Sleep Is More Than A Luxury

Written by: Debbie

“Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” ~Thomas Dekker

sleep Are you one of those people who believe that sleep is a luxury? Are you lucky to get 3 – 4 hours of sleep a night if that? If so, you are not alone. In a recent email a friend wrote, “I am trying to not worry too much about my job and issues with my aging Mom, etc…. I need help with how to turn my brain off at night without having to resort to taking sleeping pills.” His lament is something I frequently hear from clients as well. They are busy all day long and once it is time to relax and get sleep, the mind starts to race.

I always advise anyone with sleep issues to first get checked by their doctor. Obviously there are physical conditions that might be causing sleep issues and that needs to be addressed. Once we are sure it is the night time worries, it is time to learn some behaviors that will help sweet sleep return. It is known that caffeine is a stimulant, but so too is tobacco. While alcohol may help one fall asleep, once it wears off then wakefulness sets in. So while giving these items up is the best option, at the very least one should avoid them before bed.

Keeping up with exercise is recommended for good sleep and for better mental health! Just 20 minutes a day improves not only the heart, but the brain according to Dr. Daniel Amen, a medical doctor and psychiatrist who authored many books on the brain, including Change Your Brain Change Your Life and Use Your Brain To Change Your Age. There are numerous studies that back up the wonderful connection between exercise and a good night’s sleep.

But, what if your issue is really the late night antics of the mind?

Once everything is still for the night, your mind goes into hyper-drive. Suddenly you review the day and it seems as if everything you did was wrong! Tomorrow looks to be even worse and the sky is surely falling. Well, now it is time to take back your mind and get some sleep.

First of all, remember to reframe and refocus. Notice the dialogue in your head and challenge it. Are you really going to end up homeless because you didn’t refill the coffee pot in the break room? Do you have nothing else, no other resources that make you essential to the job you are doing? Sometimes we just need to notice how ridiculous our thoughts are.

If you are concerned with a list of tasks and events you want to be sure to accomplish, write them down on a list before bed. Keep a pad next to the bed in case you absolutely need to add anything to the list. Just taking a thought and putting it on paper allows the mind to begin to settle down.

The 5 – 1 Count

If you do a 5 -1 count it helps. Find 5 parts of your body that are comfortable. Notice how does each part feel? Recall 4 memories of the day that you feel gratitude for. What are 3 things you can remember seeing before the lights went out that caused you to smile? Can you feel the smile again? Check for 2 scents you smell in bed. Are they familiar? Are they sweet, pungent, or something else? Finally, listen for 1 sound that you hear that is soothing, what might it be? Is it the sound of your own breath even?

Then, if still awake focus on your breath, inhaling 7 deep breathes for each chakra as you visualize the color of the chakra as a mist that surrounds you. For those who are not familiar with chakras, they are centers of energy, located on the midline of the body. There are seven of them, and they govern our psychological properties. The chakras located on the lower part of our body are our instinctual side, the highest ones our mental side. Each chakra has a related color and they are:

Root Chakra is red, representing our basic needs
Sacral Chakra is orange, representing our sensual side
Solar Plexus is yellow, representing our personal power
Heart Chakra is green, representing our love and compassion
Throat Chakra is blue, representing our self-expression and communication
Brow Chakra is indigo, representing our intuition and dreams
Crown Chakra is violet, representing our connection to the Universe and our spirituality

If you imagine breathing in each color and at the same time imagine healing the area of your life that it represents, you will likely find yourself drifting off to a pleasant dream state.

Hypnosis for Sleep

Your brain is an expert at having insomnia.It doesn’t know how to do it differently,otherwise you would be able to sleep easily. Therefore, it is important you can teach your mind how to relax, letting go of worry so that you can fall asleep and stay asleep. Hypnosis techniques will help you manage your worry, anticipate easily falling asleep and create a new and healthy outcome. Some benefits of getting adequate sleep include releasing anti-aging hormones which help you maintain your youth, maximizing your metabolism, enabling you to control your appetite better, allowing you to relax, and keeping your mind and memory sharp. Getting the sleep you need also increases the feel good hormones released by your brain which makes you feel happier.

Rebuild Your Life Month 2014

Written by: Debbie

June is Rebuild Your Life Month. Whether it is that you have been thrown a curve ball by life and desperately need to make changes or more simply you just feel this is the time to make changes, this month can be a great time to kick off powerful ways to recreate yourself. This is a wonderful opportunity to reexamine your life and take charge of it by removing stressors as you are able.

Recognizing what your stressors are is the first step. Job stress can, and often does, lead to an increased stress level at home and conversely a difficult home life can lead to an increase of stress while on the job. Therefore it is important to narrow down where the stress is coming.

Sometimes this is as easy as removing clutter from your home and giving the home a thorough cleaning. Numerous studies have shown how physical clutter can create a mental clutter and cause an increase in stress elsewhere in your life. In Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project, she devoted an entire month to ridding her life of clutter. She extols the virtues of how she truly enjoys the belongings she has chosen to keep and the freedom eliminating the clutter has given her.

Other times, the stress may come from conflict in your life. This may bring about the harsh recognition that a person (or persons) in your life are simply not good for you. There are those in life that we permit, that don’t have our best interest at heart. Cleansing those people from our lives is the healthiest option, even when the initial removal of them can be stressful. The removal of a toxic person from your life can cause an entire shift in how you experience life.

A job can be just as harmful. While it may be a challenge to extract yourself from a toxic workplace, it is important to take the steps to do so. You spend far too much of your life in the workplace, it can create serious health issues to be unhappy that much of the time. In fact, just beginning to look for other options whether it is a change in where you work or returning to school one class at a time in order to change careers can bring about an improved attitude.

Here are some changes you might consider making to lead a healthier, less stressed lifestyle as you rebuild your life.

Healthy Eating

In my opinion one of the best changes people can make for creating a healthy lifestyle is to eat healthy. Because of the negative health consequences of obesity, the positive influence fitness has on our self-esteem, and the effects of nutrition on our stress levels and our longevity, switching to a healthier diet brings some of the greatest benefits for wellness. I won’t tell you the best way to eat, as it is different for every individual. I can tell you that a diet full of fast foods and snacks is NOT in your best interest.

Regular Exercise

Getting regular exercise is another wonderful way to keep your weight in check, manage overall stress levels, and stay connected with others. Exercise has been proven repeatedly to help not only the physical body, but also the emotional part of you. Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist who has written numerous books on the brain and brain health (How to Make A Good Brain Great and Unleash the Power of the Female Brain are two of his books I’ve enjoyed) repeatedly says that 20 minutes of vigorous exercise is better than any drug he can prescribe.

Get Good Sleep

People often underestimate the importance of getting enough sleep, and getting good quality sleep. However, lack of adequate sleep has many negative consequences. Stress can rob you of a good night’s sleep. It is important to utilize stress reducing techniques to enable you to sleep better. It is also important to include good sleep habits so that you are better able to handle the day’s stresses. Self-hypnosis and meditation are two great tools to improve sleep while better handling stress.

Create A Happiness Ritual

Whether it is a daily cup of tea and quiet contemplation, coloring in a coloring book or a daily yoga session, find something that brings you joy and practice it. Practice it on a regular basis, so that you are reminded of your value. By consistently practicing your ritual you have those feelings to draw on when you are feeling stressed or sad.

No one has ever promised that life is going to be easy, although, it has been said that everything happens for a reason. Rebuilding your life can be as simple as de-cluttering your home (and your mind) or changing the relationships in your life. By readjusting the sails to navigate away from the past towards a new and improved future can be the best decision you will ever make. So, use this month to start rebuilding your life now. Your destination just might surprise you.

Monday Morning Musing….

Written by: Debbie

Another weekend has passed, another week begins. It is amazing how time passes so quickly. As a child, time seems to crawl. You count your age by the smallest of increments in order to sound older. Suddenly, somewhere, time begins to race. This morning I was thinking of my oldest son, picturing him as the sweet cherub faced baby he once was. He is 20 years old now and 6’4″ or more. (All I know is I look up to talk with him.) It seems so recent that he was that baby, however. I was able to recall the smiles, hear his laughs and revisit that wonderful baby smell. It brought back a wonderful feeling of joy, helping me start my week out with a pleasant feeling.

Hypnosis affects time perception. Just last week a client was in my office for a visit. She thought it had only been about 20 minutes. She had actually arrived at 6:00 p.m. and it was now 7:30 p.m. Under hypnosis, she lost all track of time. She has a stressful job and she was amazed how much more energy she had as well. She had arrived at my office exhausted from her day, now she felt invigorated and ready to conquer the world, at least her portion of it. The other benefit, however, is that she sleeps better at night as a result of hypnosis.

Take a moment, and breathe deep. Allow your body to relax. Listen to your body, allow it to tell you where the tensions are and release them. Give yourself permission to feel good, it is wonderful to allow comfort in every part of your body. Then let your mind wander and drift to a happy moment. Recall the memory with every sense. Really enjoy that moment, breathe it in. Now, thinking about the week to come, realize that many more moments are available to create joy and laughter in your life. Many opportunities to feel happy are there. I wonder which ones you will choose?

“To Sleep, Perchance to Dream”

Written by: Debbie

Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Do you feel as though you sleep walk through your days? Do you spend hours awake in bed with your mind racing, only to have it shut down during the day? Sleep deprivation sufferers number from 50 to 70 million nationwide! This is National Sleep Awareness Week and no one is more aware than the weary.

Lack of sleep adds weight to our bodies. Insufficient sleep affects growth hormone secretion that is linked to obesity. With a chronic lack of sleep the amount of hormone secretion decreases and the chance for weight gain increases. But wait, there’s more! According to the National Sleep Foundation, “Blood pressure usually falls during the sleep cycle, however, interrupted sleep can adversely affect this normal decline, leading to hypertension and cardiovascular problems. Research has also shown that insufficient sleep impairs the body’s ability to use insulin, which can lead to the onset of diabetes.”

I have a client who was a chronic non-sleeper. I know because her emails to me arrived in the middle of the night, waiting for me to rouse from my slumber to see her frustrations spelled out in black and white. Her battle with the bulge was surpassed by the struggle to sleep. She ached through out the day and ate to comfort herself at night. Double whammy!

We reviewed the practical suggestions of the National Sleep Foundation and then added hypnosis to the mix. We worked in my office on creating the mind set to sleep, allowing that inner voice to quiet. I gave her a recording I created with hypnotic suggestions helping her to fall asleep to. I am delighted to say, she is now “sleeping like a baby” and releasing excess weight.

Sorry, writing this has made me tired, I think I will go take a power nap……