A Good Night’s Sleep 😴

Hello! I'm Lara, I'm a hypnotherapist and storyteller based  in York. 

In my hypnotherapy clinic I often talk with clients about their sleep lives. Getting enough sleep of high enough quality makes a big difference to our ability to cope with everything life throws at us during the day. 

There are lots of small tweaks you can make to your bedtime routine and sleeping arrangements that may help encourage you to get to sleep, sleep as deeply as you need to and stay asleep all night. Here are some ideas that my clients have found useful. We are all individuals so there is no one-size-fits-all here; some of these ideas may involve negotiation with others – partner, family, pets - the idea is to do all that’s possible to optimise your own experience within your circumstances.

 

Kids settle more easily at night with a predictable, comforting bedtime routine, and you can too! You might like to try:

- A warm bath, my absolute favourite way to unwind at the end of the day. I light candles, put on music and use my favourite bath products; Holistic Kitchen's Calm My Mind body and bath oil is gorgeous, with soothing aromas of bergamot, geranium, frankincense, orange, and patchouli filling my bathroom and my senses...

- Wear loose, comfortable, favourite clothes

- Massage your pulse points (temples and wrists) using aromatherapy oils with sleep-inducing properties. Holistic Kitchen's Snooze Roller Blend contains lavender, roman chamomile, orange, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, and marjoram, a dreamy combination. Applying it can become a settling ritual in itself; to really maximise that effect, you can work with a hypnotherapist to create an association in your subconscious between the application of the roller and the delightful descending energy that precedes deep sleep. Mmmmmm....

- Meditating 

- Listening to gentle music, or a hypnotherapy audio recording (a generic one, or one that’s been made for you. Both are proven to be useful, with evidence suggesting greater effect from personally-tailored ones)

- Journaling, if that’s your thing, can bring a sense of closure to the business of the day

- A warm milky drink will increase serotonin levels to encourage the body to settle down for sleep. Adding some carbs makes this process more efficient, hence the classic milk and cookies!

Of course you’ll want to balance this with your particular dietary requirements and goals, and may also wish to limit liquid intake before bed to avoid too many trips to the loo in the night – but I love that research backs up folk wisdom on this one so I have to include it in the list.

Make sure you love your mattress (and pillows if you use them) and that they’re optimal for you so that you look forward to being reunited with them every night. Choose your duvet/sheets/blankets for the way they feel as well as the way they look. Some people like to use an extra pillow under their legs for support.

Instal all-night aromatherapy by spritzing your bedding! Holistic Kitchen's Sweet Lullaby aromatherapy mist with Roman Chamomile and lavender is my go-to product for this.

What’s the ideal sleeping temperature for you? Some studies show that a cooler bedroom can improve sleep, as our core temperature tends to be slightly lower when we sleep. Some people, however, love the cosiness of a hot water bottle in the bed and/or use heat packs to soothe specific areas of the body like the lower back. Experiment until you get the balance that’s right for you. Make adjustments for the weather!

If noises disturb your sleep, what can you do to eliminate them? Some people swear by ear plugs, others use a white noise app. Hypnotherapy can help you to develop the subconscious skill of allowing benign ambient noise to deepen your sleep.

If light disturbs your sleep, what can you do about that? Some people choose an eye mask or blackout curtains. Others (myself included) prefer to have a bit of ambient light, or a softly glowing nightlight. Is it possible to ban screens – including mobile phones – from your bedroom? They emit blue light which our brains associate with daytime. If you are likely to get up for the loo in the night, can you use minimal lighting (a dimmer switch?) to ensure you stay as sleepy as possible during the process?

Reading from a physical book rather than a screen can start the process of focusing your attention in your introspective world ready to retreat there in slumber. Choose a narrative you find satisfying. I love to read graphic novels last thing at night - beautiful sequential art gets my brain ready for the internal projection of my dreams.

Some of my clients who find themselves ruminating at night find it useful to visualise a purpose-built box to place worries in overnight. Close your eyes lightly and bring to mind a box - any design you choose - carved wood, brass hinges, inlaid enamel, whatever looks good in your mind's eye (some people really enjoy dreaming it up in all its detail)! Now imagine placing all the thoughts and concerns in your head into that box. You might think of them as written on pieces of paper, spoken aloud, represented by small stones, or purely abstract - however they appear to you. You can place them safely in the box, knowing that they will be kept secure overnight to be revisited with your morning energy. Rather wonderfully, many people find that the very act of stashing their worries helps them to sort, prioritise and get a bit of perspective; better still, when left in the box overnight they have a tendency to shift and change into shapes that are easier to tackle. The act of dreaming up the box can be soothing and sleep-inducing in itself. One lady I worked with who was more tactile than visual got so into this box metaphor that she went and got herself an actual wooden box to make the process extra tangible for herself!

 

To paraphrase a cheesy song, some of these things can help you ‘get into the rhythm of the night’  – see if there are one or two small changes you could experiment with. There's lots more evidence-based advice here - https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/17-tips-to-sleep-better

Lara x