Sleep

Strategies to help with creating a healthy sleeping pattern

Sleep disturbance is very common if you are experiencing anxiety or during stressful situations. Below are some simple strategies to help you get back into your normal sleep pattern. Not all of these strategies will work for everyone, but with a bit of perseverance you should be able to return to your normal sleeping routine. Should sleep continue to be problematic seek assistance from your family doctor. Keeping a regular routine, go to bed at the same time and rise at the same time even if you haven’t slept well. If you haven’t gone to sleep within 30 minutes, get up for a while before returning to bed, repeat this process until you do fall asleep

• Try to avoid caffeine from 6pm onward (e.g. coffee, tea, cola, chocolate) and try not to eat a meal within a couple of hours of going to bed.

• Keep distractions such as the TV or iPads off (or out of your room). Keep your phone on silent or away from your bed so that you don't play with it!

• Create a habit of doing something relaxing before going to bed (e.g. a warm bath, mindfulness, relaxing music)

• Starting an exercise routine can often help with sleeping.

• Try not to worry about not sleeping, everyone has stressful periods in their lives where their sleep will be disrupted, and we can all survive on surprising little amounts of sleep even though we may feel tired.

Further Reading:

Please listen to a very interesting TED talk by Russell Foster on Sleep.