Do You Want to Fall Asleep? Sometimes it’s as Easy as Closing Your Eyes

Not A Blackout Curtain In Sight, Just What Nature Gave Us All.

As a night owl, I’d wake late, stay out all night, eventually crash and burn, but life was for living, and I was set to burning brightly.

Sleeping wasn’t a menu option; as a fully paid-up member of the party people club, the daily diary agenda had just the same one entry. A tireless self-absorbed preoccupation, with cramming and ramming as much pleasurable entertainment into the following 24hours. This was my mission, and much like Captain James T. Kirk ( my Star Trek Captain ), I was to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Captain James T. Kirk or Jim to his closest crew members is, of course, a fictional character. While Kirk, his crew and the Starship Enterprise headed out into intergalactic worlds, I was headed out slightly closer to home down the well-trodden path many of us experience with my own crew version of Mr. Spock, Bones, and Lieutenant Uhura.

As the bright light begins to fade

When we crashed and could party no longer, I was fortunate enough to be blessed with a superhuman ability, which has never left me. Superman can fly; Mrs. Elastic is, well, incredibly stretchy. Me, myself, and I super capability is to sleep anywhere. I remain forever grateful to my folks for bestowing on me this wonderful gift. I imagine they had no realisation of what they were doing for me at the time. It was simply a natural everyday occurrence. Children in a busy household needed to fit into their hectic household surroundings and possibly not how things might be today.

The good news, folks, is you, too, can hand down this handy superhuman gift to your children. A gift that costs nothing and will remain with them throughout their lives.

Ready for bed

How does the everyday, seemingly mundane necessity become magical? It turns out when we were put to bed, all life around us didn’t suddenly stop. The household didn’t go into lockdown hush at a flick of a switch; lights were dimmed, voices lowered yes. But life as we know it rumbled on around us, which is the reason why I suspect I have the superhuman ability to drop off and sleep.

Sleeping the sleep of kings — anywhere

When I was growing up, car journeys seemed to take all day. The family car I remember was a Cortina Mk 1 estate. Creamy white with red bench seats, probably not the most cushioned of rides. Much like a train journey with your head resting against the window or squashed like a sardine on a bench seat, you just closed your eyes and let the world around you slip by. Voices, once busy chatting or arguing about which radio station or whose turn it was or wasn’t to sit in the front, melt away into the ether as you sleep the sleep of kings and queens.

Bedroom windows, for some reason, required just one set of curtains with no blackout blinds. Somehow with the aid of what nature provided, our eyelids and a curtain, our parents managed to block out sufficient amounts of sunlight, enabling us to sleep. I can’t be sure, but I’m reasonably certain the sun was as bright when I was younger as it is today! Try it, as strange as it might sound, it becomes a little darker if you close your eyes and pull the curtains.

You might disagree

You might insist to sleep you require an eye mask, the sort of sleeping support freebie some airlines hand out on flights. Require the curtains to have been pulled and blackout blinds down. Even the tiniest peep of light creeping under the bedroom door has to be blocked out by fifteen teddy bears lined in a row.

However, there is a good chance as your life progresses you will suffer as what I’m describing is not in any way a medical diagnosis — but more a recognition of a little self-indulgence! And before anyone mounts their high horse, it’s not anyone’s fault, and no one is to blame how dark or quiet you require the room to be able to sleep. You’ll just have difficulties sleeping, as the world is not always so accommodating, and you’ll be tired. Which if we’re honest, is an awful feeling.

Take away

Even before you take the practical action of turning off any and all mobile devices a good couple of hours before you go to bed.

Even before you start spraying the pillow (s) with an aromatic sleep-inducing concoction.

Even before you begin your weird night time ritual.

Open the curtains, open the window, cool the bedroom down. It is not in any way healthy sleeping in a bedroom that is too warm. The air circulation will do you a world of good.
Go to bed at least half an hour earlier than you do now. And stick with it.
Still awake after 30 minutes. Read a book for 30 minutes, and try again. Repeat, and if necessary, repeat again. You might be breaking a habit.

Changing your night time ritual to allow your brain to unwind will significantly help. Ditch the eye mask, finish your night time ablutions, slip under the duvet and close your eyes.

Final few words for all you night owls and fully signed up party people members loving and living the 24-hour society. Going to bed earlier is not a habit you’ll be forming anytime soon. So much like James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise, boldly go where no man has gone before and party hard. You can sleep later!