I’m really good at waking up. I’m so good at waking up, in fact, that occasionally I wake up two hours too early. I used to find it difficult to fall back asleep.

When I asked a doctor about this, they told me it was called “fragmented sleep” and there wasn’t that much they could do about it.

I came up with some ways of managing this.

Generally, if I wake up and can’t fall back asleep after 20 minutes, I get out of bed. 

I follow this routine: I meditate for 10 minutes. I write in a private journal. I read for five minutes or so. I only read relaxing books—recently, Radical Acceptance, The Courage to Be Disliked, or Thich Nhat Hanh’s books, or Believe (the Ted Lasso book). I don’t read things that might energize me, like career-related books. I even keep memoirs to a minimum. 

95% of the time, this routine works. Sometimes I need to get out of bed again and read for another 5 minutes, and that works really well.

I used to worry a lot about, “What do I do if I can’t fall asleep?” which would increase my sleep anxiety and keep me awake. Because I’ve done this routine so often, and it is so effective, I feel more confident and relaxed, which allows me to fall asleep more easily. So a routine—even if it’s not this one—is generally worth implementing.

If I wake up just before 7 AM, there’s a good chance that I’ll just get out of bed and start the day. I will likely take a 20–90 minute nap later (depending on how much I slept, scheduling, etc.).

As much as possible, I book my meetings in the afternoon—after 2pm—so my brain feels less pressure. This creates a big block of time in the morning for deep work, which suits me well—my brain is at its freshest and most alert.

One nifty trick for when I’m lying in bed: if my mind is still chattering, I make a suggestion for it to imagine a mashup of my favourite TV shows. For example, I’ll imagine the cast of The Office appearing as guests on Running Man. Or, I’ll imagine Running Man doing a StarCraft–themed episode. (I find Running Man very relaxing.)

My partner suggested another helpful exercise, which is to visualize words that start with the end of the previous words closing letter. So, “beaver” might lead to “river,” which leads to “raven.” I realize that I think in conceptual terms a lot, so I try to stick with natural words which are more physical and concrete—animals, habitats, natural environments, etc. If I can’t think of a word that starts with a letter—like N, or X—then I start over, often with, “horse,” or I start telling a story about the “beaver,” “river,” and “raven.”

When I work out, I drastically increase the odds that I sleep through the night.

I started changing my sheets every three nights—just a little more than twice a week. This also helped me sleep better.

P.S., This was one of the unpleasant topics I hesitated to write about. But if it helps you with your fragmented sleep, it will have been worth it!