“I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” was my motto all through high school, college, and even through the beginning of medical school. Other favorite things I liked to say were “go hard or go home” or even “work hard, play hard.”

Oh, how I regret all of the above! I should have slept when I had the chance! Not like when people say “sleep when the baby sleeps”, but for real, when there are no babies, work pages, or 28 hour work shifts.

It is too late go back now. I have always been a bad sleeper, taking anywhere from 30 minutes to hours to fall asleep. I thought maybe I didn’t need that much sleep anyway and throughout the years did nothing to improve it. I briefly tried melatonin in college but it gave me extremely vivid dreams that were disturbing to me.

I am now finally at a place in my life where both my kids usually sleep through the night and I don’t have to do 28 hour shifts in the hospital anymore. Yet, I continue to have a hard time falling asleep and barely get 6-7 hours on a good day.

Image borrowed from https://www.teepublic.com/throw-pillow/1908297-101-chance-im-tired

The lack of sleep is starting to affect me. I have less energy than I want to play with my kids when I get home from work and I hate talking about how tired I am all the time. I realize that I would be somewhat tired no matter what, like most of us who work a full time job and then have other responsibilities in the home, but this feels excessive.

About a year ago (around the time I got my Peloton!), I decided to make improving sleep a priority. I have been working hard but still have a lot of progress to make.

If you can relate to any of the above, here is a list of everything I try to do:

• No caffeine after noon
• Avoid having wine with dinner during work nights (most of the time!)
• No screen time 30 minutes before it’s time for bed (I struggle with this one a lot)
• Changed the settings on my iPhone to bring down the brightness/tone of screen and set restrictions on time I can use social media apps
• Meditation – most helpful so far! I started with Headspace and moved on to Peloton meditation, which I use almost every night
• Silk pillowcase (bought it to help with my hair but I find that it has helped my sleep as well!)

Some things I want to do:

• Keep a sleep diary
• Set a regular bedtime
• Keep paper and pen on my night stand to use when I can’t fall asleep for a long time
• Explore better mattresses and pillows
• Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia

I am really hopeful if I really commit to all of these tools, that my sleep will eventually improve, the way my eating and exercises habits did. Feel free to comment with any tips of your own!