If you sleep with a partner, you probably need to be doing the Scandinavian Sleep Method.
My nesting partner is a furnace. The moment he gets sleepy, he becomes as hot as the motherfucking sun. I become warm like a freshly baked cinnamon roll.
Paired with his love of comforters (which I find abhorrent, preferring the light snuggle of a duvet system.) we become a disgusting sweaty mess.
My nesting partner is an only child, and I am an oldest child, this to say neither of us share well, so a single blanket becomes the trophy of a battle royale.
Since we’ve started using separate covers we both sleep so much better. No shared heat, no battles over blankets, and exactly as much touching as we feel like without the sweaty tangle.
To prevent breakups, try separate covers, it will change your relationship for the better.
Explained what a surface nap (my definition of what I’ve always called it) to my sis and gf a bit ago. Halfway through explaining it I was all ‘Bam this is so simple why you explaining it??’ And then Babe and Sis weee like ‘???????’
Anyway. Turns out that might have been an autistic superpower.
You know how some picky eaters can tell when you change a single ingredient out of hundreds in a safe-food. Yeah, I’m not that, but I’m like that. But only with my sleeping situation.
I sleep with two comforters, 7 pillows minimum, sometimes a fuzzy blanket or two, sometimes a squishmallow propping up an arm, never on my stomach, and with two (not one; but two) of those ear muffs you buy that’s a headband??? Yeah I get two of those, put them on my head and it covers both my ears and eyes to muffle sound and block all light. It’s important to have both pressure and muffling. These are only the physical requirements to being able to sleep lol I’m so picky as a whole.
Anyways. How do I take a surface nap? I take the comforters, lay them over top the 3 (yes, three, all condensed into one pillowcase) pillows that I always stick under my knees (alleviates back pain for my messed up spine) and lay on top of all of it, comforters included.
So what do I cover myself with? A fuzzy blanket (actually two, one on my legs and one on my body so I can ditch one half and keep the other at any point) and my regular sleep mask.
Because. I fucking know if my legs are higher than normal, and my blankets aren’t smooth. I fucking KNOW.
Why does this create a surface nap experience? Because I am literally incapable of not thinking about it, even in my sleep. I literally dreamt of Fuzzy World while I tried to find out why things were fuzzy and no longer smooth. My brain did NOT let that go. This means your brain won’t be deep at all if you have to wake up in less than 2 hours off of 21 awake already.
Also change your alarm tone to a song already!!!! Not a loud one, but like a super soft one, it’ll take your brain a few seconds to catch up that it’s a song and then you’re all ‘wait, what?’ This probably doesn’t work if your a clubber or something idk y’all fuck up your ears too much.
I went from solidly asleep to fully awake in less than 4 minutes. That’s impressive for me.
I have now consulted 3 whole people and they said this method is batshit I’m dead 😭😭😭 I thought I was stupidly explaining a well known idea lmao
Okay here you go for those of you who physically cannot sleep for less than 4 hours without intervention like me (insomnia and fatigue mixture is a wild ass crackhead cocktail) and are sensitive to your surroundings while sleeping.
The only thing that ever gets me to sleep at a reasonable time is the need to continue the made up stories in my imagination( usually based off of whatever media I currently like the most) specifically tailored to my taste
I’ve always gone through phases of insomnia. It’s an endless cycle of can’t sleep, get tired, sleep too much, can’t sleep again. It’s frustrating. I would never wake up at a regular time and, when I couldn’t sleep, I’d end up miserably forcing myself to stay up later to make sure I actually slept once I went to bed, instead of doing that half-dozing semi-conscious crap.
I think a big part of the reason so many people have dysfunctional sleep schedules is just because beds are comfortable. That’s it. They’re comfortable, warm, and you just don’t want to get out of them. Weekend lie-ins are great, but they screw up your sleep during the week. That’s the hardest part of this: if you want to sleep regularly, you have to be regular, regardless of what day it is.
Please bear in mind I’m no medical professional and this won’t work for everyone, it’s not a universal cure to insomnia, this is just how I did it. But, if you are struggling, it’s probably worth a try.
1) Pick a wake-up time.
To fix your sleep schedule, you first need to figure out how much sleep your body needs. This means fiddling with bedtimes and wake-times, and people generally have more room for flexibility with bedtimes - they just have more free time at night. So, you need to adjust your bedtime to figure that out.
Pick the time you want to wake up in the morning (I’d recommend some time around or after sunrise - getting up, probably earlier than you would otherwise, is hard, and doing it in the dark isn’t going to do much good for your mood or willingness to get out of bed.) and stick to it. I don’t care if it’s Saturday, get up. Same time, every morning, every day of the week.
2) Count back 7 hours.
Generally, people need 7-9 hours of sleep a night. The goal here is to gradually increase the amount of sleep you’re getting, until you hit the right amount, and it’s best to start with an underestimate. You’ll be tired for a few days, but if you start with an overestimate, you then may not be able to sleep and this whole thing just won’t work.
So, take your wake-up time, count back 7 hours, and make that your bedtime for the moment - e.g. if you want to get up at 7am, go to bed at midnight. Again: every day of the week.
3) Put your alarm across the room.
Alarms are hard to get up to. You hate the noise, so you shut it up, and go back to sleep, because you’re warm. I’ve been that person, setting an alarm every five minutes for an hour and still not getting up.
The trick to getting out of bed at your alarm is really not letting your body realise how warm it is. Wake up, get up, immediately. And the best way to do that is by putting your alarm, whether it’s a clock or a phone, across the room. It’ll go off, wake you up, and you, immediately wanting to silence it, you’ll get straight of bed without mulling in the warmth, and you’ll be more willing to stay out.
It sucks, but it works.
4) Wait a week.
It takes around a week for your body to adjust to a new sleep pattern, so you might not really know whether or not it’s enough sleep until then. Since 7 hours isn’t enough sleep for most people, you’ll probably be sleeping right up until your alarm goes off. You’ll probably be tired during the day, but it’s ultimately worth it, and, besides, that’s what caffeine is for.
5) Adjust.
After the first week, make your bedtime half an hour earlier. Wait another week. If, after the week, you’re still sleeping right up to your alarm, make it another half hour earlier, and repeat, until you start naturally waking up just before your alarm. When you wake up naturally at the time your body’s used to, it means you’re getting enough sleep.
Ideally, you should wait a week between each bedtime, but, if after you’ve got to at least 7.5 hours, you’ve been going to bed at a certain time for a few days and are still tired, you can adjust slightly early. But not until after at least a couple of nights.
6) Exercise your willpower.
Honestly, it gets harder once you’ve worked out how much sleep you need, because when you wake up before your alarm, you do have a few minutes to enjoy the warmth of your bed. Even if you keep putting your alarm across your room (which I would highly recommend), it can make you want to get back into bed. You have to force yourself not to.
As a person who makes my bed every morning, after quieting my alarm, I have to go straight back to my bed to make it, because I refuse to let my alarm blare as I do that. Personally, I keep a water bottle with my phone across the room, which I chug from once the alarm’s off. I also open my curtains because it wakes me up, then I make my bed.
When you wake up before your alarm across the room, it’s all down to your will.
7) Adjust as necessary.
The amount of sleep you need does change throughout your life, so, if your sleep schedule stops working for you, adjust it. Work it out again.
If there’s a specific morning or night in which you have to wake up early or go to bed late, that doesn’t meant change the unnecessary one - if you have to go to bed an hour late, wake up as you usually would, and vice versa. It’s a little tiring, but worth it.
If the time you need to wake up changes, feel free to adjust the whole schedule. You need to wake up an hour earlier than usual from September, wake up and go to bed an hour earlier. It’ll take your body a few nights to re-adjust, but it works.
Waking up earlier is genuinely fantastic. I find it makes me more energetic throughout the day, and gives me so much more time. I hope this can help someone.
I is true... You need to sleep with your sleep cycle.
Sleep cycles (full ones) are 1.5 hours long. Thats why naps are often 1.5 to 2 hours because you wake up naturally when your sleep cycle ends. This means if you can sleep in increments of 1.5 hours, you will wake up more easily as you sleep cycle is ending.
So, if you are going to sleep, sleep 1.5 hours, 3 hours, 4.5 hours, 6 hours, 7.5 hours, or 9 hours, and so on. It's really that simple.
I was trying to sleep 8 hours for years and always felt exhausted even though I was laying down for “adequate” sleep. I discovered on weekends, I often slept 9 hours and woke up feeling refreshed. I also had some bad nights where I only sleep 6 hours, and lo and behold, I strangely felt great the next day!
I recently tried sleeping 7 hours, and while it worked better for me than 8 hours, I was still having “tired eyes” throughout the morning after this sleep. I was probably easier to get up then because I was coming out of my sleep cycle, where at 8 hours I was going back in. Thursday/Friday, I tried sleeping 7.5 hours... AND I HAVE NEVER FELT BETTER. I woke easily, I stayed awake, no tired eyes, no thoughts of sleep. While one time doesn’t necessarily set my theory in stone, I am going to try for this sleep pattern more next week and see what happens. Wish me luck!
I’ve had trouble with sleeping since I can remember. It took me a very long time to fall asleep and the little sleep I got wasn’t really giving me any energy. After few years I’ve learnt a few things that make my sleep much better. Here’s a bunch of them:
Find out how many hours do you need -This is very important. For example I need around 7 hours while my friend need almost 10. Adjust your bedtime to the of hours of sleep you need.
Morning/Night person -Another important detail. Are you happier in the morning or in the evening? When are you the most productive? If you are a morning person, try to go to bed as early as possible and you can wake up early. Night person can stay awake longer and sleep longer. However be careful because sleep before midnight is the most important.
Get stuff ready for tomorrow -An hour or so before bedtime I get stuff ready for the next day. I plan tomorrow and I put my books in the bag. I prepare an outfit and make snacks and sometimes even lunch for tomorrow. All this makes me go to bed less stressed and sometimes even excited.
No screens -Blue light and science stuff... Screens are not really good for you before bed because it makes you more awake. I turn everything off an hour before bed.
Read -Reading actually makes me sleepier and it’s a calm enough activity to slow you down bit.
Stretch -You loosen your muscles after a long day and clear out your head a bit. If you don’t feel like moving, meditation also works well.
Calm or no music -I am very creative person who loves rock music. Music makes my mind race with new ideas. Not good...
No coffee, black tea or green tea -I don’t drink coffee however I love tea. These drinks can keep you awake.Try chamomile tea or even warm milk helps.
Self care -Evenings are a great time for self care. Personally it calms me down and it just overall feels nice.
Warm showers -No need to say more...
Let some fresh air into the room
Of course if you’ve been having serious sleep problems for some time, you should definitely visit a doctor! However I hope I was at least a little helpful and have a nice... night?
