WEEK 1: Anxiety tips – Sleep

SERIES: The foundational building blocks

So foundational building blocks is where we’ll start and is what often gets overlooked in the busy lives we lead. Yet, our mind and body are one and they only function as well as we are looking after it. Too little sleep is known to lower our happiness levels and increase cortisol in our bodies which promotes anxiety. Equally, sleep is when you transfer information into your long-term memory, vital for our future!

1. A regular sleep routine may sound a bit dull (yawn) but it really is essential, as much as we can if we’re experiencing stress, worry or are highly active.

2. Avoid the use of devices for at least 2 hours before bed. I know, I know, Facebook or Snapchat (etc!) is calling you, it’s the only time you have to look after the kids go to bed, you HAVE to get that last email off for work… I get it! It’s an easy vacuum to succumb to. yet it is exactly this that keeps that brain of yours over-stimulated and stops your body clock being able to wind down and get ready for sleep. This overstimulation and lack of sleep are what will keep you stuck in a vicious cycle of ‘stress response’, so find a way to change your routine so that you don’t need to look at these devices late in the evening.

3. In the bedroom avoid blue light that is emitted from televisions tablets and mobile phones. Blue light is known to increase melatonin and make our brain highly alert (which is where the advice of turn it off a couple of hours before comes from to give your brain time to adjust and settle down. You can buy amber glasses that significantly reduce the blue light if you need to, but to be honest, most phones/tablets contain a setting that reduces this. If not keep the television, tablet and mobile phone turned off in the bedroom. Bedrooms have other, better uses like reading and RnR.

4. Have a pad by your bed for any ‘worries’ that come up so you can note them down and feel safe in the knowledge that you’ll work through them tomorrow.