Sleeping is about as natural as it gets. So why am I having such a difficult time doing it sometimes? Shouldn't it just happen and work correctly?

There may be several reasons why your sleep is disrupted, agitated, or simply not enough. Let's explore these:

1. Are you too stressed?
Stress can be a heavy hitter when it comes to opposing sleep. If you find yourself thinking too much while you're trying to sleep, read my suggestions that might help you to relax and finally turn that thinking machine off at night.

2. Turn the TV Off
If you must watch before bed, consider changing your watching habits. If you usually enjoy watching a drama, action, or suspense, flip to a comedy instead. The reason for this is simple: when you laugh, your brain activity decreases, which better prepares it for sleep. Other kinds of shows tend to stimulate the brain, which can also increase stress.

3. Set the mood
Our brains have a natural sensor that responds to light and dark. When our eyes see (or sense, if you will) light, our brains interpret this as daytime - time to be awake. When it is dark and our eyes do not see as much light, our brains interpret this as nighttime - time for sleep. If you're having troubles sleeping, check the light situation in your room and make sure there are no glaring lights that might be causing your brain confusion. If there are, cover them up or turn them off. Consider getting darker shades or curtains to keep light from entering in through the window.

4. Resist listening to music
Just like TV, listening to music can stimulate the brain enough to keep us from being able to fall asleep. If you have a habit of listening to music before bed (or while sleeping, for that matter), consider listening to songs without words such as an instrumental or replacing music altogether with white noise such as a fan or nature sounds. Also, make sure the beats per minute (BPM) are low. The more BPM's in the music, the more uptempo the song, and the more disrupted your sleep will be.

5. Make your bedroom a sleep room
Do you watch TV in bed? Does your bedroom double as a workout room? Keeping your bedroom a sleep room - and only a sleep room - can help train your brain to associate it with sleep. If you have a tendency to use it for other stimulating activites, when you enter your room at night to sleep, your brain might be getting confused as to what it should be preparing to do: have fun or shut off for sleep. The more your bedroom becomes a place solely for sleep, the easier time your brain will have in getting ready for sleep.


by Aaron K. Potratz, MA