Video Transcript
The Sleep Tug of War
When you’re lying in bed, staring at the ceiling… …it’s very easy to work yourself up about not getting enough sleep.
It’s frustrating.
You might think things like ‘if I don’t get 8 hours, I won’t perform at work tomorrow’, or you might be watching the clock and calculating how little sleep you’re going to be able to get tonight.
All of this serves to raise your stress and anxiety levels which makes it even less likely that you’ll be relaxed enough to fall asleep.
It’s like if you were in a game of tug of war with a villain who is trying to keep you awake. Even though it feels like you’re trying to beat them, the more you pull and strain on the rope, you’re actually helping the villain win because you’re getting so worked up, you can’t sleep.
The trick is to stop the struggle.
We need to drop the rope.
We drop the rope by firstly, accepting that we can’t fall asleep at the moment – as much as we’d really like to.
Then, we remember that we can function the next day on less sleep than we’d like. We’ll get by.
We stop checking the clock. And we focus on what we can control by using the sleep strategies outlined in the rest of this module.
By dropping the rope, we give our body and mind the chance to calm down and relax – which, ironically, gives sleep a better chance of showing up
