Ever since I was young, I have had bad sleeping habits. I would often stay awake far later than my bedtime, usually reading a book under the covers and using the light from my Gameboy to do so. Yes, I had a Gameboy, and I used it to read books instead of playing the games on it. Anyway, I ended up having a rather inconsistent sleeping schedule. I wouldn’t always stay up late, and I wouldn’t always go to be on time. This pattern actually continues to this day. Albeit, a bit differently now that I’m an adult. As long as I show up to my responsibilities (work, meeting friends, etc), almost nobody cares about how much sleep I had the previous night. I also find myself having varied levels of quality to my sleep which impact my productivity. I have had days where I slept for four hours and then worked a full day without any issues. Other days, I sleep for twelve or more hours and wake up wanting to sleep more. This variety in sleep quality has led me to take more care to improve the quality of my sleep and listen to my body’s rhythms.

As recently as last week, I had a few days where I didn’t manage to sleep until around 3 or 4 in the morning, but I was productive the next day without issue. Then I had a couple days where I slept for a solid ten hours, but I woke up feeling like I hadn’t gotten any rest. I also had some days where I got the ten hours of sleep and was fine the next day. So, the number of hours wasn’t the answer. After spending some time thinking about it, I’ve concluded that it’s about creating a comfortable sleeping environment and experience. To this end, I change the temperature of my room, and perform certain rituals that help me to feel relaxed before bed. One of these is taking Alleve to reduce the physical pain caused by my porphyria and lupus. By being relaxed physically and mentally, it allows me to fall into a deeper sleep. These lower stages of sleep allow my body to cast off the exhaustion from the previous day and recover where long hours of shallower sleep would not. One of my current rituals is to play videos from a youtuber that I am subscribed to. His content is fairly consistent, so it gives me a type of background noise that helps me lose focus and sleep faster. If you struggle with sleeping, I’d suggest finding your own rituals. It might help.