March 2009
The (One) Night Stand… or a Sustainable Relationship with Sleep?
Want a snapshot of the quality of your sleep?
It’s as easy as examining your nightstand.
If sleep is a nightly get-away, then the nightstand is the overnight bag we carry at our side. We can learn a lot about a person and their travels by looking at their bags.
Is your nightstand suggestive of a rejuvenating personal retreat?
Or, is it more about a stressful business trip?
What’s on your nightstand?
I regularly ask this question of people who struggle with sleep. Table lamps, digital clocks, radios, telephones and lots of reading material are standards. Not surprisingly, we also find cell phones, PDAs, iPods and even laptops. Many will sheepishly admit evidence of dubious bedtime indulgences ranging from sugary snacks to a glass of red wine.
Sleep paraphernalia including eye masks, aromatherapy candles, sound machines, a wide range of sleep potions, and, of course, a bottle of sleeping pills top off the list.
Carrying items that support an easy excursion into sleep are ideal. Unfortunately, much of what we pack onto our nightstands tethers us to the waking world and interferes with healthy sleep.
Take a closer look at what’s on your nightstand. Ask yourself if these things encourage a natural surrender to sleep or keep you subtly tethered to the world of waking. Things that keep you connected to waking such as clocks, lamps, radios, computers and telephones, as well as energy spiking foods, substances and information have no place on an overnight sleep retreat.
The ubiquitous digital clock, for example, can draw us back into the waking world of time. To make matters worse, both the light and the electromagnetic field radiating from such a device suppresses melatonin, further compromising our sleep and overall health. Best to get the thing away from your head and your bed.
Our personal stance toward night…
Our nightstands reflect our personal stance toward night. Too frequently, there is a sense of desperation behind our efforts to sleep. Faced with the prospect of yet another bad night, many of us will do whatever it takes to make it through. Whether its about overeating, distracting ourselves, or dependence upon alcohol or sleeping pills, such a one night stand approach ultimately backfires.
We need, instead, to think in terms of a sustainable relationship with sleep. Deep Green SleepTM is about such sustainability from both an environmental as well as a psychological perspective.
Consider developing a personal, soothing evening ritual under gentle low-blue lighting. This might include a warm bath, some yoga or stretching, meditation or prayer, and some light or even lighthearted reading. And always, in the end, it’s about surrendering to sleep.