Last updated on October 3, 2020
Question:
I’ve been having trouble falling asleep at night. For a few nights now, I’ve only been able to fall asleep at 3:00 am in the morning! So I wake up at 12:00 pm and I’m just wasting the days with sleep. After my nighttime prayer, my mind just keeps running about Bible topics, such as from what I’ve read during the day and about how I need to start maturing and dedicating my life to God. Anyway, my mind goes on and I don’t find myself tired sometimes, so I get hungry at about 1:00 am, I eat something, read the Bible for a bit, then lay in my bed until I fall asleep. I have insomnia from the looks of it.
Any advice?
Answer:
It isn’t unusual for teenagers to experience time shifts in their sleep cycle. It gets worse over summer breaks because you don’t need to get up at a particular time. So you keep creeping toward a later bedtime which leads to later wake-up times. By the way, if you have insomnia you would not be getting up later and you would be a walking zombie because you are not getting enough sleep.
Here is a two prong attack:
First, set your alarm about 1/2 hour before you last woke up.
Second, pick when you would like to go to sleep. Then one hour before that time, turn off all electronics (bright lights interrupt the sleep cycle), dim the lights, get ready for bed, and do a little reading or say some prayers. Having an established bedtime habit gets your body geared to go to sleep.
Oh, and cut out the late night snacking. It isn’t a good habit and it gears your body back up to digest your food.
What you are going to find is that you will get sleep sooner each night. It might take a week or two to reset your clock, but eventually, it will get there.