Sleeping well every night will help you feel better during the day and make it easier to deal with stress. Here are some tips on how to improve your sleep.
- Set a schedule. Follow a regular time to go to bed and wake up seven days a week.
- Avoid caffeine after dinner. This includes coffee, cola, and tea.
- Avoid alcohol and nicotine before bedtime. These substances can cause restless sleep.
- Do something to unwind before going to bed. You could do a relaxation exercise, read a book, or take a hot bath. Do not play computer games or view over-stimulating videos on the Internet.
- Associate the bed with sleep. Avoid using the bed as a place for reading, watching TV, eating, or working.
- Don’t stay in bed when wide awake. If sleep does not occur after thirty minutes, get out of bed and engage in a quiet activity such as reading until you are sleepy. Do not watch TV or play computer games.
- Avoid taking naps during the day. Some people can take short naps in the middle of the day without a problem. However, for most people naps during the day interfere with sleep at night.
- Pay attention to the comfort of your bedroom. Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and at a comfortable temperature. Make sure your mattress and pillows are comfortable.
- Avoid heavy exercise after dinner. Gentle exercise after dinner, such as a leisurely stroll, may help with sleep. Avoid heavy exercise after dinner, as this may delay sleep. Vigorous exercise, when performed earlier in the day, can help with sleep at night.
- Do not use sleeping pills on a regular basis. Sleeping pills are only helpful for short-term treatment of sleep problems. Longer-term use can lead to problems with dependence and further sleep problems when the medication is stopped.
Fraser Health and British Columbia, Dealing with Psychosis Workbook (Page 21-22), 2012
- Exercise during the day can help with sleep.
- Try to keep to a regular routine, relaxing and winding down, going to bed and getting up at the same time each day.
- Don’t try and force yourself to sleep; that will only make you more anxious
- Other techniques include the ‘body scan’ where you tense then release every part of your body, systematically working up from the feet; some people find counting their breaths helpful.
- Some people are able to make agreements with their voices, for example, “I will listen to you for 30 minutes, after that please be quiet and let me sleep”.
- Other people are able to call on good voices that can calm and reassure them.
- Some people find visualizing a relaxing scene or concentrating on pleasant memories helpful and calming.
- Another idea is doing some sort of relaxing art – doodling or coloring in can be soothing and are very effective distractions
Some voice hearers find that listening to calming voices on audiobooks, listening to the radio, or watching TV with the sound turned down low allows them to avoid concentrating on their voices, providing welcome distraction. Try to avoid stimulating programs that require concentration. Particularly useful are devices with time switches that will turn them off after a set period of time to prevent it disturbing sleep later in the night.
Some voice hearers find listening to “white noise” (i.e. the sound created by a fan) allows them to block out their voices. On the other hand, some people find ear plugs to be more helpful for blocking out their voices.
If you find yourself lying in bed and listening to your voices in an unhelpful way, sometimes getting up and going into another room and finding something calming to do such as watching TV, reading, or listening to the radio (helps).
Some people who see visions find sleeping with the light on dimly helps. You could also try using night lights, lava lamps, fairy lights, glow in the dark stars or fibre optic lamps.
Conversely, other people find eye shades to be a useful method for managing their visions. Some people are able to use visualization techniques, for example, imagining a protective force-field to fend off unwanted visions.
Sometimes sensations such as feeling insects crawling, pain, or feeling their limbs change shape disturbs people’s sleep. Solutions might include switching the light on so you can see the affected area, or massaging the affected area gently.
If you have trouble getting to sleep or get woken in the night, some people find it helpful to use a repeated phrase (sometimes called a mantra) for example, repeating “calm and relaxed” over and over again. Other people recite poems or prayers to distract them and allow them to sleep.
For some people, having a written note by their bed with calming and reassuring messages to themselves, for example, “this experience is transitory and will pass” to read if they can’t sleep or wake in the night.
Some people find writing down what they are experiencing useful. Sometimes a worry box might help – write down your worries and post them in the box to deal with in the morning. Sometimes getting out of bed and doing something calming, like drinking warm milk, listening to the radio, reading something relaxing or watching television for a while might be more helpful than lying in bed awake.
York Hearing Voices Group, Better Sleep for Voice Hearers, Unknown Date