If you’re struggling to get a good night’s sleep, the cause may be closer than you think. Many of us have bad sleeping habits that prevent us from getting the rest we need. From eating candy in bed to spending too much time on our phones, these bad habits can sabotage our sleep and leave us feeling tired. But don’t despair! In this blog post, we’ll explore how to break your bad sleeping habit so you can finally get the restful night’s sleep you deserve.
How to Break a Bad Sleeping Habit
Step 1: Identify the Bad Sleeping Habit
The first step is identifying what your bad sleeping habit is. Take a look at your current routine and see if there are any activities that could be sabotaging your sleep. Do you eat candy in bed? Do you watch TV or scroll through your phone before trying to go to sleep? Once you identify the habit, it will become much easier to tackle it head-on.
Step 2: Identify Why You Currently Do That Bad Sleeping Habit
Now that you know what the bad sleeping habit is, it’s time to figure out why you do it every night. Are you using it as a way to unwind after a long day? Or do you do it because it makes falling asleep easier? Understanding why we do something can help us find better ways of achieving the same result without resorting to unhealthy habits.
Step 3: Block The Factors That Make You Do That Bad Sleeping Habit
Now that we know what our bad sleeping habit is and why we do it, let’s block out those factors that make us engage in this behavior every night. This could mean removing candy from your bedroom or setting aside a specific amount of time for winding down instead of focusing on screens before bed. Whatever works for you!
Step 4: Encourage Factors That Will Help Break That Bad Sleeping Habit
Now that we’ve blocked out the factors making us engage in this behavior, let’s focus on encouraging other behaviors that will help break this bad sleeping habit. For example, if watching TV or scrolling through social media keeps us up all night, then try reading a book or listening to calming music instead. Whatever helps relax your mind and body so that when it comes time for bed, you know exactly how to fall asleep quickly and easily!
Let’s Review an Example Together:
For our example, let’s say you have a lot of energy before you try to go to sleep and it prevents you from sleeping quickly.
- Let’s identify what the bad sleeping habit is that is causing this issue. Taking a look at your current routine, you realize you typically eat candy every night in bed while you read your favorite magazine. Now we have identified that the bad sleeping habit you want to break is eating candy in bed.
- Let’s identify WHY you eat candy in bed every night. You have a busy schedule and you usually eat healthy for lunch and dinner, but your time in bed before you go to sleep is your peaceful time of the day when you can forget all your worries. Without planning it, you’ve created a routine where you read your favorite magazine in bed and eat candy while you flip through the pages. You realize that you do this because candy is delicious and it’s fun to munch on something sweet while you flip through a magazine. Now we’ve identified why you eat candy in bed every night.
- Block the factors that make you eat candy in bed. The biggest factor that makes you eat candy in bed is probably that you have candy in close proximity. Now, if we wanted to kick this habit to the curb, you could stop buying candy. But perhaps you still would like to eat candy – maybe you can eat the candy well before bedtime so that the sugar rush isn’t hitting you while you try to fall asleep.
- Encourage factors that will help you transition away from eating candy in bed. This might not sound as fun, but we could replace the candy with a different snacking option that doesn’t have so much sugar. You could try a nut and seed mixture, popcorn, or warm tea. To encourage this new habit, you could make sure you’ve got your new snacking option on hand.
Start Today: Ask yourself these questions to get started:
- What bad habit am I currently doing that is negatively affecting my sleep?
- Why do I do (or enjoy) this bad habit?
- What steps can I take to BLOCK the factors creating this bad habit?
- What steps can I take to ENCOURAGE positive factors or even a new healthier habit to replace my bad habit?
Breaking bad sleeping habits doesn’t have to be hard! With just a few small changes in our routine, we can finally say goodbye to sleepless nights and enjoy more restful sleep from here on out!