Discover Quality Sleep Even Though You Are Overwhelmed
What is Insomnia?
Sleep, or the eternal search for sleep, can seem like trying to “catch a fish with your bare hands” when dealing with insomnia.
Insomnia can appear as an inability to go to sleep, stay asleep, or wake too early and be unable to go back to sleep. These are often symptoms of the mind’s seeming inability to switch off but may also be indicative of medical/physical-related issues (see your GP to check for medical-related issues). Anxiety can also play a role in insomnia, making it difficult to fall back to sleep during the night.
Find out more about anxiety and stress
Pre-Bed Time Strategies
These pre-bedtime strategies can help prepare you for a better night’s sleep:
- Dim lights or wear blue-light blocking glasses (1-2 hours before bedtime).
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol in the afternoon and evening.
- Avoid smartphones, tablets and computers (any blue-light emitting devices) 60 minutes before bed. Turn night mode options on your smart gadgets.
- Manual tasks pre-bedtime can be helpful to re-focus your mind, e.g. folding laundry, washing dishes.
- If you are tossing and turning in bed, try to get out of bed for about 30 minutes and do something like:
- read a physical book (rather than an ebook or electronic device)
- listen to calming music
- light manual tasks like folding laundry, washing dishes.
- There are various sleep apps for your phone that may be able to help you sleep (just ensure you use your blue-light blocking glasses when you view your phone). E.g. podcasts to fall asleep too, music to fall asleep to or just random sounds/white noise.
Hypnotherapy is an all- natural, drug-free method that can provide you with alternative strategies to help you calm an overactive mind, and deal with issues that are detrimentally affecting your ability to sleep soundly.