i need some sleep

June 12th, 2008

I just can’t clear my mind. Lying there in the dark. I really really try.
Take last night for instance. I was in bed at 11:30pm – early for me. After tossing and turning for almost 2hrs; a constant stream of thoughts and ideas bouncing off each other, I eventually got up and had some Weetabix (which I hadn’t had already as I normally would as I wasn’t hungry) and a glass of orange juice (the greatest thirst quenching drink ever; 1 part orange to 4 parts water).
Then back to bed.

I began to think about darkness, space, stars, earth, google(!), blogs, updating my blog, photos, updating the photoblog, next location to take photographs. And so on.
This is what I have to put up with every single night. It doesn’t help this normally takes place after 1am.

Each and every weekday morning I wake up angry. Angry at myself for waking up about 2hrs earlier than I would like to get up and constantly wishing I could go back in time. Like sleeping in and missing a flight – every single day (only not actually missing a flight).

It’s time to radically change my sleeping habits. Up earlier. To bed earlier. I found an article on training yourself to get to sleep earlier by Matthew Stibbe which I may attempt to put to good use.

  1. Decided what time I wanted to get up.
  2. Set myself a goal.
  3. Promised myself a reward.
  4. Tracked my progress using Joe’s Goals.
  5. Get clothes, computer and breakfast ready the night before.
  6. Alarms.
  7. Naps.
  8. Earlier nights.
  9. Boast widely about your new early-birdiness.

On the days I do wake up early I feel so much better. No rushing around; I get to check my mail in the morning, watch the news, have a nice breakfast and a mug of coffee. Someday I will make this possible for every morning.

And so it begins. Early to bed. Early to rise.

Have you any tips for getting to sleep earlier?

Tagged: , | 8 comments »

8 Comments

None whatsoever! I stayed up to 1:30 this morning working on a website, and went to bed with a head full of code and ideas, so I couldn’t sleep earlier.

Try to detatch from anything that involves concentration about an hour before bedtime – I read a book or watch mindless TV, that helps me unwind before I go to bed.

And they say you shouldn’t ‘live’ in your bedroom – just use it for sleeping or it’ll lose that association with sleep.

Posted by Gerard on 13 Jun 2008 at 10:09 am   Reply to this comment

Yeah these are good definitely good points. I would love to be able to put them to use.
Unfortunately – yes this is where I come in with, ‘thanks for your advice but i’ve already thought of it and i’m going to dismiss it.’

I have no where else to work but my bedroom, i don’t have a tv and i don’t read much…

conundrum.

Posted by Phil on 13 Jun 2008 at 12:37 pm   Reply to this comment

I’ve similar sleep related probs, though not as bad.

I’m considering leaving the curtains and windows open and trying to blend in with nature. When the birds have quietened down it must be bed time and when they’ve started up again it’s time to get up.

Another thing that might keep you awake is if you’ve live a too exciting life. Sometimes when big things happen or you meet famous people you might get a bit of a buzz from it.That in turn might affect your sleep pattern.

I found after doing gigs it took about half an hour in front of the TV to get me to wind down.

Keep us informed when you work it all out.

Posted by d@\/e on 13 Jun 2008 at 4:59 pm   Reply to this comment

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise….. but not before you go to bed. Get up and run in the mornings.

Posted by Robin Blandford on 13 Jun 2008 at 8:06 pm   Reply to this comment

@d@\/e – thanks for the advice, unfortunately my life is all but exciting right now. But I’m working on it, though maybe I shouldn’t if i want to work on this sleep thing…

@Robin – Exercise! Thats a whole different thing altogether! Maybe once I get the sleep thing down I’ll try the exercise thing. One at a time.

Posted by Phil on 13 Jun 2008 at 9:17 pm   Reply to this comment

Great points, Phil. So, did it work? I’m going to put it to practice myself. Ugh…I’m not a morning person. :)

Posted by Jefferson Davis on 14 Jun 2008 at 8:55 pm   Reply to this comment

What Robin said, get some exercise mate! Started training properly about 6 weeks ago and I’m shattered well before my normal bed time and fall asleep straight away. Even going for a long walk would work if you don’t normally do that.

Posted by Donal on 15 Jun 2008 at 9:42 am   Reply to this comment

@d@/e – thanks for the advice, unfortunately my life is all but exciting right now. But I'm working on it, though maybe I shouldn't if i want to work on this sleep thing…

@Robin – Exercise! Thats a whole different thing altogether! Maybe once I get the sleep thing down I'll try the exercise thing. One at a time.

Posted by Phil on 01 Jan 2010 at 1:48 pm   Reply to this comment

Leave a comment