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ハン・ソヒ (W Korea Vol.12/2025年12月号) / Han So-hee(W Korea Vol.12/December 2025 Issue) |
Today I'll share a few ways to cope when you have trouble sleeping.
When you can't sleep, try making things a little cooler.
Pull back one blanket to just below your solar plexus.
Lower the heater temperature by 2 degrees, leaving the blankets as they are.
Keep your neck cool and your shoulders warm.
Try each one.
Feeling hot makes it harder to sleep, you see.
Once you cool down a bit, you can sleep.
This is the idea, the way to figure it out, that you can't sleep right after getting out of the bath.
When you wake up in the morning, do you still feel like you're slightly sweaty?
I think that means you're a bit too warm.
After sweating unnecessarily, you get chilled, so it's basically not very comfortable, I think.
I believe you should consult a doctor immediately when you can't sleep.
If over-the-counter medication works for you, you should use that.
People talk about various ways to sleep without relying on medication when you can't sleep, etc... but not being able to sleep is a symptom.
After about three days, you should be able to judge whether you can manage it on your own or if it's a legitimate symptom of insomnia.
After that, please go to an internal medicine doctor and consult them.
After taking a scientific approach, if you still can't sleep, perhaps start considering your own coping strategies based on the understanding that your brain is in an excited state?
(Of course, if you've tried the prescribed medication but still can't sleep, be sure to consult your doctor.)
All emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—mean your brain is in a state of excitement for that particular feeling.
Since an excited brain can't sleep, avoiding activities that trigger these emotions allows the brain's excitement to subside.
Also, light excites the brain.
Thinking excites the brain.
Therefore, to avoid exciting the brain, you need to enter an environment that doesn't excite it.
In other words, when you can't sleep, simply lying down isn't enough. Lying down signals your body to start preparing for sleep, so to enter an environment where your brain's excitement begins to subside, you should lie down while staying awake.
This doesn't apply if you're a night owl, of course.
Most people are designed to be active during the day, so being awake at night triggers different reactions than during the day.
After midnight, you tend to become more vulnerable than usual.
You become more susceptible to shock.
I'm neither an expert nor a doctor, so I'm writing based on my own experience and observations of people's reactions, but haven't you noticed how many naive comments linger online, especially at night?
Even if you become more vulnerable, feel gloomy, or are more easily shocked at night, it's not your fault.
It's probably just how the brain is structured.
Staying up late often leads to intense self-reflection over things you didn't notice during the day, or dwelling on your own failure to notice them. You might fixate on thoughts like, “Am I just insensitive and terrible?”
But all of that is just your emotions playing tricks on you.
It's best to let go of all the self-blame and negativity you dwell on at night.
For those with few connections like me, it's fine, but when you can't bear it anymore in the middle of the night, you call a close friend and pour out whatever's on your mind, right?
Ninety percent of the time, those conversations revolve around negative topics: sadness, anxiety, gloom, pain, anger, and so on.
And the other person gets drawn into that negative topic too.
This is the chain reaction of negativity.
The negative thoughts about yourself that come to mind at night are important to you.
It's said that the more important something is, the less you should think about it at night.
I agree.
The more important something is, the better it is to think about it when you've slept well for a month, eaten properly, and are a little sober with a clear head. That way, you can truly value what matters.
If you need to set aside time within your daily schedule to think, they say morning is best. But in my experience, around 10 AM is ideal.
Ideas that come to you immediately after waking up might be a bit too energetic, so revisiting them at 10 AM is better.
I'm not someone who forms many deep connections, but for those rare, important relationships I do have, I think it's good to spend plenty of time truly valuing the other person and occasionally just leaning on each other.
When something painful happens, it's not a normal situation, so what I just wrote doesn't apply.
Similarly, most people are more susceptible to shock at night.
They tend to be hit much harder by shocks than they normally would be.
So, avoid seeing any strong news, intense topics, or uncomfortable subjects at night.
After getting excited—like after something happy happened or you saw something enjoyable—how long does it take for you to return to your usual, slightly detached self?
That time is your guideline.
For example, if it's two hours, then two hours before you feel like sleeping, block out things that stimulate your brain's emotional responses: things that make you feel intense joy, anger, sorrow, or excitement; things that move you deeply; things that make you feel tenderly touched.
Just quietly tell yourself in your mind: “I'm now entering my cool-down time.”
The reason you shouldn't see light during cool-down time is that continued exposure amplifies your brain's emotional responses.
Since you're entering cool-down time, block this too.
Then, 30 minutes before your cool-down time, take a shower or have a warm drink to warm your core.
This intentionally excites your body and brain, creating a state of gradual sobering up.
Then, during your cool-down time, how about keeping your body in a slightly cool state—not cold—to make it easier for your brain and body to become alert?
If you read books, think about things, look at recipes, or gaze at beautiful things during your cool-down time, you might accidentally come across something amazing and get excited, thinking “Wow!” That also excites your brain.
Try lying down blankly and imitating a kitten sleeping soundly.
Wrap yourself in your small, slender, supple tail, gently moving your belly as you sleep soundly. Isn't that the start of a time wrapped in the blanket of security?
I keep the image of snow falling within that indigo, deep within my closed eyes, while thinking of the phrase “fell into a blue sleep.”
Well then, have a wonderful Sunday.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)










