Lockdown has messed up many peoples sleep patterns. Many people are struggling with sleep. Maybe sleeping too little, maybe sleeping too much. Many people are not enjoying good quality sleep. This is all to be expected but bad sleep habits can impact our mood and our performance during the day.
Here are five top tips tips to improve your sleep hygiene.
Only go to bed when tired – sounds like common sense but it is easy to forget that we will struggle to sleep if we are not actually tired!
Don’t over stimulate yourself before bedtime – ideally avoid watching TV or social media for about an hour before bedtime. That is not always easy, so at the very least make sure it is something relatively sedate you are watching and avoid getting in to any online debates!
No screens in the bedroom – especially phones. This is the one we all know but probably fail to do. Many people say that they need their phone as an alarm clock. Invest in an old school analogue alarm and you will reap the benefits.
The 30 minute rule - If you are not asleep in 30 mins get up and do something boring. Try accounts, ironing, other household chores! Nothing you particularly want to be doing, nothing stimulating!
Get up earlier - Set your old school alarm clock a bit earlier than usual. Try and get up 30 mins before your usual get up time for a few days to make sure that (as in point 1) you are actually tired at bedtime.
If you still have difficulty sleeping, hypnotherapy can be very effective. I provide hypnotherapy online. Get in touch for a free consultation to find out more about hypnotherapy to sleep better.
Malcolm Struthers Hypnotherapy - Online and in-person in Dumfries & Galloway
Comments