The increasing stress of modern life has certainly changed the we live our everyday lives. It has affected many of our daily routines, and one of its biggest reported impacts has been that on sleep. Notably, more people are experiencing insomnia, since sleep becomes more elusive when we are anxious.
Many people are suffering sleep issues for the first time in their lives and are reporting that they are:
• awake for long periods
• unable to fall asleep at all
• wake up several times during the night
• having more intense and emotional dreams
• feeling tired and groggy the next morning
• finding it difficult to concentrate or function properly
• feeling generally irritable because of the lack of sleep.
Good sleep hygiene can help you sleep well and can limit the negative effects of poor sleep.
Try these FIVE tips to enjoy a deep, healing sleep.
1. Limit news intake and avoid screens for at least an hour before bed. Keep your phone plugged in somewhere other than the bedroom.
Instead of negative news, do something to boost your mood before bed – like watch a humorous television program or listen to an uplifting podcast. A positive mood can help you to sleep.
2. Create structure in your day.
Our brains and bodies love structure. Wake, exercise, eat and sleep at similar times each day
3. Learn to relax.
Relaxation can switch off the stress response, physically and mentally. Find something that works for you – mindfulness meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing or a long hot bath.
4. Focus on your breathing.
Think about resting when you go to bed, rather than sleeping. Follow your breathing by silently whispering the words ‘in’ and ‘out’ to induce sleep.
5. If you can’t sleep – get out of bed.
Your bed should not be a battleground. Instead, try to enjoy the sensation of merely resting.
Hypnosis can help many forms of sleep issues and insomnia.
If you are not sleeping well, and traditional treatments are not working, sleep hypnosis may be able to help you sleep the way you need to restore and renew.
Sleep hypnosis uses different approaches to induce relaxation, such as focused attention, symptom control and guided imagery. And, unlike sleep medications, sleep hypnosis has no side effects, so it can be an aid for those who can’t or don’t want to take sleeping pills.
Hypnosis can help you to overcome bedtime restlessness – ease the worry, tension and anxiety that prevent sleep – and can show the way to the deep, restorative sleep that we all need.
To get started, download this complimentary sleep hypnosis recording.
Take the first steps on the road to better sleep!
