Sleep for me is one of my absolutely favourite things to do. I love nothing more than getting into bed at night putting on the lamp and fairy lights over the bed, reading a good book and then putting on my very unattractive sleep headphone headband and listening to a great sleep hypnosis meditation. I look like a 1980's tennis player with my weird headband on, but the night-time routine tells my mind that it is time to sleep.
I am one of the lucky people who sleep for 8 hours every night and fall asleep easily. My husband on the other hand struggles to get to sleep and wakes up in the night often getting up at 4am as his brain will not switch off and that pesky voice just starts chattering on to him. If you are one of the unlucky 36% of UK adults who struggle to sleep, then here is my advice.
We have tried everything to help my hubby and my Mam who has the same problem. Create a great bedtime routine you would be surprised how important routine is for adults. We do this with our children but not ourselves. My children had a very regular bedtime routine and slept well. They would watch in the night garden, have a bath, we would read them a story with a nice dim lamp on, music and night light on and sleep. The pattern of behaviour programmes the mind to know that it is time to sleep, and we can do the same as adults.
So do you need to start watching In the Night Garden and having a bath every night? no. Start with a nice warm comforting drink and watch your favourite show, plug in your phone and electricals downstairs to charge for the next day and check your diary so that you know the plan for your next day. (If I don't do this, I end up thinking about work meetings and going downstairs to check my phone). Next start by dimming the lights our mind works from dark and light to know when to sleep so the dimmer the room the better in the lead up to bedtime. A bath with Lavendar in is ideal as Lavendar promotes sleep but if this is not possible pop some Lavendar on your pillow instead. Use a retro alarm clock instead of a phone as this will prevent that pesky blue light getting in the way of your sleep. Meditation is an absolute winner for promoting sleep. I use a headband with earphones built in as this is nice and flat on the ear and comfortable. This links to your phone using Bluetooth so you can put it on with the phone in another room and it will still link. There are lots of free you tube sleep meditations that can be really effective. I use hypnotherapy ones, but I am lucky I can do this myself as a qualified hypnotherapist! If you want to purchase one of my recordings there is a section on the website called Shop. As I say though there are also free ones that can help promote sleep.
Use positive affirmations when you are in bed. In your mind say things like "I will fall asleep easily tonight", "sleep comes to me quickly and easily" "I will have 8 hours sleep tonight". I hope that this helps you to have great sleep. If you need any extra help, please do not hesitate to contact me for a free discovery call.
