anxiety

Phantom crying and other things that keep us awake – 10 Hints for sleeping better

I’ve spent a good part of the last 3 years in a bit of a zombie state. Having small children leads to inevitable periods of sleep deprivation, unless you’re one of those lucky people to have a live in nanny and the kids at the other end of the house.

The thing I find a bit annoying is when people say “Well you should just sleep when the kids are sleeping”. I don’t know about others, but this is actually very difficult for me.

For one, if they sleep in the day, you usually have to carry on with other normal life tasks like eating, going to the toilet, or maybe even housework. For two, its not actually that easy to instantly fall asleep. I lie there, day or night, with racing thoughts about which child is going to wake soon, or the things I need to do, or just stupid things like what I said to so & so last week. And then there’s the phantom crying… any little noise that resembles the pitch of one of my babies cry, alerts me out of slumber right away. And sometimes, I even hear them crying when they aren’t. This is a great hinderance for restful nights.

I’ve discovered a few tricks that help me get to sleep quicker, they are no substitute for a full unbroken nights sleep, but I think it helps:

1. Himalayan Salt – A few granules under the tongue. Apparently its the minerals in the salt that help relax you.

2. Magnesium – A glass of magnesium drink will relax your muscles and nervous system.

3. Do more exercise. It’s really true that it helps you sleep better.

4. Actually counting sheep – I just count backwards from 100. Sometimes I get a bit distracted with other thoughts, but if you can focus, it usually works.

5. Having a bath or a shower generally does help. You feel refreshed after the day’s activities, and its nicer sleeping without old sweat all over you. (A common Brisbane state of being)

6. Maca! Having a cup of hot cacao and maca before bed is just delightful. Its soothing and delicious, and has loads of health benefits.

7. Hanky Panky… thats all I’ll say about that

8. Fresh clean lovely sheets!

9. A pretty far out suggestion, and not very common, NEVER have children! I couldn’t do this, and its too late anyway.

10. Sleep Rescue Remedy. Its great. Get it from the chemist.

Feel free to share your ways into the land of Nod, I think lots of people have this same trouble. And with that.. goodnight.

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Confidence…

Why do most people struggle to feel confident in themselves? I do often, but am consciously making an effort to change that. My biggest anxiety is caused by worrying about what people think of me. I have been implementing the following activities in an effort to reduce my anxiety levels:

1. Choose good friends. Did you know that you can actually choose the people you want to influence your life? And did you also know that its totally OK to cut off unproductive relationships. People who continually treat you bad do nothing whatsoever for your confidence, they drag you down into believing that you aren’t very valuable. It takes some guts, but man its good to get rid of this out of your life. Surround yourself with people that you want to be like, listen to you, and appreciate who you are, and then be a good friend to THEM.

2. Catch your thoughts. What do you say to yourself in your head? This is the make or break of successful life in my opinion. You really have to consciously and deliberately think positive things to beat the default human condition of negativity. When my little girl wakes up earlier than I hope for, I have to take a moment to get out of bed happy to be a mum, and not grumpy that I didn’t get enough sleep and its going to set my day off wrong. My thoughts for this week… I can do anything! I am loved! I am creative and talented! I am calm…calm…calm.  🙂

3. Watch your words. Have you ever listened to the way you speak about yourself to others. I started to, and am catching myself often! I started showing my new blogpage of business self promotion to my hubby, (www.jadegoulding.com) its really nothing too elaborate at this stage, but he caught me downgrading myself and my creative efforts and kindly pointed out that I should talk more confidently about it. If you can just step outside yourself for a moment, and hear the words you say, you might want to change them. Be confident in the decisions you’ve made, speak out good things about what you do and who you are. It makes a world of difference to your happiness if you do!