How To Listen to Your Body When It’s Time to Sleep.

How To Listen to Your Body When It’s Time to Sleep.

Do you know the difference between being sleepy and tired? 

It is so important to understand the difference between these two so that you can listen to your body better and know when the right time is to go to sleep. 

These two terms are often confused and used interchangeably, and I’m for sure guilty of using tired when I mean sleepy. 

If you misinterpret which one you are feeling, this can lead to a difficult night of sleep.

So let's start with sleepy. That one is pretty easy to understand. That’s when your eyelids are heavy, and you can barely stay awake.

You might start to notice this feeling when you read a book and have to reread a paragraph repeatedly to understand what you just read because you are sleepy.

Now, when you're tired, that is when you're physically drained. You're wiped out, you have mental fatigue, you're low on energy, and you feel like you need rest. This is when you could need one of two things. 

First, it could be that you simply need some rest, like lying or sitting on the couch and watching a tv show. You need to relax in some way and give the body time to recharge the batteries.

Second, it could mean that you need some movement even if it doesn’t feel like it. You may need to go take a walk, work out, or do anything to get the blood pumping. 

Often when we are tired, we think we need to rest when really we need to get some movement in to bring our energy levels back up. But that’s not what this post is about, and I’m supposed to teach you how to listen to your body when it is time to sleep.

Many people get confused when they feel tired and think that they need to go to sleep. So they go to sleep and end up tossing and turning all night, stressing about sleep.

So instead, if you wait until you are sleepy, your eyelids are heavy, and you feel like you can fall asleep any second, that is the best time to go to sleep.

That’s it. This is a quick post, but it can be helpful if you are getting the two confused.

It takes time to practice and learn the different signals so that you know if maybe you need to rest, move, or go to sleep.

When you have insomnia, the time you are sleepy and ready to sleep might not be when you want to go to bed. You might need to stay up later until you get to that point. But it's going to help you a lot in the long run. 

If you found this post helpful, check out my post, “Should you get out of bed if you can’t sleep?” My answer will surprise you.