Have you ever found it hard to get to sleep on a regular basis? Find it difficult to stay asleep? Have an interrupted sleep pattern? Worry a lot about things you cannot control? If you have answered yes to one or more of these then chances are you are heading your way to becoming an insomniac. Do not fear, help is here!
Just because you cannot get to sleep for a week or so, it does not mean that you have insomnia. If left unchecked, it could lead to insomnia ‘yes’. However, I am here to share my personal experiences and techniques that helped me to not only battle insomnia, but to help you to stay insomnia free.
Insomnia does not discriminate. It affects the young, adults and elderly and is not as clear cut as a ‘complete lack of sleep’. Insomnia is an umbrella term to encompass early morning waking, not being able to fall asleep and waking up randomly in the middle of the night.
Did you know that one in five adults suffer from insufficient sleep and complete deprivation?
Sleep is vital for the functioning of the body. Most people need to be getting between 7-9 hours of sleep a night to maintain both good health and wellbeing. It is important to realise that insufficient sleep can lead to many health issues such as an inability to lose weight, reduction in both concentration and focus and the enhancement of some mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
So how do you combat any insomnia that you may experience?
Firstly, it is important to set up a healthy sleeping regime where you are proactively creating a space for both mind and body to relax before trying to sleep.
Start off by trying to stick to a regular sleeping and waking pattern. Go to bed, and wake at the same time every day to help break the insomnia cycle. Regular daily exercise and taking the time to release any worries of the day, will help.
When my insomnia was at its peak of disruption, I created a ‘worry envelope’ to offload my ‘stinking thinking’ so that any irrational thoughts would not ruminate, all night long, to keep me awake. Agreeing a set time with myself, on a daily basis, to worry helped to alleviate my symptoms of insomnia. I would make myself a herbal tea for a 9pm start and sit down to my envelope of ‘worry’. My phone alarm would be set for 20 minutes of ‘worry time’. I would take out all of my pre-created worry strips, read my worries and let my mind worry unnecessarily so for the set time. When my alarm went off I would thank my self for listening to my woes and place all the strips of worry, back into the ‘worry envelope’ to come back to at the same set time of 9pm the next evening. With regular continuity, the stress and worry I had been experiencing started to fade and my sleep started to come back.
What else can you do to regain a healthy sleeping pattern?
There are many other things that I incorporated into my regime to regain a healthy sleeping pattern. I created a snug, sleeping environment, warmed my bedroom, sprayed my pillow with lavender, took a hot shower thirty minutes before bed and settled into some bedtime reading. I would plan a bi-weekly deep tissue massage to help release all the tension in my neck and shoulders, followed by a reflexology session within 48 hours of my upper body massage. This helped to rebalance my physical and mental self. The benefit of mixing up all the self-care ideas above and adopting a consistent bedtime regime allowed my insomnia to dissipate with time. It was such a huge relief to actually regain 8 hours of sleep a night, and not to wake at all throughout the night. In all honesty with all the above put into motion, it still took a good month for my sleep to start to settle. But once it started to come back, I had more hope and increased motivation to keep up with the daily selfcare and bedtime regime.
With all this knowledge and experience, how does my insomnia package help you to sleep?
During our session together, I take time to understand the difficulty you have with sleep and to formulate a plan to put into practice from both sides. During our first session together, I will use physical massage, reflexology and hands-on-healing to help to begin the ‘restoration’ of a sleep pattern. I will then ask you to carry out some pre-sleep techniques at home on a daily basis, before meeting with you again.
We will work together to alleviate any symptoms of insomnia. Most of my clients to date experience an instant relief, in one way or another, but report that after 3-4 sessions they have their sleep back and feel more in control and rebalanced.
Read more about my insomnia package here.
