Weirdest Ways To Get To Sleep

Here at Stay at Home Mum, things can get a little full on, and our head honcho Jody is well known for her serious bouts of insomnia and sleep deprivation. There are numerous factors to consider when you suffering from insomnia, including stress, emotional and physical injury, diet and lifestyle and medical issues, but when you’re lying awake at 3 am, the only thing you really start to worry about it that you haven’t, and probably will not get, enough sleep! So if you’ve given all the tried and true methods a go, like a warm drink before bedtime or no strenuous exercise after 7pm, give some of these weird ways to get to sleep a go! They are tested on and suggested from the most reliable of guinea pigs; our own SAHM staff!

Tense It Up

I remember this method being suggested by Christina Applegate in a DOLLY interview when I was 14 and was surprised to hear I am not the only one in the SAHM office who gives it a go! Lay on your back and start to clench all your muscles, fromm your toes, right up your body until even your eyebrows are furrowed. Hold for a couple of seconds and release in the same order. It is supposed to leave the body feeling completely relaxed, however if you sleep next to someone, you may want to give them the heads up on what you’re doing, because when you clench your whole body you look like you are having a seizure of sorts.

Guided Meditation

If you have ever been to a Yoga class and remember the lovely relaxing visualization at the end that puts you right to sleep? Try the one in the video below – or there are hundreds of other free ones available online. Great for the person who struggles to turn your brain off at night!

Half and Half

So this theory works on the basis that having warm feet in bed whilst your body tried to warm up your body makes you sleepy. On of our ladies has a cold shower with her feet in a bucket of super hot water to achieve this, whilst others have supported this theory, saying that when they sleep in socks in a cold bedroom, they fall asleep easier. Personally, I would support naked sex with socks on to go with the cold body/warm feet idea, but whatever gets you into the land of nod!

Rock-A-Bye Baby

OK, this one is probably up there with imitating a fit, so you may want to either go to bed half an hour before your bed companion, or warn them the bed will be ‘rockin’ (and probably not in the way they would like!). Many people go back to their baby days and find that rocking themselves in bed is an effective way to fall asleep.

How to do it: Lie on your stomach with your legs very slightly spread apart. Gently start rocking from side to side from the buttocks area. Feel the zzzzz’s coming!

Temperature Control

There’s nothing like being all snuggled up on a cold winters night for a good nights sleep, and most people find they sleep better in a cool room, even going so far as to keep the fan going in the middle of winter. The idea is to keep the room temperature as cool as possible to encourage ‘snuggly sleep’, however this can be almost impossible in the middle of summer. My mother swears by the warm bed, with the leg sticking out method… She says this doesn’t let her body get too hot!

Position

No, we aren’t talking about that kind of position in bed! Everybody has a specific position they find most conducive to sleep, whether it be on your front, on your back or sprawled out like a starfish half on your side. Finding this particular position, or going through your motions to get to this position without tossing and turning, is almost a guarantee you will fall asleep. The position of the bedclothes is also important, with many SAHM lasies professing to need an extremity poking from out of the covers for ‘even’ temperature control, covers only pulled up to the middle to eliminate tangling, or even covers on the right or left side only, for symmetry!

White Noise

A huge number of insomniacs swear by white noise. A fan, radio chatter, music, rain or even white noise machines are all used to block out the background noises of your sleeping household and have become the answer to some insomniac’s prayers. However, it poses a problem when away from home, as most people who rely on them cannot get to sleep without some form of white noise. One SAHM admits to needing radio podcasts or voices to get her to sleep, with music conjouring up too many memories for effective slumber!

Other noise that can work include:

Rain on a tin roof
Thunder Storm
Running Brook
Waves crashing on rocks
Nature sounds, rainforrest
Whales singing.

Yoga Breaths

Experts have found that breathing in and out through your left nostril lowers blood pressure and is beneficial when suffering from overheating or hot flushes. This calming yoga technique is performed lying on your left side. Just don’t leave your finger up your nose all night!

Weirdest Ways To Get To Sleep