Spoonie Sleep Solutions…For 2022!
If you’re a Spoonie, I’m going to venture a guess that you’ve had trouble sleeping at times? This can be caused by a wide variety of challenges we face when trying to get the much needed rest we need. It can be our mental health with an over active mind or physical health with endless symptoms we face
So if you’re having trouble sleeping, read on to see what’s worked for me and changed the way I sleep this past year. And if they helped me, some of these can definitely help you too.
So what’s causing our sleep problems?
There are challenges we face as Spoonies every day which can impact us getting the shut eye that we desperately need and deserve after battling a long day. Some of the challenges might be…
Overthinking
Physical pain
Sleeping hot (this one would be me)
Sleeping cold
Medications that keep us awake
Not being able to find comfort
Anxiety about the current day
Anxiety about the next day
And so much more!
So how do we tackle some of these? Also, share what plagues your sleep in the comments at the bottom of the post!
Get Ready To Change Your Mindset Towards Sleep
I’m going to get this out of the way right now, you’ll have to change your mindset going into sleep. This means getting ready to put in some serious work for an extended amount of time in order to create new habits, change your bodies schedule, changing your minds schedule, and more.
We (and I say we because I’m right here with you) don’t have the ability like so many people to have our heads hit the pillow, close our eyes, and start snoring. My wife is a pro at all three of those and she can’t help me master it, not that she wants me snoring though.
So don’t expect to sleep better over the course of a week. This will take months of work to change various parts of your mental and physical health. If you’re having trouble sleeping, and you must be if you’re still reading, this journey is more of a marathon.
But good news, if you stick with it, you’ll cross the finish line to better sleep which is glorious.
It’s takes purpose and intention with every bit of effort you put into changing your relationship with sleep.
So here are some of the tools, habits, gadgets, and more that have allowed me to become a better sleeper, wake up in the morning with energy, get through the day, and feel healthier.
What’s helped me…
Below is a quick list of what’s helped me become a better sleeper. Some of these are tools you can use, some are habits you can adopt, some are gadgets designed to help sleep in various ways.
I’ll be touching on them in this post, but you can expect deeper dives in future blogs about some of these individually as well.
Stretching
Scheduling
Planning The Next Day
So let’s take a quick look at some of these a little deeper.
The Calm App
I’m a big proponent of meditation and how it can change both your physical and mental health. And I’ll say this, it doesn’t take time to learn how to meditate, it takes patience.
Meditation isn’t about quieting your mind and thinking like a monk. It’s about accepting your thoughts, breathing techniques, and slowing changing the way your brain works. Which in tune changes how your body works too.
The Calm App has a variety of sleep meditation and sleep meditation courses you can take to guide you through this journey and help calm your mind before bed.
Theragun by Therabody
You see a massage gun and you immediately think, that is for major athletes, not for me. Wait a second, because that’s not the case.
A big part of sleeping is healthy blood flow and a big part of our bodies recovering from a long hard day of battling a chronic illness, guess what, it’s blood flow as well.
The Theragun by Therabody is a tool that I use to quickly generate blood flow within my muscles I used that day and the rest of my body for recovery purposes. This allows my body to reach a relaxing place quicker, fall asleep, and even better, wake up feeling stronger too.
Added bonus, it’ll also help reduce inflammation throughout your entire body.
Nayoya Pad
This was one of the best purchases ever and something I use pretty much every single night. I have to thank Sarah for this one as well since it was a something she ordered to help me with some back pain I was experiencing.
The Nayoya Pad is designed to help generate blood flow in your body, just like the Theragun. It works very similarly to acupuncture, putting sharp but comfortable pressure points all over your back and neck.
Within minutes it not only relieves pain, but relaxes your entire body. There are many times when I’m meditating on it, and I’ll just fall asleep right on the pad. I highly recommend this since it’s so easy to get and very inexpensive.
The Chili Ooler Sleep System
Personally, I’m a hot sleeper. I need it to be cold in my room in order to even have a chance to sleep. So much so, that the entire house will get cold by leaving windows open or blasting the AC, just so I can roll over onto cool sheets and be comfortable. More on sheets later.
The Chili Sleep System is a pad which you can get for your entire bed or even just your half. The pad then hooks up to the base system by a hose which you fill with water. In a short amount of time, the water begins to flow through the pad and can cool (or heat) your bed up.
It’s been a game changer!
The pad doesn’t impact your mattress or change the comfort at all. It’s perfect to sleep on and you’ll be able to stay at your desired temperate all night.
On top of that, there are studies that say sleeping at a cooler temperature not only will help you fall asleep, but stay asleep. And sleep means being healthier both mentally and physically.
Temperpedic Pillows
I toss and turn a lot. I use my pillows not only for my head but at times with my ostomy. I’ll use them as a body pillow so I can sleep on my side more comfortably. For this reason, I destroy pillows. They change shape, get clumpy, and before I know it aren’t even pillows anymore.
A few weeks ago I got Temperpedic Pillows and they’ve been amazing. And yes, they’re cooling pillows as well.
They support my head and neck in a much more comfortable way, adjust to the positions that I’m in as I roll around, and I can easily tell they’re going to keep there shape no matter what I put them through.
They have a variety of options if cooling pillows aren’t your thing either. And if you time it right like I did, they often have a buy one, get one 50% promotion which I jumped at.
Sheex Bed Sheets
You spend a lot of time in bed, and sheets have a larger impact on your sleep than you might think. $25 sheets aren’t designed for sleep, they’re designed to just cover your bed. You spend 1/3 of your life in bed, sometimes more as a Spoonie, save up and get some GOOD sheets.
I went with the Midnight collection by SHEEX and they’re the best thing I’ve ever slept on. They are beyond soft, extremely smooth, and I absolutely love sleeping on them.
We also got the Arctic Aire Max, which I love as well. They are both soft, both cooling, and both very smooth..
When I combine these sheets which you guessed it, have cooling technology in them with my Chili Ooler Sleep System, I’ve gotten into bed and let out an “Ahhhhhhhh” night after night.
SHEEX has a wide variety of options at every single price point and sleeping style, plus they have a great return policy for you to try them and figure out which ones are right for you.
Stretching
I’m going to make this one quick and easy. Your body is stiff and hurting after a long day, stretch before bed. This will get your body moving which in turn will get your blood flowing right before bed as well, and just like the Theragun, bloodflow before bed and while you sleep is critical to sleeping well and recovering for the next day.
Journaling With The Day One App
Right before bed every single night I open up my iPad to the Day One App and get some thoughts out of my head. This can cover my personal life, professional life, health, and so much more. At times, it’s just a brain dump on something that comes to mind at that very moment.
Getting these thoughts out of your head will help you sleep better. These are thoughts that will be better on paper or in an app, then in your head, popping up at 2AM, keeping you up the rest of the night.
Clearing your head is so important to sleeping well. Sometimes you’ll write about something you truly needed to get out, sometimes you’ll write about general nonsense that you didn’t even know was up there. No matter what, it’s better out than in before you try to fall asleep.
Plan The following day
Don’t let the following day impact your sleep tonight. How many times have you gone to bed with anxiety of what the next day will bring, how you’ll navigate what needs to be done, what challenges you’ll face, or just wanting to be more productive?
There is a solution, plan out the following day THIS WAY YOU WAKE UP WITH A PLAN AND PURPOSE.
You’ll not only be able to go to sleep with a clearer mind, but when you wake up you’ll know what needs to be done. And writing out a plan is scientifically shown to push people to follow it more. Here is an example.
Each night I write down my workout plan for the following day, I put my workout clothes downstairs, and have my shoes ready to go as well. This way when I wake up, I not only know what I want to do, but I don’t have any small obstacles in my mind saying “Nah, I don’t want to do that.”
Instead I wake up with a purpose and know what I want to do. Make a plan the night before and stick to it. You’ll be amazed at where this can take you. Not only with sleep, but every area of your life.
What Are Your Thoughts? What Will You Try?
Share in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you think might help you and help if I can as well. Let’s all sleep a little better in 2022.
