s l e e p
“Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds.”
- JoJo Jensen -
Taming the Tiger
Getting good sleep is challenging when you live with persistent pain.
Persistent pain impacts our nervous system as if we were living with a wild and hungry tiger. We are always on-guard and activated for fight-or-flight.
This is exhausting. We are exhausted.
And yet, we can't sleep.
Sleep is directly impacted by our nervous system, and our nervous system is impacted by sleep.
This section explores practical strategies to tame the tiger of your nervous system so you can get restorative sleep.
The goal is to tame the tiger of chronic pain, so your system doesn't have to be on high-alert 24/7/365.
Sleep Hygiene
change takes time, focus on consistency over perfection.
Exercise by day
so that you can dream by night.
Be here
for 1 hr before bed, not on phone, not checking email, not watching TV.
Engage your brain
read, write, draw, get your thoughts out of your head.
Absorb Sunlight
open windows, be outside, get fresh air, stay out of bed during the day.
Set a bed time & wake time
put your house to bed, clean, organize, simplify.
Make your bedroom a cave
cool, dark, quiet, clean, make your bed.
Monitor beverages
reduce quantity of energy drinks, coffee, and alcohol.
write
Our pain, our worry, our anxiety, our fear, our stress
--our story-- needs a way out of our bodies.
Let it out.
Write.
Let it go.
Don't worry about grammar, spelling, swearing, or flow. Just take the thoughts that keep you up at night and put them down on paper.
And then, let it go.
Thank your brain for its service in trying to keep you safe, and then: let it go.
