WHY IS SLEEP SO IMPORTANT?
Sleep is the Fundamental Cornerstone of Health and Wellbeing
IT'S NOT OKAY TO NOT SLEEP WELL!
Long-term insomnia damages long term health. Sleep plays a vital role in supporting the body's intricately connected systems of function. Increasing scientific research clearly shows that when people don't get the sleep their bodies are biologicallly designed to achieve, their mental and physical systems take a battering, to the level where systemic function is compromised, including the regulation of hormones and the immune system, to name just two. A damaged immune system compromises the body's ability to deal with infection, inflammation, bacteria, and viruses that can eventually trigger auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, MS, IBS, and Diabetes (Type 1). In addition, chronic sleep deprivation is being increasingly linked to anxiety and depression, and the development of certain neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers, Motor-Neurone Disease and Parkinson's Disease. Where insomnia was previously thought to be a symptom of these disorders, a growing body of research suggests that it may in fact be the cause.
So, What Causes Insomnia?
There are a ton of different reasons why people start to have problems sleeping!
In most cases, insomnia starts because of some kind of trigger. This could be a situational event, such as a stay in hospital, for example, or a change in routine or a series of long-haul flights that have disrupted circadian rhythms. It may be a physical condition, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia or menopause for example, that is creating phsycial or hormonal dysfunction that's acting as a barrier to sleep. Other causes could be more emotionally-driven, such as unresolved trauma or PTSD. For some people, it's simply down to lifestyle!
It's not always easy for someone to pinpoint the origins of their insomnia, which is why a thorough assessment is needed with every Client so that we can indentify exactly how their sleep problems started. The human brain adopts bad habits, sometimes without any conscious help whatsoever! It can literally "forget" how to sleep well, thanks to a wide variety of influencing variables that are always unique to each person. That's why some "treatments" will work well for some people but not so well for others!
It's the identification of each person's own personal contributing factors, and how they conspire together to prevent good sleep, that provides the blueprint for how each person's brain needs to recognise and understand these unique barriers and be retrained to sleep properly.
RIGHT!! SO WHAT'S INVOLVED IN SLEEPING WELL AGAIN?
Happily, for most people, sleep disorder is relatively easy to treat. Barring an underlying medical condition that would need to be investigated, the vast majority of people - even those who haven't slept properly for years - can train themselves to sleep well again in a matter of a few weeks. The two most important contributing factors to the success of any Sleep Protocol are time and commitment to the process.
So why would you want to enlist the help of a Sleep Coach, to help you learn to sleep properly again?
Well, because when the brain has "unlearned" an important habit (which it can do for various reasons, as we already know), it's not always a straightforward process to understand or relearn it. Different factors can contribute to why you might be struggling to sleep. A combination of things may be having an influence, and you may not necessarily know what they are, or what to do about them. That's when a trained professional can really help, to work out how and why you got off track, what's keeping you there, and how to get you firmly back on the right path and staying on it!
How We Work Together To Get You Sleeping Properly Again!
THE FIRST STEP...
An Initial Sleep Consultation with a Client helps me to find out exactly what type of insomnia they have, and how, when and why it started. This is done over the phone and takes approximately half an hour. Not everyone is appropriate to undertake a Sleep Program so this preliminary consultation establishes suitability, and which Program will be the most appropriate and beneficial for them.
STEP TWO...
After determining a Client's suitability for a program, a more in-depth Consultation follows, which is again telephone based, and takes between 60-90 minutes. It provides the critical blueprint for the individually designed Sleep Coaching Protocol.
STEP THREE...
With full commitment to the process, and with the contents of their personal Tool Box that arrives through the post containing everything they need to get them started, each Client undertakes their unique, personal Sleep Protocol in the comfort and privacy of their own home, with dedicated, committed weekly support, mentoring and monitoring from me as they go through the process.
STEP FOUR...
Fully supported throughout their individualised, dedicated Sleep Protocol, each Client's weekly progress reports are analyzed and reported, charting their journey from insomnia to sleeping peroperly again. Clients are officially 'signed off' at the end of the process.