Sleep

The Best cure for Insomnia is to get a good night’s sleep”. W. C. Fields

Admit it, have you stood in the supermarket queue, and skimmed the many articles on the magazine rack that tell you how to get a good night’s sleep?

These articles all contain the same advice — give up electronic stimulation before bed time, no caffeine, aromatherapy baths, eat a turkey sandwich and drink milk etc,etc, etc.

Don’t get me wrong I am a great advocate of lavender oil infused bath and a milky drink, but if you have a sleep problem these suggestions do not always cut it.

“If you do fight against your country’s foes, cares keep you awake”. King Richard 111 (Shakespeare)

Shakespeare was right, cares do keep you awake. Many insomniacs and troubled sleepers list red meat issues like health, relationships, jobs, finances as the cause behind not falling asleep, not staying asleep, waking up frequently throughout the night and generally tossing, turning, teeth grinding and greeting the morning tired and unrefreshed.

After Shakespeare, many scientists and researchers in our industrialised world have provided copious quantities of research proving that sleep deprivation affects our health ranging from poor quality concentration to fertility problems and heart disease. And if you are tired all day, cannot concentrate on your job and your relationships suffer, guess what? The cycle of poor sleep continues.

If you are tired of trying and failing with all the established advice from well meaning Gurus or you don’t want to take the easy route of going to the Doctor to get an ongoing prescription for pills, may I suggest something else?

For me, although I am a long term meditator and characteristically have a laid back personality that often needs to be kick started, I developed sleeping problems after a car accident and a long spell in hospital. While visiting New York, I saw an advert for a sleep retreat offering The Sounder Sleep System® taught by Michael Krugman.

This retreat was my last resort. It was a three day workshop and Michael was brilliant with his intelligence, research and knowledge behind the science of sleep and sleep disorders and for me it was the first time someone had offered a proven explanation as to why some of us just cannot sleep. That workshop was life changing for me, so much so, I signed up to train to be a teacher.

We learnt about the brain and the central nervous system and how the Sounder Sleep System® exploits the two fundamental, opposing principles of the human nervous system, excitation and inhibition to produce its sleep inducing effects. The system uses small, slow, gentle bodily movements along with natural breathing to initiate and amplify the inhibitory process resulting in natural, restful sleep whenever it is needed.

For hard core Insomniacs, you practice the practices during the day which calm your stress levels, give you renewed energy and enthusiasm for daily activities and when you go to bed, you fall asleep, sleep until morning, wake up refreshed, more than ready for the day ahead. Oh …………and mine is a double espresso.