3 skills to improve your sleep

Bed is for sleeping

I know this may sound very obvious, however, (in my opinion) it is one of the most important skills to improve your sleep!

Our brain does an excellent job at making associations. Which means if we are in bed reading, scrolling, eating, working, etc, our brain makes the connection that bed = being awake, therefore making it tricky for us to fall asleep when we get into bed.

Where possible try not to use your bed for anything other than sleeping and/or sex, so that your body and brain can learn to associate bed with sleep.

No clock watching

How many times do you wake up in the middle of the night, look at the time and either have a sigh of relief or being the count down until you need to wake up?

This is a common behaviour we all engage in from time to time, however, the more frequently we do it the more it reinforces anxious or worried thoughts, such as, “oh, it’s already 2am, I’ll never get to sleep now” and “It’s nearly time for me to get up and I’ve barely slept”.

Where possible try to not look at the time when you’re struggling to get to sleep or wake up throughout the night.

The twenty minute rule

Many us will wake up in the middle of the night, toss and turn, sometimes this will be for a few minutes, however, other times this can be for hours.

When we lay in bed for longer than 20 minutes unable to fall asleep, our brain starts associating bed with being awake, making more difficult to sleep.

If you haven’t been able to sleep for approximately 20 minutes or more (remember, avoid looking at the clock), get up, go sit somewhere else, and do an activity that is boring or calming until you get sleepy and then return to bed.