How are you sleeping?
If you’re someone who finds yourself awake in the middle of the night, you’re not alone. In my book Answers In The Dark, I highlight that, certainly in the West, we are a Sleepless Society.
If you’ve not been sleeping well, you might find you get every cough and cold that’s going round. In the same way, a vicious cycle is created when our mood affects our sleep – in turn our lack of sleep affects our mood. We know that lack of sleep can impact our health in different ways, from compromising our immune system to exacerbating stress and anxiety; it may even contribute towards nightmares.
According to the Mental Health Foundation’s report ‘Taking Sleep Seriously‘, nearly half (48%) of adults and two-thirds of teenagers (66%) agreed that sleeping badly has a negative effect on their mental health.
The report also emphasises that it’s important we value our sleep. In our busy world, we sometimes make other things – like work or socialising – a priority, when we should be putting sleep at the top of the list. It states that we should protect our sleep, and find ways to make life work around it. It’s not always easy, especially if we have young children or work shifts (or both), but there are things we can try.
What helps?
Most people are familiar with the concept of ‘Sleep Hygiene’ which refers to the habits we engage in during the day that can prevent efficient sleep at night. It makes sense that drinking too much coffee during the day can have an impact when we try to go to bed, just as if we exercise too late in to the evening we feel pumped and not ready to sleep.
In Answers In The Dark, I also make the point that it’s not always what we’re doing during the day that stops us sleeping, but what’s happening to us. If you’re going through a period of loss, through bereavement or a relationship break down for example, it makes sense your sleep is impacted. This is where talking to someone can be useful.
Research also supports that engaging the ‘relaxation response’ can be helpful in terms of improving sleep quality. This is where mindfulness and mindfulness meditation can help.
The Body Scan
One popular activity for improving sleep is turning our attention towards the body.
In the Body Scan, we focus our awareness on how the body feels, without judgement, and then may use the breath as a tool to help us relax. One way of doing this is starting at our feet, and just noticing how they feel. If we notice tension there, we may label it as ‘sensation’ and then take a deep breath to help us feel more relaxed. Returning our breathing to a natural steady rhythm, we bring our awareness up the body in to our legs, up to our hips, and follow the same process until we’ve covered the parts of our body that we feel need our attention. (You can cover the whole body if it helps). The video below gives an example of this.
If you find turning your attention towards your breath or body uncomfortable, if you have a trauma related diagnosis or if you have heart or respiratory conditions that may be exacerbated by this type of activity, speak to your healthcare team first for their guidance.
There are other ways we can use mindfulness without meditation during the day, that may help us feel more relaxed at night. For example, you may decide to have a mindful shower or bath before bed as part of your Mindful Morning routine, or perhaps go for a walk earlier in the day where you can turn your attention to the present moment using your senses that can help you feel more relaxed. If however, none of this is working and certainly if lack of sleep is taking its toll, do speak to your doctor to see if there is something they can offer that might help.
Delphi is the author of Answers In The Dark: Grief, Sleep and How Dreams Can Help You Heal, out now on Amazon and Hive. The Dreams Maven™ is part of the Helping You Sparkle™ portfolio. You might also like Monday Mojo™ – find out more via the button below.
© Delphi Ellis 2023, updated 2024
The Dreams Maven ™ 