How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep #3
3 internal factors to improve your sleep
Welcome to this third sleep themed blog on how to get a good night’s sleep. In this mini-series addressing ways to sleep soundly, my hope is that I can give some insight into the role and function of sleep for physical and mental health and wellbeing, and to provide some simple self-help strategies around sleep. In the first blog, we explored the purpose and the function of sleep, and how your sleep cycles operate. In the last blog, we looked at external factors you can implement within your sleep environment to help you get a good night’s sleep. In this blog, we’ll be focusing on 3 internal factors that you can use in your quest for a good night’s sleep.
How do you get a good night’s sleep?
Attending to 3 important internal factors could help you sleep more soundly.
Factors that help and hinder a good night’s sleep.
We’ve seen in our last blog that we can differentiate between internal and external factors when it comes to a good night’s sleep. Internal factors relate to your own thoughts, and your mindset towards sleep, as well as how you feel in yourself - physical pain, stress and mental health issues can all impact your sleep. It’s these internal factors we are going to be exploring here. We’ll look at steps you can take in relation to 3 internal factors:
Your thoughts in relation to sleep,
Managing stress
Increasing relaxation.
We’ll be focusing on the steps you can take to minimize the negative effects of internal factors that can hamper sleep, and how we can utilize internal factors that can help sleep.
Your thoughts about sleep
How do you think about your sleep and any sleep issues you face?
Negative thinking about sleep issues can make matters worse.
If you struggle with sleep, or experience issues dropping off to sleep, you may find you begin to think negatively about sleep - imagining the worst-case scenario and using phrases such as "I always toss and turn at night" and "I can never get to sleep".
If you struggle to sleep well, over time, certain thought patterns can occur which reinforce that poor sleep. These negative thoughts can then get in the way of sleeping well. We call this a type of vicious circle. Other examples of negative thought patterns in relation to sleep include:
I'll never be able to sleep well.
I’ve lost my ability to drop to sleep quickly.
Not sleeping well means I won’t cope tomorrow.
I must have 8 hours sleep if I'm to manage.
If I don’t sleep well, I’ve failed.
I've tried sleep hygiene, and nothing works for me.
I ought to be able to sleep.
Such thought patterns include unrealistic expectations and a negative bias on worst case scenarios, which we call catastrophizing. Such thinking is likely to leave you feeling more stressed and tense, and less likely to feel settled and relaxed, making sleep more difficult. It is this type of negative thinking that clients often seek to address and work on in counselling for sleep issues.
Thought challenging:
If you can spot any negative thought patterns that seem to be present for you, it’s possible to then challenge these thoughts to gain a greater sense of balance. This is known as “reframing” and it can be a helpful support for sleep issues.
Reframed versions of negative thoughts around sleep include:
Sometimes I sleep better than other times – and that’s okay.
I’m finding it hard to sleep now, and there are things I can do to help with that.
A less-than-ideal sleep might make things more challenging tomorrow, and I can take care of myself as needed.
I don’t need to aim for a perfect night’s sleep, I can think about good enough sleep.
My intrinsic worth is not based on how well I sleep.
It’s possible to reframe negative thinking around sleep.
Many people benefit from working with a therapist to help in the process of reframing negative thinking relating to sleep.
Alternatives to tossing and turning:
One thought that it pays to reframe, and challenge, is the idea that there is nothing you can do if you are lying there, tossing and turning. There are things you can do as alternatives to fixating on how long you’ve been awake for when trying to drop to sleep. These include:
Mindfulness practices
Progressive muscle relaxation
Listening to a guided visualization
Gentle breath awareness practice
Focusing on resting rather than sleeping
Write a brief list of anything that is worrying you and tell yourself with kindness that you will deal with these things tomorrow.
Consider creating your own list of things you can do and try when negative thoughts along the lines of “I’ll never get a good night’s sleep” begin to creep in.
2. Tackling stress
Are you someone who is impacted by stress? Perhaps you recognise that you experience some of the following common stress indicators:
Irritable mood?
Headache?
Tense muscles?
Digestive issues?
Greater reliance of alcohol or drugs?
Find it hard to concentrate?
Stress, tension, worry and anxiety impact both the quality and quantity of sleep
We know that stress impacts both the quality and quantity of sleep. Finding ways to deal with stress through the day, then, can be a helpful internal factor that can support you to sleep more soundly.
Take a moment to consider how you tend to deal with stress and worries throughout the day. Are you someone who deals with stress by distracting yourself? If so, you may find that what works in the short time comes back to haunt you at bedtime as your mind begins to ruminate and reflect on the problems we’ve been avoiding during the day. Finding solutions to problems and seeking to actively address stress in your daily life can promote positive sleep hygiene. And for many people, therapy is a helpful space to address causes of stress and personal responses to stress that no longer serve you.
Action on stress:
You can take action to tackle things that cause stress by focusing on what you have control or agency over. Can any of the following areas help you to identify ways you can act to tackle things that cause you stress?
How do you spend your time through the day?
What are you saying “YES” to that you’d prefer to be saying “NO” to?
Who are you opting to socialize with? Do you want to make any changes here?
What type of self-talk do you engage in?
Are you criticizing yourself unduly, or are you encouraging yourself?
As with reframing negative thinking around sleep, many people benefit from the support of a counsellor or therapist when it comes to reflecting on where and how we have agency and control when it comes to improving your sleep.
Therapy can be a helpful place to look at your choices and what you can and can’t control when it comes to your sleep
Make a promise:
If you do find yourself ruminating about something stressful in your life when you’re trying to sleep, make a note of what it is you are stressed about. Tell yourself that you will take action to tackle the source of the stress tomorrow. Then trust yourself to keep that promise. Whilst it can be hard to make this commitment to yourself, taking action to support yourself and your sleep in this way can be a game changer if it leads to better quality and more sleep.
Exercise regularly:
Regular moderate-to-vigorous exercise helps to deal with stress and can increase sleep quality, so you increase your chances of getting a good night’s sleep. Research shows a reduction in the time it takes to fall asleep as well as a reduction in overall wake time for adults who exercise regularly (Kline, 2014). Allow at least an hour after vigorous exercise before sleep to promote sleep hygiene.
Exercise can help you to de-stress and promotes relaxation
Whether its a run, swim, walk, class or cycle ride, exercise can be part of your sleep hygeine approach.
3. Supporting relaxation
Relaxation has been shown to help promote deep sleep phases. Therefore, any steps you can take to support relaxation is likely to help you to get a better night’s sleep. Consider what helps you to relax.
Strategies to support relaxation include:
Read a book or magazine to help you unwind
Have a warm bath or shower before bed
Try some gentle stretches to relax tired muscles
Practice some breathing exercises, paying attention to your breath
Spend time in nature
Give mindfulness, meditation or gratitude practice a try
A warm bath 1 or 2 hours before bedtime can aid relaxation and has the added benefit of raising body temperature, allowing you to then experience a drop in body temperature over the hour or so before you retire to bed. Sleepiness has been associated with a drop in body temperature.
A warm bath 1 or 2 hours before bedtime aids relaxation
My wish then, is that you can sleep soundly – and gain the mental and physical health benefits of a good night’s sleep. And, if you’d like to get some strategies and ideas about what you can do to support yourself towards that goal – please check out the next blog in this sleep themed series. Don’t forget, also, that therapy can be a helpful space to explore the stressors and the contributing factors that might be hindering your sleep, so you can better understand yourself and your relationship with sleep at a deeper level.
Get in touch
If you’re curious how counselling can help you with sleep issues, do make contact with me, Claire Law.
We can talk through how online counselling or face-to-face counselling at my therapy room in Preston can help with sleep issues.
References:
Kline CE. The bidirectional relationship between exercise and sleep: Implications for exercise adherence and sleep improvement. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2014 Nov-Dec;8(6):375-379.