Here’s a new, simple way to getting a good night’s sleep, to sleeping through the night, to at least not waking up and staying awake. Eliminate the idea that in the middle of the night you need to know what time it is. Hide your digital clock; turn it around to face the wall; cover it with your bathrobe; get rid of it entirely if you don’t use it during the day.
I discovered this little trick to a better night’s sleep when our clock stopped giving accurate time. It was getting ahead of itself in its clock-like way, which was most annoying since I was counting on it every minute, day and night. So I unplugged it. But then what? No instant way to know time, especially in the middle of the night. After a week of sleeping without those red numbers lighting up the room, however, I realized that I didn’t need to know that it was 3 AM. More importantly, when I did awake in the night, I noticed that I was going back to sleep more quickly. Knowing the time was no longer one of those little triggers waking up my mind.
My phone on my bed table is now my clock. In the early morning, when I sense that it is time to get up, I take a peek, and guess what? It is always somewhere around 5:30, which is when I like to get going. Um, maybe I don’t even need my phone. My body knows.
I discovered this little trick to a better night’s sleep when our clock stopped giving accurate time. It was getting ahead of itself in its clock-like way, which was most annoying since I was counting on it every minute, day and night. So I unplugged it. But then what? No instant way to know time, especially in the middle of the night. After a week of sleeping without those red numbers lighting up the room, however, I realized that I didn’t need to know that it was 3 AM. More importantly, when I did awake in the night, I noticed that I was going back to sleep more quickly. Knowing the time was no longer one of those little triggers waking up my mind.
My phone on my bed table is now my clock. In the early morning, when I sense that it is time to get up, I take a peek, and guess what? It is always somewhere around 5:30, which is when I like to get going. Um, maybe I don’t even need my phone. My body knows.