When I was young if I couldn’t get to sleep at night my mother would tell me to “Count Sheep”. This didn’t make much sense to me as we had no sheep on the farm just cattle. Of course I was supposed to count imaginary sheep, the whole idea being that I would get tired and fall asleep. I’m not sure how well this works but there is something very calming about repetitive mental activity. In real life counting sheep is not so easy. As you start to count they wander around the field swapping places. Another “sheep trick” is hiding behind each other so two become one.
Getting back to the subject of sleep …melatonin is the hormone which regulates sleep cycles. This hormone is produced naturally by the body as darkness falls. Nowadays the bright blue light from screens of laptops, i pads, tablets and mobile phones held close to the eyes can trick the brain into thinking it is still daytime. Because of this melatonin is not produced making it more difficult to get to sleep and quality of sleep is not as good..
Some simple self-help tips:
Eliminate all blue light sources such as i pads, tablets and mobile phones from the bedroom.
If possible avoid using these devices for about one hour before bedtime
If you use your phone as an alarm clock switch it to “airplane mode” at night.
Gentle exercise such as walking or rebounding during the day will help with sleep.
Touch the two prominent bumps on the forehead using the finger-tips of both hands, gently stretch the skin upwards and hold for a few minutes. This simple technique works really well to calm and relax the mind.
In a Systematic Kinesiology treatment I help people who have difficulty sleeping by:
Balancing the whole body including the energy system which generally helps people to relax
Checking for and treating adrenal stress which is often a cause of poor sleep
Supporing the endocrine system including the Pineal gland which is responsible for producing melatonin.
Sometimes people have accepted that they are just poor sleepers and nothing will help. However this is not necessarily the case. As shown above with Kinesiology there are several different options to help people. I always aim to get to the root cause of the problem, treat it and offer my clients solutions that they can use at home as well.