Getting Some Sleep

 Share Our Lives 2025 is a monthly link-up to share aspects of our daily lives with each other. February's theme looks like one where I'll be looking for help from everyone else because I don't know if I have any good tips to share! We're talking about Tips for Falling Asleep.

I have been a night owl for as long as I can remember, and am not a natural morning person. However, decades of getting up somewhere around 6:30AM have made me a reluctant morning person. That said, I still stay up too late! The last three or four years I've also had trouble sleeping well, and there are a lot of nights that it's just hard to fall asleep. If I didn't have to get to work in the morning, it might not be a big concern, but I DO have to get to work so here we are.

I love naps, and rarely have trouble falling asleep when I lie down for forty winks after work or on a Sunday afternoon. But somehow it doesn't quite work the same later in the evening. Once I fall asleep, I usually am able to stay asleep all night, and even if I get up to go to the washroom I can doze off again with no problem. Being too hot is definitely a problem sometimes, but thankfully nightsweats aren't an every night thing, and kicking off the covers for a little bit will usually reset my personal thermostat.

Things that are helpful to me:

I stop eating and drinking after dinner. We usually eat dinner pretty late these days, like about 7PM. We usually have a cup of coffee around 8, and that's where I stop. For me, it's not really the caffeine, but the potential for heartburn or reflux. Obviously, if I have even a little bit of reflux discomfort, it's really hard to fall asleep.

I take melatonin supplement about an hour before I go to bed. Does it really help? I don't know for sure, but I've noticed that I've had a harder time sleeping when we've been on vacation and I didn't take it along, so maybe. It doesn't hurt anyway, so even if it's just a placebo effect, I'm okay with that.

I need the right pillows and sheets. That isn't to say I'm fussy and can't sleep at all when I'm vacationing. I generally do fine when I'm not in my own bed, but since I am sleeping in my bed at least 48 weeks out of the year, I might as well have the bedding I like. I have fairly thick and firm pillows so my head is slightly elevated (because the reflux thing), and I like flannel sheets in winter and cool cotton sheets in summer. I don't have a weighted blanket, but I like the feel of a thicker snuggly comforter.

this isn't even my current bed - haha

We use a humidifier in our bedroom during the colder part of the year. When I don't have it going, my throat and nose get dry and I'm more prone to nosebleeds. 

I've been trying - with limited success so far - to adjust my habits so that I'm getting to bed earlier on a regular basis. This is one of the self-care things I've been focusing on in 2025. As I said, I tend towards night owliness, so it doesn't come naturally to head for bed early. 

I do use my phone right before bed and I know I shouldn't. That's a habit I still have to work on changing!

One of my biggest challenges to settling down to sleep is that I'm itchy. I guess it's just dry skin and the dry air, but it can be so annoying! It makes me fidgety and I'll find myself hyper-focused on that one spot on my back I can't quite reach, or one the couple of places that seem to itch all the time no matter what. The humidifier helps some, and moisturizer helps some, but it's a very annoying problem. 

In some ways, yeah, I wish I could sleep like a baby again!

Any solutions you can suggest to my challenges? What are your best tips for falling and staying asleep? Leave a comment and let me know!

This post will be linked up with the Share Our Lives 2025 Link-up hosted by Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne, and Sarah.

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