When living a stressful lifestyle or experiencing an unwelcome amount of stress, getting the full quota of sleep is important. If short-term sleep is deprived or if generally suffering from insomnia, it can make life a whole lot more difficult as irritability, a lack of tolerance and even depression can weigh heavily making even the easiest of tasks appear difficult.
Setting up a sleep schedule will help to make falling asleep a little easier. This means going to bed about the same time every night where possible as this builds up a positive sleep pattern and subconsciously aids deep sleep. Setting up a regular routine immediately allows the individual to become use to this pattern of behaviour, so there are less concerns about how to get off to sleep.
It’s easy to over-think about work, life, and any particular problem or even fret about the next day’s events and these thoughts can be reason enough why sleep is evasive. Mix this with raised levels of cortisol which is linked to chronic stress and the reason for a lack of sleep becomes obvious.
If a difficulty in falling asleep is experienced initially, ensure that no stimulants such as coffee or alcohol have been consumed. There is nothing wrong with having a drink but they have been proven to interrupt a sleep pattern. To start off with, the individual should avoid any stimulations and ensure that the bedroom is warm and inviting, with low lights, no drafts to disturb and no external noises.
A few drops of pure essential Lavender Oil can be added to the pillows or to the quilt as this is conducive to relaxation.
When the mind and body feel too tense for sleep to come, try a progressive relaxation as this can help ease out the tension that may be unknowingly held within the muscles and once this is released, sleep should come naturally.
Lying flat, with eyes closed, take the attention to the feet and ankles and deliberately tense them, holding the tension for a few seconds. Release the tension suddenly and the difference will be noticeable. Then systematically work through the whole body, tensing the calf muscles and the knees, then releasing. Next, focus on tensing the thigh muscles and buttocks, and then release. Working up the body, abdomen, chest, the arms, neck and shoulders (where many people hold tension) even the face and scalp should be tensed and then relaxed. Ensure that the whole body is subjected to this progressive relaxation technique and afterwards, much of the muscle tension will have been dissipated.
This can be done every night or at any time to suit.
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