I have written previously that if I have a super power, it is the ability to sleep well most of the time. This is an incredible gift, as sleep is so important for your health and well being, and I don’t take it for granted. I have written two articles already on Quality Sleep Tips & Tricks and Cognitive Shuffling (click on the links to read them).
That being said, there are times when sleep won’t come, and I lie awake at night, joining all the other insomniacs in staring at the ceiling. This past month I was travelling, so jet lag combined with the stress of preparing to speak at a funeral threw off my sleep patterns. At just the right time, I read an article written by a friend who is an excellent author, Ken Guidroz. It was called “the Midnight Janitors of the Soul”. He had experimented with some CBD oil for a knee injury and found that while he experienced long, deep sleep, he noticed that he was no longer dreaming and did not wake up in the middle of the night for what he called “late night musings”. He recognized how he missed and needed those times of “nocturnal niggling” (his words), acknowledging that this can be a time when we do some of our best thinking!
This is so true. Given the right circumstances and a couple of sleepless nights, I’m sure I could solve world hunger! In the still of the night, I can be incredibly creative. I can schedule newsletter topics, writing the articles in my mind, or find the right thing to say in an argument from weeks ago with the perfect “come back”. I can plan my adult kids’ lives for them (they love that).
Ken went on to share advice from his wonderful wife, Joyce, who is a veteran at managing “midnight musings” and I want to share her tips:
Welcome the awakening. All the experts say, “what we resist, persists”. When we fight and resent being awake in the middle of the night, it only makes us less likely to return to sleep and we will not use the wakeful time well.
Know and remind yourself that darkness is a magnifier. Ken said in the article, “anything marginally-bad at 3 pm is Armageddon-bad at 3 am. Your imagination will run away from you in the night… the sky will be falling, your loved ones headed for disaster, your house will be repossessed…Just know that that’s your midnight brain talking to you.” That resonated with me so much I had to quote the whole thing!
If you can’t sleep, focus on the beauty of just resting your body. When we focus on the pleasant sensations of rest, the warmth of the blankets, the ease of our breath, the chill of the air… it is still restorative! My fancy Apple watch scores my sleep, and I find that there are some times that I know I had been wide awake and I still get a sleep score because I was resting my body.
As we enter the holiday season, you might find that on some nights you, like “the children tucked in their beds” are not enjoying visions of sugar plums dancing in your head. Don’t fight it, embrace it! Remind yourself how darkness is a magnifier. Practice some SRI, and make sure you get in for a tune up this month, it will help you get better rest! Sweet Dreams!