4 Tips for a Pleasant Sleep Despite Itching at Night

Waking up refreshed is often a luxury for the eczema warrior who’s scratching seems to ignite in the night. For me, I think that all the repression of my scratching during the day when I had the energy to eventually wore out at night. And it would be when I am the most tired and lacking as much willpower that my itching seemed to be at its worst. Many nights, I've had sleep anxiety worrying about how bloodied and torn up my skin would be in the morning.

How have I adapted my sleep routine for eczema?

But over the years, I have found some methods to help me have a much better, deeper, and more pleasant night’s sleep, which I share below. I hope they help you much as they’ve helped me regain my sleeping sanity.

Tip #1

One of the best tips I can give anyone struggling with sleep, eczema or not, is to take the pressure off of having a perfect 8-hr sleep every night. Life can get very busy and unpredictable. Not every day is exactly the same, so our sleep doesn’t need to be either in my opinion. I’ve been sleep deprived one day and still enjoyed myself and got everything important I needed to get done completed. I’ve also had lazy days where I had the perfect amount of sleep. And yet other days where I overslept and felt groggy anyway. I’ve learned that I can always make up for sleep deprivation with naps and sleeping in the next night. It all fluctuates and depends on circumstances, but overall, it all balances out in the end for me.

Tip #2

Take your time to unwind. I find it helpful to take at least 2 to 3 hours to fully wind down for bed, especially if I am dealing with a flare-up. When I’m flaring, I feel like I have a lot more anxiety and pressure built up in my body to unravel and wind down from.

Tip #3

When getting ready for bed, I also find it helpful to play a comfort playlist that I have created on YouTube for the kind of content that makes me relax. Lately, that has included videos on home décor, baking, soothing lofi and instrumental music, and ASMR. This helps to set the mood and the right environment for me to be able to sleep better. When I'm actually asleep, I play ASMR videos all night. I find that ASMR videos are a great distraction for my anxious mind to go from worrying about my skin and potential scratching to hyper-focusing on the sound of whatever is happening in the video.

Tip #4

Running a fan can be another good way to unwind and soothe hot, itchy skin. It's also another thing to listen to like ASMR, helping me to take my mind off how itchy I am and induces a meditative-like state for me.

I truly hope that these bedtime setup tips help you to soothe your mind and mood and have many, more pleasant nights of sleep ahead!