Tips to get you to sleep

[Jade]

As we have establishment on this forum lack of sleep contributes greatly to a rise in mental health issues as well as making any existing problems worse and harder to cope with. As someone that has suffered with extreme insomnia in the past I can confirm this to be true.
I thought we could all share our tips and tricks to help us drift off to sleep:
Lavender-Using lavender pillow spray or having fresh lavender in your bedroom can help naturally induce sleep because it’s a relaxant.
Trick your mind into trying to stay awake-This is an odd one but if I try tell myself I’m not allowed to go to sleep my mind will fight against it and send me to sleep. Weird as it sounds watching Nightmare on elm street used to help me sleep ( bare in mind I’m not one to be scared by horror films) I tried to think what it would be like in that situation if I couldn't sleep and funny enough it would help haha

 

[Mark]

I am a terrible sleeper but I can fall asleep in a second through the day either laying face down on my bed with my hands spread out or leaning back in my office chair and putting my feet on the table - out in a flash. But can I get to sleep at night time in bed, no lol

 

[Jade]

I am a terrible sleeper but I can fall asleep in a second through the day either laying face down on my bed with my hands spread out or leaning back in my office chair and putting my feet on the table - out in a flash. But can I get to sleep at night time in bed, no lol

Do you think Mark it’s the fact you shouldn’t be sleeping that you can doze of easily either on your office chair or in the middle of the day? Do you see what I mean? It’s the same as my Nightmare on Elm Street sleeping technique haha. I’ve read before that when your trying not to fall asleep your mind does the reverse and fights against you so I suppose when your trying to sleep your mind finds against that too and keeps you awake.

 

[kelbel]

I've tried the lavender pillow spray and i find it quite effective actually. I've heard of a few other tips over the years including:

- Don't watch TV in your bedroom at night (keep the bedroom purely for sleeping and don't re-engage your brain by watching TV or going on your ipad etc).
- There are certain foods which i believe are good to have before you try and sleep - warm milk, banana.
- Having a kind of 'routine' where you start to unwind can help you switch off (such as a warm bath with homeopathic oils)

As for staying asleep, i usually don't have a problem with this until the dogs start barking in the middle of the night for no reason! lol.

 

[Jade]

Wow I never knew banana helps, shame I don’t like them The reason I can’t sleep half the time is because I have so many thoughts and worries going around in my head so even if I’m physically tired I can’t drift off. I’ve heard that thinking back to your day and sort of rewinding it in your head works but not so much for me because that can set off more anxiety especially if I’ve had a day full of worries. What I do to try and clear my mind is go through the alphabet and pick a subject e.g If I pick fruit I’d go through the alphabet for fruits beginning with the letter so apples, banana, coconut etc. I find that effective and I don’t usually make it to the letter Z because I’m focusing my mind on something trivial and probably because it’s so boring it helps me sleep to haha. The more boring the topic the better!