly failed to put it into practice, but mostly what I learned!

Most importantly, consistency is key. Kids have a set bedtime. A lot of adults don’t quite have an exact bedtime. But lay down in that bed for sleepy time (and sexy time) only, and at the same time each night, and your body is trained “oh, time to shut down!” Even before learning about it, my body would naturally start shutting down around 7pm. I know, snooze fest I am, but with depression and anxiety using up every ounce of strength my body has, it needed as much sleep as I could give it! I would sleep nine to twelve hours a day and still be tired all day. I was also and still do take medications that make me drowsy, and now I have a physical condition that adds fatigue as one of its symptoms, but I’m learning to not let it control me most days.

When you do sleep, prepare for sleep. Black out the room as much as possible. Make the bed comfy for you. Scientifically a cooler bed is better for sleep.  No caffeine, alcohol, strenuous exercise, or nicotine in the hours before bed to get the best sleep.

If you can’t sleep or wake up, get out of bed for 30 minutes to an hour, do something low stress and quiet without a black screen, and try bed again. Try not to worry. It’s not the end of the world! It’s just a tiny hiccup in your sleep cycle. You’ll get there!

Through it all, just remember to breathe, and not chest breathing. Try breathing from deep in the diaphragm or abdomen. If laying down, picture your body parts relaxing one at a time until your whole body is relaxed. And if that doesn’t work, try it again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But it works better with practice! I’ve been practicing the deep breathing for a few months now, and it really works! I use a PTSD-specific guided meditation when I wake up and lay down. Good night! Sweet dreams!

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