There was a LOT happening this month for my Sleeping with Max Richter experiment:
- Up and down weather
- New jobs
- Exciting opportunities
- Sleeping alone for the first time in a hot minute
- Changing schedules
Also, I switched from my winter sheets (dark blue) to my summer sheets (light blue). There might not be anything science-y to it, but my brain tells me that the lighter sheets are cooler, and I really, really need to be cool when I sleep.
Additionally, I had the perimenopause/menopause period from hell, which accounted for many of my lower score nights.
The Playlist:
Falling to Sleep
My whole life, I have been the type of person who takes about 30 minutes to fall asleep. As this project has progressed, that time gets less and less. I’d say right now I’m at about 5-10 minutes… closer to 5 than 10. Like, I’m asleep before the OOO OOO OOOs pretty regularly, and I’m pretty proud of that.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I’m doing to reach dreamland this quickly as of late. I think it comes down to three things:
- Opening my hips.
- When I lie on my back, initially, my body is tight and ready to react to things.
- I consciously force my body to open my hips, and it feels like I sink into the bed.
- IDK how to describe opening your hips to someone who hasn’t taken ballet, so I asked an expert (a lacrosse subreddit that explained it the way my brain feels it):
- “Stand with both feet shoulder-width apart, and point your toes straight ahead. Now, take a small step with your right foot, and point your right toes at approximately a 45° angle to the right. You’ve now opened your right hip. Now take a small step with your left foot and point your foot approximately at a 45° angle to the left. You’ve now opened your left hip. It’s about hip angle, an open hip angle points your feet outwards, a closed hip angle points them inwards. Now bend slightly at the knees and hips to get a bit lower, and you’ve got the basic defensive positioning.”
- This is basically what I do, except I’m lying down with a weighted blanket on top of me.
- Relaxing my smile.
- I like people to know that I’m a happy person, so I smile a lot.
- I didn’t realize this, but that smile stays on my face until I fall to sleep, apparently.
- So, I make a conscious effort to make my mouth slack, relaxing all the muscles it takes to make my smile.
- Roughly ten muscles, according to science.
- Softening my eyes.
- Yeah, my smile extends to my eyes, too. I did watch ANTM after all.
- This is my last-ditch sleep effort. Just relaxing the muscles around my eyes until they are slack too.
This, in addition to my fans, blankets, and sheets, normally has me asleep before the OOO OOO OOOs. If not, it’s most likely the couple of nights a month I get terrible PMS-related insomnia, and there ain’t much I can do about that, I found out.
Another thing to note: I have also been doing great on my journey to eliminate maladaptive daydreaming before falling asleep. I’m still (embarrassingly) repeating the phrase, “Show me what to do,” in my brain while drifting off. I don’t have to repeat it long. Sometimes I do have to refocus because my brain wants to drift down some other path, but I get it back pretty quickly. I’m considering changing up the phrase to be something more aspirational or manifestation-y. Got any suggestions?
Two More Things
Thing 1: I have discovered my best sleepwear, and it is a crop top and underpants, sometimes even men’s boxers. Nothing to get tangled in (aside from my own hair).
Thing 2: We’ve slept with the door open a few nights when it’s been warm enough, and it’s my literal favorite. It makes me want to reconsider sleeping outdoors in the elements one day. I think I might actually love it.
Here is my view:
Sleep Scores
- Highest sleep score: 96
- Lowest sleep score: 56
- Average sleep score: 85.4
Previous Month’s Scores
- January
- Highest: 97
- Lowest: 52
- Average: 91
- February
- Highest: 99
- Lowest: 42
- Average: 88
- March:
- Highest: 100 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
- Lowest: 47
- Average: 85.77
p.s. I still get giddy every time I remember that I get to see Max Richter live on June 17. I will definitely cry. Anyone got the hookup on some cute hankies?
