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| Sea Lion Slumber |
Sleep is related to mental health and productivity and it's on my mind right now. I've struggled with insomnia throughout my life. Any type of stress seems to result in lack of sleep for me.
As I've become a "self-help junkie," I've read a lot about how much sleep affects our mental health! It seems the topic of sleep has become very trendy!
Just yesterday I read this article about how to fall asleep in under a minute using a simple breathing technique. I thought, Cool! I'll give that a chance next time I can't fall asleep!
That chance came last night and guess what happened?
It didn't work at all (for me!)
How does this relate to Agile? We need to recognize that we are all different! There is not a one-size-fits-all solution to problems! Agile is all about experimentation and changing your habits or strategy: doing more of what works well and less of what doesn't work well.
My sleep has improved immensely since I stopped working a traditional job. Besides the stress that work brings, just knowing that even if I got to sleep, an alarm clock would jar me out of sleep was enough to keep me awake. In other words, I was losing more sleep because I was worrying about lack of sleep. It becomes a vicious cycle. I'm sure anyone who's had insomnia can attest to how much sleep matters to our health!
These days, when I have a bad night, I take comfort in knowing that usually I don't need to get anywhere early. Even though I genuinely like to wake up early, I usually don't set an alarm clock. Having the flexibility to know I can sleep late or take a nap the next day helps me relax and often, once I do get to sleep, I make up for my lost hours by sleeping later than usual.
As I said, the topic of sleep is so trendy in self-help that just yesterday I listened to a podcast about how couples should feel OK if they don't want to sleep in the same bed. They don't have to worry that that's a reflection of having a bad relationship. (Since I'm not in a relationship now, this doesn't really pertain to me except for in the podcast the speaker said that it's been shown over and over again that people who are coupled are happier than those who are single. Another little study where I don't think I fit the norm..)
I'll put the links to some of the articles with things to try. For other insomniacs out there, experiment and see what works best for you! (You may also discover a new newsletter or podcast that you want to subscribe to yourself for lots of other self-help goodies!). I didn't get the CALM App myself, but wanted to include for those who might like apps...
- How to Be a Better Human Podcast: How to sleep like your relationships depend on it
- From Greater Good: Four Surprising Ways to Get a Better Night's Sleep
- From Happify: Worries Keeping You Up at Night?
- From Optimal Living Daily: Over 85 million people around the world use Calm to take care of their minds and get better sleep. And if you go to CALM.COM/ord, you’ll get a limited time offer of 40% off a Calm Premium Subscription, which includes hundreds of hours of programming!
Sleep well!
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2 comments:
Sorry to hear of your insomnia Yvette. I for one do not suffer insomnia, I actually fall asleep pretty quickly, when I was working I never used the traditional alarm clock. I played music on my Bose CD player/radio. The CD is soft instrumental music, by various artists, the common denominator is it was soothing and relaxing music, which I played to go to sleep and to wake up to something soft and soothing
If for some reason I walk up in the middle of the night ( my puppy needs a bathroom break, or a loud noise, I clear my mind and fall back to sleep.
Also when I worked as a Government Senior Manager of many different projects, I would sometimes focus on them for about thirty minutes each night, figure out what I needed t9 do the next day or week and then compartmentalize the data or information until I was driving into work the next day.
I do know when I was in the Infantry as an Officer, I did learn to sleep, anytime and anywhere, plane, truck, Jeep, ground, helicopter, even fifteen minutes was enough to keep me going until the mission was over.
I learned to carry it over to being a Civilian in the Government
Note: I do no use any medication, and I limit an alcoholic beverage to at least an hour before I go to bed. No more than two drinks any time.
Hope this helps
Thanks, Ron! Yes, when I was working, writing down what I wanted to remember or some of my thoughts helped clear my mind, allowing it to sleep. That's great that you have the ability to sleep so easily! It's probably added years to your life!
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