Best ways to reduce the importance one places on sleep

[Frankie]

We can sometimes be prone to striving for a ‘perfect’ nights sleep & then get annoyed if anything gets in the way of that. What practices would you recommend to remain level headed & almost push sleep to the back of your thoughts, allowing for nature to run its course?

[Dr Sarah Gilchrist]

Hi Frankie

Great question! Often we get caught up in worrying we've not had the 'optimal' night's sleep when in fact we have more than likely slept better than our perception of it.

If you have a regular good sleep routine, adopt some useful strategies to help you sleep well and regularly awake feeling refreshed, alert and are productive throughout the day, then in all likely hood you are getting enough sleep. This can be good to reassure yourself with so if you do experience what you perceive to be a 'bad night's sleep', you can rest assured that on the whole you are sleeping well.

Relaxation techniques may help too if you are overly anxious about not getting the sleep you know your require.

The key is having a good sleep routine and accepting that sometimes the routine gets muddled due to life's circumstances but on the whole if you adhere to a good routine and awake feeling refreshed you should be on track for healthy sleep.