Overcoming the 3am horrors. How to stop waking up worrying!
If you are a leader, business owner or someone that struggles to get a good nights sleep because you wake up in the early hours of the morning with your mind racing or the cold sweats. It doesn’t have to be that way. I used to sit up half the night, worrying, thinking, planning and considering instead of sleeping. The next day I would be a wreck, after weeks of it, I would be a walking zombie.
If you are waking up because of excitement or anticipation, lucky you. Enjoy, you don’t need this read this 🙂
However for those that get the 3 o’clock horrors . Here’s how you fix it.
its not just you, its happening to millions of people
First of all, you need to understand that its not just you, its happening to millions of people. Yes, I know you don’t care who else its happening to, you just want to sort it for you. I tell you this because I’m about to give you my solution, which I reckon will solve your problems. However, if it doesn’t search other peoples solutions so you can find the solution that works for you. Just like fitness, not every solution suits everyone but there is a solution for everyone
Why are you waking up? Its invariably because your subconscious mind is processing something. That something is usually a decision that needs to be made, some pressing activity or task that needs to be completed, an important conversation you need to have or something that’s not quite right in your world that’s a big concern right now or an exciting idea that you cant wait to implement.
Here are the solutions that work for me
1. Try to be clear on which of the above is causing you to wakeup. Take a litmus test of the above in the late afternoon (to give you time to put a remedy in place). What makes you worried, anxious or concerned?
2. Get ahead of the game by planning what you are going to do about it (preferably before 5pm) You don’t need to solve the problem, but you do need a clear (practical honest and effective) set of actions you are going to take. What will you do? Who will you call? Who will you meeet with? Who do you need advice from? Write them down. You are effectively telling your sub conscious that you have a plan, so don’t wake me up, or if you do wake up, you know you have your best plan in place so you can roll over and go back to sleep. It takes dedication and practise, but as you get better and better at this you will wake up less often. This is the most important step to getting a complete nights sleep. You need to resolve the issues or at least have a concrete plan to solve the issue if you are going to shake the 3 o’clock horrors.
You don’t need to solve the problem, but you do need a clear (practical honest and effective) set of actions you are going to take.
3. If you do wake up and cant just rollover and go back to sleep, get up. Go to another place in your house and write down all of your thoughts. Don’t assess or judge your thoughts, just get them out of your head and on paper (do not do this in bed) Once you have exhausted all the thoughts, ideas and options, go back to bed, you should easily drift off to sleep. Again, you are telling your sub conscious mind that you have got this.
4. Prepare yourself to sleep well. My kids are amazed at how quickly I can be sound asleep and snoring. I’ll tell them I’m off to bed, they’ll come in two minutes later to ask me something and I’ll be dead to the world, especially if they want to borrow some money J. I start preparing myself for sleep straight after dinner. You have to slow your mind down. You cant be drinking coffee, watching violent tv, or sprinting on the treadmill before hopping into bed and expecting to drift off into a comfortable nights sleep. So be careful what you consume. Choose carefully what you eat or drink, choose what your mind is taking in and choose what activities you are. Learn to slow down to the point you are almost nodding off on the lounge and you are sure to get to sleep and more importantly stay asleep.
5. Never underestimate the power of meditation. I tried learning different ways to meditate for 20 years, but could not make it work, despite the very best efforts of some meditation experts. Then one day I tried Qi Gong (a Chinese meditation passed down from family to family for over 4000 years) and it worked! With a little guidance and some practise I found myself able to switch off for 5, 10, 20 and now 60 minutes. When I practise Qi Gong i am so much more chilled and therefore I sleep so much better. Again, just like fitness, you have to find the the thing that works for you. I wish I had of discovered Qi Gong 20 years earlier.
6. Get comfortable. Set up the most comfortable sleeping environment you can imagine. Make sure you have a really really really comfortable bed, Comfortable bedclothes and comfortable bed linen. Simply buying the perfect pillow for you can make the world of difference. I know, because this year, I kept waking up and the one thing I changed was buying the perfect pillow for me, in no time I was back to snoring loud enough to keep the neighbours awake. Make sure the environment is right. Do you need a Breeze? Can you control the temperature and do you need to block out the light or noise.
If you do all these things, I can pretty much guarantee you will get a good nights sleep and wake up to deal with the issues that you face in the coming day far better prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.
If you don’t wake up from time to time thinking about the exciting times that are in front of you, you are probably not playing a big enough game
A final word of caution. If you don’t wake up from time to time thinking about the exciting times that are in front of you, you are probably not playing a big enough game and you need to step it up. Do you have what it takes to play a bigger game? Click here to find out. https://rowdymclean.com/checklist/
