5 Tips for Better Sleep

I am a person who rarely has difficulty sleeping and is near famous for being able to sleep anywhere at any time. When coupled with the fact that in general I don’t need a great deal of it (6 hours is plenty for me!), you might be tempted to dismiss my opinions on the subject of how to get a good nights sleep. However, I haven’t always been like this.

There have been periods of great stress in my life and not getting enough sleep or not sleeping at all is a clear alarm bell for me. In the past I have gone days having had no more than an hour or two of sleep and this has contributed to miserable living conditions. Knowing what it can be like, I would not wish sleep depravation on anyone. 

Over the years and in a mostly haphazard sort of way, I have developed some coping mechanisms to help me sleep during difficult times. I have learned that simply by recognising when there is an issue, I gain a sense of taking back control and start to relax. Then just actually doing something to help get enough shut-eye somehow becomes an empowering action and also much more likely to work. 

I am no guru when it come to helping people achieve a blissful nights sleep, but there are people out there who are and some are even willing to share their knowledge too! So I have compiled a list of things that have helped me and information from articles I have found from individuals/organisations who are more knowledgeable and qualified than I am: 

1. Make your bed and bedroom a good place to sleep. The place you lay your head every night should be inviting and comfortable, promoting a peaceful and restful atmosphere. Try to have softer lighting and remove sound distractions from the room. The bed should be in a position that faces away from doors and windows to minimise disruption from light sources. De-cluttering the room gives your mind less stimulation and allows you calm down to sleep. This article has loads of ideas about how to design your sleeping space: http://bettersleep.org/better-sleep/the-ideal-bedroom/
2. Don’t use screens before bed. The blue light from device screens has been shown to suppress production of melatonin, which is the hormone that controls the body’s sleep/awake cycle (the circadian rhythm). Avoid using screens for an hour before bed and consider not having them by your bedside or in your bedroom at all. Here is an article that goes into more depth on how screens can affect sleep: https://sleep.org/articles/ways-technology-affects-sleep/
3. Avoid stimulants or large meals before bedtime. This means no alcohol, caffeine, nicotine or sugary foods before you lay your head down for the night. It’s pretty obvious but stimulants have the effect of keeping you awake and some can also promote anxiety, neither of which are conducive to a restful nights sleep. So cut them out in the hour before you go to bed and also try to avoid having large meals within 2-3 hours of going to bed wherever possible. 
4. Spend some time winding down before bedtime. If you are struggling to sleep it can be helpful to take maybe 30 minutes to an hour before bed to do something calming like reading a book (no screens!), doing some light yoga or stretches, crochet or knitting, writing down your thoughts or anything that you find works for you. This is really about relaxing your mind and preparing yourself for sleep and there are many helpful articles out there, including some great WikiHows - wikiHow - Relax Before Going to Bed.
5. Try some mindful breathing exercises. When I wake up in the night and my mind is whirring away and I can't get back to sleep, I concentrate on my breathing. I position myself so I am lying flat on my back with my arms by my sides, slow my breathing down and count in my head for each inhale and exhale. Try counting slowly to 5 as you breathe in and count slowly to 7 as you breathe out. When your mind wanders, just bring it back to your breathing. You could also try a guided mindfulness meditation - Headspace is a great resource.

I do hope these ideas will help someone in serious need, but also that these might be things people just work into their daily routines. Remember, Mental Health isn't a problem you develop - it's something everyone has and taking the time to look after your mind is equally as crucial as looking after your body. 

How do you ensure you get a good night's sleep? Do you have any strategies you use when you can't sleep? Leave a comment down below and perhaps it could help someone else who reads it.

Thank you.

MP

5 Practical Ways to Safeguard our Mental Health

I think that a lot of people could be better informed about a lot of things. For the moment, I’d like them to be better informed about one thing in particular and that is how to look after their mental health. Even more specifically, I want to focus on how we can all be more resilient to stress and anxiety and prevent the development of more serious mental health issues by keeping our minds fit and healthy.

Ultimately I hope that this post is going to help someone to help themselves, but there is a limit to what can be achieved by one blog article, so I will aim to keep this as practical as possible.

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
Firstly there are a few things that coincide very neatly with what we do to look after our physical health, namely eating well and undertaking regular exercise. Research has proven that being physically fit and healthy decreases the likelihood that we will suffer from mental ill health. So much so that the gym has been recommended by GPs as a coping strategy for those suffering from mental health issues for some time now. We all know so much about healthy eating and exercise, so I will not dwell on them too much. Suffice it to say we should aim to eat a wide variety of foods in moderation and aim to do 30 minutes of exercise most days, or everyday if possible.

Sleep Well
Getting enough sleep is key to ensuring we are able to deal with all that life throws at us. If we don’t get enough of it, we suffer from tiredness, mood swings and an inability to concentrate or focus, which in turn can lead to stressful situations. Getting a good nights sleep however, improves our mood, our ability to think and our mental resilience. There are some very simple rules we can put in place to help us get enough sleep - don’t use devices with electronic screens right before bed, avoid stimulants like caffeine, nicotine and sugary foods for at least 30 minutes before going to bed and making a bedtime routine focussed around preparation for sleeping to name a few. I will cover these in detail in a future post, but the crux of it is understanding what prepares your body and mind best for sleep and doing that.

Mental Workout
As mentioned above, exercising your body has a positive effect on your mental health and this is an established principle. Exercising your mind can be just as beneficial through mindfulness meditation, but this is less well known and certainly less widely practiced. There are reasons that hold people back from practicing mindfulness, such as not knowing what it is, how to do it and what it means, but there really are a wealth of resources out there for those who wish to look. And I would strongly recommend that people who are finding it hard to cope try doing some simple meditations. Headspace is a great resource for this that anyone can try for free via their app - it’s simple, unpretentious and effective. There are also many guided meditations on YouTube, but these do vary in quality. Mindfulness meditation is a way of grounding us in the present moment and objectively assessing our thoughts and feelings without judgement, so that we can make sense of them and manage them. Like physical exercise, mindfulness requires practice and repetition in order to reap the full benefits, but you only need around 15 minutes at a time and can do it anywhere. As with sleep, I will be covering mindfulness in future articles and explore aspects in greater detail, but do a little bit of research and give it a try - I find it very satisfying and I’m sure you will too.

Community Minded
Community is also very good for the psyche. Humans are social animals and our rise to dominance on this planet could not have happened were it not for our ability to cooperate in social groups. We are designed to work together and we suffer if we are alone. Being a part of a network, group or family makes us feel connected and gives us a sense of security and confidence, while being isolated can lead to insecurity and undermine our self worth. Finding a community to be a part of has never been easier, with social media allowing us to connect with people both near and far. The darker sides of social media are well documented, but used responsibly they can be great tools for forging relationships and bonds. Having said that, there really is no substitute for meeting people face to face. A recent experience I had when I went to WinchesterBloggers networking event last month is a perfect illustration. Just by speaking with likeminded and friendly people for an evening, I came away with such a feeling of inspiration that it has given me the impetus to actually put my money where my mouth is and publish these blog articles. If one person reads these articles and it helps them be a healthier minded individual it will be testament to the empowering nature of community.

Give A Little, Get A Lot
Charity often comes as an extension to community. If you are part of a community and give of your time and effort to help others within that community, you will find more worthiness in your own mind for yourself and you will see that others will think highly of you as well, building relationships. People who do charity work often describe the benefits they feel for having done it - satisfaction, self confidence and appreciation for their own situation, to name a few. Charitable work doesn’t have to be a grand gesture either. Raising money for charity by selling cakes or by asking people to sponsor an activity you are doing are great fun and a real win-win for everyone involved. I find that looking back at the charity work I have done sometimes serves to prove to me that I am a good person by having made that meaningful contribution. This can be a comfort when I am not feeling good about myself.

This is a collection of what I hope are fairly practical ways to safeguard you mental health, but do you have any other ideas that might help someone? What do you do to stay mentally fit and healthy? Let me know in the comments section below and thanks for reading.

MP

We All Have Mental Health

The title says it all really, but I reckon I should elaborate at least a bit!

We are all very much aware that we have physical health and we are generally well educated on this idea. We know we should exercise regularly, eat a balanced diet and practice good personal hygiene in order to be fit, healthy and avoid diseases. There is a huge amount of readily accessible information out there recommending ways of looking after our physical health and we are under no illusion as to the negative impact that ignoring this advice could lead to.

So we all know that we have physical health, but what about mental health? 

In my experience, the truth is that most people do not view their mental health as something that they should manage in a similar way to their physical health. Of course, everyone should be free to live their life as they see fit and there are an awful lot of people who could do more to look after their physical health, as well as their mental health - myself very much included!

The issue here, at least to my mind, is that there is less in the way of obvious information out there relating to mental health as a manageable state that we all possess. We all have good days and bad days and this is something that everyone experiences, but how many people feel they have control over whether they have a good or bad day? How many people recognise the control that their behaviour has over the way they feel and how many of those people carry out daily exercises to improve their chances of having a good day?

To answer my own questions, I would say “not enough”. So with this in mind, I thought I would suggest some practical things that we can all do to manage our mental health in another article that will be coming soon. That article will focus on simple principles of safeguarding mental health with the intention that it be accessible for all. 

I firmly believe that learning simple and accessible ways of looking after our minds is as essential as learning how to look after our bodies. Indeed it makes total sense - having healthy minds and bodies helps us be healthy and happy people. 

How important is looking after your mental health to you? Do you think society is aware of the importance of mental safeguarding? Do you think people are aware of how to manage their mental health?

I encourage you all to post questions or comments on this topic. I am really happy to discuss with anyone who has an interest - I believe it’s the best way for us all to learn!

MP

Mindful Saturday Morning

In order to have good mental health it is important to give your mind a bit of a tune up every once in a while. This doesn’t have to be a complicated or onerous exercise - it could just be ten minutes out of your day. 

One of the most publicised methods of performing “mental housekeeping” is with Mindfulness. This will be a topic I talk about regularly so I won’t go into detail about it now, but it is something that I find very helpful and easy to do. 

Saturday mornings are generally a good time for me to be mindful. I am an early bird and naturally wake at around 6am. Vicky my fiancée, is not! So in order to let her sleep and not be wakened by me being restless, I get out of bed and head downstairs. I love this time of the week - I have the whole weekend ahead of me and I feel I can spend some time pottering quietly about the house doing little tasks like watering the plants, feeding the fish and making a pot of coffee. I find the key to making these tasks mindful is to become absorbed by them and to explore my senses while I do them. 

I inspect the plants and assess their growth, I remove dead leaves feeling the texture of them. I smell the metallic oils from the basil leaves on my fingers and the loamy, earthy aroma of the soil in their pots. 

When I feed the fish I observe them darting about from above, noting that this is a view I don’t normally see. I smell the strong fishy smell of their flake food and feel the texture of the shrimp pellets between my fingers. Once the food is in the tank, I will spend some time watching the fish and shrimps while they eat, noting different species moving in subtly different ways, as well as any maintenance that might be required in the tank and the growth of the plants. 

Even making a pot of coffee can be turned into a ritual based on familiar movements and practiced repetition. I clean the filter and fill up the water in the machine. If I switch it on before I have put the water in, when I do add the liquid there is an agreeable fizz and spit as the cold water hits the scalding hot element, a plume of steam comes out and a certain smell of hot moisture reaches me. Adding the coffee to the filter is the most satisfying part. The glorious smell of coffee grounds is synonymous for me of having the luxury of time. I would never make a pot of coffee if I am in a rush - weekday morning are fueled by good quality instant - and so the smell is calming for me. Even the sounds of the water percolating through the coffee and dripping into the jug has a curiously soothing effect. 

By paying very close attention to these tasks and noticing all the sensory information that my body collects, I can spend some much needed time in the present moment and anchor my mind there. This allows me the space to enjoy the everyday occurrences that I gloss over in a rush during the week. 

Taking pleasure in the relatively mundane reminds me that there is pleasure to be had in the simplest of things, which in turn leads me to find more satisfaction with my lot in life. In a world where we are encouraged to want more for ourselves all the time, I find that a mindful Saturday morning is the perfect way to find simple pleasure in what I already have.

How do you practice mindfulness? Are there any simple tasks that you take mindful pleasure in? Let me know in the comments below. 

MP

Follow me!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Why I want people to talk about suicide

I am organising a Mental Health First Aid Lite course (provided by Mental Health First Aid England) for my colleagues at work and I really hope they all attend and embrace it. A little bit of awareness and confidence in dealing with mental health issues might make the difference in someone's life. Statistically, we are all very likely to encounter someone who might need help and hopefully this course will encourage my colleagues to reach out to them. 

 

The fact my employers are paying for the training is testament to their determination to tackle this issue and I intend to make the most of the opportunity this gives my colleagues. 

 

I have found people are actually quite willing to attend meetings and workshops around mental health that I have set up, but so far these have all been convenient, pretty fluffy and light touch. I am interested to see how people feel about this course, as it will include talk of more serious elements, such as suicide.

 

Personally, I believe suicide is a hugely important topic to discuss. Having had a very close friend commit suicide, an event that shook my world and led to some huge changes in my life, I am aware of some of the impacts that suicide can have, beyond the immediate impact to the perpetrator. I have experienced the loss of a friend, witnessed the loss that others have felt and pondered at length the questions that this raises. Questions that will never be answered, but periodically come back to haunt me - could I have prevented it? Should I have known and helped? Would his unborn child have grown up knowing her dad if I had been a better friend to him?

 

At times I torture myself with these questions, perhaps because I miss him and on some level blame myself, even though I know logically I am not responsible for (or even aware of) all the reasons that led him to take his own life.

 

But I am determined to turn my experiences to positive ends. My feelings fuel my efforts to help others in the small ways that I can. If I can help others to open their eyes to the signs and use their compassion to help people in need, while doing the same myself, perhaps I can make a difference to someone. Perhaps I can save a life in return for the life I couldn't save and honour the memory of my friend. 

MP