The art of sleeping

Some people can fall asleep at the drop of a hat and stay that way until it’s time to wake yet many have issues with sleep. The internet is awash with nutritional and meditation advice to aid sleep, yet I always refer people to do actions; making the bedroom a bastion of sleep and resetting your mind.

Make your bedroom a sleep zone and take a technology detox at least an hour before bed. See the bedroom as a place just for sleep, remove that television that you spend so much time staring at as you search for a new Netflix series to binge on. Remove the rower or exercise bike that your husband ordered once with every intention of getting the body of Idris Elba but you use to hang folded clothes on. Rearrange your bedroom furniture and get some new bedding to take away the feeling that this is a place you struggle to sleep in.

By turning electronic devices off, you are signalling to your non-conscious mind that you are readying yourself for sleep. In addition to turning off mobile phones, tablets, Kindles and personal devices one must ensure that the bedroom is free from anything that can give off energy. This may mean you ditch using your iPhone alarm clock for the old fashioned style your grandparents once had. If you are a ‘twilight hour’ surfer who wakes in the middle of the night and feel drawn to browse Facebook, knowing your phone is turned off in another room and the effort required to go and get it is a wonderful deterrent.

Reset your mind, make sure you deal with any emotional pain before heading asleep. As the conscious part of your mind enters a state of suspended animation, your non-conscious mind continues to function, otherwise, your nervous system which regulates all your organs would stop. In addition to this, functions in your non-conscious mind digest the experiences of the day and file them away in your mind storing the salient points in your memory and discarding the non-essential things. What makes a thought salient? The things you focus on right before slumber will be the thoughts that your mind puts the most emphasis on in retaining to your memory which can leave you feeling imbalanced in your soul.

This is why you awake at night worrying about work or relationship issues that took place that day which make getting back to sleep seem an impossible feat.

One method that can help is the rollercoaster technique. Yes like the Ronan Keating points out in his song; life is a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Each evening in bed recap what the downs where that day, forgive them for hurting you and forgive yourself for being affected by them and then focus on the ups as you drift off to sleep. If you feel you had a particularly bad day and can't seem to recall any ups, focus on some from the past like when you first held your children or that wonderful family holiday destination. You’ll find that the more you do this, the easier it gets; the less downs you get and the more ups you experience.

For those of you who still may struggle to enjoy a peaceful night's sleep, you may find that seeing a professional hypnotist is the answer. Using the ability to alter how you feel, break habits and change thought patterns, a qualified hypnotist can support and help you. Maybe you have deep rooted emotions that no longer serve a purpose, or maybe you have reoccurring pain, either way, a professional can help you face to face or by Skype.