We all take sleep for granted until we find that it takes us a long time (more than 30 minutes) to nod off. Sometimes we’re waking up in the night and taking more than 20 minutes to get back to sleep, or even waking up feeling as though we haven’t slept enough[1].
Good quality sleep is one of the main foundations on which your mental and physical health rests. We all need a certain amount of sleep to feel good the following day. It takes time for us to go through the different sleep cycles that help us to feel restored.
A good ratio of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep to slow wave sleep (around 25% REM and 75% slow wave) is essential.
This stabilises the workings of the neurotransmitters in the brain that determine your mood, motivation and emotional stability during the day.
Here are 4 main points to consider to ensure you enjoy good quality sleep.
Lifestyle
As well as making sure you have enough time for sleep, getting some fresh air, sunshine and exercise every day is very important to the quality of your sleep, as is a healthy diet. A study of nursing students showed that smoking and drinking coffee on a daily basis were two of the main factors associated with poor sleep quality. And although alcohol might help people nod off, it can still adversely affect sleep quality and wake you up in the middle of the night.
A wind-down routine
Over the millions of years of human development, we have got used to light fading slowly, which stimulates the production of melatonin - the brain's 'sleep hormone'.
People who watch bright TV, phone or computer screens just before bedtime may find that this sets their natural wind-down pattern back by hours. The blue light emitted reduces the production of melatonin, making it harder to fall asleep. Also, the content of programmes and games stimulates the mind, so that it is harder to nod off and, when you are finally asleep, you spend too much time in the REM phase, so you wake up feeling tired[2].
Too much noise before bedtime also puts the brain on high alert, so have music playing at a low volume. Reading a physical book (not a digital one) in a warm environment before you go to bed is a good option.
Where you sleep
Is your bedroom quiet, cosy, too warm, too cold, noisy, dark enough? Even the smallest amount of light interferes with melatonin production.
Does your bedroom contain reminders of work (phone, laptop) or anything else that might keep you alert and not relaxed?
Are your feet cold in bed? This can prevent you from falling asleep because, for the shift into sleep to occur, your core body temperature needs to be cooler than your extremities. Having warm feet tends to make you feel sleepy. So, you might want to invest in a pair of woolly socks for bedtime.
Concerns
Worry is just as much of a stimulant as caffeine - in fact, it’s worse. We have evolved to feel stressed when in danger so that we stay alert for as long as the danger is present. If your brain registers a threat in the environment - even if that threat is generated by your own mind - then you won't sleep until your brain registers that the environment has become less threatening.
Try to resolve concerns or get help resolving them as soon as you can as this will beneficially affect how quickly you drop off to sleep as well as the quality of your sleep. Simply making a list before bed of the things you need to do the next day can reassure your mind that you are on top of things.
Poor sleep can also be due to the side effects of medication or physical pain, so you might want to find help reducing this effect. On the other hand poor sleep can just be a habit, in which case rearranging your furniture or even sleeping in another room may change the pattern enough for sleep to re-establish itself.
Hypnotherapy can help you deal with any sleep-related issues you may have.
During a hypnotherapy session you can learn how to deal with stress during the day and achieve a calm, relaxed state in the evening so that you can enjoy a good night’s sleep.
Kim Martin
Kalm Hypnotherapy
Kalmhypnotherapy.com