Do you think you have insomnia?

Written By Nik & Eva Speakman
A woman struggling to sleep looking at her clock

Here’s ten tips that can help you get a good night’s sleep!

It feels awful to be tired all the time and having to constantly tell people you’re tired. Needing 10 coffees, three Red Bulls and two Pro Plus tablets just to see you through the day has got you in a vicious cycle!  Well it’s time to break that so here’s ten ways to help you fall sound asleep successfully.

Listen to relaxing music

According to a 2005 study, listening to 45 minutes of relaxing music before bedtime can make for a restful night.

Avoid using technology

Stay away from computers, smart phones or tablets two hours before you go to bed. The blue light from them stimulates your brain and prevents you from feeling sleepy.

Make a list

Write down all the things you have to do the next day or anything that is playing on your mind.  By writing them down and getting them out of your head you will have a clear mind.

Count sheep

Or try this exercise, think of an animal for each letter of the alphabet (‘A’ is for ‘anteater’, ‘B’ is for ‘badger’). You should be asleep well before you reach Z.

Move your bed

We’ve evolved to feel safe and when we can spot danger early and have time to run away. You’ll feel most relaxed if your bed is facing the door whilst also being as far away from it as the space allows.

Eat a banana

Bananas are rich in carbohydrates, which can help relax your body and brain, and they also contain natural muscle relaxers potassium and magnesium.

Reverse psychology

You see attempting to stay awake actually makes you feel tired!  You must have experienced feeling tired but wanting to watch the end of a movie and yet falling asleep because you tried to stay awake.  Well keep saying to yourself, “I’d like to stay awake just a little bit longer”.  Our favourite, and this always works for us.

Wear socks

Cold feet can keep you awake. An extra layer on your toes can help improve circulation in your extremities, which in turn can help you fall asleep more quickly.

Avoid alcohol

A recent study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found that although alcohol before bed might initially help you fall asleep, the sleep you have will be less restful.

Avoid stimulants

Certain foods have stimulants and will keep you awake, so after 6pm avoid coffee, energy drinks, chocolate, dried fruit, spicy or sugary foods.

UPDATE: We have recently uploaded a video on our TikTok channel going through lots of steps to help you sleep at night, check it out! 🙂

Also – listen to our podcast ‘Making The Change’ for more helpful life tips, Series 2 Episode 8 ‘Being Smart With Your Smart Phone’ touches on insomnia a fair bit!

Nik & Eva Speakman

We have studied and worked together since 1992. Between us we have studied human behaviour and psychology for seven decades. We both share an uncontainable passion to offer hope and to help people lead happier and less inhibited lives.

After many remarkable breakthroughs we created our own behavioural change therapy, ‘Schema Conditioning.’® Subsequent work with trauma victims and their related symptoms, led to the creation of two further trauma-based therapies.

‘Schema Conditioning Psychotherapy.’®

‘Visual Schema Displacement Therapy (VSDT)’®

‘Visual Schema Detachment & Restructuring (VSDR)’®

Qualifications from the creation of our therapies, resulted in training psychology professors, doctors and masters students at Universities in Amsterdam and Utrecht. In 2015, this training produced the two sets of scientific studies conducted into the workings of our therapy; the first two study papers highlighting the remarkable efficacy, was published in the Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry in June 2019. A further third study was then published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology in April 2021, with a fourth clinical study with hospital patients is currently underway and will be completed by the end of 2022.

In addition to members of the public, we work with, and have treated many high-profile clients and ‘A’ list clients around the world, having had prodigious successes. We are resident therapists on ITV’s multi award-winning ‘This Morning’ and have been for over a decade, we have also had own television shows, one of which, ‘The Speakmans’, also aired on ITV and several countries worldwide. Over the last two decades we have appeared on numerous other television shows as experts, such as the multi award-winning Saturday Night Takeaway.

Our mission is to illuminate that there is ALWAYS HOPE and that overcoming trauma and improving quality of life is entirely possible. Many people have either never been given hope, or worse had hope taken away from them, our aim is to correct that by sharing our message in any way we possibly can, including live workshops, theatre tours, books, podcasts, radio, television, social media and YouTube.

At the heart of all we do, is our relentless mission to offer HOPE to as many people as we possibly can.

https://nikandeva.com
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