Get a Better Night's Sleep by Clearing Your Mind

It's late at night, you've had a long day, and you just want to lay down and get some sleep so you can wake up refreshed and ready for the day tomorrow. The problem is, when you actually do lay down and close your eyes, you're thinking about everything you did that day, and all the things you have to do tomorrow. You're focusing on something bad that happened at work, or something a stranger said to you, and it's keeping you awake.

There is a great solution to this, and it's to keep a notepad and pen next to your bed in the nightstand drawer. Writing things down release them from your brain, and then it can be free to relax and drift off to sleep. Are you proud of something you did today? Write it down! "I'm so happy that I ______". There, it's on paper, you've released it and now you don't need to think about it anymore! Are you thinking about all the things you need to do tomorrow and it's keeping you awake? Rather than fight it and just try to forget about it and lay there wondering "why can't I sleep?" take a few moments to write them down. List out the things you need to get done tomorrow, and any pertinent information that will help you do those tasks (and help you release the thoughts about that thing from your head) and when you're done you'll feel better.

Part of why we toss and turn at night trying to get to sleep is that we have all these thoughts in our head and we don't want to forget them. So, we try to make some "mental note" of what it is, but this really engages our brain.. sort of "spins it up" if you will. That's obviously not something we want to do, so taking a few moments to write your thoughts out will allow you to relax and sleep better. You might think that turning the light on to write your thoughts out will wake you up so you just lay there and do nothing. If that's the case, get a small, soft hand held blue light. Blue light isn't that bright and shouldn't disturb you if a regular one does.

Try doing this, clear your mind, and get a better night's sleep for it!

Designate the Bedroom for Sleep Only

If you would like to get better sleep you might want to think about how you use your bedroom. The best thing you can do is to designate your bedroom for sleep and sex only. While you may not be able to follow this completely because your closet and dresser that holds all your clothes are in your bedroom, you should try to stick to that as much as possible. This is a great way to set up your subconscious to realize that when you are in the bedroom, you should be sleeping.

Many people use their bedrooms as "catch all" rooms. They watch tv while lying in bed, go through all the mail while lying on the bed, balance their checkbooks, study for exams, surf the internet, all kinds of different things. If you have absolutely no other place to go besides your bedroom, leave the bed sacred. If you must do any of the above things, or anything besides sleep or sex, do it on the floor. When you sit on your bed and balance your checkbook, or study for an exam, or write out bills, your mind gets confused. Have you ever gotten in bed and tried to go to sleep and then your mind starts racing and thinking about a bunch of different things? Chances are, it's because you've previously trained it to do so by doing all of those activities while sitting on or laying in your bed.

If you keep the bed only for sleep and sex, your mind will begin to realize those are the only things it should be doing there. When you lay down to go to sleep, you will be able to relax and drift off to sleep.