Being the child of a night-owl, I sometimes wish I hadn’t inherited this rather annoying vice. Not sure if I can call it a vice, tho… It feels like one, anyway. Oh well, being wide awake in the middle of the night definitely is NOT fun at all. Especially when one has to get up early and spend most of the day at school or work, supposedly focused on some really hard tasks.
But because I can’t really do much about this rather unrequested burden, I’m trying to lull myself to sleep. Here’s some things the one or the other sleepless reader might consider doing while desperately forcing oneself to sleep (just random stuff I occasionally do at night):
Post on your blog or write a novel
Doing it right now, folks! 😉 Writing usually gets me into a very interesting mood. Even if it’s tiring and I really want to stop soon, I can’t control myself. That’s why I started writing this story I’ve been working on for quite a while now. Might become my first novel, never know!
Somebody once told me they keep some sort of diary, where they briefly write down all the things that happened during the day. Sometimes, one has certain things in mind that just keep them from going to sleep, and writing down all your thoughts might help you relax after a long and busy day.
Read a book
This is how pretty much every day of my life ends: I can’t really go to sleep without reading a few pages. I’m trying to keep my late-night reading light, comparable to food. You don’t really want to eat heavy, greasy food right before you go to bed. So I’d never pick one of those “masterpieces of literature” as my bedsidetable book! Many people don’t want to admit that they secretly love indulging themselves in poorly written pulp fiction. I do! 😉 Because it clears my mind, there’s nothing much to think about and it makes my eyes tired.
Go for a walk
Maybe not the best idea of all, depending in what area you live. If there’s a dog in your household (and it is willing to get out of bed in the middle of the night), it might be safer. Maybe not, if the dog’s the size of a rat… A sleepless spouse might join you. But I guess there might be other stuff to do if your better half suffers from sleeplessness as well… Ask my neighbors if you don’t know what I mean…!
The cold and fresh air most certainly makes me tired, and a walk, even if it’s just around the block, helps me clear my mind. This is what I usually do while suffering from writer’s block during the day. Widely described in my previous posts.
Get everything ready for the next day
Like: Get the laundry ready, fix your snacks for the day (for your neighbors’ sake: you might not want to cook in the middle of the night, it gets kinda noisy, and no matter what it is, it smells), clean up the kitchen, tidy the office… This is pretty much what I can think of right now. I just re-laced my shoes about an hour ago… I had a little vacuum accident a few weeks ago and one of my sneakers “lost” part of a shoe lace and needed a new one (not so sure why I’m defending myself over shoe laces right now).
Bake
a cake, muffins, bread, cupcakes – you name it! I find baking extremely relaxing and it automatically fixes you some breakfast or a great snack for the next day. But: baking and cooking basically are the same thing. Sort of. Whatever you do in the kitchen could get rather noisy. Unless you knead the bread dough with your bare hands, like me. And even if that bread or the cake-to-be smell delicious to you – your neighbors might not like it at 3am.
Surf the web
Might be the most obvious recommendation ever. Don’t go online-shopping, tho. You might regret it later. Unfortunately, using the internet just to bridge some time does have its drawbacks! Doesn’t make you sleepy, wakes you up. While you’re chatting with that friend in Australia, emailing your aunt, reading random blogs, getting smart on Wikipedia, or more stupid on YouTube, time just flies by! So never forget to keep an eye on that clock, otherwise it starts dawning and you’re still sitting there without one single minute of sleep. Not so cool if your alarm gets off at 7am because you gotta run to work, eh?
Have a nice cup of herbal tea…
…dim the light, listen to some soft music and tune out. And hopefully fall asleep! 😉
Are you a night-owl, doing all those things I just mentioned (like me?)? What else is there to do in the middle of the night? And is it possible to become a regular human being and not be a night-owl anymore?
>A little sidenote before I forget: Due to very low blood pressure, I won’t just take a pill. Even though I’m not against those wonderful little pills the pharma industry creates for all our little aches and pains, I disagree with taking sleeping pills.
I also go to bed at the same time and I try to wake up at the same time every day. Routine’s supposed to help – not me, tho.
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