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We’re in the middle of Sleep Awareness Week, which runs from March 13 to March 19, so there’s no better time to recoup and recap for a better night’s sleep.

There are apps and gadgets, there are podcasts, and there’s the ancient yogic tradition of the 4-7-8 method.

But when it comes to one of life’s greatest pleasures and those that struggle to achieve it, there are frankly never enough hacks and tips for ensuring enough shut-eye.

If you’re keeping alcohol consumption low and exercising a little, but still, the night bears down on your thoughts, mind whirring with worry as the hours tick on, then perhaps practising a few of these relaxation techniques punted by CNN will do the trick.

The key is practice, according to Rebecca Robbins, an instructor in the division of sleep medicine for Harvard Medical School, which can eventually result in conditioning yourself into better sleep:

“[These tips] are extremely beneficial from a classical conditioning standpoint,” Robbins said.

“If your body knows what comes after the end of these activities is sleep, then you start to condition yourself, and after a bit of time, your body will more easily slip into a state of relaxation, which increases your chances of sleep.”

Starting with this quaint tip.

1. Schedule “worry time” before bed

I’ve been told that keeping a notebook next to your bed can help you offload any next-day worries or intrusive thoughts by quickly writing them down, to hopefully forget about them until the next day.

But setting up a whole chunk of time to actively worry so that you don’t end up doing it as your noggin hits the pillow is next level:

“Don’t worry in bed. Schedule a ‘worry time’ — a period of time outside of the bedroom, outside of sleep, to worry about the things that naturally creep in your mind at night,” said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

2. Breath control

The science-backed method of controlling your breathing can help you change the rhythm of your breath, which in turn slows your heart rate and reduces blood pressure to stimulate the body’s parasympathetic “rest and digest” system.

This is supposed to, in essence, switch your anxiety off.

Breathe in, count to six, breathe out, count to six, but do it like this:

“Strive for effortless inhales that are soft and soundless while treating your exhales like gentle, extended sighs of relief,” suggested CNN contributor Dana Santas, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach.

Stay in the moment, Santas said, by focusing on the sounds and sensations of your breath: “Direct all of your senses to follow the path of air in through your nose, down your throat, into your lungs and out again. If your mind wanders, bring it back to your breath, happening in the here and now.”

This brings us to…

3. Mind control

There’s the centuries-old method of calming the body and mind through meditation, or you can travel in your imagination with visualisation until the Zs hit.

A quick 30-minutes of meditation practice over the course of two weeks is proven to make measurable positive functional and structural changes in the brain.

Visualising, similarly, allows an opportunity for you to escape negative thought patterns and to see yourself relax, acting as a sleep aid.

You can get quite literal with visualisation, imagining your anxieties as dust mites being blown out by your lungs, one breath at a time, until you just feel like one big ball of light, empty space (mmm, sweet sleep).

As Robbins said, these “tangible strategies” of visualising something and matching what you see to your breathing can be really “powerful”.

Now, let’s get physical.

4. Muscle control

Our bodies carry trauma and our muscles hold tension, so playing around with voluntary muscle contractions could help you release some unwanted stiffness and lead to better sleep.

Introducing the progressive muscle relaxation technique:

You tense and release muscle groups in the body in a certain order, starting at the head and working your way down to the toes and feet.

Each section of the body is tightly tensed and held for 10 seconds as you breathe in. Strive to squeeze each muscle hard, but not to the point of cramping or pain. Then, as you breathe out, relax the muscle suddenly and all at once.

Similar to putting your mental energies into controlling your breathing, muscle control can also distract your thoughts from those worry-mites.

Granted, not everybody can manage a good night’s sleep with just their mind alone.

For those who need an extra hand, there is always professional help close by. Go ahead and consult the experts at Sleep Renewal for more information and guidance.

[source:cnn]