I cannot blame my parents, but, if not them, who else? I have never been to follow-through. I start projects and never finish them. So, how to address this fundamental problem? Well, one cop-out is to not make long-term commitments, but to rather describe everything as an “experiment”. If after a week or two if fails, then it has failed. Note that the experiment has made, not me. It could be that this approach is not so much the solution as the problem.

In any case, one “experiment” that I am going to try in February is to develop better sleep patterns. This will mean facing my biggest foe: self-discipline. Making strict rules and sticking to them. The lack-of-sleep problem is not acute — I somehow survive from day to day — but I think that better sleep will be good for me all round. So, on the so-called “internet” I found an article describing the top-ten sleep mistake and how to solve them. Just briefly, here are the mistakes:

1. Not keeping a consistent sleep schedule.
2. Using long naps to counter sleep loss.
3. Not preparing for sleep.
4. Not giving your body the right sleep signals.
5. Having a bedtime snack of refined grains or sugars.
6. Using sleeping pills to fall and stay asleep.
7. Using alcohol to fall asleep.
8. Watching television to fall asleep.
9. Staying in bed hoping to fall asleep.
10. Making sleep a performance issue.

And here is my reaction to each:

1. Guilty as charged. In February I am going to try to write the blog by 21:00, then switch off all computers and going to bed with a book. If I can fall asleep by 10:00 or 11:00 that will be great.
2. Once again, I am very guilty of this. The article says that 30 minutes is the maximum nap time. I do like an afternoon nap, and I think I can live with this.
3. What for sleep??? I didn’t know that I had to prepare. I think that part of the problem is that I have never been taught to sleep. Or at least, I didn’t pick up on the fact that I have been taught. OK, from now on I’ll dim the lights and cut out the stimuli. I am not going to do the restorative yoga that the article suggests, but I’ll perhaps take a warm bath from time to time.
4. I am supposed to cut out all light, even the alarm clock. I can do this. No biggie.
5. Bedtime snacks? I’ve had whole meals in bed. Not often and not recently, though. OK, no snacks. I can do that.
6. Skip. I tried sleeping pills once (about 20 years ago) and they had no effect. So I’ve never used them.
7. Skip. I don’t drink any alcohol at home. Well, perhaps a beer or a glass of wine once every two months. But never to go to sleep.
8. I don’t watch television, but I like listening to the radio. When I listen on my laptop, it is usually set up to cut out after x minutes. But even this is supposed to be bad, according to the article. Heck, even reading in bed is bad, because the bed should be associated with sleep (and sex). Hmm. OK, in February I’ll read on the sofa and only sleep in bed.
9. I never knew this. Apparently my body has sleep cycles of around 90-120 minutes and if I miss falling asleep in one cycle, I have to wait for the next one. There is a “sleep gate” that opens and closes once every cycle. The article actually suggests getting out of bed for an hour or so, and doing something else. Something calming. More restorative yoga. No thanks. I’m sure its wonderful, but that would entail too much of a lifestyle change. I’ll have to think of something to do, but I’m hoping that my body will adapt quickly to the sleep cycle and I won’t need to do this.
10. Well, I’ve definitely stressed out many many times about not being able to sleep. The advice is to “let go and go with the flow”. It is easy to tell someone not to be upset about something, but it is much harder do to follow this advice. I’m supposed to use the time productively and think about how my body reacts under different circumstances. Also, breathing exercises are good. Hmm.

I’m hoping that once I fall into a pattern, I can stick to it. I’ve had mini-patterns before, but when something exciting comes along (like a paper deadline) and I have to work through the night on something, and all hell breaks loose. I suppose that I have to learn to not let this happen.

One thing that the article does not mention and which in my experience can help a lot, is the idea of sleep as reward. Falling asleep is much much easier for me if it comes at the end of a day in which I worked really hard. This includes regular hard work at the office, as well as exercise. I’m not going to commit now to running 5km’s every evening so that I can fall asleep. Exercise is probably better in the morning anyway (for me). But I’ll through in a couple of days of hard exercise and of course, if my sleeping patterns are well established, it is easy to start working early in the morning (my favourite time) and keeping it up throughout the day.