30 Days to Better Sleep: Instead of Trying to Sleep, Change the Focus to Rest

Have you ever really tried to fall asleep? The more effort that is attempted, the harder it is to doze off. Why is it hard to fall asleep when it becomes the focus of our attention? Consider what to do when you have difficulty falling asleep and why it can be helpful to change the focus to rest. Insomnia is commonly characterized by difficulty falling or staying asleep. Whether this occurs at the start of the night, or after an overnight awakening, difficulty falling asleep may be worsened by an active mind. It can be helpful to change the focus: rather than striving and struggling to sleep, the focus should shift to obtaining rest. We have a very peculiar ideal of sleep, and one that can be difficult to meet. Our expectation is that we will crawl into bed, fall asleep immediately, sleep soundly without awakening during the night, and immediately jump out of the bed in the morning feeling refreshed. Unfortunately, sleep is typically much more different than this, especially in the setting of insomnia. It is normal to wake up in the night. If a loud noise didn't awaken us, we may find ourselves placed in harm's way. Though unconscious, we remain reactive to stimuli in our sleep environment. A mother quickly wakes to her crying infant, for example. In addition, we naturally wake during sleep, especially during transitions between sleep stages. As we get older, our ability to sleep uninterrupted during the night decreases. More time is spent in lighter stages of sleep and sle...
Source: About Sleep Disorders - Category: Sleep Medicine Source Type: news