Lately I’ve been on this mission to tear myself away from my daily netflix binges and YouTube obsessions. I have always been an avid reader, but once I hit high school it just seemed like I had less and less time to sit down and curl up with a good book. Tragic, I know.
So as I was doing my normal Kroger shopping trip, I stopped to look at the end rack of magazines because the woman in front of me was taking FOREVER to get her groceries onto the belt. I normally don’t do more than read the headlines, gawk, and then turn to Twitter and Google to see if I can confirm the scandalous news. This day was different. I saw a cover that caught my eye, and as I quickly looked over the contents I threw it in my cart and told myself I would spend a few minutes to see what it was about.
As I suffer from narcolepsy and insomnia, I’m always looking for more tips on how to get a better night’s sleep. I, like most people, sleep with my phone in my bed, or if i’m being good, on my nightstand. I look at all of my social apps, I check the weather, I look at my calendar and I put on a relaxing ASMR video. That is my routine every night and it’s worked for a while; but I’ve been realizing that even with my videos playing, my mind is still racing, and I’m still struggling to sleep at night.
One of the tips I took to heart was to not overstimulate your brain with electronics and tasks that require you to think a lot. A good way to prepare yourself for bed is to do something relaxing, and for me that’s reading a good book. I started a book at the beginning of the semester, but I didn’t get far. So I chose to continue with that book and to try and finish it because it was really good.
I honestly didn’t think I would stick to it, and there were a few nights when I only read a handful of pages; but I reminded myself of why I was doing it, and that kept me motivated. I definitely noticed a change the first night because I fell asleep fast and I stayed asleep. While there wasn’t a big change overall throughout the week, I will say that I was a lot more relaxed. I didn’t seem to wake up thinking about things throughout the night like I normally do. I generally slept better and woke up feeling less stressed and less tired than normal.
If you’re having trouble sleeping, relaxing, reducing stress, etc. then check out Time Magazine’s Special Edition on Mindfulness!
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