• Securing good sleep is essential for physical and mental health.
• Most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep to feel sufficiently rested, though the exact duration needed vary from person to person.
• Insomnia can have a serious impact on a person's quality of life a...

Stimulus control is all about keeping your bed and bedroom for sleep (and intimacy) only. If you have insomnia, that ideally means no eating, reading, working, watching TV, gaming, online banking, to-do lists and so on when you’re in your bedroom. This is because we want your brain to form a stro...

Lots of people struggle with racing thoughts, where, as soon as they wake up, their brain suddenly switches on and their head is full of things they need to do, worries, memories and so on.  

A strategy that can reduce the impact this has on your sleep is the ‘brain dump’ exercise – you mig...

Have a 60- to 90-minute winding down routine before you go to bed every night. This means doing things to help your body and mind feel relaxed and calm, and avoiding anything that overly stimulates the brain. Reading, light exercise, meditation, listening to relaxing music, having a bath, and sel...

• Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary: get the best bedding and mattress you can afford, make sure it’s dark, use ear plugs if it’s noisy, and keep the temperature pretty cool.
• If you wake up at night, do not check the time.
• Stay hydrated during the day and avoid consuming too ...

Progressive muscle relaxation is a great way to help the body relax.

It’s a simple technique that you can practise when you first get into bed. Here’s how to do it:

• Get yourself into a comfortable position in your bed.
• Close your eyes and breathe calmly for about 30 sec...

• Identify behaviors that could be fuelling your insomnia.
• One of the main culprits behind insomnia tends to be going to bed early in an attempt to give yourself more opportunity for sleep.
• Drinking coffee or consuming other forms of caffeine in the afternoon or evening poses a...

• Notice: what are my thoughts about sleep right now? How true do they feel?
• Spot the trigger: what is happening right now that might be causing me to think this way?
• Practise self-compassion: it’s understandable that my sle...