How have you been sleeping lately? I not so well. I do well during the day, mainly. But then I wake up at 3 or 4 worried about what’s going on in the world. Here are some strategies I use to distract myself and get back to sleep. Maybe they will be useful to you?
You have to avoid thinking about certain things if you want to go back to sleep, in my experience. Death. Dementia. The theocrats of the Supreme Court. Billionaire white supremacists. The sociopathic eugenicist who denies all scientific and medical reality and is preventing our loved (and hated) ones from receiving life-saving vaccines. That kind of thing.
It’s also best not to think about sleep science when you can’t sleep. For example, how sleep disruption affects memory consolidation. I would really like to remember what happened yesterday! And how disrupted sleep increases blood pressure. I would very much like not to have a heart attack tomorrow!
I know what you’re supposed to do to sleep better: don’t eat or drink anything close to bedtime. Exercise. Enjoy exciting hobbies. No screens or fatal late-night scrolling. Read quiet books in bed, not thrillers. Keep your room cool. Nice and fluffy pillows. I do all these things.
But still! There’s a lot to worry about in the middle of the night. Miss a flight. Body aches and pains. Propaganda tramples on facts and humanity. The reckless, narcissistic and belligerent dictator who has control of the United States nuclear weapons codes.
So I try to tire out my mind like you would a cranky child. I try to count from 100 by sevens. Or counting in order of two: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc., until I lose my place and briefly worry about that instead of transgender people who are simply trying to be authentic but are being denied basic medical care by the world’s worst bullies.
Bland, irrelevant, or extravagant words can help. I often choose a category of things and then go through the alphabet thinking of examples that begin with each letter. So for the animals: anteater, bonobo, cutthroat trout, etc. FYI, when you get to the hard letters, there’s a mammal called a quokka, which is adorable, and a bird called a Xantus murrelet, which is the same thing.
If you play Wordle, you can review the alphabet by thinking of good starting words: audio, bayou, cause, delay, etc. Try words that begin and end with the same letter: Alaska, propaganda, chic, dud, etc. You can list foods: apple pie, borscht, crepes… but be careful, you might get hungry.
The categories have to be happy, and sometimes the category I choose is “happy words.” Amazing, beautiful, creative, depressing…argh, start again.
I have tried breathing exercises but I feel like I am hyperventilating. I’m probably doing it wrong.
Don’t test your memory with world capitals or other facts you used to know, although it may be helpful to read Billy Collins’ wonderful poem. Forgotwhich begins: “The name of the author is the first to go / obediently followed by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion…” and describes memories such as that of the capital of Paraguay that escapes. (It is Asunción.)
I try to think of things that have improved in our lives. Bald Eagles Nest Everywhere Now! The Cuyahoga doesn’t burn and Cleveland has a beautiful network of parks with trails along its river. Scientists just came up with a chlamydia vaccine in koalas.
But if you follow this path, whatever you do, don’t think about the 10 greatest advances in public health of the 20th century and how the current administration, in this 21st century, is systematically undermining each of them.
But please think about what we can do with all of this. I don’t have big or grand answers, just small but hopefully meaningful answers. Consult with people. Support advocacy organizations. Go to protests. Share real information on social networks. Subscribe to trusted news sources. Support your friends, especially those who are most vulnerable. Volunteer. Mentor. Build things. Make bad art or bad music. Go to a trivia night with friends and lose. Tell someone you enjoyed their work. Reading mysteries: It’s so satisfying that there’s an answer at the end. Read science fiction to enjoy this planet. Laugh at how bad it is. Plant things. Cook for people. Thank people, whether you know them well or not. And please take care of yourselves as best you can. We have to survive these demagogues.
And share, in the comments here or on social media, how you spend the night. I could use some new ideas! Thank you and sweet dreams.
#sleep
