Healthy Sleep Routine
I am creating this post along with @Dreamy89. We plan to work towards the goal of healthy sleep routine. We want to login our daily sleep timings and discuss about ideas which help us to have a better sleep schedule.
10-May-2025.
Went to sleep at 8:45 am IST ( hyperfocus I guess, as I was collecting data to take an important decision)
Woke up at 4:45 pm IST
@Lovetoconverse
Wow! Although hyper focus can get in the way of sleep at times LOL! I hope it was a nice quality sleep!
11-May-2025
Update: I woke up at 5 am this morning after going to bed at 10 pm from exhaustion, I had my phone and laptop shut off and decided to read manga instead to relax me instead of getting absorbed with Y0utub3.
Still feel very tired like my eyes want to sleep but can't if I tried.
@Dreamy89
Hi are you online?
@Lovetoconverse
Yes I am! Why is that?
@Dreamy 89
Hi, I didn't notice your reply, I got busy looking at something on laptop. I just thought of chatting with you, nothing else.
I did have nice quality sleep on May 10th. Thanks for asking.
I guess it's nice that you went to sleep early. But I feel you wanted more sleep. What is manga? Do you mean reading a magazine? It's better than You tube I suppose.
11-May-2025
I went to sleep at 8:45 a.m. It was morning already. I took a decision to buy an online course to help me learn new skills and also help me in getting a new job. I am very excited to start this course as I have high hopes. I was so happy that I went on researching on my next action to be taken after I buy that course. When I am happy I want to do the work without thinking whether it's night or morning, it was productive and useful work but was not urgent and hence not required to be done in the night. After closing my laptop, again I spent some more time on mobile and finally when I was kind of tired, I went to sleep.
I woke up at 5:30 pm but I hardly slept for 5 hours as I got two calls and then it took more time for me to fall asleep again.
Learning 1 : Even when a task is due, when it's not urgent, please don't start doing the task in the night as after starting the task it is difficult to stop. Acknowledge the excitement of starting something new (new course in my case), feel the happiness but take the action in the day time.
I felt good that although the timing was not right I did some productive work. Next time, I will work towards doing the task in the right time as well.
I have to change this pattern of sleeping in the day time at the earliest, as it will not work. Now, I have to be more serious, as I will be starting the new course and also look for some part time job. I have many things to be done and I will do it during daytime.
I hope my timings will be better tomorrow, slight improvement at least.
Bye Bye
@Dreamy89
Hi, I am in a hurry so I will just update the time.
12-May-2025
I slept around 6:45 a.m. and woke up around 4:40 pm
Compared to the previous day, I have gone to sleep 2 hours earlier. Nothing great, but noticing small changes may motivate me to go further.
I plan to go to Bank tomorrow, so I will wake up a bit early tomorrow.
Update: I have symptoms of contamination ocd so this also effects my bedtime routine
At around 9pm, I got home from a walk then ate some chinese food to help combat the feelings of depression. 45 minutes has passed, my bedtime is supposed to be at 10:30. I took a bath and a shower at 9:45 and didn't finish the entire routine until 11:30 pm, I was even more strict on myself since I had just cleaned my bedding and didn't want to contaminate them some more if I went to bed dirty. This oftentimes happen every night, I have to wash my hands before going to bed because no matter what I always feel they're dirty if I touch any other object.
Ocd makes it very hard to sleep when my brain is also demanding me to do a million things to keep me relaxed from being worried (germ wise)
I also think the goal is to not shame yourself at the fact you're heading to sleep late, I find it does the opposite when trying to motivate yourself To reaching a specific goal.
That doesn't mean don't push yourself a little bit to reach your goal, because you should do that, just don't shame yourself or take it personally within yourself that it is hard to achieve your goal. This will make the process a lot easier. (If you tend to self shame a bit)
Every small achievement counts! You cant achievement something in one night :) I am proud you went to bed two hours earlier at least! Sure, it may be an odd hour but our goal right now for you is to get to sleep to begin with, correct?
Let's identify our goals so I can make sure I am supporting you the way I can. Let me start, my goal is to get good quality sleep consistently everynight so my well-being can improve. Your goal may look different than mine, you may want to just getore sleep rather than promise to stay on a consistent schedule at the same time.
What is your goal for your sleep journey?
Sorry for the late response. Oh! Manga is an anime, but in the form of a comic book. Just in case you don't know what anime is, it's a television show that is animated. It is better than YouTube! Whenever I go on YouTube I get sidetracked very quickly and end up on it for HOURS. It boosts your activity in your brain when you're on social media which isn't the goal especially for a health sleep routine.
Oooh! Which online course are you taking for what kind of job if you don't mind answering? That is very good! Learning a new skill for a job or for fun exercises your brain, therefore improving your sleep health as it makes you more tired by the time nighttime comes around!
You're right! That is very good advice, anything stimulating your brain will make it harder to sleep. Work, games, social media, anything. I've tried doing that but with how depressed I am throughout the day from masking my emotions from my mother, doing school it makes nighttime one of my only times to truly wind down and relax. It is my brains only way to feel how I feel without feeling the need to hide it.
Unsolicited advice here you can take it or leave it, but I find doing a very brain stimulating activity such as scrolling through your phone, playing games, or anything like that has helped me break my habit of napping for long periods of time during the day. You can give this a try, I'd strongly encourage it. What helped me from sleeping throughout the day is no matter what I'm doing, if I feel I'm about to go to sleep I do an exciting activity such as watching a fun video online, get up and walk, or play games. It may not work for you, but it has worked for me :)
@Dreamy89
I will write a detailed response to your messages, on some other day.
I came late to bed and need to attend some important meeting tomorrow.
13-May-2025
I went to bed around 6:10 am, I was supposed to wake up around 1:00 pm, I snoozed alarm for almost 2-3 hours (which didn't count for my sleep) then woke up at 6:20 pm, that was too late. But I didn't go down the guilt trip as I knew the previous two days I had got comparatively less sleep, so thought I have compensated.
14-May-2025
I went to bed at 3:20 am, switched off the lights, was listening to a podcast. I would have slept within 20-30 minutes.
I woke up at 1:35 pm, I was really happy as this was quite early compared to my regular average. I was very determined to wake up early as I had some important work to be done in the Bank. I got fresh and rushed to the Bank so that I can reach before it closes. I could compete the work and I was glad that it was a productive day.
15-May-2025
I came to bed around 3 am but I had not switched off the lights. I noticed a friend online and messaged, we ended up talking for quite some time. I love talking, especially with this friend. I was sharing all the updates on what's happening on my side. I did do a bit of listening as well. Finally, I went to sleep around 6 am but I woke up around 11:35 am as there was some online appointment with Bank staff. I was awake for few hours but then was feeling very sleepy, didn't have energy to wash clothes. I slept around 3:30 pm again and woke up around 7:40 pm.
I understand that with OCD symptoms it again affects the bed time routine. OCD symptoms affect me too much when I am washing dishes, maid was absent and I washed only few dishes for two days, on the second day I literally cried thinking I am not able to wash dishes comfortably, where that's a regular part of anyone's routine. I couldn't escape from the task because recently me and my dad had a big fight as he mentioned I don't contribute to household work. So, I forced myself to do few dishes in a hope to reduce his anger towards me and also to do something so that our relationship gets better. We don't have a dish washer, instead we hire a maid to do the dishes. So, I don't do it regularly, very rarely I do it. My father washes so many dishes without any mental impact, his back might ache a bit. Being younger than him, I should be able to do more work but it's the other way round. I feel like pitying myself. I don't know if there's any help available professionally to be able to do certain tasks with less impact of OCD.
I understood what is Manga, thanks for explaining. You don't have to say sorry, feel comfortable to respond whenever you get time.
I will write about my goal on some other day. Thank you very much for giving me company on this thread! It really means a lot. ð¥°â¤ï¸
@Dreamy89
I got quite occupied so I couldn't message here. I got a part time job. I will see when I can start messaging here again. How are you doing? How is your sleep routine?
Take care of yourself.
