To Sleep Perchance to Dream

I've been a night owl as long as I can remember.  When I was in high school I had a 12 inch black and white TV on a little table near my bed.  I would stay up every night watching reruns of the Andy Griffith Show and Planet of the Apes until they played The National Anthem and went off air.  (People born after the 80s will have to ask someone older what it meant when a TV station went off air.)  When TV was done, I would read novels until my eyes burned with dry, tired longing for darkness.  Around 3:30 or 4:00 a.m., I'd finally go to sleep for a few hours.

On the weekends I'd sleep in and sometimes I'd nap after school in the afternoons.  I must have gotten enough sleep somehow because I managed to grow up healthy.  In college I started to be more interested in the purpose of sleep and what happens while one is sleeping.  I took a few classes and read a lot of books.  I learned a lot about what our bodies do while we sleep and why we dream.  

I continued to appreciate my late nights, but as I got older I found more and more of my friends frustrated with sleepless nights and insomnia.  In an effort to be helpful, I made a list of sleep tips.  

1)  It might seem obvious, but cut out caffeine.

2)  Go to bed and get up around the same time every day.  Your body wants to be on a routine.  Force yourself to go to bed and wake up within a 1 hour window every day.  Your body will adjust to that schedule. 

3)  Try a journal.  If you are having intense or weird dreams or nightmares, try journaling about your day.  Wright down what you did and all the random thoughts floating around in your head.  The very act of writing them down, will help your brain organize the thoughts into more manageable chunks before you fall asleep.

4)  Keeping a journal will also help you clear your head of cluttering thoughts, to do lists, and stress.

5)  Do something relaxing.  Deep breathing, a warm bath, stretch, or meditate.

6)  Make your room a comfy sanctuary for sleep.  Remove distractions - especially those that cause stress.

My daughters are night owls too.  I choose to embrace and appreciate that we have that in common rather than fight against it.  Using observations and charts, I found their natural sleep time based on when their bodies and minds got tired.  And that became bed time.  It took some adjusting on both our parts.  

We have some of our best talks and funnest family time in the evenings as we all come home from busy days and activities.  And, since we all enjoy going to bed later, we can all enjoy sleeping in on weekends.  Some of our best warm snuggle moments are in those lazy mornings long after then sun has climbed into the sky.