Like most women of a certain age, I have sleep difficulties. High-quality sleep is necessary, and I find that lack of quality sleep aggravates medical symptoms. But I’ve never been good about getting to bed and going to sleep – until I made a few simple change for better sleep a couple of months ago.
My Previous Before Bed Routine
I had what would be on the surface a good before bed routine. I shower, allowing my body to relax. Then I climbed into bed with my Kindle, and used the sunset light on my clock* to tell me when to put the book down.
It all sounds very peaceful, right?
But the truth is that my Kindle is backlit and I would consistently read past the sunset light. Then I would stare at the ceiling and toss and turn as I either thought of the things from the day, or I thought about the book I was reading.
My sleep was averaging about 5 hours a night. I used both my FitBit and another app to measure the quality and duration of my sleep.
The Rise App Fiasco
I started seeing ads for the Rise app. This app was touted as helping you adjust your sleep start and end time to get the most out of your sleep time.
I wondered if it was a timing issue. I am a dolphin chronotype, and that means I struggle with sleep. But part of me wondered if timing would help. So I downloaded the app, and paid for a single month.
After the first night, it told me about how big my sleep deficit was. So I doubled down and getting to bed earlier the rest of the week. It barely made a dent in the deficit.
It was also telling me I wasn’t getting enough or high enough quality sleep. (Tell me something I didn’t know!)
In the end, the Rise app increased my stress levels about sleep, which then made it harder for me to sleep. I canceled my app 2 weeks in.
But Something Had To Give
I knew I couldn’t go back to the reading half the night scenario. So I decided to make a few changes.
I still get my shower, but then if it is early enough I will sit in a chair with a timer running and read for 15 minutes. Then I crawl into bed. No more reading in bed.
The changes I made for better sleep:
- Warm fuzzy socks*. Cold feet keep me from falling asleep.
- An eye mask/sleep shade*. This keeps all the light – including the light from my husband’s phone as he doomscrolls – from keeping me up. This particular shade has recesses for my eyes so it doesn’t press.
- Sleep stories on Calm with over the ear headphones*. The headphones force me to sleep on my back, but I inevitably wake up enough when the story is done to remove them. The Calm app gives me sleep stories that lull me to sleep within 10 minutes. My favorites are The Flying Scotsman and Whispers of a Scottish Castle.
The Results
I have been doing this new routine for a couple of months, and I am getting better and longer sleep (as determined by my Fitbit and other app). I won’t say that I am spry and chipper in the morning, but at least I feel somewhat rested. I haven’t been awake until 2 for months, and I feel much better.
