Refreshing Sleep

We’re really pleased to have our first guest post on sleep this week from Evan Hadkins of http://www.livingauthentically.org/ in Australia. Please visit his website and enjoy a wealth of information and enjoy with us his article on sleep.

Refreshing Sleep

For most of us most of the time we go to sleep fairly easily and wake up fairly refreshed. Sleep comes naturally to us most of the time. And sometimes it doesn’t. There are various things that can get in the way of us having refreshing sleep and ways to address these problems. (These are not medical solutions – if these simple ways do not work then you may require some kind of technical support or professional advice.)

I sort the sleep problems into two broad categories: physical and psychological. By psychological I mean the world of our thoughts and feelings. In my view there is sometimes a third category to do with spirituality (but this can be more controversial). By spiritual I mean concerned with our values and sense of purpose.

Physical Sleep Problems

Firstly there is our environment. To sleep well we usually require quiet and low light. This may require ear-plugs and/or an eye mask. We also usually require a warm (not hot) temperature. As we relax we tend to cool down so it helps to start from warm.

This can often be achieved fairly easily by a warm bath or shower just before going to bed. To be warm in bed may require pre-heating the bed and may mean wearing socks when you first get in to bed (our feet tend to be the part of us that cools down the quickest so wearing socks can help us stay warm).

Then there is diet and exercise to consider. Some foods tend to wake us up – in most cultures this means caffeine and sugar. Other things interfere with our sleeping properly – alcohol and other drugs being the most common. Exercise may help us to get rid of the tensions of the day and so contribute to a better sleep. Some gentle exercise that helps us relax (rather than vigorous exercise that revs us up) done before going to bed, may be helpful.

To help you pay attention to what physical things help you sleep and interfere with your sleep, the best way I have found is to keep a journal. This can be informal notes or a formal system of keeping track of the environment, your diet and exercise and how this affects your sleep; the important thing is that it is as enjoyable as possible to keep so that you can stick with it for a month or three.

It can also help to have someone you can talk with about how you are sleeping on a fairly regular basis (perhaps once a week). This is not to seek their advice but simply to have a person involved so that you will be more likely to pay attention to your sleeping.

Psychological Sleep Problems: When the thoughts and feelings don’t stop

Getting to sleep means putting an end to the activities of the day – with all its triumphs and stresses and disappointments and relationships and projects and so on. And sometimes we’re not finished.

In this situation (where we are still involved with the day’s activities with our thoughts and feelings) we have two broad options: distract ourselves or finish with the day.
Distracting ourselves means doing something else – something that knocks us off that obsessive railway track that we are on.

This can be something paying attention to our breathing or our muscles. A routine of tightening and then loosening each of our muscle groups can be helpful (move from your feet up to your head – and then back down again if necessary).

There are also other activities that we can get engrossed in for a time – reading an involving novel for a while helps me relax from working on the computer, or if I am a bit disturbed after a bit of an argument with my partner.

It will depend on what is distracting enough for you – and ideally it will be something that you can stop doing as soon as you start feeling sleepy.

To finish with the day usually means finding out what has hooked us. That stray comment we can’t forget, that argument we keep running in our heads, those plans we are in the middle of making . . . all those things that keep going round in our head, have hooked something in us.

It may that we feel the criticism was unfair or that the other person was arguing dishonestly or that we need the plans finished by a particular time. It will help us to know what it is that has hooked us – and then perhaps formulate something we can do about it.

What we can do about the issue we identify will vary greatly. A repeated argument with our spouse may lead us to decide to file for divorce or to agree to disagree, identifying a criticism and why we think it unfair may be enough for our emotions to settle. It could mean scheduling time to organise the project.

If we are tossing and turning and not getting to sleep due to our thoughts and feelings, and we haven’t been able to distract ourselves, then we need to pay attention. Getting up and journaling may be a much better use of time than tossing and turning all night. An hour’s journalling may get us restful sleep for the rest of the night.

Spiritual Sleep Problems?

It may be that for some people there is a pervasive dissatisfaction that comes from not having a sense of purpose and that interferes with sleep.
In my experience this can only be addressed by a sense of individual purpose or meaning. Most people find this through religious traditions. If you do not wish to identify with a religious tradition there are some things you can do. Two ways to gain this sense of your purpose are to analyse the past or imagine the future.

To analyse the past you can find what things you find satisfying and what the common themes are amongst them (and perhaps contrast these with the common themes among those things that you really dislike). You can also imagine what would be a deeply satisfying day, week, year or life for yourself.

And then take one small step on the basis of what you have found. And then another step. This process of re-shaping your life may take time but, if you have connected with your sense of purpose, it should be a joyous (if not always easy) process.

A refreshing sleep can come naturally and easily. With this brief guide to what can interfere with sleep I hope you have ways to deal with any difficulties that you may have with sleeping.

Simple Strategies to Help You Sleep

Once again, if these simple strategies don’t work please consult a therapist or enlist the aid of some kind of technology, whether it be a pillow or a pill. Don’t suffer with poor sleep when you don’t have to, there are these simple strategies to start with and many other resources to help you have good sleep.