Self Care for Sudden Sleep Issues – CREATE A LIFE YOU DON'T NEED TO RETREAT FROM

This blog post has some simple self care ideas to support you if an injury or illness flare up or any other sudden issue (maybe prompting anxiety or stress) is making sleeping well much more challenging. If you have longer term insomnia they might also be helpful for you

If you’re familiar with NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) you might recognise elements of the following Robert Dilts’ Logical Levels inspired questions.

I’m suggesting using them as journal prompts here.

If we were working together, it would be a somatic and energetic experience, too as you’d literally embody each stage and solution.

Simply journalling (or doodling or talking aloud – whatever works for you) through them, you’ll gain a lot of insight.

I hope they help you sleep better

Wake up to your environment

What in your bedroom helps you relax into sleep?

What needs to move to another room (or out of your life entirely)?

How might you make your bedroom cosier?

A more relaxing, welcoming and enjoyable space?

List everything that springs to mind. Some will be quick fixes, others longer term projects.

Moving in that direction will bring speedy results to the quality and ease of your sleep,

What are you doing to impact your sleep?

Do you have a beneficial bedtime routine? It’s not just babies and children who benefit from this.

You might include Sleep Yoga, journalling, reading in bed, meditating, specific scents (many like lavender essential oil), a relaxing herbal tea… create a sleep routine that works for you.

Maybe you’ve recently started – or stopped – doing something that’s having an impact. What in your behaviour might you adapt in order to sleep better?

Are you getting enough exercise earlier in the day?

Are certain foods and drinks keeping you up?

Again, list everything and identify immediate fixes as well as longer term projects.

What do you need to learn about sleep in order to sleep better?

If you’ve never slept well or given sleep much thought, you might simply not KNOW what many consider to be basic sleep hygiene.

Maybe you don’t know how to use your imagination to help yourself sleep

Become a detective into your own good (and interrupted) sleep to help you get a better sense of what will work for YOU.

There are lots of simple tips you might find helpful here:

What do you believe about yourself and sleep?

While I’m not suggesting denial, telling yourself you sleep wonderfully when you can’t remember the last good night’s sleep you had, the mind body connection is strong.

If you keep telling yourself and others, ‘I can’t sleep. I’ve never been able to sleep. It’s chronic. I’ll never be able to. Nothing works. I’m always exhausted’ etc etc, while they may FEEL true, each time you say them, you’re conditioning your unconscious mind to believe it more deeply.

How might you create a little breathing space around the belief that inhibits sleep most strongly for you?

Maybe instead of ‘I’ll never be able to sleep’ experiment with ‘I’m learning how to better support sleep’. Nothing that feels like a lie (affirmations can be wonderful as long as they’re believable). You might find an afFORMation such as ‘How did I become SUCH a good sleeper?’ helpful.

How do you feel about the purpose of sleep?

Do you dismiss is as a waste of however many hours?

Or do you feel awe for the body’s natural repair mechanisms and all it does, while we’re off in the land of nod, to heal, recharge, lay down new memories and a whole host of other physiological benefits?

Imagine running your car into the ground without refuelling and resting it?

Or attempting to get more from your devices than their batteries allow?

How might better sleep help you feel more fulfilled, and life feel more joyful and meaningful?

Imagine a well rested you. Filled with energy and a delight in life and all it has to offer.

What kind of relationships might this you be able to maintain?

What about at work?

With creative projects?

Other ways of contributing?

Your being rested and refreshed will benefit not just you but many others. List the first few people and/or groups that spring to mind and let the thought of more patience with x, y and z encourage you to take some of the practical steps that will support better sleep.

What are you going to do differently today in order to support better sleep no matter what’s going on for you?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of your insights, pick one teeny tiny thing.

Start small and build on it.

If you have the book, 365 Ways to Feel Better: Self-care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing (White Owl, 2017), there’s plenty on applying logical levels to ANY issue you’re wanting to enhance in your life as well as lots of Sleep Yoga and other ideas. You can access free videos and more HERE