Ways to change your sleep beliefs & habits!

• 6 August 2016
• Jane Evans
• no comments

1. We NEED 8 hours sleep a night

This used to be my biggest cause of NOT sleeping!!

Worrying about NOT ‘getting 8 hours sleep’ before I got to bed:

“I must be in bed by….. (counting if I had 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 hours’ sleep ahead) as I have to get up by…., if I don’t I might get tired later in the day!”

As I worked with families where there was a high risk of safeguarding needs for either the children or the adults, or often a crisis would either occur, I had a fear of being ‘tired’ and missing something, or messing up for them.

I would get into bed feeling tense; especially if I already knew I was going to have less sleep??!!!

If I woke in the night I would send cortisol and adrenaline coursing through my system and be wide awake worrying about…being wide awake!

It turns out that if we get 6 hours good quality sleep a night it is enough, and believing this is so important as it lays the foundation for achieving it!

Here’s what I have developed based on reading and looking in to ‘good sleep’:

Before bed

Create a routine for yourself and try to stick to it without obsessing (like I did!!)

• Try these exercises by Rod Sherwin on YouTube
• Get off screens an hour before you want to sleep as the light they give off is stimulating to the brain
• Try to keep all devices out of the bedroom
• Darkness and coolness aid sleep
• Avoid heavy meals, alcohol and no caffeine (in fizzy drinks too) after 4 p.m.
• Do some simple stretches, and deep breathing in to your stomach before you go up to bed
• Simple guided meditation relaxes the body (YouTube is full of them)
• Smile on your way in to the bedroom as it switches on ‘rest and digest’ internal system!

I use doTERRA essential oils – diffuse them in the room an hour before bed, massage them in to the soles of feet, and base of spine, dab behind ears and on back of neck, breath them in. (I have had great success with them, especially vetiver and myrrh)

In bed

• Do some deep belly breathing – for many as babies or children, bed/bedtime/sleep was a time of stress so getting in to bed subconsciously triggers this memory in the body and nervous system
• Think of 3 REAL things to be grateful for – “I have a warm bed, I had food tonight, I had a great conversation with….”
• Tense whole body and release with big breathe out, repeat 3 times
• Repeat in your head – ‘I love my bed, I love to sleep’
• Use a meditation with earphones – one of my favourites is the Mindfulnsss Bell, as it vibrates down the body sending a message of calmness and safety to it, via a long nerve called the vagus nerve

2. I am tired because I didn’t get enough sleep

What we tell ourselves on repeat, repeat becomes a ‘belief.’

Our body listens carefully to the words we use and chemical changes and cellular and muscular changes occur based on key words. So, CHANGE YOUR TUNE!!

If you keep telling everyone “I don’t sleep well”, “I am always tired”, “I wake up every night” that is what your system reacts too.

It gets more stressed by this and associates ‘don’t sleep/always tired/wake up’ with bed and bedtime which makes us feel tense and as if it’s a ‘given.’ Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Waking in the night we immediately feel stressed so our system thinks it’s in danger of some kind and releases the right chemicals for, ‘there is a vicious bear in the bed room about to attack me.’

In reality you are awake in your bed safe. You need to convince your nervous system, and therefore your brain, of this fact.

Starting with your nervous system:

• Avoid looking at the clock – Focus on your body
• Believe you can drift off again – repeat “there are no bears in my bedroom” over and over as it will stop your brain thinking other thoughts
• Feel the mattress and pillow beneath you
• Repeat ‘I am safe and I love my bed’
• Repeat the exercises above (also I just found these by Rod Sherwin on YouTube and I love them!!)
• Dump your thoughts on a piece of paper next to your bed
• If you fear forgetting something – chuck something on the floor so you will see it in the morning as it will act as a prompt

AVOID the temptation to:

• Try to rationalise or get frustrated with yourself
• Believe that this it for the night
• Become a ‘sleepless night victim!‘ – I was. I am NOT now. I had to work at it! I still do!
• Try to stay in bed BUT – if you feel you are starting to panic – get up, get a drink of cold water, stand on the floor in bare feet and concentrate on feeling the ground beneath your feet, then on breathing in to your belly.

I could go on and on as I am passionate about addressing sleep and sleeping as it has been a tricky old business over the years! Now I seem to have cracked it by doing all of the above, not necessarily every night, but as and when.

 I always practice gratitude AND believe I will sleep AND I get up much earlier now BELIEVING I will have had enough sleep!

BE KIND TO YOURSELF!!!!!!

---

WARNING

If you, or a child, has trauma associated with beds, bedtime or night time this will be MUCH harder work and need some additional understanding.

However, these techniques can be of use too BUT!

• Less is more
• Do one thing at at time over a long time frame
• Pay great attention to how exercises feel in the body as that is where trauma is stored

NOT ALL ESSENTIAL OILS CAN BE APPLIED DIRECTLY TO THE BODY –ALWAYS CHECK THE LABEL

 I ONLY use doTERRA oils (happy to discuss if you are interested)

To work on sleep, or anything else holding your, or your family back:

E: janeevans61@hotmail.co.uk

M: 074552981247