Your Subconscious Is The Key To A Good Night’s Sleep
Do you find it difficult to get 7–8 hours of sleep on a regular basis? Are you having trouble falling asleep? Do you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep?
You can try sleeping pills, but they only work temporarily (as they’re supposed to). And you can practice the rules of good sleep hygiene, but that’ll only take you so far. No sleep restructuring program is complete without a restructuring of your beliefs about sleep.
The difference between people who sleep well and those who don’t is in their minds.
People who sleep well think differently than people who don’t. People who have trouble sleeping have beliefs such as
· The older you get, the less sleep you get
· If I don’t get a good night’s sleep, I’ll be a wreck the next day
· I should be able to fall asleep in minutes
· I can’t get a good night’s sleep without a sleeping pill
· I just don’t sleep well
These beliefs are not exactly accurate. For example,
· Not all older people have trouble sleeping
· It’s possible to function just fine on a poor night’s sleep
· People vary in how fast they fall asleep
· Your body knows how to sleep; it just needs to relearn how
· Poor sleep is neither a personality characteristic nor part of your identity unless you make it so
People who sleep well do so because they don’t have beliefs that contribute to poor sleep. This is what makes the cognitive portion of sleep therapy so vital. For sleep therapy to be effective, it must include a cognitive restructuring of your beliefs around sleep.
Just how powerful is your mind?
The mind-body connection is not just lip service. Studies on the placebo effect prove that the mind has power over our ability to heal. Every thought and emotion you experience has a corresponding neurochemical and hormonal output. Your subconscious beliefs and their corresponding neurochemical and hormonal outputs influence how you sleep.
In the early 1900s, Émile Coué, a French pharmacist, believed that our imaginations were more powerful than medication. He noticed how, when someone said that a certain stressful incident was bound to give them a headache, that person actually ended up with a headache.
He believed that if people could talk themselves into getting sick, then they could talk themselves into becoming well.
So, when he gave his patients medicine, he told them how well it worked for the symptoms his patients suffered from. He also noticed that his patients’ symptoms improved more when he praised the medicine he was giving them rather than when he didn’t.
He began instructing his patients to tell themselves, “Every day in every way, I am getting better and better.” He had them repeat this phrase over and over again in a relaxed state every day. And many of his patients got better!
If you believe that poor sleep is a part of your nature, a function of age or something only a sleeping pill can help you avoid, then your body will react to these beliefs and make them true for you.
New beliefs for a good night’s sleep
The good news is you don’t need willpower or determination to change your subconscious beliefs.
Imagine if you could access the limiting beliefs in your subconscious mind and change them. You could improve your sleep (or any other aspect of your life). Imagine if you chose to stop tolerating temporary solutions and deal with the root cause of your sleep problems.
Sleeping pills are an acceptable short term solution. Sleep hygiene rules are a great short term solution. Changing your beliefs is the only long term solution.
Is it necessary to struggle to improve your sleep? Only when you fail to realize that it’s your subconscious beliefs that you’re really struggling against.
About the Author: Dr. Sandra Thébaud is a Psychologist and PSYCH-K practitioner. She is also the author of The Art of Loving Life and The Young Person’s Ultimate Guide to Managing Stress and Navigating Life. Reach Sandra at 720–378–8080 or www.ArtofLovingLife.com.
