Sleep Clinic In Kent

20 Jul Sleep Clinic In Kent

Therapy for Sleep: Sleep Clinic in Kent

Sleep is vital to not only our physical functioning, but also our emotional and mental wellbeing. Without sleep (or even with too much sleep), we can feel unbalanced. Sleep plays a pivotol part in both anxiety and depression, as well influencing our ability to cope when things get difficult. Insomnia can be debilitating, and what works for someone else may bring you no relief. This is why I devote a large part of my practice to sleep, and discuss it during many of our sessions.

Someone who is depressed often sleeps longer than they need to, and can’t understand why they still feel so lethargic and lacking in energy or motivation when they wake up. This can increase depression as you are less likely to do the things that can help lift you out of it. Worries, anxiousness and rumination can spill over into sleep, making your brain work harder to refresh itself, and often creating even more anxiety and worry (perhaps about sleep now too) the next day.

Waking up in the middle of the night is tiring, and can impact your life in so many ways.

From a physical point of view, overnight, the synaptic fluid in your spine rises up the spinal column and flushes out your brain, taking away all the toxins and accumulated gunk of the day.However, your body can only do this if you have a long enough asleep to go through the sleep cycles. This means that you need at least seven to eight hours of sleep, something so many of us just don’t get.

Sleep Clinic

I primarily work with clients on:

• Getting to sleep
• Staying asleep
• Early morning waking
• Using sleep to enhance work or sports performance
• Quality of sleep
• Waking up feeling tired and unmotivated despite having what seems like enough sleep
• Nightmares
• Feeling sleepy during the day
• The impact of shift-work

 

I see clients both in person and online, you don’t need to be in Kent.

Committing to sleep may be the most self-respecting thing you can do for your body. We all know what it’s like to have a really short night of sleep, that time when you have to catch an early flight, or when you’ve been drinking and wake up in the early hours of the morning, but so many of us don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis. Many studies say that we need seven to eight hours a night. Less or more than this has been linked to a shorter lifespan , chronic illness and dementia. Yes, sleep can literally save your life.

Some sleep tips

Nevertheless, if you are finding it hard to nod off, or stay asleep, here are some tips that you can start to put into practice straight away, before an appointment. Here are some steps that can help:

1. Decide what time is best for you, regardless of the other people in the house
2. Set a routine that suits your own body clock and force yourself to keep to it, even if it feels weird at the beginning. Head for bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning, at least until you are in a routine and it is working for you
3. If it doesn’t happen straight away for any reason, don’t give up. You are training your body
4. Find something that can trigger your body into thinking it’s time to sleep. It could be a spray of lavender mist on your pillow before you get between the sheets, a milky drink. I have an eye mask that signals to me it’s time to drop off. I may be like one of Pavlov’s dogs but it works beautifully
5. Don’t check your phone, tablet or even TV after a certain time each night to give your brain some down-time, and ask your partner to at least do so out of your sight. I, personally, wouldn’t even read my Kindle last thing before bed
6. Go back to an old fashioned alarm clock so you don’t need to rely on your phone. You can also buy lamps/alarm clocks that recreate the sunrise over 15 minutes that provide a gentle awakening
7. Play around with sleep inducing bath salts, body oil and toiletries
8. Some people, me included, love drifting off to Audible books. It takes me back to being read to as a child
9. Make sure that you give your bed love and attention. Invest in a new mattress if you need one; certainly get some bed linen that will be a joy to snuggle in. I have a lovely lilac cashmere blanket that I can pull over me if it gets a little chilly and feel like it’s a real luxury.

 

What happens in a sleep clinic appointment?

We will look at your sleep in more detail, including the routines around it. We will also take a thorough inventory of aspects of your life, emotional and physical, that may be impacting your sleep, and work on addressing them. You won’t be wired up to anything, or be prescribed any medication.

Please do book a chat here to discuss working on your sleep, or email me here.