Like the others in my family, I naturally struggle to get a good night’s rest.
There are a list of factors that lead to my insomnia, but I didn’t know what to do about it at first.
It wasn’t a common thing in my childhood to use over the counter sleep aids like it is these days. Back then I would lay awake trying to sleep at night and simply stare into the darkness above my bed. As thoughts raced through my mind, I would make routine glances to the glowing red alarm clock on my nightstand. Whenever significant chunks of time would elapse, the thought of it getting later by the minute would give me even more anxiety. Naturally, the anxiety would make it even harder to sleep. This is a horrible feedback loop if you don’t find some way to disrupt it. One thing that immediately helped was running a fan while I slept. Aside from creating a calming and gentle air breeze in your room, it also provides a small amount of white noise that can drown out ambient noises in your environment and intrusive thoughts in your head. On top of that, I also learned that I sleep a lot better when I keep the temperature in my room on the cold side. If it’s not too hot outside to begin with, I prefer sleeping at 72 degrees. The colder temperature keeps me snuggled in my bedding and for whatever reason keeps me from the discomfort that forces others awake early. I know I’m not the only one, because many of my coworkers are the same way and have to sleep in cooler temperatures to sleep well at night.