Can I teach myself to sleep?

I often work with insomnia and find a couple of things consistently effective for many people (everyone is individual of course, and needs to find a set of tools that suits them).
One is a simple self-hypnosis technique, sometimes known as Betty Erickson Induction.

The second is the "slow" version of EFT, when you touch the EFT acupressure points with two fingers - instead of usual tapping - on face (beginning of eyebrow, outer corner of the eye, under the eye, under nose, under lower lip) and body (under the knobbly bit on collarbone; under arm - 10cm/4in below armpit), taking a breath in and breath out at each point - it helps if the outbreath is a little slower than the inbreath.

Another useful thing to try is [url]yogic eye exercises.[/url]

Good luck

Masha

Good ideas there Masha!

Sounds a bit as though you are running on adrenaline! How much sugar are you consuming - particularly at night? If you have imbalanced blood sugar levels then the drop after the insulin kicks in will wake you up. Keep to protein-rich food in the evening and try and reduce your intake of both sugar and processed starches - white flour, rice, pasta, bread, etc. Choose wholemeal (not 'brown' which is often white with caramel added!) and plenty of vegetables and beans (pulses) to slow down the sugar spikes. Oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, fresh tuna) three times a week will supply you with necessary omega-3 oils. This should help somewhat, especially when combined with Masha's suggestions.

You could learn some self-hypnosis techniques to help relax you.

I know of a good one, but am likely not allowed to advertise it here ... so maybe you can search on-line and find something suitable.

The idea would be to relax each muscle group, starting at the feet and working upwards .... you can do this and if done correctly, you will come out of it feeling like you have had a longer sleep than you have been 'relaxed' for ......

Nig

I used to have trouble with shutting my mind down at night. I was told to try two things. Because I used to verbalize and visualize I found that if I looked down, eyes closed, then I couldn't 'see' so couldn't 'talk'. Then to visualize a dark blue velvet background. If images came back to me, generally things that had happened during the day or what was coming up, then I just looked down again. It seemed to work for me and I no longer 'chatter' at night. Still getting insomnia when I have to get up early for work. Just incase the alarm fails! :rolleyes:

Hi Jade
If your life is feeling fuller may be you feel energetic enough to keep awake, not necessarily a bad thing.
Often happens if your energy is sorting itself out. Maybe relax into being in bed. Especially cosy winter nights, enjoy the snsation of a comfy bed. I tend to dig into it like a child because it feels so warm, cuddly, giving. I have sleep less night every now and again. Just relax into being awake and be content with body relaxing sometimes on the back, sometimes on the side, relaxing into sensations of a dark room... It can become a very precious time with your self
Put up no fight with what is happening naturally. In the effortlessness the sleep will dawn on you, when it is time(not by clock) to sleep.
Don't worry about mind being active either, just relax, paying no attention to what mind is doing, but just take a note,doing that creates a distance between you and mind. it will soon quieten down as you don't get involved but observe from a distance
(zzzzzzzz! my post itself is capable of sending you to sleep!!)

hey Jade

when you get yourself settled in bed...

close your eyes, relax and just gently try to observe your breath coming in and out of your nostrils...

not paying any attention to the chattering mind...

everytime your mind wanders off...just bring it back to the observation of the breath...

and you should fall asleep in no time.

TBW

Thanks everyone for the replies. I will be trying some of the techniques. The comments about not paying attention to the mind is the one I have tried and find it impossible to not give it attention. It's like my mind is saying "hello, you have peace now, time to think this stuff through". It's like I "need" to do the thinking to help me move forward during the day. The trouble is without sleep, it's almost impossible to get through the day especially when it is prolonged for several nights with virtually no sleep. :rolleyes:

There is part of me that says I must allow this process and another part of me that knows lack of sleep is no good for my emotional health.

If I do finally get to sleep, it's normally very fitfull and I often have nightmares and night sweats, like my body is fighting against sleep. 🙁

It's like I "need" to do the thinking to help me move forward during the day. The trouble is without sleep, it's almost impossible to get through the day especially when it is prolonged for several nights with virtually no sleep. :rolleyes:

There is part of me that says I must allow this process and another part of me that knows lack of sleep is no good for my emotional health.

Hi Jade, from the comments you make I am wondering if you are in a habit of worrying quite a lot about different things generally? If this is the case, than it may be not enough to just learn the techniques to quieten the mind - as, from what you describe, there is a part of you that does not actually want to switch off the thinking, so there is a bit of an internal conflict going on.

For people who tend to worry a lot, it can also be important to address the beliefs about worry, because often there are unconsious assumptions or rules that are operating that make it feel unsafe or inappropriate to switch of the worry.
Some common examples of such beliefs are:

"Worrying means I am a caring (and/or responsible) person"
"Worrying helps me prepare for bad things happening, so that if I worry in advance, I won't feel as bad when it does happen."
"Worrying helps prevent bad things from happening." (this could be on a practical level or a superstitious level)
"Worrying motivates me to act."
"Worrying helps solve problems."

If you feel that a couple of the above examples apply to you strongly, it may be necessary to explore these beliefs in more detail - and to find other ways (alternative to worrying) to satisfy any important values that are contained within these assumptions, e.g. how else can you (and other people around you) know that you are a caring person? What other activities are (more) helpful in solving problems? - as well as challenge the validity of the others - is it really true that worrying prevents bad things from happening, or makes you feel better when they do happen?

Sometimes worrying is so ingrained it becomes a part of our identity, and we may feel like "who will I be if I don't worry? if I have a quiet mind?" So it may take a little while to reconcile self with the idea of a "new me" that does not have to have the endless whirlwind of thoughts going round and round - at first it may feel quite scary and even wrong.

Hope this is of some relevance to you - if not, please ignore!

Masha

It sounds as if you have a pattern of expecting not to go to sleep. Some things I have used in the past are: going through the muscles in the body one by one and clenching them, then releasing. This means that your body in fully relaxed at the end ... start with the toes and work up.

Second is to do breathing techniques - breath in for 5 (or 10, or whatever is comforatble), hold for the same time, breath out for the same time, hold for the same time. Then increase by one. This increases the oxygen supply to your body as you are getting more in by increasing the amount. Also you are concentrating on when can I breath again so other thoughts don't come in!

Third - keep a notepad by your bed. Any thoughts that come into your mind write down and then don't think about them. They will be there for the next day and your mind doesn't have to remember them.

The nightmares and sweats might have a physical cause - I'd get yourself checked out by a doctor to see whether there's anything wrong.

I often work with insomnia and find a couple of things consistently effective for many people (everyone is individual of course, and needs to find a set of tools that suits them).
One is a simple self-hypnosis technique, sometimes known as Betty Erickson Induction.

The second is the "slow" version of EFT, when you touch the EFT acupressure points with two fingers - instead of usual tapping - on face (beginning of eyebrow, outer corner of the eye, under the eye, under nose, under lower lip) and body (under the knobbly bit on collarbone; under arm - 10cm/4in below armpit), taking a breath in and breath out at each point - it helps if the outbreath is a little slower than the inbreath.

Another useful thing to try is [url]yogic eye exercises.[/url]

Good luck

Masha

I found this links very useful because I just moved house and started being so stressed and headachy for the past month. thanks a million Masha

franxx

Masha,

I think you may be correct. I don't really even think of it as worrying, just "thinking". I feel I need time to think things through and work it all out in my head. I think I feel I need to be in control of that, if that makes sense.

I think some of it stems from not having anyone else to rely on for so long, that I know I have all the consequences of any situation. I have a partner now, but are having some issues in our relationship and it's left me feeling quite alone and that I am the only one who will look out for my son and I have to stand up for him and for myself against my partner. 🙁

I am going to explore all the ideas on here, when I have some time (another issue!).

Thanks everyone.

I always drink a glass of milk and eat a banana before bed. Bananas are a good source L-tryptophan and simple carbohydrates. L-tryptophan is an amino acid, and it gets converted to 5HTP in the brain, which again gets converted to serotonin (a calming neurotransmitter) which again gets converted to melatonin (which is the natural controller of hormonal rythms in the body, especially sleep).

There are several interactions with milk. One is that L-tryptophan only cross the blood-brain barrier if it is not in competition with too many other amino acids. When you drink milk, your body release insulin (milk sugar is quite effective at this), which "push" most amino acids from your blood into storage (in lean body mass - this is OK). That makes the tryptophan available for the synthesis above. In addition, milk contains calcium (which is calming.) Oh, and warm milk is a source of L-tryptophan in itself.

ylangrose - how did you know my meal before an exam? 😎

You'd be surprised at what I know. 😀

Dear Jade321,
Coming from an experience similar to yours (sleeping difficulties since childhood) and having tried all the usual suggestions, I have learned that the most important thing of all is to have a SET ROUTINE. This means that as much as possible you go to bed at same time every night, and before going to bed, you carry out your sleep preparations in a certain order ... e.g. brush teeth, change clothes, read a chapter ... or whatever it is, just make sure that it is the same every day. This trains the body to recognise that you are preparing for sleep time. When I have set routines, I sleep effortlessly, so perhaps you will find this useful also.
Wishing you lots of peaceful nights!