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Left to myself I'm pretty terrible at getting to sleep at a sensible time, and it's something that I've been trying quite hard to fix for about the last six months. It started off well - my life slowed down a lot at the start of lockdown, and I think that made it easier, but since then disruptions like surgery combined with life getting busier again have pushed it back off course, and whilst I don't think I'm quite back to square one, I'm definitely a long way from where I'd like to be.
Something I think I would find quite helpful is having some kind of semi-public accountability, as well as people to bounce ideas and strategies off, so I'm going to create an opt-in filter on here to talk about it. I would quite like the filter to only be people who are likely to engage with and comment on what I'm posting a reasonable amount, because otherwise I don't think it will actually work to make me feel accountable. I suspect that I'll probably post to it a lot initially, and much less as time goes by and (I hope) I develop better and more resilient habits. Given that, let me know in the comments if you'd like to be on the filter.
So my long term aim is to be reliably going to bed with the lights out early enough that I generally wake up naturally shortly before my alarm. Ideally I would also like for this habit to be resilient enough that I can occasionally stay up late for a particular event without it breaking. Below are some not terribly structured thoughts about how to achieve this.
I think that to start with I need to be super strict about having a routine that starts well before my intended bedtime. Once I've managed at least a fortnight or so of getting to bed on time I can think about and experiment with what I can safely vary and what needs to stay set in stone.
I suspect that I want my lights-out time to be 11.00, but I need to maintain it for long enough to really see what my sleep patterns look like if I'm not frequently playing catch up. It might be better to start with aiming for 10.30 and then consider moving it later rather than starting with 11.00 and potentially realising I want to move it forward.
Missing my ADHD meds plays havoc with my sleep schedule. Once I have an established routine then I might want to experiment in order to better understand these effects, but whilst I'm establishing I should be extra careful not to miss a dose.
I'm not sure what to do about my phone. On the one hand, leaving it downstairs means it isn't by my bed as a thing to procrastinate with, but on the other hand I have been finding that listening to a familiar audiobook is a useful way to nod off to sleep, and also last night I tried using a guided sleep meditation which seemed to work quite well. I think the answer is probably to try and find other strategies to be able to have it with me and not get sucked into spodding or playing silly phone games.
Something that I think would probably help is finding a pre-bedtime activity which doesn't lend itself to getting sucked in and doing it for hours, but which I find enjoyable enough that I'm not inclined to put off starting to do it at a suitable interval before going to bed. I feel like reading ought to work with the right material - nothing too challenging that feels like studying, but nothing too page-turney either.
Something I think I would find quite helpful is having some kind of semi-public accountability, as well as people to bounce ideas and strategies off, so I'm going to create an opt-in filter on here to talk about it. I would quite like the filter to only be people who are likely to engage with and comment on what I'm posting a reasonable amount, because otherwise I don't think it will actually work to make me feel accountable. I suspect that I'll probably post to it a lot initially, and much less as time goes by and (I hope) I develop better and more resilient habits. Given that, let me know in the comments if you'd like to be on the filter.
So my long term aim is to be reliably going to bed with the lights out early enough that I generally wake up naturally shortly before my alarm. Ideally I would also like for this habit to be resilient enough that I can occasionally stay up late for a particular event without it breaking. Below are some not terribly structured thoughts about how to achieve this.
I think that to start with I need to be super strict about having a routine that starts well before my intended bedtime. Once I've managed at least a fortnight or so of getting to bed on time I can think about and experiment with what I can safely vary and what needs to stay set in stone.
I suspect that I want my lights-out time to be 11.00, but I need to maintain it for long enough to really see what my sleep patterns look like if I'm not frequently playing catch up. It might be better to start with aiming for 10.30 and then consider moving it later rather than starting with 11.00 and potentially realising I want to move it forward.
Missing my ADHD meds plays havoc with my sleep schedule. Once I have an established routine then I might want to experiment in order to better understand these effects, but whilst I'm establishing I should be extra careful not to miss a dose.
I'm not sure what to do about my phone. On the one hand, leaving it downstairs means it isn't by my bed as a thing to procrastinate with, but on the other hand I have been finding that listening to a familiar audiobook is a useful way to nod off to sleep, and also last night I tried using a guided sleep meditation which seemed to work quite well. I think the answer is probably to try and find other strategies to be able to have it with me and not get sucked into spodding or playing silly phone games.
Something that I think would probably help is finding a pre-bedtime activity which doesn't lend itself to getting sucked in and doing it for hours, but which I find enjoyable enough that I'm not inclined to put off starting to do it at a suitable interval before going to bed. I feel like reading ought to work with the right material - nothing too challenging that feels like studying, but nothing too page-turney either.
