Mindfulness and sleep : how to improve your sleep quality through practicing mindfulness

150 Pages·2018·3.68 MB·English

by  Anna Black

MINDFULNESS
and
SLEEP

MINDFULNESS
and
SLEEP
How to improve your sleep quality
through practicing mindfulness
Anna Black
FOR PIP—AWAKE ON THE OTHER SIDE
OF THE WORLD
Published in 2018 by CICO Books An imprint of Ryland Peters & Small Ltd 20–
21 Jockey’s Fields 341 E 116th St London WC1R 4BW New York, NY 10029
www.rylandpeters.com
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Text © Anna Black 2018
Design and illustration © CICO Books 2018
The author’s moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress and
the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-78249-560-4
eISBN: 978-1-78249-772-1
Printed in China
Editor: Rosie Fairhead
Designer: Emily Breen
Illustrator: Clare Nicholas Commissioning editor: Kristine Pidkameny Senior
editor: Carmel Edmonds Art director: Sally Powell Production manager:
Gordana Simakovic Publishing manager: Penny Craig Publisher: Cindy Richards
Please note: If you are having a sustained period of difficulty sleeping,
you should always visit your physician for advice.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THIS BOOK
CHAPTER 1
ALL ABOUT SLEEP
CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCING MINDFULNESS
CHAPTER 3
THE PRACTICES
CHAPTER 4
YOUR SLEEP DIARY
INDEX
RESOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION
Most people will at some point experience periods when they find it
difficult to sleep. It is most often triggered by a stressful event, but it
can also be caused by illness, whether physical or psychological.
While some illnesses can cause insomnia, sleep and the physiological
functions of the body are so intertwined that many medical
conditions can also be exacerbated by, or be a result of, sleep
deprivation.
I was always someone who fell asleep within minutes of putting my head on the
pillow. If I did wake in the night it was for so brief a time that it didn’t affect my
sleep quality negatively. I would sympathize with those friends who recounted
tales of troubled nights, but I had no real understanding of how debilitating
broken nights and sleep deprivation can be. Then everything changed. A
combination of hitting my late forties and undertaking stressful building works
on my home meant that I joined the millions who have trouble sleeping. And it
is millions.
When I first started experiencing problems sleeping, I became interested in
what was happening. Sometimes I would struggle to fall asleep as I found myself
reviewing the latest building dramas of the day, and it would take an hour or
two for me to fall asleep. At other times, I fell asleep quickly but then woke up
because I was too hot (the night sweats of the menopause kicking in), and once
awake I found myself thinking—and quickly became caught up in a spiral of
“what if” and “if only” thoughts accompanied by physical feelings of tension in