How to Conquer Your Sleep in 4 Steps

Laurie Moser . Published May 29, 2023

You are afraid of getting another night of poor sleep.

You can’t remember the last time you had a good night’s sleep.

Will you ever be able to sleep well again? You feel a sense of doom every night. Is there anything that will help?

It’s enough to make you start feeling anxious, stressed and depressed all at the same time when you think about sleep.

You might think you need medication or professional help in getting a good night’s sleep. You probably don’t.

Actually, the solutions may be a lot easier than you expect. Sometimes, you just need to add a few impactful items to your bedtime routine and blissful sleep is on the way.

1. Make Time to Exercise

You know that exercise is important and you should try to get some movement every day. Did you know that timing makes a difference, especially for sleep quality.

When you exercise in the morning it helps to set your internal clock for sleep. The hormone, cortisol, is the highest in the morning. This is often called the stress hormone. You want that hormone lowest at night when you are going to sleep.

Regular exercise in the morning is great for boosting energy and reducing fatigue. By exercising early, you will feel more energy throughout the day, be more productive and ready for better sleep at night.

2. Journal Your Thoughts

You are in bed trying to fall asleep and all you can think about is your to-do list that you didn’t get completed today and tomorrow you have a whole new one. How do you get these thoughts out of your head?

Have a piece of paper or notepad and pen handy and jot down your to-do list for tomorrow. Just getting those thoughts out of your head and onto paper will be so remarkable.

Now you can stop the rumination in your head that is keeping you awake and feel at peace knowing that your to-do list can wait for another day.

3. Breathe For Relaxation

Right before you try to fall asleep, it starts in your chest, that shallow fast breathing. You are anticipating another night of poor sleep and you can feel it. Make breathing work for you.

Instead of shallow, fast breathing from the chest that happens when you are feeling anxious or stressed, you want to implement slow and deep breathing for relaxation.

Try a breathing relaxation exercise to get you into your parasympathetic nervous system. Think of this as your rest and digest nervous system which allows you to relax. A great breathing exercise for relaxation is the 4-7-8 exercise by Andrew Weil.

Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.

Hold your breath for a count of 7.

Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8.

This is one breath cycle. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four cycles.

4. Laugh Before Bed

You watch something, have an upsetting conversation or listen to something that makes you agitated right before bed. How does it make you feel?

Your sleep quality is significantly impacted by your emotional state right before bed. Just think of the last time you watched something very disturbing on TV. Your sleep quality suffered. Especially with the TV, there is the sound and the visual impact on our senses, it is a double whammy to our emotional well-being right before bed.

I must confess here, my husband and I have a ritual of enjoying tea and watching something that makes us laugh right before bed. It was a deliberate decision to watch something that makes us laugh. If you also enjoy watching a show to unwind, and relax before bed, don’t feel guilty or ashamed about it. Instead, be smart about what you consume. Your mind will thank you.

Act Now

You know how important sleep is. You want to have a productive day, feeling energized.

Getting that good night’s sleep has been challenging, but it’s achievable with a few added steps to your nightly routine.

You are not alone in feeling a sense of doom before sleep every night.

However, the longer you stay the same, repeating the disastrous sleep cycle, the worse it becomes.

So act now. Go through the 4 steps in this post and pick one to start with today. Breathing exercise before bed will take you under 2 minutes to do, plus you can be in bed to start this.

Take one small step at a time and you will start to feel and see improvement in your sleep.

You will go from feeling tired and wired to alive and energized for your day!