In the same way that lullabies lull babies to sleep, reading stories has the same effect on children. Based on these first life experiences, some people turn to music to combat insomnia, while others do so with a book between the sheets. However, how many times have you stayed up in the middle of the night because you were hooked on the pages of a book? That is why we ask ourselves if reading is a good way to sleep.
Read to sleep well
- Regarding the techniques or remedies against insomnia, the only premise that is valid for all people is to maintain proper sleep hygiene. From there, the tricks, remedies, treatments or therapies to sleep well will depend on each person. It is a matter of testing which is the one that gives us the best result. Reading is for many people a sleep-inducing balm.
- Many people go to bed with a book and not half an hour has passed when they have already fallen asleep. But falling asleep quickly is not synonymous with quality sleep and rest is not guaranteed. For this reason, to use reading as a treatment for insomnia, some precautions must be taken, for example, that the light we use is very soft in the event that we fall asleep with it on. Because sleeping with a light on can impair the quality of sleep.
- We must also take into account if we sleep alone or accompanied, because our partner may need darkness to fall asleep. In any case, reading a book is also recommended for those cases of insomnia in which we get up at midnight completely clear. At that point, it’s best to get up, go to another room, and read a few pages for 20 to 30 minutes.
Read not to sleep
- But we must be careful with the book we choose to sleep. Nor is it a matter of being so boring that we don’t even feel like opening it, but if the reading is too interesting, if it requires us, as sometimes happens, to continue reading until the end, perhaps reading is not the best idea to combat the insomnia.
- What we can recognize in reading as a technique against insomnia is the ability it has to evade our worries. Engrossed in reading, we don’t think about the row that awaits us tomorrow at the office, or the appointment with the gynecologist, or the bills that are yet to be paid, or even the argument as a couple we’ve had this afternoon.
- Thus, reading can relax us, it can make us forget about problems and it can be useful to free our minds from negative thoughts. Because to sleep you need a clean mind. However, if the book is too interesting, if the intrigue overwhelms us, we may have decided by the second chapter that we are going to spend another night without sleeping a wink.
