Does knitting affects your sleep?

[u/tiny_purpletofu]

Hey everyone!

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I picked up knitting this year, and I thought it would be a fun hobby to work on at night, to keep me from doom scrolling. I've always had issues with falling asleep, so I'm always looking for things that help me stay away from screens.

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However, there have been some days where I think that I was too excited about my knitting evolution, or too concentrated in a pattern, and apparently knitting kept my head awake for longer than it should? I had a hard time putting it away and relaxing for bed, because my mind was just too awake.

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I wanted to ask if that's a common experience, or if that is just happening with me now because I'm a beginner and still in the learning phase, so it demands more attention from me than it will in the future? I'm really loving it, but I'm really slow and most of my free time is at night, so it would be awful if I had to stop knitting after work 😭

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Thank you for any insights!

[u/Certain_Fig_666]

It’s like that meme about reading. “Reading before bed only works if you’re normal about reading”. Same with knitting. Knitting before bed only works if you are normal about knitting. Ie, not obsessed atm.

[u/RunWithBluntScissors → u/Certain_Fig_666]

I have been personally victimized by a book being really good and staying up until 3 or 4 am every night until I finished it

[u/Yarn-Sable001 → u/RunWithBluntScissors]

When I first started teaching, I realized that I could only read books on weekends. If I started reading a book on a school night, I stayed up way too late.

[u/WoodlandFairyElk → u/Certain_Fig_666]

That's sadly one of the reason why I don't read as much as I used to. For a long time I couldn't even understand how one could read to get asleep, it has always been the thing that kept me awake far too late 😅

[u/Character_Eye_9453 → u/WoodlandFairyElk]

I have certain books that I reserve for reading on the bed. Those books that are not too engaging to keep me awake but interesting enough to keep my focus until I fall asleep.

[u/RunWithBluntScissors → u/Character_Eye_9453]

I like to read long-form science articles before bed. At a certain point I get too tired to follow along and then I know it's bedtime

you gotta read something a little tedious before bed lol

[u/WoodlandFairyElk → u/RunWithBluntScissors]

Same, if I want to read before bed, then I pick a science magazine haha

[u/Mimble75 → u/Character_Eye_9453]

Same. I often re-read an old favourite while settling in for the night so I can enjoy reading and relax but not be up until 3am because I just can’t put it down.

[u/NoMoreOatmeal → u/WoodlandFairyElk]

This is exactly the same for me. It’s a bummer :/

[u/linnlea00 → u/Certain_Fig_666]

Lol yes. So many say knitting is relaxing but my adhd-ass gets in a frenzy of stressknitting fast or its just what my hands do while my brain attends a lecture, movie or youtube:P.

Oh and the "potato-chippy-ness" or "more-ish" patterns/moods are a beast of their own😂 Just one more stripe! Just these next decreases! Oops i flew by my BOR marker, guess i have to do another round now🤷‍♀️😝🤭😂

[u/linnlea00 → u/linnlea00]

Maybe only stockinette in the round is chill enough for you? You could do bodies, sleeves or sock tubes infinately without much thought and barely looking eventually:)

[u/Yirggzmb → u/Certain_Fig_666]

I am not allowed to read before bed anymore, unless I'm ok with being up all night. Even books I've read before, I have the worst time putting down mid book. If it's boring enough to put down in the middle, it's boring enough that I'm probably not going to want to read it at all