Do you have trouble falling to sleep at night? Maybe the minute you lay down your mind starts to become active thinking about your day or the days ahead. Or, there are other external things such as the television flickering or sounds that prevent you from drifting off into a peaceful slumber. For me, it’s all of the above and here are a few things that have helped me.

Ear plugs

I started using ear plugs a few years ago. I believe my mom wears them, too, and that’s where I got the idea. I use these. They work really well. I keep mine in a small plastic box to keep them clean and you can reuse them several times. I think I order a jar of these twice a year to give you an idea of how long they last. I don’t go through two complete jars, though. They are really soft and easy to twist and fill up the ear canal to block out sound. I also buy them in the nude color so it’s closest to matching my skin. You can really use these for most anything that will produce loud or unwanted sound.

Eye mask

We have a television in our room which is nice to watch tv while laying in bed at night. However, once I’m ready to go to sleep, even though my eyes are closed, the flickering of the television light is distracting and makes it difficult for me to fall asleep. A few years ago, I decided to buy an eye mask and oh my goodness, it’s a lifesaver. This is the one I bought. Nothing fancy or expensive but it does the job and does it well. The mask is lightweight and super soft. You don’t even feel that you’re wearing it. I’ve had other masks that bothered me because they put pressure on my eyes. This one doesn’t do that. It’s large enough, too, that it keeps out the light completely. My husband likes to stay up later and watch tv and so now he can with no problems. He also uses a wireless headset so that I can’t hear any sounds, as well. He’s a good man. 😉

My thoughts

I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person that lays down at night and starts to review my day or I think about what I need to do the next day or days after that. One thing that always seems to help me is when I close my eyes to go to sleep, I first think about all of the things I am grateful for. It sounds silly but it works. Nine times out of ten, I fall asleep while I’m thinking about those things.

Aside from all of those aids I mentioned above, I think it’s important to also have a cool environment. I read that the ideal temp of your room should be 65 -68 degrees to sleep well. Can you imagine the electric bill? We do drop our a/c to 76 degrees at night and have either our ceiling fan going or a standing fan which I have on my side of the bed. I have to have a fan on when I’m sleeping even in the dead of winter. There is just something about feeling the air circulating. I have slept in hotels and such with no fan and it took me forever to fall asleep.

I’ve been very curious about cooling pillows and sheets. Do they really work? If you have ever tried them, please share. I would love to get an actual real review from someone who’s tried them before.

I hope that my suggestions help. Here’s to a great night sleep to us all. 🙂