Most of us think good sleep begins with going to bed at the right time.
Pastoral counselor and spiritual care scholar Pamela Ayo Yetunde learned otherwise, and the shift changed everything. Drawing on her own struggles with sleeplessness, her work with mental health patients, and her mother’s experience with Major Depressive Disorder, she makes a deeply personal case for treating sleep as a serious and intentional practice of well-being.
Key ideas:
- The Body Needs Preparation Throughout the Day: Hydrating consistently and finishing the final meal of the day at least two to three hours before bed are among the practical habits that support deeper, more restorative rest.
- The Support System: Sleep is often a collective effort. Yetunde suggests communicating your “rest routine” to those you live with, asking for lower volumes and delayed requests, while ensuring dependents are cared for before the “transition” to sleep begins.
- Systemic Compassion: She acknowledges that modern living conditions (economic stress, multiple jobs) often work against rest. Therefore, inability to sleep is not a personal failure, but a challenge requiring “fierce self-compassion.”
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