A good night’s sleep is something that we all desire, but for many men suffering with unhappiness, stress or anxiety the night can be a difficult time.
A good night’s sleep is an essential part of good mental health for any man. Sleep allows us to restore our mental function and recharges our mind for the next day. We lay down new memories in the brain while physically our body rests and recuperates.
A good night’s sleep is something that we all desire, but for many men suffering with unhappiness, stress or anxiety the night can be a difficult time.
Time spent struggling with yourself. Trying to relax and drift off while battling the need to play things out in your mind over again and again.
Trying to stop the feelings of frustration and anger of not being able to get to sleep in the middle of the night.
The realisation that with little or no sleep the next day is going to be a struggle to get through.
Trouble sleeping is one of main symptoms of unhappiness. Just as stress and anxiety can physically manifest in us, the inability to switch off and sleep is one of the most debilitating expressions of unhappiness.
Now, I hope you won’t be unhappy to hear that you’re not going to be getting a guide on how make the most of scented candles, joss sticks, warm baths and glasses of hot milk to provide the solution.
These things are the metaphorical band aid for tackling the problem of getting to sleep. Useful in some cases at stemming the problem but not the fix for the root cause.
In fact, over focusing on preparing for sleep through calming techniques can exacerbate the problem of not sleeping.
An evening spent forcing yourself to undertake relaxing exercises, especially those that we wouldn’t personally associate with relaxation, can be counterproductive to sleeping.
First and foremost the most powerful way of getting a good night’s sleep and controlling your worries at night is the identification of what is keeping you up in the first place.
Now why this may appear obvious, so many men resort to coping mechanisms, such as the ones mentioned above, without ever addressing the fundamental cause of sleeplessness – namely changing the thing that we’re lying there worrying about!
Understanding the relationship between unhappiness and sleeplessness and recognizing the inability to sleep as a physical manifestation of that unhappiness is an important step in restoring a good nights rest.
By knowing what’s making us unhappy, we can then take steps to tackle the cause of our unhappiness. Just by having a clear proactive plan can in itself can immediately reduce our worries and subsequently make sleeping easier.
Other steps can also be taken to prepare for sleep, but these work best when tailored specifically to each individual.
Certainly, a good night’s sleep can be achieved through going to bed and waking up at the same time. Having an hour before the time for bed spent doing things that relax you the most can help.
For some men that may involves reading and listening to calming music. The main point is activities designed to cause relaxation should be tailored to what you find relaxing. And this is something you need to work out for yourself.
In combination, a regular time for bed, an hour to relax before sleep and most importantly of all, a plan to tackle or change the object of your unhappiness, is the most powerful recipe for restoring your sleep and controlling your worries at night.
Feeling tired from another bad night’s sleep? Give it a go now.
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Previously Published on Man Made Happiness
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