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Jude stomel's avatar

Elle is the sweetest🐾🐾❤️❤️

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Jen Koenig's avatar

Some additional items that have helped me:

1. Sleep mask. It not only cuts out ambient light but it now signals "sleep" to me. It's like a face hug signalling my brain to shut down.

2. Night light in the bathroom. I often wake up between sleep cyles and normally I can just fall right back asleep and start a new one, but occationally I notice I have to use the restroom off our our bedroom. Turning on the light in there is always jarring so I plugged in a night light which provides enough light for me to see what I am doing yet keeps the room quite dim. This way the light doesn't disrupt my sleep cycles.

3. Dog in bed. This can be a huge disruptor of sleep depending on the dog, but one of our dogs sleeps on the bed with us and she's a sound sleeper so doesn't wake us up, but is always an arms reach away for pets and snuggles. It's very relaxing and if anxiety is keeping me up she gets extra pets until I fall asleep.

4. Ambient noise. We have an air purifier in our room which we crank up to full power when we go to sleep. It has the added benefit of keeping our air clean.

5. Just a Comforter. My husband and I (and dog) sleep with a sheet over the mattress and then just a comforter with a duvet. No other blankets or sheets to get balled up or wrapped up in. It's simple and provides for frictionless warmth. Added bonus is that morning bed making is a snap.

6. 90 Minutes During the Day. If I get a poor nights sleep and I have the luxury of 90 minutes during the day (which I admittedly usually do thanks to a remote work schedule with some flexibility) I take lunchtime nap of 90 minutes. Less than that and I end up either tossing and turning without much benefit or being woken up in the middle of a vivid dream by my alarm and feeling worse throughout the day. 90 minutes allows me a full sleep cycle and I often wake up naturally just before the alarm feeling considerably better. It's like a do-over in the middle of the day when I don't get good sleep the night before.

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