In middle school and sometimes in high school, falling asleep was not easy for me. While my sister could go upstairs, climb into bed, and be asleep in no time, I’d stare at the ceiling for a good thirty minutes to an hour before finally nodding off.
I tried everything: Warm milk, trying not to exercise right before bed (although my soccer coach wasn’t about to change our 7pm practices just for my sleep problems!), counting sheep, lavender on my pillow, etc. etc. etc.
Thankfully, I don’t seem to have the problem anymore. Perhaps it was just a teen-hormone thing; maybe it was due to the fact that I didn’t keep a similar schedule on weekends. Whatever the case, I’m glad to finally be like my sister and doze off within 10-15 minutes of “lights out.”
Today’s post is not about food, unlike the My Morning Routine post.
Here’s how my nighttime routine goes down:
1. Get into comfy pjs
2. Brush teeth, etc.
3. Climb into bed with Killer Jigsaw Sudoku.
I highly recommend jigsaw sudoku. It’s a really fun challenge (especially the diabolical ones). And focusing on numbers is a good way to quiet my thoughts and lull me to sleep. Halfway through a puzzle, my eyes can hardly stay open.
Lazy Henry has no problem falling asleep.
What’s his secret?? Henry’s not sharing.
I’m so the same way Katie. I could never fall asleep right away when I was younger but could sleep in like no other. Now, I fall asleep pretty quickly, but then again, I get up fairy early everyday.
Before going to bed, I wash my face, brush and floss and take out my contacts. Also, the room has to be freezing…I cannot sleep at all if I’m the least bit hot.
I’m long past my teenage years but I sometimes (umm.. quite often!) sleep until noon on weekends 😀
I’ve never had trouble falling asleep (well, maybe sometimes but very very rarely) and I sleep like dead. I have fallen asleep at movies (The Simpson Movie and Batman, haha), airplane, bus, train, school and so on… sometimes this is NOT a very good habit, because of it I have missed the ending of movies, driven past my stop and so on.
About the night time routine.. I climb to bed with a book and fall asleep in 5-10 minutes 🙂
I have the same problem, I can hardly fall asleep quickly. Before sleeping I shower. brush my teeth, blah blah and put my pjs on, jump into bed with my book ( currently eclipse) and doze off. But I do have a hard time retrieving the book from under my bed in the morning =]
A very cute blog, nice recipes too!
Hey Katie! I love the color of your bed sheets. They are so bright! They look neat next to the purple flowery comforter too. I like how you pick your colors.
Bed time routine… okay… so I’ve struggled with insomnia and sleep paralysis since I was four years old. My routine has changed quite a bit since then. I’ve tested and failed several different methods. Here’s what works for me.
1. Stop consuming caffeine by 2-3 pm.
2. Eat a carb-filled dinner. Either a potato or some beans and rice.
3. Put on pajamas that are specifically for sleeping.
4. Make lavender and lemon balm tea.
5. Drink tea while reading a book in bed.
6. If the tea and the book don’t work, take valerian.
Sometimes the tea can backfire – as I’m running to and from the bathroom, instead of sleeping. But I conk out eventually. The herbs are truly wonderful!!! Lavender and valerian work as well as NyQuil for me.
I hope this helps you!
Oooops… I forgot to mention that I’ve started forcing myself to make my bedroom as dark as possible. This is not easy for me. Thanks to the sleep paralysis, I have this CRAZY fear of the dark. But when I blacken my room real good, then I don’t have sleep paralysis. So… yeah… darkness is NECESSARY for a good night’s sleep.
that’s crazy sudoku! i love those puzzles, but, like you, i find them to be really easy at times. i must find those!!
Hey, hope it’s okay if I link to this post
Thanks
Katherine
Oh man do I have trouble falling asleep!! I usually try to tackle some kind of verbose novel a la Tolstoy or something before bed to help myself wind down. That and peppermint tea definitely help, although it’s so easy to forget wind down time… which I need!!!
Oh I am so addicted to Celestial Seasonings Tea… the factory is right near me, but I must book a tour! the whole place smells like Mint Tea.
Your carrot cake pizza idea is scrummy… love your blog!
~:o) B.
My favorite tea is chamomile. So soothing 🙂