Sleep Advice
So, if you don't know by now, I've been having trouble sleeping lately. The trouble is, it's only on the nights before I have to work. And anyone who talks to me on a regular basis knows that I have to be up around 4-4:15 a.m. to be at work by 5 a.m. My mom's convinced it's a mental thing, and I'm starting to think that she may be right. I don't have trouble sleeping any other night of the week. Right now, I think the biggest contributor is my Thursday night class which gets out around 8:20, and by that time I'm usually winding down, taking a shower, and just generally getting ready to head to bed or lay down. But on Thursday nights, there's no time to unwind and decompress. It's get out of class, stop to get something to eat, get home, shower, bed. Thursday nights are the worst. Friday nights are bad, but I manage to catch snippets of sleep here and there.
I talk to my mom a lot about what's been going on with my sleep and she's told me that it could be a lot of things - the Thursday night class, and having to be awake at 4:00 in the morning just to name a couple - and I think that it could be that I'm afraid of sleeping through my alarm, which, let's face it, could happen.
I've tried cutting caffeine totally out of my daily routine, but all that leaves me with is a migraine (which sucks because I can't even take my migraine medicine for it because, yes, it has caffeine in it), I've tried the Tylenol PM pills and I've not yet had a night where they've worked. I've also tried not sleeping with the TV on (and actually, now I can't sleep with it on where I used to be able to). Mom thinks I should try lighting some sort of fragrant candles, like lavendar or something like that. The other night, I put on some of my classical music CDs because it is relaxing music and I tried reading while listening to it because I know reading usually puts me to sleep. It helped a little until my stereo decided it didn't want to read CDs anymore.
So, I'm asking what everyone thinks I should do, or what you've done to help you sleep if you've ever had sleeping problems. I'm trying to stay away from the whole sleeping pill thing - only going to resort to that if it's the absolute last thing it comes to. Should I stop worrying so much about getting eight hours of sleep and go to bed around 10ish, which is a bedtime my body is accustomed to and which still gives me around six hours of sleep? Should I try Yoga or meditation or something along those lines to help myself relax? Should I set two alarms to combat the fear of missing my first alarm? Should I just quit that job altogether and look for something where I don't have to be awake quite so early (though I hope it doesn't come to that. I really do like this job, even if it is in food service)?
Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated and at least given a try. You never know, what works for you may end up helping me. And if that's the case, I'll make you something super pretty and cool soon as I finish my mom's cross stitch project (which was supposed to be her mom's day present).
Thanks all!
I talk to my mom a lot about what's been going on with my sleep and she's told me that it could be a lot of things - the Thursday night class, and having to be awake at 4:00 in the morning just to name a couple - and I think that it could be that I'm afraid of sleeping through my alarm, which, let's face it, could happen.
I've tried cutting caffeine totally out of my daily routine, but all that leaves me with is a migraine (which sucks because I can't even take my migraine medicine for it because, yes, it has caffeine in it), I've tried the Tylenol PM pills and I've not yet had a night where they've worked. I've also tried not sleeping with the TV on (and actually, now I can't sleep with it on where I used to be able to). Mom thinks I should try lighting some sort of fragrant candles, like lavendar or something like that. The other night, I put on some of my classical music CDs because it is relaxing music and I tried reading while listening to it because I know reading usually puts me to sleep. It helped a little until my stereo decided it didn't want to read CDs anymore.
So, I'm asking what everyone thinks I should do, or what you've done to help you sleep if you've ever had sleeping problems. I'm trying to stay away from the whole sleeping pill thing - only going to resort to that if it's the absolute last thing it comes to. Should I stop worrying so much about getting eight hours of sleep and go to bed around 10ish, which is a bedtime my body is accustomed to and which still gives me around six hours of sleep? Should I try Yoga or meditation or something along those lines to help myself relax? Should I set two alarms to combat the fear of missing my first alarm? Should I just quit that job altogether and look for something where I don't have to be awake quite so early (though I hope it doesn't come to that. I really do like this job, even if it is in food service)?
Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated and at least given a try. You never know, what works for you may end up helping me. And if that's the case, I'll make you something super pretty and cool soon as I finish my mom's cross stitch project (which was supposed to be her mom's day present).
Thanks all!