In the recent times, a lot of people are complaining that their sleeping habits have gone for a toss! What could the reasons be?
1. Is it because of the increased work pressure? Since most of us are working from home, we are giving ourselves unreasonable deadlines to complete a particular task, which otherwise we would complete at our own pace, had we been at work. In short, we are putting ourselves through unrequired stress. Are we trying to prove that we can be more productive while working from home? Could be one of the reasons, yes. Do we need to be unreasonable while setting those deadlines for ourselves? No.
There needs to be clear a distinction between your chores and your Job. Define your work hours and stand by them. Prepare a timetable if need be and follow the schedule. If you were in office and one of the tasks hits your mailbox after you have logged out, you would address that task the next day. The same rule applies when you are working from home too. Any mail that hits you inbox after your login hours is addressable the next day. Unless of course it is quite urgent and your superiors are waiting on the task to be completed. And once your done for the day, shut your laptop and relax like you would if you have just returned back from work. Shut your work related issues out once you have logged out, don’t let the stress weigh you down.
2. Is it because we are staying home and having the liberty of engaging in our hobbies late into the nights, or rather early into the mornings? In most cases, yes. Is it wrong to do so? Again, yes! Self-discipline is most important if you think your over indulging yourself. Were you going to office the next day, would you engage in your hobbies as much as you do now? If your answer is no, then you need to plan your day accordingly, include hobby time during the day and not at night. Just so you know night owls, nights are for resting!!
3. Is it because your mind is occupied with too many things for you to relax? Is it because you are too afraid to be in your own head? Lot of us use gadgets before we go to bed, even though we know it is one of the reasons whey we are unable to fall asleep. Can we use self restraint on using mobiles and other gadgets before bed? Definitely! But how many of us are actually practicing it? That is the real question. Try not to use these gadgets one hour prior to bed. If you are scandalized with this, let me tell you, it is doable!
If we remove gadgets from the equation, we will be left with our own thoughts. And many of us use this time to micro analyze the problems we have in our life. It is required to do so? Well, our minds don’t particularly listen to us and we are left with no choice! And so, we put ourselves through the monologue that goes on in our head with whatever is the current burning issue in our lives. What alternative we have? Going back to Gadgets….Yay!! NO!! Now is when you try meditating. Counting sheep works too. It worked for me. Well, sometimes I need to count till 100 and beyond. But it works.!
To all the insomniacs out there, the key is to relax. Let go of all the stress in your body! Include exercise in your routine, tire yourself out so much so that the minute your head hits the pillow you fall asleep!
