33 self-care ideas for World Sleep Day

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Soothe your ruminating mind, again, especially with ADHD or trauma histories, getting away from all the catastrophic thinking, the stressful thoughts that are kind of putting you in Stress Response rather than Rest/Digest mode, allowing yourself to have something really easy and accessible to redirect your brain from those ruminating, catastrophising thoughts into something.

Hi, I'm Eve Menezes-Cunningham and welcome to The Feel Better Every Day Podcast. I am so excited to be sharing new trauma-informed and ADHD-friendly ideas for you to help you take better care of yourself, that highest, wisest, truest, wildest, most joyful, brilliant and miraculous part of yourself, as well as the basic self-care, which we all know can be so challenging at times.

I really appreciate you tuning in. If you want a deeper dive, you'll be getting bonus content each week. If you sign up to the Sole to Soul Circle, you can do that for free or from as little as eight euros a month. And you can also find more ideas in the book, 365 Ways to Feel Better, Self-Care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing https://selfcarecoaching.net/book

Hi, welcome to episode 49 of The Feel Better Every Day Podcast. We're celebrating World Sleep Day with lots of holistic tips to experiment with. See what works for you, you know what's best for you. Some of them might appeal, some might not, they're all offerings. I've already recorded half of this and it turned out I didn't record it, so I'm starting again. In my imagination what I'd recorded was golden, so I'm just going to do my best to make it as good as possible.

#1 Set a positive intention around what sleeping well means for you

We often think about what we don't want to feel like, so tired, cranky, exhausted, drained, depleted. Think about what you actually do want. Think about how you want to feel when you wake up, like energised, refreshed, recharged, alert, feeling well, enthusiastic. Make it as vivid as you can for yourself, which leads on to…

#2 Visualising what you want

Worrying is exhausting for our nervous system and it's really easy to do. We get into rumination mode and especially with trauma histories or ADHD, it's really common. So replacing worry with imagining what you want is a discipline. It will get easier and it's the ideal thing to practice when you're trying to get to sleep.

So thinking about what you do want. So it might be a great night's sleep or it might be something you want in your life. It might be a holiday you're looking forward to. It might be something you're looking forward to in your relationship or work or with your home or travel or whatever it might be. Use images. I mean, thinking about counting sheep, you don't have to count sheep.

You can think about something you actively want, put that into images in your brain. That's going to move away from the more language-based thinking, which is more like kind of for the daytime and it encourages sleep, moving into that image-based thought pattern. So win-win. You're more likely to move towards what you actually want and also it will relax you and help you sleep.

#3 Make your self-talk soothing

Even if you feel like you're lying to yourself. Now I don't advocate lying lightly, but in this case I do. Even if you feel like you're going to be shattered tomorrow, imagining that now is not going to help you. And it's going to keep you awake rather than helping you sleep. It's going to inhibit any sense of Rest Digest parasympathetic activity.

Even if you feel like you're lying to yourself, imagine yourself as a beloved puppy, baby, kitten, goat, whatever, something you love and talk kindly to yourself about how no matter how tired you might be, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. This helps calm the amygdala and make sleep more likely.

#4 Relax your breathing

It's something really simple and has an enormous impact. So a deeper breath and a slightly longer exhalation helps to calm the nervous system. You can count if you want to, maybe in for one and out for two or three, or in for two and out for three or four, or simply sense it. If you're like me, numbers are not relaxing. Do what feels good for you, but aim for that deeper breath, that slightly longer exhalation.

You can find more breath practices and more in-depth on this at selfcarecoaching.net forward slash book and go to the book bonus videos. So it helps to remind yourself gently every time you notice that your attention has wandered from the breath and gently bring it back, but with compassion and with a congratulations for noticing.

#5 Make your bedroom as comfortable as you can

Think about your sleeping arrangements and think about yourself seeing them for the first time. We get desensitised to things that might be inhibiting sleep so walk into your bedroom now if you can, or just imagine it. Think, if your priority was amazing sleep, what would you be taking out of the room or at least making less visible?

For some people, you don't have a separate bedroom. I lived in studio flats for years in Cardiff and London. You might be in a bedroom in a shared house. You might have to work from your bedroom.

I started my practice from my bedroom, like I had a little desk at the foot of the bed, so it might be a sleeping area. I lived in teeny tiny studio flats for a really long time. But having some sort of division, whether it's through lighting, whether it's through furnishing, whether it's through colour, but also keeping it as sleep welcoming as possible.

Take a friendly eye rather than a critical eye and ask yourself if your aim were better sleep, what might be most helpful here and how can you do that for yourself?

#6 Experiment with aromatherapy

Aim for quality oils. You don't want any of the toxic scented candles or sprays. And unfortunately we live in a world where a lot of these things that look like they're good for us are actually filled with chemicals that you don't want anywhere near or below. Look into that and experiment with scents that you naturally find relaxing. Lavender has been shown to work for many people, but if you don't like lavender, don't use lavender. Experiment with what works for you. And over time, if you have a blend, work with that. I use a blend of lavender, rose, frankincense and geranium. It's something I've been using for nearly two decades now.

It helps me anchor that sense of being ready for bed. Find a blend that works for you or simply use lavender or any one scent, make it easy for yourself. But you're again helping to use your anchors around you, using your senses to help you recognise it's getting time to wind down, it's time for bed and allowing yourself to relax.

Take your foot off the gas and prepare for a gorgeous night's sleep. So something else you might want to do…

#7 Sleep inducing yoga

I used to teach Sleep Yoga classes every week, for a long time, at the golf and country club I used to teach at in Essex before I moved to Ireland.

#8 Longer yoga nidras

I also want to remind you that while it can increase dopamine, while it can be really yummy and relaxing and also help us make progress towards our goals and working with our sankalpas, it can, especially if you're a bit agitated about not being able to relax with trauma histories or with ADHD, it can feel quite anxiety provoking.

It's about really being friendly with yourself, starting with a shorter yoga nidra perhaps, experimenting with different voices. There are loads you can try on my YouTube channel, it's under my name, Eve Menezes Cunningham, or at selfcarecoaching.net.

I'm going to be sharing a Sleep Yoga abbreviated sequence that you can do on your bed for the Full Moon and Supermoon members as this week's bonus deeper dive. And an EFT tap along for the Half Moon free subscribers. Because these are things you can do on your bed or under the duvet, which just help to soothe the nervous system, help to prepare the body and mind for sleep.

And they're lovely practices, I do some sleep yoga many, many nights. It's just that getting ready and it helps you stay more comfortable, especially kind of post menopause. And if there are any kind of aching joints, the more you can work with your whole body, the easier it is for your mind and your body to relax.

So we touched on yoga nidra already. And I think I've said at selfcarecoaching.net and just type in yoga nidra, or through the Sole to Soul circle, there are bespoke ones for each theme for the Half Moon and for the Full Moon and Supermoon members.

#9 meditate or pray

Something as simple as breathing in and thinking calm and breathing out and thinking calm, or any other quality you choose. Breathing in, breathing out, doing this for three minutes or longer can help elicit the Relaxation Response (Episode 39). I'll link to the Relaxation Response episode in the show notes.

You can also use any kind of familiar and helpful meditation and prayers, whether you pray to God, Goddess, the Universe, Divine Love, Source, whatever works for you, Nature. It's about getting out of your ruminating mind again.

Especially with ADHD or trauma histories. Getting away from all the catastrophic thinking, the stressful thoughts that are kind of putting you in Stress Response rather than Rest Digest mode. Allowing yourself to have something really easy and accessible to redirect your brain from those ruminating, catastrophising thoughts into something more time to let go and let God, Goddess or...