Wellness

Sleep is a restorative and repair process both which is vital for good health at a physical, mental and emotional level. Good sleep is healing and prepares you for the challenges you may face the next day.

Life can be full of ups and downs, and sleep plays an essential role in allowing you to thrive instead of just coping with the difficulties. It is not enough just to get some rest.

The quality of your sleep, which includes having adequate deep sleep is key for it to have its full restorative effects. Restorative sleep may be regarded as a ‘spring clean' of the body and mind. It can help to remove that we do not need, and strengthens what we do.

Sleep is a very personal but critical process. Many of the restorative functions such as repair, growth, protein synthesis occur mostly during sleep. Brain and cognitive rejuvenation also occur, which are thought to aid learning and memory.

We are all so unique and so are our sleep requirements. However, in an ideal world, we would all sleep deeply and wake up feeling healed, refreshed and ready to start the day.

By learning more about how to prepare your mind and body for sleep, this aim can be achievable. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions from our day are all entwined with how well we may sleep. So to improve our sleep, we also need to look inwards and improve individual choices we make in the day.

Our beliefs and attitudes towards sleep can affect both the quality and the quantity. We may be used to having a minimal sleep and have learned that we can still get by. We may even see sleep as a superfluous task in our daily life, as we may seem to have so much to fit into each day.

What we may not realise though are the actual effects of having this type of belief, the effects on our health and wellbeing. By not sleeping adequately we are putting ourselves at risk of exhaustion.

Looking for techniques to help us unwind in the evenings, switching off from excess stimulation, and developing a relaxing routine can help towards improving our quality of sleep. By understanding that adequate and deep sleep are not just a luxury, but a necessity, we can start to make the changes that are needed, before any health problems arise.

Have a look at our free 15 Steps to Better Sleep Programme, for more ideas.