JANUARY 27 • 2022 | 23

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HEALTH

Struggling to
Sleep

Try these tips to
ensure you get
your Zzzzzs.

DORON LAZARUS
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

re you feeling that tension right
about now? Is it the latest wave
of COVID that is causing stress?
(As if we didn’t have anything to worry
about before COVID). Perhaps it’s a per-
sonal financial issue? New job or conflict
in the workplace? Having a rough time
with your spouse or your kid acting up?
How did I know? Because we are
human and part of being alive is having
these struggles. And let’s be honest, the
Jewish community is not known for our
chilled-out personalities and carefree
lifestyles. Pesach is always less than a year
away and, frankly, it seems that we some-
times make up something to stress about
if there is nothing else major going on. I
mean, wasn’t your shul’s board meeting
a little bit too intense trying to figure out
what they’d serve for kiddush?
But how can we go on with our stress-
ful and busy lives without letting these
things eat away at our sleep? It’s one thing
to feel the stress in the principal’s office

or the workplace conference room, but
what happens when it doesn’t end there?
How are we supposed to sleep when
that stress lodges inside our neck and
back, causing us to toss and turn the
whole night in discomfort? Or what
about when, as our head hits the pillow,
our mind is flooded with worry, doubt,
dread and planning our entire life?
Insomnia is very real. In fact, we live
in the most sleep-deprived generation
in the history of the world. The majority
of adults in the U.S. will struggle with
insomnia at one point in the year, one-
third of them experiencing insomnia on a
regular basis. But that doesn’t have to be
the case.
And the solution is not running away
from stress either. Although it does sound
nice to leave everything behind and relax
in a hammock swaying in the Caribbean
right about now, it is not always so feasi-
ble; and yes, you can sleep well even with
everything going on.

Have you ever wondered, how do
leaders of nations and generals in the
military actually sleep with the pressure
of the lives of millions of people in their
hands? The secret is not avoiding stress,
it’s learning to filter it out and process it
differently.
Let me offer you some practical sugges-
tions of how to leave stress and anxiety
where they belong and out of the bed-
room to allow you to sleep great, no mat-
ter what is going on.
1. Cell Phone: Yes, I know you’ve prob-
ably seen this a hundred times, but hon-
estly, really smart people tend to be terri-
ble at this. You have a choice: your smart
phone or your sleep. I know it sounds
radical, but unless you are a doctor on
call, turn your smartphone off at 9 p.m. It
doesn’t belong in your bedroom.
2. Worry Time: You need to give
yourself time to get that worrying out of
your system. Designate 20 minutes a day,
ideally in the evening, and get out a pen