Open eyes o’clock

Sleep is a process of surrendering the body, emotions and the mind to temporarily shut down. There has to be a balance between these three elements, body, emotions and mind, for the organism to fall asleep. Don’t expect the body to perform a proper good night sleep 💤 if:

• Your body is restless, in pain, ill or stressed.
• Emotions are playing out on their own accord: too much excitement about events that happened or about to happen, upsets, anger, guilt, resentment, remorse, sorrow.
• Your mind refuses to rest and trains of thought keep on appearing inside your head, with ‘to do’ lists, deadlines, financial problems, etc. It will change the body and emotions with activity, making it difficult to settle.

Stress and emotional issues such as anxiety and depression cause half of all insomnia cases. But your day time habits, sleep routine, and physical health may also play a role. Try to identify all possible causes of your insomnia:

• Are you under a lot of stress?
• Are you depressed or feel emotionally flat?
• Do you struggle with chronic feelings of anxiety or worry?
• Have you gone through a traumatic experience 
• Are you under any medication that might be affecting your sleep?
• It is your sleeping environment?
• Are you spending enough time in the sunlight during the day and in darkness at night?
• Are you taking naps during the day?

Once you figure out the root cause, you will have a chance to deal with that specific problem, and retrain your body to sleep with simple relaxation techniques and a sleep hygiene routine. If you identify the cause of your insomnia is primarily:

• Physical: a combination of sleep hygiene and relaxation techniques will help you restore a good sleep pattern. If it doesn’t resolve, please speak to your Dr for a physical evaluation. 
• Emotional: you will need to find a way to handle your emotions ( I’m still trying)... Maybe through regular meditation, self-help reading, talking to someone and sharing feelings, take up painting or artistic expression of some sort, or other practices that help you acknowledge and deal with your emotions... Don’t push them aside ( my issue) they may go away temporarily but will surface when you are not busy. Another very helpful way that worked for me self-help practice journal your emotions, write them down if you cannot sleep, and write your dreams down in the morning before starting your day. Dreams are a huge part of the sleep process, noticing those dreams helps us create an interest in our inner life - even if they seem ‘funny’ or ‘weird’ YES I HAVE USED THE WORD ‘WEIRD’.
• Mental: coping with uninvited thoughts! My answer is to not try to sleep, try focusing the mind in slow deep breathing - diverting the mind to something soothing may help.

Once someone asked me do you hear in your sleep? Deaf people experience similar situations as bling people, but our dreams tend to capitalize on sight instead of sound and the other senses. Unless a person could experience hearing with their living memory, it is unlikely to have auditory sensations in their dreams. 

Being deaf I would like to touch on how sleep affects hearing loss:

How Lack of Sleep Can Affect Your Hearing

We all know the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. Sleep is fundamental to our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing; it plays a huge part in improving our memory, concentration, stress levels and even boosting our creativity levels. Given our society’s ever-increasing working hours and use of digital technology, it’s no surprise that we are generally more sleep-deprived than ever. While sleep deprivation comes with a host of negative effects, you may not realise that the amount of sleep you are getting can negatively impact your hearing health.

How can a lack of sleep affect your hearing?

 Grown-ups should receive between eight and ten hours of sleep each night. According to the research findings, any less than this can negatively impact your concentration, your mood and the brain functions involved in hearing, known as central auditory processing. Your central auditory processing relies on alertness and concentration, both of which can be hindered by sleep deprivation and subsequently your listening capabilities.

A lack of sleep is also known to negatively affect your body’s blood circulation, including the blood supply to your ears. There are around 20,000 tiny hairs in our hearing organs that help to detect sound waves and translate them into speech and environmental sounds; this process relies on normal blood flow and the supply of vital nutrients to the ear to ensure its proper function. This means that any restrictions with your blood flow can irreparably damage these delicate sensory cells, resulting in a permanent reduction in hearing sensitivity.

How to improve your sleep

Limit your time with technology fact 😳 Yes you are all thinking is this woman mad 🤣 

It’s no secret that using technology before bed is a bad idea. The artificial blue light emitted from phone and television screens disrupts your internal body clock and can suppress the release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, making it significantly more difficult to fall asleep. To minimise your exposure to blue light, try to make a habit of restricting the use of your mobile phone or watching your television for at least one hour before your bedtime.

Clear your mind

Do you have difficulty clearing your mind before bedtime? If so, try keeping a journal by your bed and writing down anything that is preoccupying you. Whether it tasks you need to do the next day or feelings relating to an argument, writing down your thoughts before bed means you don’t have to worry about potentially forgetting things by the next morning and it may help to put your concerns into perspective.

Establish a routine 👍🏼 yes mummy lol 😆  

Establishing a regular sleep routine is one of the most effective ways of improving your sleep. By going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time every day, you are more likely to wake up feeling more energised and well-rested than if you sleep for the same number of hours per day but at different times. Establishing a good, old-fashioned bedtime may also reduce the amount of time you spend tossing and turning each night, making it more likely that you can wake up naturally each morning.

Follow this little dude's sleeping pattern 😽