Goodnight Mind by Rachel Manber Read Free Book Online Page A

feels sleepy , you may not always be able to control your bedtime. For example, your bedtime may be eleven, but if you do not feel sleepy at eleven, you must stay awake until you do. In contrast, you can control when you get out of bed in the morning, simply by setting an alarm. Setting an alarm becomes the anchor of your sleep period. Getting up at the same time each morning sets your body clock and also ensures that you are spending enough time out of bed to be building a drive for deep sleep. Moreover, if you get up at the same time each morning, seven days per week, you will start to become sleepy at around the same time every night. That is, your body will learn to produce sleep between certain hours of the night and only between those certain hours.
    One thing to keep in mind is that in the beginning, when you follow rule 3 (be in bed only when asleep or very close to sleep), initially you may have some nights of poor sleep until your body gets the idea. However, it is very important that you get out of bed at your set rise time and resist the temptation to make up for lost sleep. Staying in bed past your usual rise time will have negative effects on your body clock, will prevent adequate buildup of drive for deep sleep, and will undermine the idea that sleep occurs only in your bed and only between certain hours. This will make it more likely that your body and mind will be wide awake the next night.
    Rule 5: Get Out of Bed If Unable to Sleep
    If you want your bed to be associated with sleep only, then you must get out of bed and preferably leave the room whenever it is obvious that you will not be able to fall asleep any time soon. We don’t recommend you use a clock for this purpose, but you can usually tell within fifteen minutes of getting into bed whether you are going to have a hard time falling asleep.
    What can you do when you leave the room? You can do anything that will not make you feel more awake. Pick an activity that is pleasurable or at least preferable to tossing and turning in bed, but one that does not make you feel more alert. Watching television in another room is a common and a good choice if the program you watch is not so engaging that you will be awake for the rest of the night watching it. Some people like to read, knit, or draw; others like to listen to music, a podcast, or an audiobook. Avoid activities that involve using very bright light and activities that are very engaging. Using the computer can be engaging and involve exposure to bright light—two elements that can increase how alert you feel—so we generally do not recommend it.
    While awake in the middle of the night in a dark house, you must prioritize safety, so be sure that you have enough light to safely walk around. Ensuring safe lighting is of particular relevance for older adults and those on sleep medications. When you are in a different room and you start to feel sleepy, you can return to your room to sleep. If when you get into bed you become wide awake again, get out of bed again; be patient, as it may take some time for your body to get the message. It may take a few days, but your body will soon get the idea.
    Rule 6: Take Your Active Mind out of Bed
    Worrying, brooding, thinking, problem solving, mental list-making, and analyzing, even though they involve only your mind, are all activities that occur when you are awake, so they too can interfere with sleep and must be moved out of the bed. To train your mind to stop doing these activities in bed, get up and leave the bed, and preferably the bedroom; do not return to bed until these mental activities have quieted. You may find that these thoughts go away rather quickly or become less bothersome as soon as you leave the room. Getting out of bed when your mind is active may initially result in some poor nights, but eventually, either the mental activity in bed will decrease and/or the sleep deprivation will override the overactive mind; in either case, you will begin to