Getting to sleep quicker

Hi Emily

I don’t sleep terribly well either. My brain is racing sometimes or if not I’m trying to help my son regulate as he struggles at bedtime. I brought a sleep mask from Sleepathy. They have headphones built in and I listen to sounds to help settle me, it also helps with my tinnitus as well. My personal favourite is heavy rain with distant thunder. 

I also meditate 

Does the eye mask also do white noise as I find that relaxing and it would be nice to listen to soothing sounds without worrying about waking my parents up in the night. The thing I struggle with is how to get in the right mindset to mediate. 

Emily said:

The thing I struggle with is how to get in the right mindset to mediate. 

I find it helps to clear your mind of things you are trying to remember for the next day or are processing - getting a notebook to write these down for recall in the morning is the quickest way to get there.

Doing this clears a lot of stuff so you can focus better.

Cutting out screen time for an hour or two before bed also helps a lot - get into the habit of reading, ideally something not too stimulating (eg horror, spicy or anything likely to change you state of mind).

If you are studying for any qualifications then do this in the run up to bedtime too - I always found it bored me so much I was dropping off at the end.

Having a nice warm shower also helps the muscles relax, and if you do that sort of thing, have a little play in the shower as the release of endorphines will also help sleep later on.

I used focussed relaxation techniques that I learned decades ago and through the conditioning of training I can now get to sleep in seconds - I highly recommend earning the way to do this.

Lastly, if you are lying there in the dark, fretting that you are not getting to sleep then do something else like read - the anxiety caused by worrying about not sleeping snowballs quickly and makes it worse so do something to help your mind relax rather than keep trying and making it worse.

Emily said:

The thing I struggle with is how to get in the right mindset to mediate. 

I find it helps to clear your mind of things you are trying to remember for the next day or are processing - getting a notebook to write these down for recall in the morning is the quickest way to get there.

Doing this clears a lot of stuff so you can focus better.

Cutting out screen time for an hour or two before bed also helps a lot - get into the habit of reading, ideally something not too stimulating (eg horror, spicy or anything likely to change you state of mind).

If you are studying for any qualifications then do this in the run up to bedtime too - I always found it bored me so much I was dropping off at the end.

Having a nice warm shower also helps the muscles relax, and if you do that sort of thing, have a little play in the shower as the release of endorphines will also help sleep later on.

I used focussed relaxation techniques that I learned decades ago and through the conditioning of training I can now get to sleep in seconds - I highly recommend earning the way to do this.

Lastly, if you are lying there in the dark, fretting that you are not getting to sleep then do something else like read - the anxiety caused by worrying about not sleeping snowballs quickly and makes it worse so do something to help your mind relax rather than keep trying and making it worse.