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My Troubles With Sleeping

by Alexis
(USA)

Im about to turn 12 in just a couple of months and I've tried everything from asking my parents to lay down with me or just simply searching on google how to fall asleep in 5 minutes and nothing seems to work for me.


See i was sleeping just fine before Thanksgiving and then that night i went black friday shopping with some friends and didnt get to sleep until 6:43 that black friday and ever since ive been haveing trouble sleeping.

I just sometimes lay there awake thinking why can't i fall aslep and then I go down to my mom's room and lay right in front of the fan and i fall right to sleep but i want to figure out how to fall asleep in my own room in my own bed by myself. Please help anyone i just need advice.

Kevin: Hi Alexis, Thanks for writing in. It's possible that you shifted your biological clock back a bit when you stayed up late for Black Friday. Your biological clock controls when your body releases hormones that make you either sleepy or alert, and sometimes staying up late or looking at light during the night can shift it around.

You can read a little more about how this works here, and some practical tips are to get plenty of sunshine during the day (especially the early morning) and avoid sources of light (television, computer, etc) at night. This will help shift your biological clock forward and should make it easier to fall asleep when you want to.

Warmly,
Kevin


(Please keep in mind that I am a student of sleep science and not a medical doctor. Please take any thoughts I give with my background in mind.)

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