How to Survive Life in the Suburbs

Insomnia Sucks. 10 Tricks To Help Fight The Beast.

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Insomnia.  The struggle is real.

Sometimes just a random occurrence, most often hits when there is a big meeting or a plane to catch the next day!  Why oh why does my body fight sleep when it needs it the most?  After years of battling periodic insomnia, tossing and turning until I’m a puddle of tears, I’ve finally come up with a couple of tricks to help me catch those much needed zzzzz’s when I need them the most.  When does insomnia hit it’s all time high?  For me, the night before a trip.  Every.  Single.  Time.

Here are my Top Ten Tricks To Help You Sleep The Night Before A Flight

  1.  Tackle the list.  Don’t leave that long “to do” list until the night before the flight.  Have the dog settled somewhere safe, the house tidy, the alarm company notified or house sitter filled in, the passports in your purse.  If your mind is at ease you have a much better chance of drifting off to la la land.
  2. Be prepared. Have those bags packed and at the front door.
  3. Turn off the screens.  Screen time is the enemy! Turn off the televisions early, ban the iPhone and laptop, and hit the hay at a reasonable hour.
  4. Shut it down early.  Go to bed early, but not too early.  Usually go to bed at 11pm but have a really early flight?  Don’t try and go to sleep at 8pm, you’re not a Toddler, that’s not going to work.  But maybe you can trick yourself into thinking 9:30pm is a good time to hit the sack.
  5. Try Gravol.  Yes, I’m not above a little Gravol to bring on the sleepiness.
  6. Set TWO alarm clocks.  Peace of mind knowing you won’t sleep through your wake-up call is everything.
  7. Don’t Look.  Turn your alarm clock so you can’t see the big red numbers.  The worst thing you can do to yourself is the countdown.  Ugh…I have to get up in 7 hours.  6..5…4!  That countdown will keep you up all night and leave you feeling ill in the morning.
  8. Forget the sheep.  Counting sheep is annoying.  When I try to count sheep they run out of the corral, trip on each other and make way too much noise.  Counting sheep does not work for me.  Has that ever worked for anyone?  Instead, picture your happy place with you firmly in it.  Maybe on the beach?  With a book and a drink.  Sigh.
  9. Deep Breaths.  Consciously slow your breathing, stretch your body starting with your toes and working all the way up to your shoulders and neck.  Try and physically and mentally relax, take a few deep breaths and drift off to dream world.
  10. Let it go.  Remind yourself that worst case scenario, if you can’t make your body sleep the night before the big trip, you just might be able to grab a nap on the plane.  If not, there’s always coffee!

The next time that insomnia beast shows his ugly head, fight him with preparedness, deep breaths and a devil may care attitude.  You’ve got this! Wishing you all deep sleep and sweet dreams.

    • Comments

    1. Ah, the nights of not falling asleep, mind thinking away. Sometimes even about chocolate. It might help me if I turned off the light that shines the time on the roof. Great tips.

    2. Yes Gravol definitely helps so much! It helps shut off my brain when my thoughts are buzzing with excitement before a vacation & gives that much needed sleep.

    3. These are great! Screen time used to be the biggest thorn in my side when it came to sleep. I’ve made a habit of tuning out at least an hour before I’m planning to go to bed and reading a good book instead. A seemingly little thing but it’s helped immensely!

    5. I suffer from insomnia BUT I wish that it was because I was leaving on a trip…..never gone anywhere!!

    6. I change the sound of my phone alarm to something way more obnoxious so I know I won’t sleep through it! I still wake up 2-3 times over night though lol

    7. I don’t usually have insomnia but once and a while I do – and that’s ENOUGH for me to know just how lucky I am to not have this problem. It truly does affect your whole life. Thanks for the tips, I will keep them in mind if I encounter insomnia again (hopefully I wont!)

    8. I can never sleep before catching a plane. I don’t take anything because I need the gravol for the plane trip. It does help me sleep on the plane and keeps my stomach settled.

    9. Great tips , I have taken benedryl on occasion to help me sleep, deep breaths really help me

    10. I am horrible about powering down a reasonable time before I hit the sack. I read via my Kindle and then go to sleep right. I need to get away form that.

    11. I hope you have a fantastic trip and bring back lots of fun stories.Insomnia is terrible i have days sometimes when i can’t sleep it’s terrible.

    12. Hoping to be heading out on a trip in the next month so I will keep all of this in mind!

    14. Some great tip and I admit that I too resort to Gravol sometimes when all else fails.