I'll Rise - But I Refuse to Shine

TEN TOP SLEEP SOLUTIONS TOWARD SERENITY

Waking Up is Hard To Do? Eyes Wide but not SHUT?  No idea what you’re now doing out of bed?  Your Rise and Shine then more like Hide and Sleep?

When you haven't enjoyed a peaceful, quality sleep, your body missed out on restoration; your brain missed out on forming memories, and you increased your risk of depression and hypertension.  Besides general mood lowering, irritability, poor memory and fatigue, these can manifest as work absenteeism and worse - accidents. 

If that isn’t bad enough, lack of sleep has a negative impact on romantic relationships, and new research highlights how poor sleep impacts a couple’s ability to avoid and manage conflict.  Ever heard of this marriage therapy gem of an acronym to consider before opening your mouth?   “HALT” (Are you hungry, angry, lonely, or tired?).

Australian population surveys show that 13%–33% of the adult population often have difficulty either getting to sleep or staying asleep. If you sleep like a baby, chances are you know a few people who aren’t - so feel free to share this! 

Sleeplessness amongst clients is certainly a common theme at TheConfidante Counselling.  I’m the first to advocate an awesome eight hour sleep.  Reality is, for most that’s just a pipe dream!

So Dare to Dream! 


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1. Manage your stress and worry: Tools you can use during your day and near bedtime are breathing exercises and muscle relaxation exercises.  Sigh!  Never underestimate the power of deep, relaxed breathing.  It may seem completely impossible to do when your body is screaming for shallow, panicked gasps. A nice, audible, comfortable sigh can work wonders to start your breathing exercises and signal your muscles to relax. Scheduled worry time is a great solution!  Pick a scheduled time to worry and write your worries down ie 15 minutes at midday!.If you think of something during the rest of the day, tell yourself you will worry about that during your “worry time.”  You might think, “If it comes to my mind, I've got to worry about it now.'" How about recognizing when the worry has arrived and write it down.  To help regain some control, if it’s not urgent, tell yourself that it can wait until your scheduled slot.
2. Bore Yourself: So what if a work security fear crops up. "Repeat, for 15 minutes, very slowly, 'I might lose my job, I might lose my job, I might lose my job' -- silently, or out loud. Initially, your anxiety may go up, but then after a few minutes, you will begin finding it's very hard to keep your mind focused, because you're drifting away." By flooding your mind with the thought, it becomes so boring, you can't pay attention to it. "You don't try and neutralize the thought, or chase after it," says Dr Robert Leahy of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy. "You just let yourself repeat it over and over again."  A huge percentage of what we worry about actually never eventuates!
3. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:  This is a simple and effective approved method of treating insomnia without medication.  It is usually a three to ten session process  involving  stimulus control, sleep consolidation, relaxation techniques, and sleep hygiene education (not what you think it is!)
4. Daily Activities:  What you do during the day does affect the quality of your sleep. It’s proven that exercising during the day can help you sleep better. Adversely, too many day time naps negatively affect your night time sleep.  This is where Cognitive Behavioural Therapy’s “sleep efficiency” comes in to work on creating a need to fall asleep by allowing less time in bed.
5. Get up!  If you've been lying in bed for more than 15 or 20 minutes, get up and get out of that place. Don’t feel compelled to stay in bed even when you’re wired or go to bed before you’re tired to "optimize" chances of sleep. Stay in bed only when you're really sleepy or get up and do something relaxing - a bath, a book or even a TV show, so long as it doesn't get you revved up.
6. Consistent Bed Times:  Some can get away with changing the times we go to bed and get up though many can’t. These people do far better with regular hours of sleep. This lets our internal body clock build a strong sleep wake cycle.   This is especially important for children.
7. Optimum sleep environment:  The bedroom should be quiet, dark and comfortable. Make it your sanctuary of the right temperature, with your favourite pillows, snuggly blankets and a good mattress. Remove the TV!  Avoid phones, computers and screen time. Don’t look at the clock while sleeping so turn it around! This can lead to increased pressure and worry about sleeping. 
8. Evaluate your use of sedatives or alcohol:  Sedatives don’t deal with the root cause and can become addictive.  The longer you take them, the less they will work.  Furthermore, caffeine and alcohol will not only dehydrate you, but disturb the quality of your sleep. 
9. Don’t ignore the possibility of having a specific sleep disorder:  Some people with sleep problems have something specific that is causing this. It could be obstructive sleep apnoea, restless legs syndrome, or it could be a drug side effect. If you think this applies to you, talk to your doctor or naturopath.  Bladder conditions, Shiftwork, Jetlag, Pregnancy and Children can create havoc in achieving quality sleep.  (Limited short naps to keep your energy levels going are always welcome for exhausted parents who may need to choose their child’s day sleeps to nap instead of that load of washing.) 
10. Think ahead:  Plan ahead for sleep deprivation caused by shift work etc with your own tailored calming strategies to recover such as your own pre-sleep “winding down”, calming routine.  Examples are prayer, meditation, your favourite ”chill” music, candles, baths, reading, yoga postures and sleep mantras.  

No more Sleepless In  ________________ (insert Your Suburb name here)!  You were born to sleep peacefully to rejuvenate - so head undercover to the Land of Nod!

 Contact Joanne Wilson at TheConfidante Counselling for additional support on 0499991884 or jo@theconfidantecounselling.com.

More great information can be found at:

Australasian Sleep Association:  http://www.sleep.org.au/ 

Sleep Health Foundation:  http://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/

Medical Journal of Australia: https://www.mja.com.au