To live a well balanced, rewarding life of our dreams by day and sleep restfully at night.
Five things a couple can do to get a good night sleep.
Published June 5, 2011 | 
A couple can increase their chances of a good night’s sleep by:
1. Having spent a pleasant day with each other and enjoying some quiet alone time too.
2. Having a nice meal together not too close to bedtime.
3. Sharing their dreams with one another.
4. Going to bed at peace with each other.
5. If snoring is an issue: ear plugs or a designated place the snorer can move to if necessary (a spare bedroom, couch). No hard feelings- just an agreed upon plan- both partners need and deserve a good night sleep.
Good night!
Debra
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Seven ways to prevent middle of the night insomnia
Published May 26, 2011 | 
You’re sleepy. It’s time to turn in. Many of us have an easy time falling asleep initially, but then get woken up and have a difficult time going back to sleep. What are some ways we can prevent getting woken up in the first place?
1. Don’t drink anything a few hours before bedtime.
2. Insert earplugs in your ears when you go to sleep if you have a partner who snores, a noisy pet, or noise from outside.
3. If you do live in a space that has noise from the streets or neighbors, you may want to invest in a fan or audio program that will provide you some white noise.
4. Wear socks.
5. Release the worries of the day before you go to bed.
6. Wear comfortable clothing to bed.
7. Close shades or wear eye pad to block out light from the outside.
If you do get woken up, do not stress about it. Breathe deeply and try to think about something you were dreaming about when you were asleep. If nothing comes to mind just breathe and think of a simple word such as “peace” or God”- something comforting and you should drift right back to sleep.
Good night.
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What comes first: A great day or a good night’s sleep? (What The Warm Milk Journal is really about)
Published April 27, 2011 | 
Do we have a good night of sleep because we had a great day or
do we have a great day because we slept well?
Here at The warm Milk Journal we believe it is both.
There are certainly physical things we can do to help insomnia such as control our sleeping environment (lighting, quiet, quality mattress pillows and linens, wearing eyepads and ear plugs, wearing socks and comfortable sleepwear, etc.)
However, you can have the most comfortable bed in the world, a partner who sleeps quietly, no pets or babies to wake you up, etc. – and if you are anxious, worried, stressed, etc. you will not sleep restfully.
That is why many of the articles here at The Warm Milk Journal focus on living your most fulfilling life possible by day.
What can you do live the life of your dreams (by day) and have sweet dreams and blessed restful sleep (by night)?
At its core, that is what this site is about: BALANCE
To a rewarding day and peaceful night,
Debra
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What to do with a snoring partner… try new ear plugs (and other ideas)
Published August 19, 2010 | 
When your partner snores, wakes you, and keeps you up, do you:
- punch him?
- kick her?
- Push him out of the bed?
- Gently wake her up and tell her she’s snoring?
- Thrash around wildly on your side of the bed hoping your partner will wake up?
- Put a pillow over your head?
- Put a pillow on your partner’s head?
- Scream?
- Go sleep on the couch?
- Kick partner out and have him sleep on couch?
- Just live with it and spend your days feeling like a zombie?
- Wear ear plugs?
- Encourage partner to see sleep specialist?
It is not easy to sleep with a snoring loved one. For starters, you love him/her and you don’t want to be mad at the person. Be frustrated and angry with the snoring, but not the person. Then you and your partner can together work on what to do with this challenge you share: snoring. Snoring is the bad guy!(not your partner). I am repeating this message because I think it is an important one. We can get mad at our partners over something like this and if we let it, resentment sets in. Resentment is a love killer. It really is.
My darling man snores and he did some research on the internet and bought me new ear plugs. We just got them in the mail today and I am anxious to try them out. I’ve tried a few types that haven’t worked very well. These are called Ohropax Classic. They have been making these ear plugs since 1907. They are a little box of 12 wax earplugs that have a soft cottony outside covering. I am excited. I love my guy dearly and don’t want either one of us to sleep on the couch. I do, however, need my sleep.
I will let you know how these work out (I am by the way not getting paid in any way by this ear plug company). Feel free to write in and comment what you do about a snoring partner.
To a quiet, good night of restful sleep-
Debra : )
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Ten things to do if you get woken up in the middle of the night
Published July 13, 2010 | 
Some of us have no problem going to sleep right away but then wake up or get woken up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and have difficulty going back to sleep. What to do? Here are ten ideas to try:
- If you get up to go to the bathroom, try to do so safely in the dark. Turning lights on may wake you up more.
- When wanting to go back to sleep, try to access the dream world you were in before you woke up. Try to remember a dream you were having or any dream you recall having. This technique is called dream remembrance. This gets our mind quickly back into that sleepy sub-conscious state before our minds are awake and conscious enough to start thinking (and worrying and keeping us up).
- Don’t stress about being awake. Don’t look at your clock and worry about the rest you are losing. The more you put pressure on yourself to go back to sleep, the harder it will be to do so.
- If you get woken up by pets, prevent them from having access to your bedroom.
- If light wakes you up, you can invest in heavy blinds or drapes.
- Are you waking up cold? Try going to bed with socks on your feet.
- Are you waking up hot? You may want to adjust your thermostat, open windows, opt for lighter linen fabrics, or wear light pajamas or nothing at all to bed.
- Being woken up by snoring partner? There are good ear plugs out there. If they are comfortable enough, you can try putting them in first thing at bedtime to prevent your getting woken up to begin with. If you don’t want to wear ear plugs all night, then have them at your bed stand and be ready to insert them as soon as you are woken up. I also recommend having an extra heavy pillow nearby to place over the side of your head to muffle out any sound. This works very well!
- Breathe and focus on your breathing.
- Say a very simple mantra repeatedly like “peace”.
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When you wake up in the middle of the night
Published May 13, 2010 | Many of us can go to sleep initially well but then get woken up for a variety of reasons: bladders, snoring partners, pets, street noise, lights, etc. It is a frustrating experience to not then be able to go back to sleep. The more we stress about it, the longer we lie there awake. I can’t even tell you how often that has happened to me.
Things to try:
- Go to bed wearing ear plugs
- Go to bed wearing an eye patch
- Invest in heavy drapes for bedroom windows
- If you get up to go to the bathroom, try not to turn on any lights or flush toilet
- If pets are waking you, work on retraining them or do not let them have access to the bedroom
- Snoring partner? ear plugs, pillow over the head works pretty well. Encourage partner to go to doctor in case it is something serious that is causing their snoring like sleep apnea. They can wear breathe easy strips on their noses and experiment with sleeping in different positions.
- Try not to stress about the fact that you are awake. That only makes it worse. Don’t look at the clock.
- Meditate on something simple. Say the same thing over and over again until you drift off.
- If you have to, it is better to get up and read or write in your journal until you get sleepy again. There is nothing worse than just lying there in bed awake for hours.
- Do breathing exercises
- Do tension exercises
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