What to do in the middle of the night?

Do not completely disregard the items on the "don't" list.
Sometimes lists are mostly useful for the writer of the list, to satisfy a publication credit.
I have had excellent results reading, or surfing the internet.
Another thing--don't blush, but Dr. Ruth is right; sex will make you drowsy.

I've tried, and done them all. Getting out of bed to do a "boring activity" only keeps me awake longer. I use talk-radio to lull me back to sleep. I keep my phone on my bedside with a single ear-bud that I pop into 1 ear, and remain quiet in bed. The ear bud prevents me from waking up my wife. My phone has an APP that tunes in radio stations across the world; using the free iHeartRadio app I pull in Coast-to-Coast AM and listen until I fall back asleep. Invariably I will wake up in the morning with the ear bud still in my ear, and the radio still playing quietly which I slept thru.

I find when I remain in bed I tend to drowse out faster. If I am in another room, at my desk, elsewhere in the house, I don't get sleepy. Remaining in a dark room flat in bed brings on drowsiness faster (in my case).

I tried listening to music but singing along to the oldies at 4:00 AM started to annoy my wife. I don't understand why? Even the dog burrowed under the covers.

chunkyfrog wrote: Another thing--don't blush, but Dr. Ruth is right; sex will make you drowsy.

No not at all - I get inspired to make art. I want to leap out of bed and DO THINGS that will inspire the world. Why why why do people want sex at the end of the day when I need to sleep? Do it in the morning!

Has there actually been a scientific study on this?

Did any of these authors actually have a foot note to a scientific study confirming these assertions? Or it just anecdotal information that just gets passed from one book to another. A lot of this happens in various writings. There was this whole 8 glasses of water a day thing, and someone writing about health decided to track it down and they found that it was just made up by a writer. Yet people would always be telling you that you should drink 8 glasses a day.

I suspect the sleep hygiene thing probably doesn't have a scientific basis. Think about what type of study you would have to do to confirm these sleep hygiene things.

With trial and error you will find out what works.

1. I first check my email.

2. I then clean up and do dishes if any.

3. Then while reading on the computer I will get real sleepy and go to bed.