HAHAHAHA! Right, so let’s talk actual facts and not the alternative kind. According to the National Sleep Foundation, “women are more likely than men to have difficulty falling and staying asleep and to experience more daytime sleepiness at least a few nights/days a week.”
Are you shocked by this? You shouldn’t be, it’s from a 2005 study, so it’s LITERALLY old news. Ask any woman on the street and she’ll tell you exactly when and where she was when she had her last great night of sleep. Actually, don’t do that. Asking a stranger on the street what their sleep patterns are like is a really great way to meet your local cops. (But you could ask the local PD’s how they like to snooze. Enjoy that taze bro.)
So, I thought I’d open up the dialogue and talk about my own bedtime routine. Everybody has one, even if it’s falling face first into your bed still wearing your work clothes, you do in fact have a bedtime routine.
My bedtime routine is like a ritual for me, if I don’t get to do it I have the hardest time falling asleep. It starts around 8pm every night. I know, that sounds crazy early, but stick with me on this one, OK? My son goes to sleep at 7pm. My husband and I hang out, eat, watch TV, until about 8pm. That’s when I go to “bed”. Really, this is the few precious minutes of the day that I get to have alone and enjoy the quiet, I NEED alone time to recharge.
After brushing my teeth, I wash my face and apply my moisturizer. I am religious about this. As a stay-at-home-working-mom of a one-year-old, I don’t always get the chance to wash my face (and a few times even my teeth, gross, but true), so I refuse to skip this step at night.
Next, I spend roughly 1-2 hours in blessed solitude. I sometimes text with friends, but mostly I’ll read a book or I watch youtube beauty tutorials, or lately, I’ve been back into my coloring obsession while listening to podcasts. I keep a journal in my bedside table and a few times a week will jot down notes about things that happened that day or ideas I have for future work projects, but mostly, I zone out and enjoy not needing to be needed by anyone or anything. It’s essential.
Once I’ve moved past the couple hours of relaxing I move onto my favorite hobby: sleeping. Are you like me? Do you struggle to fall asleep? My brain won’t turn off at night, I think about all the things I didn’t do/need to do/want to do/don’t want to do but still need to do. I’ll listen to music, usually a really nice relaxing “zen” massage type sound is enough to get me to fall asleep. Mostly, because I stop thinking about how much I don’t want to go to the grocery store in the morning and think about how much I do want to get a relaxing massage.
And here’s the real deal friends, if you have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep, don’t be afraid to talk to your friends, your family, your doctor about how you can improve your sleep health. Your brain NEEDS sleep and considering it’s a common issue that affects millions of people yearly, you’re probably not the only one in your social circle looking at useless cheap kitchen gadgets online at 3am.
We here at That’s Normal have talked about self-pleasure (not that kind) before and I know I am a firm believer that in order to take care of my family, I have to also take care of myself. I know that as my son gets older I won’t be afforded the luxury of him going to bed at 7pm and having several hours to myself every night and that’s OK, but for now, I’m gonna soak up all the “me time” I can get.
