Friends probably have heard me say that I have the heart of a 60 year old as far as plaque, carotid arteries, etc... Doc was quite surprised at how bad things were at my age. Did you know that my heart issues could be exacerbated or even caused by my sleep.
Poor sleep can cause a myriad of health issues including fibromyalgia, congestive heart failure, diabetic like symptoms. Amazing. I knew about the stress, anxiety, weight gain, and even death, but now how pervasive it is.
This book begins by going through an overview discussing classis sleep hygeine, why it works and why sometimes it is dangerous. A third-ish is on the mental aspects of poor sleep. And a third-ish is on the physical aspects of poor sleep. Tons of activities to try out for quieting the mind, working on your imagery system, nasal care for breathing, how to check for subtle body movements, etc...
You should start with one activity and test it out, moving slowly through the book. As I've waited to finish the book before really applying the material (other than no caffeine after 2 p.m.) I thought I would first list out some of what Krakow discusses on the mental side... lol... are you mental? This is where I'm going to start my testing. I have become more aware of my sleep issues from reading this book and have only recently become aware of how much mental chatter plays into my insomnia. From either keeping me awake, waking me in the middle of the night, or waking me too early. Such as 6 a.m. this morning. Yay me! :p
Ok, so here goes:
"SLEEP HYGIENE INSTRUCTIONS
Attempt to:
Go to bed only when you feel sleepy. Establish and maintain regular bed and wakeup times. Find the amount of sleep you need to feel consistently refreshed.
Create a comforting, quiet, clean, and dark environment for sleeping. Your bed and bedroom temperature should be comfortable.
Establish a regular pattern of relaxing behaviors 10 to 60 minutes before bedtime.
Use the bedroom and bed only for sleeping and making love.1
Exercise regularly.1
Start your mornings with some sunshine.
If possible, do not:
Nap during the day or evening.
Eat heavy meals or drink large amounts of liquid before bedtime.
Dwell on intense thoughts or feelings before bedtime.
Lie awake in bed for long periods of time.
Allow your sleep to be disturbed by your phone, pets, or family.
Use alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine; all of these worsen sleep." (pp. 62-63).
Krakow feels that the above sleep hygiene guidelines are easier to follow with stronger therapies and some of the larger problems addressed. If caffeine allows you to drive home from work without nodding off... then use the caffeine.
SOLO:
"S = Stop doing (for a few seconds to a few minutes).
O = Observe yourself; know your mind.
L = Let yourself be; just breathe.
O = Observe yourself; know your body." (p. 70).
IDNLA. We all know what that means, right? I Do Not Like Acronyms. Krakow loves acronyms. I think he might even be the King of Acronyms. I had to look up the acronyms over and over again because 1) he uses so many and 2) like I don't have enough to remember on my sleep deprived brains. Right?!?! (just nod your head, we'll both feel better!) See, watch this:
"These Thoughts, Feelings, and Images represent your TFI System, and your SOLO skills enable you to watch the flow of TFIs as they course through mind and body.
Three specific things occur during healthy TFI flow:
1. You let many TFIs enter your awareness.
2. You know how to pay attention to the most valuable or relevant information from any cluster of TFIs, depending on desires, needs, and circumstances.
3. You know how to let the rest of the TFIs “come and go.”" (p. 70).
Told you he loves them! Moving on: this is the goal of using SOLO so we need to get that down first.
One of the big reasons our brains chatter when we are trying to sleep is that it feels that our day isn't done for some reason. We left something undone, we are carrying stress, etc...
To help the brain realize our day is done our first step is to make a short list of things that feel like our day isn't done. This list should be of things left to do, negative thoughts and emotions, things we might be excited about, or even troubling thoughts about the past. This list should be written on a scrap of paper. It does not need to be complete. We are gonna toss it. Short, simple, and to the point. We are not journaling.
Next step is to begin one minute of SOLO, then no more than 4 minutes on convincing ourselves that our day is done.
"• Persuade yourself logically with appropriate thoughts.
• Persuade yourself emotionally with good feelings.
• Persuade yourself visually with nice images in your mind’s eye." (p. 75).
Our goal is to begin to think and feel our emotions when they occur and release them. Carrying causes a lot of mental and physical strain. To being this process the next time we feel frustration allow ourselves to feel it, identify, and notice how it feels in our body. We only need to do this for 5 to 10 seconds. Seconds. Not minutes. Not hours.
Krakow says this can take up to weeks to get this down. When we feel this frustration we need to ourselves:
"• What does frustration feel like?
• Where are you feeling it in your body?
• Does the feeling change, or move to different parts of your body?
If you are not ready to work on a feeling such as frustration, notice simpler feelings before tackling intense emotions. " (p. 94).
This is going to be the frustrating part for myself: slow down and do this for a week to allow myself to get used to this activity and actively notice any changes it makes in my sleep.
Note of caution: I just read another article on sleep and it said to journal. Krakow cautions against journaling your stressors unless you've been trained in it as it can exacerbate your issues, especially if trama, pstd, or depression is involved. Picking at scabs don't help, seek professional help if you feel this needs to be addressed.
That's all for today... we'll get to more on the book laters :)
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2 Comments
Wow, sounds complicated. I am glad I don't have problems sleeping....hehe
ReplyDeleterub it in! you fall right to sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow.
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