HOMEWORK

Sleep disturbance in those that are experiencing periods of low mood and/or anxiety are common for many.  If sleep disturbance is a problem that you encounter, please consider completing this additional work between now and our next session.

INSOMNIA

At times of increased stress and/or low mood, you may find that your brain does not want you to sleep.  This may be due to our primitive brain assuming that distress experienced is caused by a genuine threat requires continued alertness.

Please maintain a sleep diary for the next 7 days so that we can review consider any patterns there may be:

https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/media/pxniqm2z/sleepdiary.pdf

There are some factors to consider when our stress levels impact on sleep, we refer to the following check list as a list for good sleep hyenine.

Consider environmental factors.

• Is the environment where you sleep too light?
• Is your environment too hot or too cold?
• Is the environment too noisy?
• Is your sleeping position uncomfortable?
• Are there others in your sleeping environment that disturb you?
• Consider removing TV’s, computer, tablets, or mobile telephone from your environment.

Consider your behaviour and routine.

• Try waking 2-3 hours earlier than usual to get plenty of outdoor light in the morning.
• Eat breakfast as soon as possible after waking for the day.
• Have lunch at the same time every day and eat nothing after 7pm.
• Ban caffeine after 3pm.
• No naps after 4pm.
• Go to bed 2-3 hours earlier than usual and limit light in the evening.
• Maintain the same sleep and wake times every day.
• Use a choice of relaxation techniques before going to bed.
• Try and keep to a regular pattern of sleeping times.
• Get some exercise during the day but avoid exercise late in the evening.
• Avoid alcohol.
• Try taking a cold shower just before bed.
• Resist the temptation to sleep during the day following a bad night’s sleep.
• Try not to spend too long awake worrying about not sleeping, get up and so something relaxing, such as reading or listening to quite music and then when and if you feel tired, try going off to bed again.
• Avoid stimulation 2-3 hours before bed, for example strenuous exercise, overly exciting TV, mobile phone or video games.

Consider your thoughts.

• Rather than focus on worrying thoughts, notice that they are simply thoughts and instead try to focus on something restful.
• If the worry won’t leave, try writing it down and allocate time to focus on the worry during the next day.
• Try distraction, think of random things such as a sequence of objects or focus on a few items beginning with the letter B, and then move on through the alphabet.