Sleeping Pills #2 & #3

David Murray's book Reset has an excellent chapter on sleep and ways we can improve our sleeping habits. In my first post on this topic I shared Murray's first "sleeping pill" - knowledge.

Here are his second and third suggestions for how we can improve our sleep habits. Both of these suggestions really fit together and even as I share this I'm challenged to use discipline in forming a nightly routine.

Discipline

Knowledge alone is not enough; we need planning, willpower, and discipline to make the necessary adjustments to our expectations, our schedules, and our lifestyles. We need  to ask God to help us see this as a life priority, as a matter of obedience, and as a way of pleasing our Father and Creator. Let's plead with him to give us the strength to do what we know we must do.

Routine

If we strive for consistency in our bedtime, in our rising time, and in our pre-bed routine, our bodies will learn the routine, build a ryhthm, and inject the right chemicals that prepare us for sleep. As Mathew Edlund writes (The Power of Rest, Kindle edition, locs. 959, 972):

"Preparing for sleep can be as important as what time you go to sleep. Your body is not build to dart suddenly from extreme mental and physical activity into immediate slumber. Rest and activity demand transitions... Everything works better if much of your presleep period becomes routine, rhythmic, and ritualized. As you perform a sleep ritual night after night, your brain and body get used to the idea that this little group of behaviors will help you sleep and will provide you complete rest."

What discipline and/or routine do you need to add to your sleep patterns?