Sleep tight bloggers

Time for bed showing Insomnia or Tiredness courtesy of [Stuart Miles] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So, as a working mum and a blogger sometimes my brain forgets to turn off and relax at bedtime. I'll come to bed, catch up on blogs, read on the kindle app  and fall asleep on my tablet. Many a night I'll then wake up at 4, 5 or 6 am and struggle to get back to sleep. The alarm then goes off at 7.30 and I'll struggle to be awake. I manage while half asleep to dress, breakfast the girls and then later at my desk the sleepy bug will kick in. I'll yawn for most of the morning until coffee. This can't be right!

 Luckily the Silentnight team have looked down on me and are hoping to help me  sleep. In the post (Wednesday 22nd May ) I received some Crabtree and Evelyn lavender linen spray and eau de parfum. So, over the next week I'm going to use the products and see how I get on:

Night 1 - Wednesday 22nd May, bedtime 11.30
Late to bed again due to catching up with sky + programmes. I've sprayed my pillow with linen spray and a lovely lavender scent fills the room. I'm going to read for 30mins and then see how long I sleep
Woke up at 5.45, not sure why, was it dawn but did manage to get back to sleep after a few minutes First alarm went off at 7.20 and Car joined us in bed. Second alarm went off at 7.30, got up, Car moaned she was tired. I feel quite tired myself and sat here yawning as normal. I think I need new pillow because my neck hurts this morning.


Night 2 - Thursday 23rd May, bedtime 11.00
 I bought a new memory foam Silentnight pillow today (nb didn't buy it because of company but because its currently on sale in matalan). It feels quite comfortable so have sprayed it like usual and will read again tonight. Work colleague thinks I need to go to bed earlier but if I do I'm sure I'd just read for longer. Manage to have a full night sleep with one wake up for toilet stop! Pillow really comfortable.


Night 3 - Friday 24th May, bedtime 3am
 Oops ,went out for well deserved night out with school mum's tonight. Unplanned yet fun. Did manage to spray pillow and slept well!

Night 4 - Saturday 25th May, bedtime 10.30
Due to having a bit of a hangover and being a grumpy so and so (Neb's words not mine), I had a lie in and was still tired so went to bed at 10.30, sprayed pillow, read a page and fell asleep!

Night 5, Sunday 26th May, bedtime 11.00
No work tomorrow and had day out today so tired again. Sprayed pillow after having to spray the kids pillows too!! The kids love the lavender smell and both seem to relax and sleep well with it - it seems to have stopped Car's incessant I can't sleep moans!


Night 6, Monday 27th May, bedtime 10.30
Work for me tomorrow, so I took colleagues advice and went to bed early. Continued night time routine of spraying and read one chapter. Slept straight through!


Night 7, Tuesday 28th May, bedtime 10.30
Seem to be coming down with a cold so headed to bed and didn't stop to read. Hubs sprayed my pillow when he did the kids and land of nod and I were well until the cough crept in at 2am when I got too hot!! AAGH!!

So has the spray worked, I would say it has - it helps me relax and it seems to help the kids switch off.

Anyway here are some of my top tips for getting a good night sleep (but remember do as I say and not as I do!!)
  • clean tidy calming bedroom will help you sleep  (Ahem so still to do this!)
  • have calming thoughts and don't worry about work/money/kids/state of the world (Delete as approproate)
  •   try not to have small child or small child's teddies in bed with you!
  • no caffeine before bed (its a stimulant and makes you wee!)
And if those don't work, then try some ideas from the Silentnight team

 So fellow bloggers and readers, there it is my 7day sleep experiment. I've had fun trialling the spray and wish I had discovered it sooner. I think though that as a working mum, sleep is possibly sometimes last on the list and it may not help that I'm a light sleeper who not only used to hear a baby scream in our house, could also hear them along the street.

 As my cough is currently plaguing my sleep at the moment, I'm hoping to go home and have a relaxing evening before hitting the sack
BNM

All opinions given in the above post are mine. I took part in the Silentnight experience and was given the spray and fragrance free of charge.