If you are reading A Good Nights Sleep, the chances are that you are struggling with insomnia. Most people experience minor disruptions of sleep here and there. Still, for the person suffering from chronic sleep issues, it can be night after night, week after week or periodic episodes. Insomnia can be detrimental to a person’s life, health and mental and emotional well-being.
I have suffered on and off for over 25 years with insomnia. Not consistent sleep deprivation every night, but extended periods of inability to sleep, a slow decline of worsening symptoms, and brand-new sleep issues. I understand the isolation and despair that long-term insomnia brings and how it slowly erodes your physical, mental and emotional health and self-belief.
My insomnia has come in many forms and for many reasons. My relationship with sleep has been a love /hate one, and I have often been jealous of my husband’s love for going to bed. He practically falls asleep as his head hits the pillow. I have spent many nights dreading going to bed and not being able to sleep and then dreading those mornings even more.
After recovering from my last insomniac episode, I decided to write A Good Nights Sleep. With the twists and turns of my life, my insomnia had taken me to rock bottom, and I couldn’t carry on as I was. Instead of letting it consume me, I used it to motivate me. What had I got to lose? I decided to make changes in my life, significant changes, uncomfortable changes, required willpower and discipline, so far so good most nights, I sleep like a baby. But what’s better is I feel better in myself; I feel healthier and fitter. I am a work in progress, and I am not at my end goal, but the benefits I enjoy motivate me to keep going.
I want to share my continued journey, what I’ve learnt, what has worked, and what has not. I want to reach out to those suffering and feeling alone to help you find the positives, the motivation, and the self-belief to prevail.
You can succeed with any number of sleep techniques for a while. Still, I believe that incorporating these 4 pillars of health is the foundation for long-term good sleep.
To sleep well, we must live well, and I have found there to be four pillars we need to focus on to improve our health and well-being and ability to sleep better.
- Exercise
- Diet Nutrition
- Healthy mental and emotional mind
- Environmental Home/work / social
In A Good Nights Sleep, I share the four pillars and how I have used them to improve my health, well-being and sleep. I look at research and discuss the four pillars with relevant experts in sleep. I will present to you the sleep techniques I have tried and tested.
Ultimately, I have learnt that making changes in your life requires effort; making the same changes when you are sleep-deprived takes a lot of effort. In the beginning, you will need to be more determined and disciplined than the average person to change things. You will need to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. To become self-aware and honest with yourself, identify your faults, your worries, your habits, as well as your positive characteristics and habits. You will need to Love yourself, respect yourself, and have self-belief and boundaries to protect yourself.
