How Did You Sleep?

Today is World Sleep Day

I count myself as extremely fortunate because I sleep well. I know I am fortunate because there was about a decade when I slept extremely badly. Whatever time I finally managed to drop off, "PING", I was wide awake at 4.30am, counting the minutes I had left to sleep before getting up for work.

If you identify with this, you will not need to me tell you what a negative impact this has on every aspect of your life. You will just want to know how I changed it.

I think most of us know about sleep hygiene (bedtime routine, no phones or laptops for an hour before bed, room temperature etc*). We are aware of sleep apps and meditation tapes etc. Some people find these work to get off to sleep, but how do you stay asleep?

What some people do not know is that our brain resolves whatever is bothering it during REM sleep. REM sleep is strictly limited for good reason*. The bits that are not dealt with accumulate (imagine a bucket) with new issues piling on top. REM will only resolve the items on top. Basically we need to clean out the accumulated silt stuck at the bottom. It’s a bit like defragging a computer (which will then run better) or cleaning our home (who does not sleep better in clean sheets?).

Recently I worked with a client, who, neither of us thought had a care in the world but he/she had not been sleeping well for some time. By our third session we discovered part of what was keeping him/her awake at night and by the fifth we discovered the rest. Both of us were totally surprised by what we found, but by the twelfth and final session he/she was on top of things and moving forwards happily. For this client sleep hygiene and apps alone would not have provided the answer.*

*If you would like to know more, please contact me. I LOVE talking about this so please make my day and contact me