What to do when you can't sleep
Stop trying. Get comfortable, turn the clock away, and give your mind one slow thing to follow, like a story told quietly at low volume. Sleep tends to arrive once you stop chasing it.
Tonight, in five steps
- Stop trying to sleep. Make the goal half an hour of lying still and warm, nothing more. Sleep can't be done on purpose, and taking the target away helps more than any trick.
- Turn the clock away. Working out how many hours are left is the quickest way to wake yourself up.
- Put the phone face down. One quick look hands you tomorrow's messages hours early.
- Let the out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Not to feel calm, only to stop bracing. Jaw loose, shoulders down.
- Give your mind one slow thing to follow. Left alone in the dark, a mind replays the day. A slow voice gives it somewhere quieter to go.
Why lying there trying makes it worse
Trying to sleep is effort, and effort keeps you awake. So does the quiet: all day there is enough going on to hold your attention, then the light goes off and your own thoughts are the only thing left in the room. The fix isn't an empty mind. It's a gently occupied one.
If you've been awake a long while and feel wide awake, sit up somewhere dim for a bit and come back to bed when your eyes get heavy.
A slow story to press play on
The Settle is a sleep story told twice, the second time slower, from a small village on the Spanish coast where nothing urgent happens. You're not meant to hear the end. Here's how it sounds:
If you can't sleep most nights for weeks, talk to a doctor. A story is a way to wind down, not a treatment.