SLEEP PROBLEM – MAIN CULPRIT

There are 2 major reasons why we don’t get good sleep during the night.

1. Unhealthy food that creates stress in the body
2. We just can’t shut off our brain during the night.

Studies show that almost 93% of us experience sleep deprivation because of the second reason, which can lead to conditions like insomnia, sleep apnea and lifestyle disorders like obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Many believe our changed lifestyle, addiction to digital devices, and the tendency to sleep late, are the culprits. But the real culprit is our unbridled thoughts that keep our brain busy like hell. Japanese warriors called Samurais focus on controlling their thoughts so much that they can sleep undisturbed even with an open sword on their bed. Meaning, the more you have control over your thoughts, the more sound you can sleep. What if you could learn an amazing ‘Mind Routine’ that would bridle your chattering mind in just 3 days? What if you could move from hell to heaven like sleep in less than 120 seconds of hitting the bed?

According to studies, the second explanation accounts for over 93% of cases of sleep deprivation, which can result in diseases including insomnia, sleep apnea, and lifestyle illnesses like obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Many people think that the reasons for this include our altered lifestyle, addiction to digital devices, and propensity for staying up late. Our unrestrained ideas, however, which keep our minds extremely busy, are the true offender. Samurai, a class of warriors from Japan, concentrate so much on mental discipline that they are able to sleep through the night with a sword lying open on their bed. That is to say, you can sleep better at night if you have greater control over your thoughts. What if you could control your chattering thoughts in just three days by learning an incredible “Mind Routine”?  What if, within less than a minute of getting into bed, you could transition from hell to heaven like sleep?

INTRODUCTION

 Money, housing, employment, relationships, and leading a “successful” life are among the many worries that many individuals report having in today’s challenging world.

Our anxieties can occasionally actually affect things. We obsess about everything, making it impossible for us to sleep.People who struggle with stress, worry, depression, and insomnia often report that their inability to fall asleep is more often caused by racing, intrusive, unwelcome thoughts than by any kind of physical pain or discomfort. Overanalyzing and insomnia frequently go hand in hand. Thus, it is normal for those who suffer from insomnia to attempt to block out the ideas that are keeping them up. At first glance, this may seem reasonable, but it may really make matters worse.

The interval between going to bed and falling asleep doesn’t have to be as tough if improved strategies for handling bothersome thoughts are put into practice. If you don’t have intrusive, racing thoughts when you sleep, you could also find it easier to get back to sleep.In the context of insomnia, a variety of thought-blocking techniques have been researched to address these bothersome ideas. A CBT for insomnia course will cover a lot of ground (CBTi).

The fundamental idea behind these techniques is to help people replace ideas that could rouse them to sleep—that is, thoughts that keep them awake—with thoughts that don’t. This ought to:

• reduce the time it takes to fall asleep (the sleep onset time)
• help you to stop overthinking
• increase sleep quality.

We’ll go over a few of these strategies here, in the hope that they’re useful to you or someone you know. Repeat a word or do a mental puzzle

“Artificial suppression” is a simple yet successful method for treating overthinking and intrusive thoughts while in bed. It involves mouthing a word three to four times per second to make it impossible to think about anything else.

Although the underlying psychology is complicated, the theory states that mouthing a phrase involves much more mental effort than simply thinking it, and that this mental effort blocks the initial intrusive notion. Words that can be used with this technique are:

• the word “the”
• a nonsense syllable (such as pah, oop, vee.. the choices are endless!)
• a proper name (e.g. Paris, April, Jaffa Cake).

The only requirement is that it has no emotional significance to you (i.e. is non-arousing). You can also extend the technique by:

• accompanying the word you use with a visualisation of a shape, like a triangle or square. This is particularly useful if your intrusive thoughts have a visual component.
• adding a puzzle element, such as counting back from 1000 in certain “jumps” e.g. 1000, 993, 986, using “jumps” of 7 in addition to using a word, image or syllable.

Since everyone is different, it might take a few goes to find a process which works for you.

DISTRACT YOURSELF

“Imagery distraction” is a helpful technique when you can’t sleep, where you imagine yourself in an engaging and interesting scenario like:

• a relaxing holiday
• cooking a meal or
• a nice, sunny afternoon in the garden.

 When compared to articulatory suppression, there is less evidence to suggest that visualizing a situation shortens the time it takes to fall asleep. However, once a person is asleep, employing mental imagery has been shown to improve the quality of their sleep.

After selecting your scenario, the goal is to fully immerse yourself in it by visualizing all of the sights, sounds, smells, and eventually tranquility it brings, to the point that it becomes impossible to think of anything else.

 Avoid situations that are overly stimulating, like as watching a sporting event or having sex, as they are unlikely to be calming and will instead lead you to feel more awake than aid in falling asleep.

 EXPRESS GRATUITY

Concentrating on unfavorable thoughts can exacerbate sleeplessness because they frequently cause cognitive stimulation.

• Remarkably, in one study, people urged to think on their regrets before bedtime took longer to fall asleep than those who did not get this instruction.
• In a different study, individuals who suffered from insomnia found that thinking about things to be grateful for and thinking positively before bedtime improved their quality of sleep.

For certain people, such as those who suffer from depression or anxiety, reviewing life’s positive aspects may be more challenging than for others. For these ailments, specialized care should be sought.

 ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR VIEWS

As odd as it may seem, the best way to deal with intrusive ideas can sometimes be to do nothing about them.

Here, it’s important to just accept that your incessant thoughts or overthinking are keeping you from getting any sleep. They have a muted effect when you stop fighting your own thoughts and worried about the consequences. As a result, you are less likely to be aroused and kept awake.

CBTi can help you take control of your thoughts

These strategies, while effective on their own, are even more effective as part of a structured CBTi programme.  If you’ve tried multiple techniques and nothing has worked you may need support from an expert sleep team.

At Sleepstation, we developed a digital CBTi programme which has been clinically-validated and is highly effective at resolving insomnia. We’ve helped thousands of people to take back control of their sleep and our results speak for themselves.

So if you can’t sleep at night due to overthinking, our sleep improvement programme can help you optimise your sleep for better health. Get started today.

Summary

•  You can attempt a variety of ways to help you clear your mind if obsessive or intrusive thoughts are keeping you from falling asleep.
• Alternatively, you could use articulatory suppression techniques like word repetition, mental puzzles, or self-distraction.
• • Sleepstation’s CBTi program could be able to assist you if you have exhausted all of the other options.

References

1. Harvey AG. I Can’t Sleep, My Mind Is Racing! An Investigation of Strategies of Thought Control in Insomnia. Behav Cogn Psychother. 2001 Jan;29(1):3–11.
2. Espie CA. Overcoming Insomnia: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. London, UK: Robinson; 2006. 

Author: Master Vikrant RohinMaster Vikrant Rohin is an international author, and more than four countries’ schools are using his books in the core curriculum of education. He is the author of twenty different subject books. History, Economics, Chemistry, Physics, English, Biology, Geography etc. Most of his students hold high-ranking positions in the public and private sectors. He has cracked the world’s toughest exam, the "Civil Services Examination (UPSC)," eight times. Always a topper in academics, he was also a top-class sportsman, a state boxer, and a basketball player.