GUEST BLOG - Nick Davies: 7 Ways to Sleep Better
Esteemed psychotherapist Nick Davies lays out the seven best ways to improve your sleep habits. NaturalWorks CBD Oil can be used alongside all these techniques (and may lift both your complexion and your mood if used before turning in):
Wind down before bed, no TV, electrical devices or stimulation an hour prior.
Your devices produce electromagnetic radiation which coupled with the adrenal stimulation you get from watching/reading what’s on them overstimulates your brain.
Make sure your bedroom is very cool before bedtime.
When we sleep our body temperature drops as we become inactive in order to rest, and recuperate, so a warm room will make you hot and bothered.
Read something interesting but not taxing or take a 20-minute bath with soothing bubble bath like lavender.
Lavender has been proven to calm the mind and a 20-minute bath will allow all your muscles to relax pre-bedtime.
Make sure your body is all floppy like a rag doll, pick up and drop each arm and let it flop back onto the bed cover.
This is another technique to get that loose, limp feeling in your muscles that will promote good sleep.
Once in bed start taking slow, deep diaphragmatic breaths to calm your central nervous system down.
It’s import to breathe diaphragmatically as we do this when danger has gone and it activates the ‘parasympathetic nervous system’ in the brain which is responsible for returning the body to rest, relaxation and recovery. Instead of breathing where you expand your chest and lift your shoulders, push your stomach out to breathe all the way down to the bottom of your lungs, hold the breath then dump the breath in a way where it’s like you’re letting out a loud sigh, continue for 10 breaths.
If your mind is chattering, slow that internal voice down to half the speed and change it to the sound of someone you find really boring.
Our internal “chatter” is one of the biggest causes of unrest and anxiety, slowing this down and making it boring allows you to become disinterested in it and drop off. Remember how easy it was to yawn and drop off at school with that really boring teacher!
Set regular times for sleep and awakening to set your body’s clock.
Your mind loves structure, the more regularly you do something the more it becomes an unconscious habit and the deeper embedded it becomes in your brain so you don’t have to think about it consciously.
If you’re still not sleeping and have been checked out by your Doctor as having no medial issue, it may be that you have some unresolved sadness, emotional pain, anger or trauma that is unresolved a good psychotherapist & hypnotherapist will be able to assist you in clearing this.
Be well,
About Nick Davies
Nick is a well-respected psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, sports performance mind coach, trainer and speaker in the UK and Europe. Known as "The PTSD Whisperer" because of his specialism in treating trauma quickly and permanently. To see how Nick creates rapid positive change, visit www.ndhypnotherapy.com and www.ndsp.co.uk