A common challenge people face when starting recovery is adopting healthy sleeping habits. Getting into good sleeping habits can help stabilize mood swings, and is part of the process of bringing structure to your everyday life. There are a lot of ways to achieve better sleep so don’t be discouraged if you try something and it doesn’t work.
Routines Simplify Bedtime
Having a routine you do every night before you lie down will teach your mind and body that it’s time to sleep. A routine adds organization which helps with your mental health during recovery. That’s part of why it’s recommended for everyone, not just those relearning how to sleep during the detox part of recovery.
Keeping up with a new bedtime routine takes practice but once you have it down it should be much easier to fall asleep and stay asleep without feeling like you need to rely on anything to get there. When you always go to bed after writing in your journal, the act alone will encourage your body to prepare for it. This makes drifting off to sleep feel more natural.
Meditation Can Help
When trying to fall asleep, many people notice that their thoughts can wander. Often, thoughts can stray to ideas or events that are not restful or productive for them. It can be effective to use meditation, mantras, or breathing techniques to keep these ideas from getting very far before they are replaced with something better, and sometimes the ‘something better’ is nothing at all.
Meditating before bed can center the mind on positive ideals, or fade to a mental silence that encourages rest. Keeping from negativity while relearning how to keep a regular and healthy sleeping schedule is often instrumental in early recovery. Familiarity with meditation will ground your focus at bedtime and help you achieve this health goal.
Concentrating on Other Things Takes the Pressure Off
Most people have heard the phrase “counting sheep” for dozing off. The phrase was popularized when it was commonly thought that counting sheep would help you fall asleep. If you’ve ever tried it, you may have found that it works for you. For some, it isn’t very effective but the principle is sound.
When tossing and turning it’s easy to become frustrated, but concentrating on something else can help you rest. Common things to focus on include your breathing, the ticking of a clock, or things you’re looking forward to. By not thinking about it, your mind can relax and allow greater ease to fall asleep.
Reaching the physical, mental, and spiritual goals set during detox and recovery works much better when you or your loved one is getting needed rest. To assist in getting started on building better sleep patterns, the Detox Center of Colorado lies in the Rocky Mountains near Denver that provide a comfortable setting for starting your recovery. Surrounded by the natural beauty and peace found there, and met with professional and compassionate guidance, our clients can take their first steps towards living a sober life. Dependency on drugs or alcohol, even with co-occurring disorders, doesn’t need to be a destructive force in life. We are here to help people reconnect with themselves, their family, their peers, and their higher power. Our individualized treatment plans built on evidence-based therapies ensure that each person who goes through our facility receives quality care. Getting started isn’t as difficult as you may think. All you need to do is call the Detox Center of Colorado at (303) 952-5035 for more information.
