Vicious Cycle of Sleeplessness

I am talking with a friend about focusing on sleep. They mentioned it’s harder to get good sleep as you’re older.

I whole heartedly agree.

The worst part: when you don’t get enough sleep, you make worse decisions, especially about sleep. When you get less sleep, you make worse decisions.

It’s a downward vicious cycle.

Break Cycle??

The way to break the cycle? It depends.

I found when I am really tired, take a nap to catch up. You lose waking hours, you will catch up on some sleep. Hopefully to the point you make good decisions just long enough to get good sleep.

Another for me is to just go to sleep earlier than usual. Break whatever routine I would have and just sleep. I might sleep too much, which is the goal. So just shortcut to the bed.

When it’s a bad habit, like I’m just staying up too late every night trying to catch up on productivity, well, create new habits to remind myself to sleep. Stuff I do:

• Setting a “sleep alarm” to remind myself of the time and start winding down.
• Cut off Internet connections on devices I use in bed (which forces me to get in bed earlier so I can watch whatever I do want.)
• Goto bed when my kids goto bed. (Why can’t I have a bedtime routine too?!)

Conclusion

The most important thing to remember: tiredness leads to more tiredness. It’s a vicious cycle and one of the most important to break for your health and sanity!