Have trouble falling asleep? Sarah Cummings of SleepAdvisor.org shares simple yet effective tips makes bedtime a less stressful affair.

An abundance of people the world over, all share the same issue by struggling to sleep at night with anxiety. It’s not a new problem, but regardless of how long this particular drawback for quality sleep has been around, people want to overcome the issue.

Sleep and the lack of can lead to a number of health-related complications, such as changes in mood, increased levels of irritability and in more severe cases, depression.

You see, while you’re sleeping, there are some fundamental functions that take place that allow you to wake the next day feeling well-rested, invigorated, and also help your brain to develop in terms of learning and establishing memories that you won’t forget.

Your Sleep Hygiene Matters

When it comes to gaining good quality sleep, a common phrase you may hear; sleep hygiene, is referred to, and by adhering to your own routine your sleep should improve, which will subsequently help to alleviate you of your sleep anxiety issues.

But if it doesn’t come as easily as that to you, which for plenty of people it doesn’t then there are some positive thinking methods you can adopt into the bedtime routine that is on hand to help you find the success you desire.

Basically, what research suggests, which is something you can find the guys over at The Sleep Advisor discussing frequently, is changing your mental thoughts from negative ones to positive ones.

When dealing with negative thoughts in and around your bedtime that relate to sleep, they can physically prevent you from finding sleeping, keeping you awake through the night. This can bring about feeling feelings of anxiousness, frustration, and stress, causing a snowball effect which leads to a lack of sleep the next night and then the next and so on.

Negative Thoughts That Rob You Off Sleep

You might be familiar with these types of negative sleep thoughts:

  •      I don’t think I can go to sleep
  •      I can’t sleep unless I take some pills
  •      I know that I won’t sleep already and tonight will be restless
  •      My issues with sleep are just getting worse
  •      I know I need more sleep!

If the handful of examples above ring true for you and you’ve thought something the same or similar, it’s very important that you make the first of the positive steps by recognizing a change needs to happen.

You can then switch out those negative thoughts and train yourself to have positive ones instead. They will then help you feel less anxious and frustrated about your sleep anxiety, and guide you successfully into a sound slumber.

Once you begin sleeping well, the opposite snowball effects come into play and you’ll be more relaxed, get off to sleep quicker and enjoy a much higher quality of sleep.

3 Simple Steps To Positively Influence Your Sleep Pattern

Take a look at this three-step guide on how to make this positive change a reality in your sleep routine:

The first step

Putting it in your own words, take the time to write down any negative thoughts that you’ve had about sleeping that are similar to those bullet-pointed above.

The second step

Next, transform those negative thoughts you noted into positive ones. We’ve listed a few examples that you can refer to:

  •      I’ll definitely get back to sleep
  •      I don’t actually need as much sleep as I think I do
  •      I can feel in myself that my sleep is improving each night
  •      My quality of sleep is getting better each time I think positive sleep-based thoughts

The third step

Finally, it’s important that you reassert your positive thoughts by rewriting them as your day progresses.

You might think this is a bit of a waste of time, but rest assured that it is not. So, when you have a spare few minutes, go right ahead and say these positive thoughts over in your head before writing them down.

By going through this reiterating exercise, you’re quite literally reprogramming your brain to enjoy better sleep that can be achieved quicker and easier than when you were feeling anxious before bed.

It’s well worth paying close attention to the feeling you get when you’re writing and mentally repeating those positive thoughts of yours. They will likely make you have a far more optimistic outlook about sleep, and you can even look forward to enjoying heading to bed each night to sleep peacefully!

Other helpful tips

To help you feel better about yourself as well as experiencing better sleep, you can incorporate these ideas too:

  •      Make sure you go to bed and wake at a regular time each evening and morning as part of your sleep hygiene routine.
  •      Exercise regularly, and complete at least 30 minutes to 1 hour per day.

Keep caffeine off the menu after midday. For some people, it can take as long as six hours for the effects of caffeine to wear off!

 

Sarah Cummings has been involved in writing informative and helpful guides for the last five years now. Originally, her passion to help others was the overriding factor to become a writer. Her love of exercise has always been a big part of how she leads her life, and she finds it helps with lots of things, including sleep, while also being an advocator of promoting sleep and how it can be the difference between living a good, fulfilled life and an unhappy one. She’s had had the good fortune to have a long and spiritual background in yoga too and feels as though this pairs perfectly with her passion for healthy eating and leading an active lifestyle. Sarah enjoys learning and coming up with new ways to develop her writing so that she can help others to grow and learn too. When Sarah has a spare morning, you can catch her gazing at sunrises from different places on the planet!

Follow Sarah’s journey at SleepAdvisor.org.