Help! I'm too stressed to sleep

Hi Chris,

I often get stressed and anxious at work, cannot relax in the evenings, and tend to lie awake in the small hours endlessly going over everything. And on top of that, I often have nightmares! Can you suggest anything to help me get a good night's sleep?

Stressed

Chris says,

Hi, Stressed!

There is a good way to unwind when you are stressed called image rehearsal. It works because vividly imagined images trigger the same emotional response as real ones, even though they are not there.

So the right sort of visualisation can trigger feelings of relaxation, or anything else for that matter. The trick is to make the visualisation feel real, and that needs practice, hence the need for 'rehearsal'. So find somewhere quiet, close your eyes and start imagining!

Involve all your senses. Imagine touching things. Sounds. Smells. Go back over the scene again and again making things more and more realistic.

.

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Focus on the details, and run the scene again and again, changing things until they feel right. It will take several attempts before your visualisations begin to flow. But they will get better with practice. Try imagining all sorts of different situations. Real places or somewhere completely imaginary. Simple domestic scenes, stories and conversations. Practice until you can call your images up at will, and with your eyes wide open.

And then try one out while walking from one stressful meeting to the next. You will be amazed how just a few moments of visualisation will relax your mind and prepare you for your next task. Or try one in the small hours, when you wake with all the troubles of the day churning through your mind.

A similar approach will help with your nightmares. When you wake up, rework your memory of the dream into an alternate scenario in which you are in control. Work on that alternative dream during the day when you are relaxed, and then run through the new scenario at bedtime. Chances are that particular dream will simply never occur again. And all your nightmares will start to fade away.

All the best,

Chris