Not only is lack of sleep and poor sleep quality frustrating and debilitating, but it also affects your mood and your well-being. It has been found that lack of sleep can increase the risk of heart attack along with many other health issues. In relation to heart attacks alone, this is by increasing stress and anxiety, by contributing to diabetes and promoting calcium buildup in the arteries of your heart. Research has shown that you need to get around seven hours of sleep a night.
How well do you sleep?
People frequently don’t get that much sleep because they are tossing, turning, worrying, making lists, figuring out what to do the next day, etc. Through my research, I found after a cardiac event many people experienced difficulty sleeping and wanted help.
Wouldn’t it be nice to close your eyes and, within a few minutes, be sound asleep?
Prior to my heart attack, I slept like a baby. Directly afterward all I could do was sleep all the time. Sleep is healing so for a while this was what my body needed. Then it changed and I found it difficult to sleep. It became increasingly difficult to fall asleep. Then I found that I woke a number of times throughout the night, sometimes not being able to get back to sleep.
You can learn practical strategies that you can use to help get a great night’s sleep and if you wake up too soon, be able to get back to sleep easily.
Hypnosis is a great way of working with the unconscious mind as it helps create healthier sleeping habits, and teach you to relax and self-soothe.
With NLP techniques you will learn new patterns of thought and behaviour that will facilitate a new habit of falling asleep with ease and waking refreshed and full of energy.
Indian head massage releases muscular tension in the back, neck, shoulder, arms, head and face that relieves sleeplessness, restlessness and insomnia.
Why is sleep important?
It heals and rejuvenates your body, enhancing health, lowering the risk of heart problems and may help prevent cancer. Sleeping well reduces stress and anxiety, may help control weight, aids memory and learning and gives you energy for the day. Sleep is critical for a positive mood, you cannot survive without sleep – it is as important as air, food and water!
What can affect your sleep?
There are many factors that affect your sleep. Together we will look at all areas of your life, using the relevant therapy to work towards improving your sleep.
- Situational eg worry, fear and anxiety
- Environmental eg your bedroom
- Over stimulation eg technology
- Menopause
- Pain
- Diet & Obesity
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Nicotine
- Some recreational drugs
- Some prescribed drugs
- Exercise
Create a new habit
Sleep disturbance can become embedded in our unconscious mind after many weeks and months of unsatisfactory sleep. With help you can return to a more normal pattern of sleep, you can remove any underlying anxiety and limiting beliefs. You can get back to a normal sleep routine by making changes and learning to relax at the appropriate times. You will learn how to relax before sleep. It is a significant factor, deep relaxation is a forerunner to sleep and without it sleep will elude you.
How can you make a difference?
Below are three specific blog posts about some of the different areas that you can make changes that will help you sleep easy. Check them out and give some of the ideas a go. Not everything will work for everyone, so get curious and see what works best for you.
1 Insomnia – 9 ways to fall asleep using your mind
2 Insomnia – 9 tips to help your body help you to sleep well
3 Insomnia – 8 behaviours to change to get a good nights sleep