Morning
Get out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off (or if you wake up naturally, get up if it is a reasonable time to get out of bed).
Tips
- Establish a regular wake-up time and morning routine.
- Place phone/alarm at a distance from bed that requires getting up.
- Plan something enjoyable in the morning to help you get out of bed happily: a coffee and book, a walk with a friend, music, meditation, yoga, etc.
Day
Don't use your bed for relaxing during the day and avoid sitting or lying down for other reasons where possible too.
Tips
- If you need to work/study from home, do so outside of the bedroom if possible.
- If you need to work or study in the bedroom, have a designated desk and office chair, and only sit on the chair.
- Assign a separate spot that isn't the bed for when you feel the need to rest, such as a couch, armchair, chair, floor or beanbag.
- If you enjoy reading or other relaxing activities in bed, find another quiet place to do this.
Evening
Avoid the bed until you are sleepy, and it is time to sleep.
Tips
- Generate some ideas for activities that you can do at night.
- Ideally these should be relaxing activities, such as reading or journaling.
- If you find it hard to stay awake until your assigned sleep time, try more stimulating activities (e.g. sitting in kitchen and do a sudoku or crossword, watch a nice movie, knit, or play a game).
- To avoid being on the phone in bed, put your phone on charge in a separate room or out of reach overnight. This might mean you need to buy an old-fashioned alarm clock!
- Be prepared with some ideas about what you'll do if you can't fall asleep when you go to bed. This may be to go to another room and read a book, to make some tea, to draw, etc. Have necessary materials (e.g. book, drawing materials) already organised in advance at a certain location.
