Let Me Sleep on It

Millions of people have trouble sleeping, whether they have true sleep disorders or just have trouble getting to sleep each night. It’s said about 32 million Americans (one in eight) report having insomnia.

I feel for those people. I’ve been having a lot of stress in my life lately, working hard on lots of projects and holding a lot of things in my brain that I find it difficult to turn off when it’s time for sleep. There are tons of things that are supposed to help:

• Don’t drink caffiene after dark.
• Don’t work out too close to bedtime.
• Don’t eat a big meal before bedtime, but don’t go to bed hungry.
• Don’t drink alcohol before bed (it helps you fall asleep but makes it more likely you’ll wake up in the night.
• Don’t do work in bed, so you only associate bed with sleep and not stress.
• Don’t stress over not being able to sleep, but get out of bed and do some boring reading in low light until you feel ready to go back to bed.

And then of course there are methods to clear your mind in order to help you fall asleep. A sort of meditation sometimes helps to get junk out of the brain and let it drift to sleep.

But some remedies are just silly. I was reading last night before bed a suggestion that you close your eyes and lift your tongue, holding it so it’s not touching the roof or the floor of your mouth or the sides or your gums. I don’t know how that’s supposed to help. I tried it last night and I think it kept me awake longer because I was so focused on keeping my tongue from touching anything.

I think the real solution is to be patient with yourself and to not give up hope. Sleep cycles vary over our lives, and you could just be in a bad phase. But if you’re worried that you have a sleep disorder, talk to your doctor.

If you’d like a self-test on sleep problems, check out this site. Don’t use it as medical advice; it told me I cold have sleep apnea when I have maybe one symptom. Still, it can give you an idea what to look out for. Sweet dreams!