The Guardian recently published a good article on how to sleep easier it quotes tips from Professor Colin Espie of the University of Glasgow Sleep Centre as follows :
1. Recognise that "sleep is not a lifestyle choice, it is a biological inevitability. It is very, very powerful, and we need to get it working for us: a person not sleeping well has first and foremost to allow sleep to do its work. Sleep is a process of letting go."
2. Sleep's achilles heel, however, "is our world. Most sleep problems are psychological obstacles that we put in sleep's way. Like all things we should do automatically, when we deliberately try to do them we screw up. Adopt a relaxed, confident approach to sleep, not a neurotic, panic-stricken one. Recognise there's a right and a wrong kind of effort. Your role model is the 'careless sleeper'."
3. Go to sleep only when you feel sleepy and, if anything, shorten the time you try to sleep: "A lot of people put good sleep beyond the achievable simply because they are so worried about not sleeping. Their sleep becomes frayed, even more broken. If I try to read a book in bed, it's never very successful because I go to bed when I'm ready to sleep. It's counter-intuitive, but a shorter sleep often means a better quality of sleep."
4. Put the day to bed long before putting yourself to bed. "A racing mind – what happened today, what's on tomorrow, what will the future hold? – is a huge obstacle to sleep. So take time before bed: go through the day, think about tomorrow, put things in their boxes, make a list. Set your mind at rest."
5. Learn to value relaxation, and if necessary learn specific relaxation techniques. Above all, "Don't try too hard." But, of course, for some that is easier said than done.
Great article and some nice tips. For the full article click here
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