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How to Sleep Like a Baby
Problems sleeping can be a major drag on happiness — if you can’t sleep well, you can’t function as well during the day.
Today a reader asked, “I want to spend less time rolling in the bed, and more time sleeping. I wanna be a baby again. Help!”
I love the image of being a baby again — in my head, it conjures1 up not only sleeping peacefully (though in reality many babies don’t), but growing magically young again, care-free, without the worries that normally2 plague3 us and keep us up at night.
I don’t have the magical pill that will make you young again, but I can offer some help with sleep. I’ve changed my sleeping patterns a number of times, and know that it can be difficult. Sleep is a deep part of the body’s rhythms4, and it’s one of the harder habits to change. That said, it’s changeable.
Sleep Problems
Let’s take a quick look at some of the problems that keep people rolling around in bed (not in the good way, pervert):
Not tired yet — your sleeping pattern is set so that you usually sleep later, so if you go to bed earlier, you’re not tired enough to fall asleep.
Too tired — it’s possible to be so exhausted5 that sleep is difficult. This tends to be a problem less often than “not tired enough” though.
Worries — you’ve got something spinning around in your head, so the sleep doesn’t come. Sometimes it’s replaying something that’s happened, or things that someone said, and other times it’s worrying about something coming up, or planning.
Computers — if you’re on your computer (often in bed), you might be tired but have a hard time sleeping because your mind isn’t unwinding.
There are other issues, but I’ve found these to be the most common. Let’s look at how to help with them.
So how do we solve the problems above and become baby-like in our sleep? I don’t have all the answers, but here are some of the things that have worked for me:
1. Exercise. A good hard workout or run, bike or swim will get you nice and tired. A good yoga workout is a wonderful way to do that, as you learn mindfulness at the same time. Even if the workout is early in the day, I often go to bed with a tired body, and look forward to the rest. Don’t workout right before bed though.
2. Get up early. You can get your body to shift7 its sleeping schedule by slowly getting up earlier. Try 15 minutes earlier than normal for a week, then another 15 minutes. If you get up earlier, you’ll be a bit tired during the day, and when it comes time to go to sleep, you’ll enjoy the rest.
3. Establish a bedtime ritual8. It takes time to unwind the body and mind. At least an hour before bedtime, start slowing down. Turn off the computer. Floss & brush your teeth. Put away things you were using in the evening. Lay down and read a book (not on your laptop). This kind of ritual helps establish in your mind that it’s time to sleep, and your body takes this cue9 and begins to prepare itself.
4. Keep your room only for sleeping. Don’t eat, watch TV, use your computer, or do other kinds of activities in your room (OK, perv, just one other activity is OK). Keep those activities in the living and dining rooms, so that when you go to bed, there’s just one thing to do. Be sure to make the room dark when you go to sleep too — your body reacts to light.
5. Focus your attention. Once you’ve done your bedtime ritual and unwound, and your body is nice and tired, you need to quiet the mind. My trick for doing that: close your eyes, and visualize10 what you did first thing today. That might be opening your eyes and getting out of bed. Then visualize the second thing you did — let’s say you peed and washed your face, or drank a glass of water. Then you started the coffee but first had to grind11 the beans. Visualize these tiny steps in detail. I never get past the first hour before I’m asleep.
6. Change slowly. Be patient with sleeping changes — they are difficult, because when we are tired, our mind doesn’t have the discipline to stick to changes. Our body and mind want to do what they’re used to doing. But if you change a little at a time, and forgive yourself for “messing up” (there’s no messing up, actually), then you can make changes.
I hope this helps. I will admit that I don’t always sleep soundly — sometimes I have trouble sleeping, but when I use these methods, I can usually cure the sleeping problems.
点击收听单词发音
1 conjures | |
用魔术变出( conjure的第三人称单数 ); 祈求,恳求; 变戏法; (变魔术般地) 使…出现 | |
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2 normally | |
adv.正常地,通常地 | |
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3 plague | |
n.瘟疫,鼠疫,祸患,灾难;v.烦扰,使痛苦 | |
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4 rhythms | |
节奏( rhythm的名词复数 ); 规则变化; 规律; 节律 | |
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5 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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6 formula | |
n.公式;配方,外方;规则,一定的做法 | |
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7 shift | |
n.交换,变化,移动,接班者;vt.更替,移转,变声;vi.改变,定责,更衣 | |
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8 ritual | |
adj.例行的,老规矩的,惯常的 | |
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9 cue | |
n.暗示,信号,提示;vt.提示,暗示 | |
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10 visualize | |
vt.使看得见,使具体化,想象,设想 | |
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11 grind | |
n.(常贬义)用功的学生,书呆子;vt.磨,磨碎 | |
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12 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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13 glorious | |
adj.美丽的,辉煌的;荣耀的 | |
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