November 4th 2006 
Health 
1 comment
There are many guides and posts out there describing in detail how to get more healthy sleep. While many of the points are valid they forget one important fact; over-analyzing your sleeping patterns will likely cause you to not actually sleep as well. With this in mind I went back to the basics and have produced a simple, three stage guide for better sleep:
- Sleep when you feel tired
It might sound obvious but it’s surprising how many people go to bed even when they are wide awake and full of energy, just because they think they should be in bed at a particular time. You are going to struggle to get to sleep if you are not tired, it’s as simple as that. Your mind will wonder, and you will most likely start thinking and stressing about how you are going to get to sleep which is the last place your mind needs to be.
- Don’t worry about being tired
There is too much emphasis put on getting a good night’s sleep nowadays. Of course all the doctors and scientists have a point, getting your sleep is important. However, a night here and there where you don’t get all the sleep you might need is not going to cause you major problems. A lot of people underestimate their ability to get by on limited sleep, so as rule one says, don’t worry about it.
- Have some sort of sleep pattern
I should stress that I am suggesting a very loose sleep pattern here. Following a strict approach only falls into the traps I mentioned previously of going to bed when you aren’t ready and of not being more relaxed about how much sleep you get. For example, the earliest I generally have to be up by is 7AM. Anything dramatically later than this would just bump my sleeping pattern out. So even when I am not working I don’t tend to get up later than 9AM. This allows me to sleep in but it doesn’t knock my sleeping pattern out.
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