Don’t Look at the Clock When You Can’t Sleep (and Focus on That).
When you can’t sleep, it’s like the clock is mocking you. “At least I’m getting seven hours of sleep,” you might think as you go to bed, but if you’re still awake an hour later, you’ve only gotten six hours, and six isn’t much. And if you’re still not tired, you’ll get less than six, and you’ll end up just lying in bed, thinking about how awful you’ll feel in the morning.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Sleep scientists have long recognized the idea of ”sleep loss after sleep loss,” and it’s a well-known factor that can contribute to insomnia. It’s not necessarily the cause of your sleep problems, but it can exacerbate them. For example, let’s say you have some minor issue that’s keeping you awake. You get caught in a vicious cycle: you worry about the time at night, have poor sleep, and then feel tired the next day. Then you start dreading going to bed because you know it’ll happen again.
Without realizing it, you may be starting to take sleeping pills, which in turn come with certain health risks (for example, taking Benadryl daily is harmful ). A 2023 study found that “time-watching,” as they called it, can encourage people to take medications they otherwise wouldn’t need. So what can you do instead? Here’s what sleep experts recommend.
Hide the watch
One of the study’s authors says that vowing not to check the time can help. Turn your watch over, close the display, or, if you use your phone to check the time, put it away. If the alarm hasn’t gone off yet, it’s still nighttime, and that’s all you really need to know.
Without a clock, you might worry about whether you’re getting enough sleep. But even with a clock, you don’t necessarily count the hours accurately. During the hours when you think you’re fully awake, you often drift in and out of sleep, sleeping more than you realize.
If you sleep with a watch or fitness tracker that tracks your sleep, only pay attention to the data if it’s helpful. If you check the data in the morning and think, “Hmm, I slept more than I thought,” that’s reassuring. But if checking the data ends up making you anxious, try to wean yourself off the app. Trackers aren’t always 100% accurate, and you may feel more tired if you think you slept poorly, even if you actually slept well. Also, consider these tips on how to use sleep tracking data more effectively .
Focus on relaxation
Here’s a comforting thought for those who lie awake at night: relaxation, even when you’re awake, is almost as beneficial as sleep. Close your eyes, quiet your mind, and, most importantly, tell yourself that this is exactly what your body needs right now. This relaxation can provide some of the benefits of meditation, and there’s even a hypothesis that meditation provides some of the benefits of sleep. Whether true or not, it’s a comforting thought when you’re lying awake in the middle of the night.
And if you need another reason to stop worrying, remember that relaxation is one of the best ways to fall asleep . So, whether you fall asleep or not, you’re helping your body and brain by finding a peaceful way to spend the remaining hours of the night.