Sleepless in Seattle:: When the Brain Won't Shut-up!

Oh vey!  Last night my brain was a whirl of business, and not so much of sleepage.  When I was sleeping, I was dreaming of business, which when you really just want to sleep, is more like a nightmare!  So much to do in this start-up world:  manifesting, marketing, managing, designing, networking, admin-ing, web-ing, writing, blogging, twittering...yikes!  And we all know, not sleeping is not condusive for next day productivity (insert doing the craninal dip at the computer)!

As I lay there in bed, envying the deep sleep of my sweetie next to me (insert sounds of snoring and deep, peaceful breathing), I realized that the only way to shut my brain up was to immediately get more deeply connected with my body, in order to re-route my brain functions, so I could get the heck to sleep! My first solution is always hot, relaxing shower. 

Well, as I stood there re-routing my brain, I knew I was not the first start up indie to ever be sleepless in Seattle, or non-start up indie, for that matter!  Ideas flooded my mind of helpful tips for getting to and back to sleep for all my indie friends, and I knew I had an article to write today.

Helpful Tips for Getting to and Back to Sleep for More Productive Days

When the brain is whirling in thought process in the middle of the night, it needs to be re-routed to body process and sensation in order to quiet down the "churning factor."  Less politely put, that would be "SHUT UP BRAIN!  QUIT TALKING TO ME!"

The key to re-routing is to do things that connect you with your body.  Following are some ideas that came to my mind.

1. Take a hot shower or bath to intitate relaxation and calming. Forgive yourself for the high amount of water and energy usage you are about to partake in because this is NOT an eco-friendly event kids!  Haha.  Make it as hot as you can stand it, but try not to relax so much you fall over and kill yourself by hitting your head.  The idea is to get some sleep till morning, not instigate permanency!
2. While lying in bed, try long, deep breathing, inhaaaaaale.....exhaaaaaaale.  Repeatedly.  You just may konk out doing just this.  It's worked for me before.
3. Also while lying in bed, tense the muscles in your body, one part at a time.  Start with the toes, squeeze and tight as you can, release and exhale.  Work your way up the body.  I've passed out before even reaching my head doing this!
4. Gentle stretching, yoga, etc. works too.  Or, if you're really ramped up, do something more vigorous like jumping, shaking your body all over and letting out sounds.  The neighbors might think you're a bit wacky, but we already know you are because you chose to be an indie biz person, so no loss there!  Haha.  Don't forget to do some deep calming breathing after all that jumping to take your heart rate down.  Again, the goal is temporary sleep till morning, not permanent sleep by heart attack!
5. And last, but definitely not the least...if you have a partner that doesn't mind being woken up at night and is sympathetic to your sleepless plight, a little 1 on 1 fun is definitely known for inducing some good, sound sleep!  If you're flying solo, well, have some 1 on 1 with yourself! 
   

If NONE of that works, get psychological help in the morning.  Haha.  Just kidding.  Seriously though, you may just need to get up and jot some stuff down so your brain can put the thoughts to rest for the night.  Within reason, of course.  We're talking notes, not novels!

Hopefully, you are more sleepful in Seattle, that sleepless and you'll never ever need to use any of my tips!

If you have any other ideas that have worked for you, we wanna hear them, so do leave comment!