If only I could get a good nights sleep 😴💤
There are a staggering number of people reporting difficulties with sleep. I know am not alone in my battle with chronic insomnia alongside CPTSD.
Lack of sleep, or the quality of sleep, can be so debilitating, impacting our mental health and physical health. It is also linked to obesity.
In the small hours of the night I decided I wanted to really understand what’s happening in my body, with insomnia, more. What am I missing?
I found a sleep expert who did not put me to sleep but did keep me listening right to the end.
“Dr. Matthew Walker has dedicated his life to tackling the global sleep loss epidemic we are all living through, as this wakefulness personally costs us our health, it costs businesses productivity, and it costs countries billions of dollars a year”.(From Diary of a Ceo Podcast Steve Bartlett)
So what is going on with sleep.
As Matthew tells us, its modernity at its best. As we live in a world that has us either in productivity or consuming things. Sleep is becoming more difficult.
There are some fantastic insights in this podcast. How sleep impacts just about everything from our impulse control, our blood sugars, our sex hormones, our food choices and even our ability to form memories.
Long term sleep deprivation can impact the length of your life and has been linked to dementia.
The things you can do to help you trust your body to sleep again are plentiful.
Often dismissed as not working, we do need perseverance and practice on this one. I am on a mission to improve my own sleep and aid my recovery post trauma.
As someone who’s used sleep medication long term. I was curious about it’s effectiveness and the sleep quality.
Matthews words “Sedation is not sleep”, was what I had suspected, however all is not lost.
Increasingly the production of melatonin that helps us to sleep is possible.
We can improve getting to sleep and the quality of our sleep with some work.
Restorative sleep requires us to get the deep REM sleep..
Mathews podcast is definitely worth the investment of time if you are suffering with insomnia.
Here are some of the takeaways ..
1) reducing the light in your home an hour before bed
2) cutting your bed use down to just sleep
3) Use meditation hypnotherapy to guide you into sleep
4) go to bed at the same and get up at the same time
5) Reduce caffeine and alcohol
6) Remove screens from the bedroom
7) increase physical activity
8) remove clocks from the bedroom
9) reduce the temperature of your room to help your body go to sleep
I will be working on my sleep and I know this ones a huge problem for so many of us, what with menopause, stress etc.
How are you sleeping and let me know if this is helpful?
I am full again, so no calls to action but I’m still here sharing, to try to help, with what might be useful.
Much love
Mel 💕