I have a pretty strong need to wind-down every night, regardless of if I've been playing. I find that reading a book or magazine helps tons! Blue light from a phone/TV/computer can keep you awake, but the warm yellow light from a bedside lamp actually helps put you down.
Bonus points if it's especially challenging literature like Dostoevsky's Brothers Kramazov. Read that same paragraph seven times because you can't understand it. Then... out!
Now this is a good recommendation! It took me 30 years to find my solution to insomnia. No one has the full answer for your personally, but consider the following techniques. I find that I need to use most of them to get to sleep after an over stimulating evening.
1). Do not watch TV or anything with a “blue” screen for at least 60 minutes prior to going to bed. (IPads, Kindle Fire, iPhones and droids all have blue screens). It turns out that that these devices are very stimulating to your brain. For some, all they need is a distraction to get to sleep, but for true insomnia, blue screen distraction will keep your brain stimulated
2). Allow yourself a 1 hour gap between the end of your gig/watching and blue screen, and laying down.
3). No coffee or cigarettes/cigars after 12:00 noon.
4). I struggle to find things to do in the last hour before I lay down. I have found that reading is helpful. Books that are not highly thought provoking or suspenseful are a good diversion. Conversation with anyone who is awake. (Phone is fine, FaceTime is not). Doing chores around the house works too.
5). Doctor tells me that there are only two things you should be doing in bed. One is sleeping. Don’t read in the bed. Don’t sit on the bed. Don’t watch TV on the bed ever. Don’t read in bed. You want your brain to associate the bed with sleep. (The one other acceptable activity for the bed is easy to figure out).
6). Learn to breathe to relax. There is this fancy word called Meditation. My Dad used to try to teach it to me. “Sit with perfect posture on a meditation stool. Breathe in your nose, breathe out your mouth....Focus on the energy channels in your body.”.....blah, blah, blah....hooey. I could never figure it out. One day I went to a Doctor who said, this is how you meditate. “Sit or lay in a comfortable position. Breathe in, for say 4 seconds. Then breathe out for a bit longer, maybe 6 or 7 seconds. You will be meditating as long as your exhale lasts longer than your inhale. It doesn’t make a difference whether you use your mouth or nose. Repeat procedure. During your breathing session work to slow down your respiration....so maybe after a minute or two, strart breathing in for 5 second and out for 8 seconds. Just focus on breathing and counting. Try to ignore everything else. The longer your respiration cycles are the calmer your brain will become.” When I first started doing this, I couldn’t last for more than 5 minutes without being bored out of my mind. After a month, I could do it for 10 minutes. Now I can do it for 20 minutes.....Over that 20 minute period I can usually slow my cycles down to 12 seconds of breathing in and 18 seconds of breathing out. (Yep, 2 breaths per minute - I’m told I am excessive. Do what ever works for you). If I don’t do this, I have trouble sleeping.
7). Any alcohol you drink after 7 p.m. will wake you up in the middle of the night.....all that hard work to get to sleep gets erased at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. if you have been drinking. Evidently a beer is great for getting you to sleep, but also great for waking you up way before you want to be awoken.
Enjoy the journey!
. I try to unwind by surfing around on the iPad and eventually drift off, but morning comes early. I know the electronic devices aren't conducive for a rested mind. Perhaps trying to sleep with some form of white noise going on could be helpful.
