What I do when I can't sleep

Oct 19, 2018
Kemi Nekvapil Weekly Words Blog

It is 3.34am and I am writing. Although they are not the reason I am up now though. The reason I am up now

Those same possums also like to run from one end of your roof to the other, as if they are in the possum Olympics. They are incredibly vocal while doing so. They also fight viciously and they generally cause a ruckus.

The area of Melbourne where I live is an urban wildlife sanctuary and it is one of the reasons I love where I live, but when you grow fruit trees and all your neighbours grow fruit trees, possums like to visit.

I consider myself to be a good sleeper, there are times when I am awake in the middle of the night because of a Currawong that started singing. This made me think it was time to wake up soon, but after a while, I thought I should check the clock. It was 3am.

I have no idea what that bird is doing, maybe it has been woken up by the possums.

So here I am.

As I was laying there listening to the bird, I started to think. Never a good idea, when you are also trying to sleep, but I started thinking about the things I do when I can’t sleep.

Oh, there goes a possum across a roof! #truth

Here is my hodge-podge list of things I do or don’t do. Tools I have collected over many years; tools that work for me.

  1. Do not stay in bed for more than 30 minutes. Get up and read or write.
  2. Do not look at the clock; it will stimulate your brain and get you thinking (case in point)
  3. Eat a banana
  4. Make a cup of soothing herbal tea
  5. Do not try and wake husband for a chat; he doesn’t like it
  6. Sleep in the recovery position on your stomach with your right knee at 90 degrees
  7. Do some bed yoga, which wakes my husband. He doesn’t like that either
  8. Re-counting my day backwards
  9. Do a relaxing body scan (yoga nidra) starting at my toes and finishing at my scalp. I rarely make it to my scalp without falling asleep)
  10. Never lie there hoping I will go back to sleep soon. It never works.

So, I have had my banana and a cup of herbal tea. I have written and now I feel ready to return to my slumber.
The Currawong has gone now; it is probably quite embarrassed by its mistake.

I share this with you because maybe my little list will give you a tool or two that you don’t already have, I am also interested in what you do when you are unable to sleep? What are your tools?

Wishing you nights of deep slumber. xxx

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