What does it feel like when you can’t sleep?
Frustrating, irritating, exhausting, depressing
What do you think causes Insomnia?
- stress and strain
- depression and anxiety/worry
- significant life changes
- shift work
- diet
- activity levels
- bedroom lighting, temperature, colour
- pain and discomfort .......and lots of other things
So what can we do to improve sleep when insomnia is a problem?
Here are some ideas you might like to try that have been shown in research to be helpful:
Sleep Hygiene
Having a good getting up and going to bed routine, bedroom lighting ( not to bright and not too dim), heating ( not to hot or cold), colour (chose relaxing pastel colours) , reducing caffeine/alcohol/smoking, Improving your diet and increasing your levels of exercise can all improve your sleep.
Relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation is shown to be most effective form of formal relaxation to improve sleep
Slow down wind down activity 90 minutes before bed.
Practice the Relaxation routine while in bed.
Tense and relax muscles and breathe, Take the exercise slowly, do not over tense muscles.
It is Important to practice, practice , practice.
Imagery
Involves creating a mental image/ or story in your mind which you follow to aid sleep.
The imagery story should be vivid and in your mind’s eye.
It should be pleasant and enjoyable to follow through.
It should be relaxing, so you are not evoking strong emotion.
Your Imagery story should be planned ahead (write it all down first and then practice conjuring it up in your mind’s eye).
Practice regularly until you get good at it.
Can you think of a story they could create perhaps of a lovely place you have been?
Putting the Day to rest
Set aside 20 minutes in the evening every day to put the day to rest.
Sit down with pen and paper.
Write down what happened during the day and how you feel about it, so you put it to rest.
Write down anything you still need to do on a “to do” list and write down the steps needed to tie up loose ends.
The aim is to feel more in control, so you can remind yourself you have dealt with things when you are in bed if thoughts start to come about things yet to do.
If new thoughts come while you are in bed, keep a pen and paper by your bed and write down what you need to do so you can deal with it tomorrow
Thought Blocking
Follow these three simple steps:
- Repeat the word “THE” in your head with your eyes closed over and over every 2 seconds
- Don’t say it out loud, but it sometimes helps to mouth the word
- Keep up the repetitions for about 5 minutes (if you can manage that long)
Saying “THE” over and over acts by blocking other thoughts coming in (you cannot be thinking about other things if you are thinking about the word “THE”.
The word “THE” is also neutral so it does not evoke string emotions in you.
Giving up trying to go to sleep
Sometime people are unable to sleep because they are simply trying too hard to go to sleep. Trying to go to sleep actually keeps you awake and can lead to irritability if you cannot sleep which again keeps you awake
Here are the steps you can take to give up trying to sleep to hard:
Lie comfortably in your bed with the lights off, but keep your eyes open
Give up any effort to fall asleep
Give up any concern about still being awake (say to yourself “its ok to be awake, relaxing is good for me too”)
When your eyelids feel like they want to close, say to yourself gently “Just stay awake for another couple of minutes, I’ll fall asleep naturally when I’m ready”
Don’t purposefully make yourself stay awake; but if you can shift the focus off working to fall asleep, you will find that sleep comes more naturally
Making the link between bed and sleep
Only use your bed for sleep and intimacy. Watching tv, reading, eating, using telephones, Computers should all be avoided in your bedroom or in bed. Also, avoid napping during the day, even for very short periods
The 15 minute rule
- If you are not asleep within 15 minutes of trying, get out of bed and go into another room. In preparation for this you might want to:
- leave the heating on
- decide where you will go
- leave a light on
- prepare a flask of a warm milky drink, or a decaffeinated drink
Only go back to bed when you feel sleepy again
If you still cannot sleep, get out of bed again and repeat!
You should follow these same rules if you wake in the middle of the night for 15 minutes or more and cannot fall asleep. You could read or listen to music, or do something else that is relaxing while you are up.
Good luck and sleep well!
Dr Jackie Fearn
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
InS:PIRE Team
