Getting Poor Sleep Is Not The End Of The World
It’s just a phase.
For the past month and a half, I’ve been getting poor sleep. Silver lining: at least I’m getting some sleep. On average, I’ll get about 4–5 hours and it has been playing havoc on my mood and anxiety.
But it’s not the end of the world.
True, it’s not the most ideal state to be in, especially when before this I’ve been able to secure 7–9 hours on average, but it’s not a catastrophe. I write this because I know I won’t be the only one going through this.
Poor sleeping affects a lot of us during different times in our lives. Most of it arises from stressful situations, which causes a catch-22. On one hand you need sleep to feel good, but worrying about sleep isn’t helping you sleep. Break the cycle. Forget about getting good sleep. If you need to nap more or rest more, put it in the diary and do it.
Getting good sleep requires structure in our day-to-day lives. That means creating some sort of schedule. If you’re like me and hate planning, try make it a day-to-day thing. In other words, get a daily planner and write down all you want to do on that day. Do washing, tidy room, dust lounge room, pay bills, buy groceries, go to work, meditate, exercise. Whatever it is you need to do, make the plan.
Next on the agenda is giving some crap to your sleep routine. This doesn’t mean to worry about it on end, but to try new things to get better sleep. Work on building a sleep routine. What do you like to do before you crash? Shower? Read? Put together a puzzle? Why not add things to it? The idea is to care about getting good sleep and not stress about having bad sleep. This means giving care to your sleep routine. Sometimes this may include changing your work hours. Studies show that shift workers, even those who may not work overnight, are prone to developing poor sleep. But you need to figure that one out yourself. Don’t forget that you are in control. You always have been. The only unfortunate thing is our bodies like to think otherwise.
I, myself, am not at the proper sleep routine yet. This whole situation arose two months ago. It doesn’t help that I’m going through stress, but I know I can work through it.
But hey, at least I’m getting some sleep.
