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Getting a good night’s sleep is a gift for your future physical, mental and emotional health. If you have insomnia you tend to have a hyperactive response to stress, which is considered a risk for illness. Thus calming the nervous system and restoring sleep is considered by many to be the number one thing to support in terms of maintaining your health and recovering from illness.

What can sleep do for me?

1. The activity of the day needs to be balanced by regeneration and rest of body tissues. You could call this maintenance or repair time. The elimination of toxins occurs primarily during this time. This means, if you have not been sleeping enough, your body has a backlog of detoxifying to do and your immune system is overburdened. Thus, glowing skin and vitality really is part of getting enough ‘beauty sleep’.
2. Have you ever heard people say they like to ‘sleep on' an issue or problem? Well as it turns out, this suggestion has some actual value when it comes to solving problems. Problem solving is improved in some instances due to the processing power of a rested brain but also because the mind completes some thought processes at rest. Bonus! Your mind is nutting out problems while you are getting your beauty sleep. When there doesn't seem to ever be enough time in the day to work things out, it is helpful to remember that some of the load can be completed overnight.
3. Similarly, some types of emotional development and handling past events happen during sleep. Getting enough ‘down time’ is maintenance for your emotional health as well as your physical health.
4. In ancient spiritual texts, sleep is considered the place where our spirits are perfectly happy and perfectly at peace. You are spiritually recharged during sleep. This is thought to be important for the development of wisdom and knowledge, the cornerstone of spiritual development.

Getting a good night's sleep takes training

There are theories of development that tell us sleep skills need to be learned. This is great news for those with insomnia as learning to follow these steps can greatly improve sleep.

1. Get as much of your sleep as possible before midnight. The rhythm of solar light and dark means sleep quality along with your melatonin production (this is the hormone that kicks off and maintains sleep) is at its highest at this time. Sleeping earlier can be a real bonus.
2. Plan your bedtime. Aim to be in bed 9 hours before your wake up time. Thus, if your alarm goes off at 7 am, plan your bedtime for 10 pm and make your preparations for sleep in the hour from 9-10pm. This gives you a wind-down period and should be viewed as an essential part of your sleep program.
3. Avoid all caffeinated beverages, chocolate, and refined sugar in the 8 hours before bedtime. Also, aim to exercise in the earlier part of the day and eat your last meal around 12 hours before you are due to wake. Eg 6 – 7 pm dinner for a 7 am wake up.
4. Reduce mental activity in the evening. Avoid calling, texting or emailing after 8-8.30pm. Do light reading only and avoid violent or dramatic tv shows. Use relaxing music, sedating essential oils like lavender or marjoram and dim the lighting.
5. Make your sleeping area as relaxing as possible, avoid work, screens, and study in your bedroom. The décor should be pleasing and make sure it is very dark, not too hot and quiet.
6. Enlist a simple relaxation technique to quiet the mind, mentally filing away the activity of the day, preparing for blissful, restful sleep.

A word on stimulants and getting quality sleep

Anything that activates the nervous system can be considered a stimulant. This may include coffee, tea, chocolate and strong emotions. Refueling flagging energy with stimulants depletes your body of the energy it requires to rest, setting up a cycle of false energy and continued inability to rest. Stimulants put great pressure on your adrenal system (where you make your get up and go hormones, like adrenaline) and can eventually lead to illness and dysfunction. Real rest is the only cure for fatigue.

Simple breathing exercises to try before bed

Meditation doesn’t need to be hard. Deep, slow breathing calms anxiety and is the simplest form of meditation around. If you are feeling keyed-up, restless, worried, fearful or nervous before bed, or experiencing the common physical symptoms of anxiety, like shallow breathing and a racing heart, these can be relieved with this simplest meditation. Try lying quietly, with your eyes closed and one hand over your stomach. Count slowly to three as you breathe in 1,2,3…and as you breathe out extend the length of your out breath, 1,2,3,4,5,6… feeling your stomach gently rise and fall. The extended out breath ensures your breathing is not too fast and unlikely to lead to hyperventilation (the type of breathing that leads to the physical sensations of a panic attack – the opposite to the desired effect here!) Experiment with this technique for 2-10 minutes and check in with how you feel before and after. You will be surprised how quickly this technique works!

If you prefer guided exercises, these two apps are free and wonderful to help retrain your mind:

1. Download the meditation app, Headspace – this has a free 10-day intro course, which is only 3-5 minutes a day, and is a nice easy intro to mindfulness meditation, with some cute animations. https://www.headspace.com.
2. Also, download Smiling Mind – this is a free Australian version to go on with after the Headspace course https://smilingmind.com.au. The research is that 5 minutes a day makes a big difference in how you feel. Aim for doing one quick meditation each day, perhaps before bed is a good time for you. Or maybe take a 5-minute break during the day?

If anxiety is an issue for you it can be more difficult to get to sleep. Grounding yourself with good nutrition and exploring herbal anxiety remedies can help you here. Talk to your naturopath or book an appointment today to workshop strategies to reduce both your anxiety and your insomnia. Having a regular massage is also a great short-cut to relaxing a busy mind and has cumulative benefits for stress management and your wellbeing.

Exercise to improve your sleep

While over exercise has an impact on fatigue, under-exercise is a much more common cause of energy depletion. Exercise, like having enough water and fibre is needed to ensure the body gets rid of wastes properly. Sedentary lifestyles are linked to lethargy, sluggishness and generally feeling ‘blah’. Exercise assists detoxification and improves health and energy. Like meditation, exercise is viewed in traditional texts as a ‘chi’ builder. Chi is another word for energy. Your sleep will also improve after about 4 months of starting an exercise program.

Somewhat different to the skills you might learn at the School of Hard Knocks, the skills that improve happiness are emerging from research in the field of Positive Psychology. If you are wanting to shore up your resilience and fortify your mental health, these practices have been scientifically tested and proven to improve your quality of life.

What are the qualities of the most resilient people?

Social researcher Brené Brown found that while resilient people are:

1. Resourceful and practice good problem solving skills.
2. More likely to seek help.
3. Believe in their own ability to do something that will help them manage their feelings and cope.
4. Aware of available social supports.
5. Connected with others, such as friends and family.

She also found that cultivating, recognising and celebrating thoughts and actions based on love and compassion is a common element to resilience. As Ralph Waldo Trine beautifully captures:

A life… of a man or woman… that goes out in love to all, is the life that is full, and rich, and continually expanding in beauty and in power… In [this] larger love for all the world, he finds himself included.

In other words, if you love the world, you can't help feeling somewhat generous towards yourself as well. Nice side bonus 🙂

Friendships and connecting with people is important

So what happens if you are new in town, or the support of friends and family, for the moment, seems to be in short supply? Indeed making friends after a certain age or perhaps at any age is something that takes effort and a knack that doesn't always come easily. Amy Poehler's tips include:

1. Be friendly to everyone. Even those who you don't immediately think you're going to be friends with. You never know!
2. Be a joiner. Tap into your passions and join groups that do the things you like to do.
3. If you can't find a group that celebrates what you love to do – make your own!

For more detail and a sympathetic viewpoint on something we all experience multiple times in our lives, check out the full article here: www.amysmartgirls.com.

Shawn Achor's happiness training in 21 days

According to current research, it takes 21 to 66 days to create new ways of thinking. Positive psychology researcher Shawn Achor makes his money from training people to view the world more positively and optimistically, using a series of daily practices that he suggests should only take about two minutes each day for 21 days. These five daily steps are all it takes to increase your resilience and happiness:

1.  Write down 3 new things you are grateful for. This teaches your brain to scan the world for the positive rather than the negative. This doesn't have to be anything profound – it could be the great decaf latte you had on your way to work this morning 😉
2. Relive the good times. Journal about a positive experience you had in the last 24 hours. Make it as detailed as possible. This lets you relive the feeling of happiness for a second time and your brain gets the message to label this as important and the imprint the memory leaves deepens.
3. Do 15 minutes of a fun cardio activity, like gardening or walking the dog, every day. This teaches you that your behaviour matters and is as effective as taking an anti-depressant.
4. Do two minutes of deep breathing each day. This gives you a break from the culture of multi-tasking and allows your brain to focus on the task at hand. Remember to concentrate on having a really long out breath so you don't end up hyperventilating if you're not used to breathing exercises!
5. Make a random act of conscious kindness. For example, write an email praising or thanking a person in your social support network and send it to them.

And the benefits? This process has been found to rewire your brain to be more positive, which in turn leads to greater resilience to stress and spreads ripples of positivity into your personal and business life. But don’t take my word for it, take the 21-day challenge and try it out for yourself.

To check out more from Shawn Achor and his book The Happiness Advantage, click here: www.goodthinkinc.com.

Being on a downward spiral vs cultivating an upward spiral

Neuroscientist Alex Korb has his own take on training your brain to be more helpful and positive as outlined in his book The Upward Spiral. He backs up his strategies with research into the brain chemistry of people who use these tips. His top four practical and effective ways to feel better and even reverse the course of depression are:

1. Ask yourself the big question: What am I grateful for? Like Achor, Alex Korb knows the value of gratitude and has measured increases in serotonin and dopamine in those who search through their memories looking for things to be grateful for. Even if you can't think of something to be grateful for immediately, the very act of looking for it, gives your neurotransmitters a healthy boost.
2. Label negative feelings. For some reason, your brain settles down if you name your emotions. In certain circles, it is thought that naming a thing removes it's power, demystifies it and gives the namer some sense of control over what is named. It seems neuroscience agrees. Be warned, however, suppressing emotions and leaving them unnamed has the opposite effect. The energy your brain gives to the feelings only increases. So label what you feel and minimise the subconscious power emotions have over you.
3. Make a decision. Trying to make the perfect decision creates anxiety, however making a ‘good enough' decision reduces stress and makes you calmer.
4. Touch is key. The power of human touch to reduce stress is amazing. So get out there and give someone you care about a hug – the longer the better. If you can't get a hug, have a massage. If you can't get a massage call a friend. PS Texting doesn't have the same effect, however, an actual phone call boosts brain activity and helps you feel better.

Check out Time Magazine's article on the principles from The Upward Spiral here: www.time.com.

Everyone feels anxious, down or depressed at times, just like everyone feels happy, excited, pleased, angry or upset at times. These are all normal emotions. However, if these emotions are too intense, last too long or interfere with your wellbeing they can become a problem. Feelings of worthlessness, failure, inadequacy and hopelessness are often the result of stress becoming too much and anxiety and depression interfering with how you see (and talk to) yourself. Developing resilience, a foundation of strength that allows you to bounce back from adversity, helps you safeguard against stress and have a more loving, accepting, optimistic view of yourself and your life, regardless of what you are going through. 

Further Resources

www.beyondblue.org.au

www.thiswayup.org.au

Links to the free online education program ‘This Way UP’, online support communities and information on stress, depression and anxiety.

• The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown
• The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor