25 Things To Do When You Can't Sleep
I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, and judging from others I’ve spoken to, I’m not alone. So I thought it would be fun to put together a list of things to do when the boat to dreamland leaves you stranded.
Most of these can be accomplished in the comfort of your bed, depending on what you keep on your bedside table. As a mom in the 21st century, my phone or laptop are usually nearby, but even if you’re not as plugged in as I am, you should still find something useful here.
- Pray. Usually I find that if I’m awake in the middle of the night, God has awakened me for something, so I try to listen for what he has for me.
- Mentally re-arrange the furniture.
- Plan tomorrow.
- Plan the week’s meals.
- Knit or crochet. You can kill two birds with one stone this way – making gifts and keeping warm while staying busy. If you pray while you knit, you could kill three birds. Some of my favorite pattern sites are Lion Brand and Ravelry.
- Check Facebook. This has been known to stress me out in the middle of the night, too. But sometimes it’s great to see who else is not sleeping.
- Read. I moved this lower in the list, because it’s the obvious old-school go-to, but it’s still one of my favorites when I can’t sleep. Some of the books that have been on my bedside table lately are One Thousand Gifts and Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul.
- Plan what you would do if you inherited a million dollars. This is honestly one of my favorites. And my husband and I enjoy doing this together on a regular basis. Daydreams are not a bad substitute for night dreams.
- Do word puzzles or sudoku.
- Answer e-mail. This is NOT one of my favorites, but sometimes it helps to actually be productive when you’re not sleeping.
- Plan homeschool lessons.
- Grade papers. It never ends.
- Plan your dream vacation. It never starts.
- Plan a more practical vacation. I hold out more hope for this one.
- Appreciate your husband’s sleep from his soothing snores. (This is my husband’s contribution to the list.)
- Wake up your husband so you have company.
- Look online for friends from the west coast who might be awake too. If you’re on the west coast…look in Asia. If you’re really desperate, make friends in Asia.
- Clean out your email inbox. Here is a great article about how to clean out your Gmail inbox.
- Make an iTunes or Windows Media playlist.
- Surprise your husband or children with a playlist for one of them.
- Write a letter of love to your husband or children.
- Take melatonin.
- Make lists for birthday or Christmas presents.
- Listen to the bats in the attic.
- Write a blog post listing things you can do when you’re not sleeping.
I don’t wish sleepless nights for you, but I hope you find some of these fun or useful! What do you do when you can’t sleep?
Comments (9)
Ha, I loved this list.
I’m often awake but because of health issues I need to force myself to stay in bed until I’ve been there 7 hours. But…I have a pad of paper and a pen beside my bed and have learned to write in the dark. Usually I can decipher it in the morning too. LOL
But years ago I read somewhere that if your blood sugar drops too low, you’ll wake up in the middle of the night. So I often have a snack with a bit of fat in it and it works for me. If you have hypoglycemia during the day, try eating before bed snack that is not sugary.
Annie, I’m glad you loved the list! That’s pretty impressive that you can write in the dark AND decipher it in the morning. Thanks for the tip about hypoglycemia. I wouldn’t have known about that!
Love this! My big problem is when I start reading a good book late at night, I don’t want to stop. And then, suddenly, it’s 3am and I have to be up in 3 hours. :/
Haha! Yes, that’s an entirely different problem, really. Maybe we should do a FB post about books that have kept us up at night…
Totally loved this – 17 cracked me up! And #5 scares me. You knit in the dark?
Glad you liked it! Jim enjoyed contributing and would like it to be known that he contributed on more ideas than he received credit for. And remember that he is out of town a lot, so I don’t always have to stay in the dark when I can’t sleep. I am currently a knitting addict, so I knit whenever I can. 🙂
Well, it sounds like I need to make some friends in Asia really fast–either that or take a larger dose of melatonin! Do ALL homeschool moms suffer from insomnia?
That is a great question! I certainly know quite a few who do!!
Sipping on a cup of tea listening to quiet music is always nice. Or tucked in bed listening to an audio book, specially books I have already read. I remember years ago turning on a blues clues tape was a surefire way to fall asleep. Steve had a soothing voice and I knew the show so well didn’t have to look at the TV to know what was going on.