“Our Heavenly Father has promised, beloved, sleep. Give restoring rest needful for tomorrow’s toil. If dreams be mine, let them not be tinged with evil. Let the Holy Spirit make my time of rest, a blessed temple of his holy presence. May I hold life loosely in my hand, knowing that I receive it on condition of its surrender, I retire this night, in full assurance of one day awakening with God. All glory for this precious Hope, for the gospel of Grace, for your unspeakable gift of Jesus, for the fellowship of the trinity. withhold not your mercies in the night season; your hand never where are you, your power needs no rest, your eye never sleeps. Help me when I hopeless lie when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts, when my eyes are held awake by personal anxieties. Show yourself to me as the God of all grace, love, power; you have a balm for every wound, a solace for all anguish, a remedy for every pain, a peace for all disquietude. Permit me to commit myself to You awake or asleep. Amen.”
Sleep is a thing I have struggled with and had to learn some tricks because I am working a crazy schedule and have been for over three years. Also, I had a wonderful son who liked 5 am and I am a type of person that needs some quiet before the storm. So, in Africa I got up super early especially with three small humans to keep alive.
Here are a few of my favorite things:
1) exercise (even a short walk) preferably outside so you can get into the time zone of where you are at even if it is for only 17 hours. The sun I have been told promotes a healthy rhythm.
2) heated eye mask. I actually need this for my eyes but since it is warm and dark it is now my favorite to sleep.
3) 15 minute timer. If I’m exhausted and it’s not near bedtime, I set a 15 minute time and allow my self to rest. Just yesterday my work day was wonky starting at 3:30 am until noon. So I knew I wanted to enjoy the beautiful day, but I was beat. I took a quick 15 minute nap and was able to go skiing for two hours with my friends.
4) my dear friend works at 4:30 am and has used a variety of sleep aids to help with deep sleep at weird times. I tried 5 types of herbal supplements and this one made me sleep the most soundly. It has no melatonin. It might have a placebo effect but it works for me.
5) audio books. Ok, this is for my active brain. It can’t be to exciting of a book or I’ll want to stay up. But often the reader make a big difference and allows me to turn off this worlds issues (sermons are good at this too). I do set a 15 minute timer and most nights I am asleep before it runs out.
6) fan. We have an air purifier because of my husband asthma and I often will turn on a fan for white noise. I have used an app, but often listening to my book on my phone so I use an actual fan in most hotel rooms.
This is a instagram account I follow, I haven’t tried all of these but my mom love tart cherry juice
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