I slept at 3am yesterday- What did I do wrong.
Let’s try and find out how it happens
I usually sleep by 12.
Let me rephrase- I go to my bed at 12.. Read or listen.
Relax. And Finally- Fall asleep by 12:30 or so.
Did something change to interrupt my sleep cycle.
If I think about it — I see myself gradually shifting the same routine towards 1:00 AM.
What happened to trigger it.
A) Late night meetings.
B) Binge watching TV shows.
C )Time spend on the phone increasing.
D) All of the above.
I believe the answer is D.
I had a late night meeting yesterday, which interrupted my 12AM routine.
As I did not sleep, ended up fiddling around on the phone.
When I could not sleep till 2:00 AM, I opened up my laptop and started watching a show I have re-watched atleast 10 times.
The question is why ?
Let us understand what circadian rhythm is and why you should have a fixed sleeping and waking up time.
Your body has a natural sleep cycle. It relaxes you, the mind, the heart and all important organs while you sleep. Sleep is also required to regulate your harmones.
Although the mind and heart and other necessary organs keep working, the workload lessens. Sleep is the most important aspect of our day.
But we continually screw it up.
The advent of pocket computer is causing the issue. The reach, accesibility to go on the internet to look for just about anything you think at any moment is possible.
We are not ready for it.
Any thought, idea, question or query can be googled for a reasonably correct response. This is good during the day- not so much once it is 1:00 AM.
The never ending algorithmic feed of “curated content” is not so much for the likes and dislikes; it is to make you keep looking.
5 years ago; it took people days to watch a newly released movie.
This is how we had to do it.
Think about what movie you’d like to watch. Plan to go to a store.
Buy the movie. Plan for a time(preferably the weekend) so that you can watch it.
Or wait for the movie to be shown on the TV, which could take months.
Now you can just Netflix it. Take out your phone and watch.
When a noun becomes a verb — we have a problem.
Right now. Immediately. And keep watching, endlessly.
Netflix starts the new episode even before the old ones finish as it wants more engagement on the content. It basically hooks you to the show by taking control of watching the next episode by automating it.
Always remember- There are people working to increase the engagement. You also have to actively work to regain control of your sleep.
I have a few thoughts and something I have learned over the years. You can try and follow below and let me know if they were helpful. :)
->You plan your day. Why not plan your night as well.
->Plan when you’ll sleep. Plant the sleep timing, schedule and pre-sleep activities.
->If you cannot sleep- I recommend reading a story. Any story. Harry potter is my go-to.
->Plan when to wake up. And stick to it.
->Keep your phone out of your room- Silent or switched off(personal choice)
It will be hard, but worth it.
