Why we need to sleep well

All of us have trouble sleeping now and then, and notice how much it can reduce our ability to focus, function and feel well the next day. For the majority of us for whom this is only an occasional inconvenience – or a finite period, like the parents of new babies – we usually take it in our stride and catch up with sleep the next night, or week, or month.

If, though, you are someone who currently suffers from poor sleep, or regular insomnia, the effects may be seriously affecting your life and your sense of wellbeing. And more people suffer from this condition than many of us imagine. Recent figures show that:

• On average, 50% of people slept badly last night
• Over 30% of the population suffers from insomnia or another sleep disorder
• 27% of people have sleep problems at any one time
• 10% of people have chronic insomnia.

And far from being a minor irritation, sleep disorders put sufferers at significantly greater risk of physical and mental health problems, ranging from depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder to immune deficiency and heart disease.

“Whilst great emphasis is rightly placed on the importance of diet and exercise, sleep has for too long been neglected as a major influence on the physical and mental health of the nation.”

Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation

The UK charity, the Mental Health Foundation’s report, “Sleep Matters” shows the impact of sleep on health and wellbeing and details how, far from being a minor irritation, sleep disorders put sufferers at significantly greater risk of health problems.

Its data also reveals the extent to which sleep disorders like insomnia affect everyday issues such as relationships and work. Taken from the “Great British Sleep Survey”, the largest ever survey of the nation’s sleep (conducted by sleep organisation Sleepio), the data shows that compared to people who sleep well, people with insomnia are:

• Four times as likely to have relationship problems (reported amongst 55% of survey respondents with mild, moderate or severe insomnia, compared to 13% of respondents who slept well)
• Three times as likely to experience low mood (83% compared to 27%)
• Three times as likely to lack concentration during the day (78% compared to 26%)
• Three times as likely to struggle to ‘get things done’ at work or elsewhere in their lives (68% compared to 23%)
• Over twice as likely to suffer from energy deficiency (94% compared to 42%)

Sleep Writing

One way of helping improve your sleep is to keep a sleep journal. Each morning, note down how easy or hard it was to get to sleep and the quality of the sleep you experienced. On good days, analyse what your evening routine was, what you ate and drank and describe your state of mind on going to bed. On days when sleep was elusive, do the same, noting what might have stopped you sleeping in terms of your own activity, attitude and consumption, or what outside factors kept you awake (noise, light, temperature). At the end of each week, look at the positive and negative influences on your sleep and try to incorporate the first into a regular routine, and minimise the second.

By the end of a month you should have a very clear idea of what helps and hinders you getting to sleep; the things which cause you to wake up in the night; and how to use this information to improve your sleeping habits.

“There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.”

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, scientist, doctor, educator, mother

(1926-2004)

Golden Glow

Another tip is to actively relax before sleeping. Download and listen to the free "Golden Glow" relaxation audio on The Real Secret website while lying in bed at night and get into the habit of clearing your mind of anxious and repetitive thoughts while relaxing each and every muscle in your body.

More info on insomnia in this blog post, and on reducing stress and taking control of your life in The Real Secret, available in print and Kindle formats on www.amazon.com and www.amazon.co.uk.

Ways to beat stress-related insomnia

We all know we need sleep; when we don't get enough sleep we have unpleasant mental, physical and emotional symptoms to the point that we will seek medical help to cure both the insomnia and its results. Sleep keeps us healthy, mentally sharp and able to cope with stress more effectively, among other things. Unfortunately, the more stressed we are, the less sleep we often get, which can cause a vicious downward cycle.  

Some of the reasons that stress and sleep deprivation go together include:

Overthinking
Many people take their work home with them, either physically or metaphorically. With today’s demanding workloads it’s often difficult to come home from a day of problem-solving and issue-managing and simply stop thinking about them. Parents at home with children, people who work from home and students can all experience this as well, even if they are not physically changing environments when work ends. If you find yourself still trouble-shooting at the end of the day, and the thoughts won’t seem to leave your mind, this can make sleep become much more difficult. It can also wake you in the middle of the night, as you transition between sleep stages.

Over Activity
A hectic, busy life can not only keep your thoughts racing, but also rob you of time you can actually spend sleeping. If you find yourself pushing your bedtime back further and further to get things done, or getting up earlier and earlier in the name of productivity, you may feel tired a lot of the time but not realise the toll lack of sleep is taking. Less than six hours sleep on a reegular basis can damage your physical and mental health.

Cortisol
This stress hormone cortisol, released when you are in "Flight or Flight" mode, enables you to respond quickly to crisis situations, but needs to be "switched off" to enable relaxation and sleep. Chronic stress can lead to excessive levels of cortisol, and this can disrupt healthy sleep patterns through physical discomfort such as indigestion, stomach and muscle pain, as well as...

Anxiety
Like overthinking, anxiety can make sleep difficult and wake you up at night. Anxiety keeps your mind busy imagining threatening scenarios and worrying about how you could deal with them. You may become preoccupied with finding solutions, or simply repeating the same pattern of anxious thoughts over and over again. That racing of your mind can rob you of sleep by keeping your cortisol levels high, making sleep harder to achieve.
 
Caffeine and Alcohol
People under stress tend to consume significant amounts of caffeine to get a boost that gets them going in the morning, helps them make it through the day. Caffeine can actually exacerbate stress levels and significantly affect the amount and quality of sleep you get. Stressed people often try to relax with alcohol in the evening, not realising that it can inhibit sleep, increase anxiety and exacerbate the physical symptoms of excess cortisol.

Try these techniques if you are permanently stressed and/or find yourself regularly short on sleep:

Breathe
Use this exercise as a transition time between work and home - concentrating on the physical aspects will divert you from work-related thoughts and change your mental tempo. You can also do it lying in bed to help you go to sleep and if you wake in the night.

Breathe in a long, slow breath, right down into your diaphragm (you should be able to feel your belly, not your chest, going in and out) until your lungs are expanded fully (but stop before you feel you're going to burst). Breathe out slowly until your lungs are completely empty (but not so you're gasping). Breathe in and out five times like this, in your head counting up to five as you breathe in and back down from five to one as you breathe out. Keep the in and out breaths regular and flowing; don't hold the breath at any point. After five deep breaths, breathe more gently and normally and find your natural rhythm as you breathe in and out. If you can make the out breath longer, that's good.

"When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still…. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath."

Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th century)

By changing your breathing, you are changing your physical response to a situation. The message your body is giving your brain is: “I am breathing in a calm, relaxed manner therefore I am in control.” As your brain registers this message, it assumes any danger has passed and deactivates the Fight or Flight response, reducing the flow of cortisol and thus your feelings of anxiety.

Physical relaxation
We hold stress in our bodies, often on a long term basis, so conscious physical and mental relaxation is beneficial to reducing your stress levels and very conducive to sleep. Once you've learned the technique it can be done at almost any time, but making a habit of doing this before you go to sleep ensures a much more restful night.

“There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.”

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, scientist, doctor, educator, mother (1926-2004)

Lying in bed, on the floor, or sitting comfortably, close your eyes and settle your breath as in Breathe. Now take your consciousness down to your feet and imagine them surrounded by a warm golden glow – like in the Redibrek ad, if you're old enough to remember it. Say to yourself internally, “My toes and feet are warm and relaxed; soft and heavy”. As you do so, try to release all tension from the muscles in your feet (sometimes it can help to tense, then release them).

Continue this process up your legs, abdomen, back, shoulders, arms and hands, neck, over your head and down your face until you have relaxed every muscle and visualised a golden glow enfolding your entire body. Feel each limb in turn loosen and soften like those of a rag doll. The more you practise, the better you will get at relaxing each muscle group, right down to detailed parts of your face. Check how much tension you release by relaxing your mouth and jaw, for instance.

This is a great technique to send you back to sleep when you wake up in the night, and if you do it just before nodding off, chances are you won't actually get to finish the exercise. Concentrating on the repetitive instructions to your body, and your conscious efforts to relax, divert your thoughts from anxieties and give your mind a chance to switch off.

“Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,

The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,

Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,

Chief nourisher in life's feast…”

William Shakespeare, Macbeth

If you feel it would help to have an audio of this relaxation exercise, which we call "The Golden Glow", you can listen or download it FREE as an MP3 file from our website.

You will find more ways to de-stress, cope with anxiety and take control of your life in The Real Secret

 Posted by Lucy