Instagram live chat with Tom Coleman

Instagram live chat with Tom Coleman, Sleep Coach,  www.tomcoleman.ie . Tom talks about how best to manage difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep. He reframes sleep as the ultimate act of self-care. 

We think about our nutrition, our exercise but how much time do we give to our sleep routine. And we know that the 3 important pillars of health are nutrition, exercise, and sleep. 

He advises that we should be thinking about our sleep from the moment we wake.

 It should inform the choices we make about exposure to natural light, getting out for exercise or into nature during the day. 

Our food choices can affect our sleep and ideally we should avoid processed foods and eating within 3 hours of sleep onset. 

We need to watch caffeine and alcohol use. 

We need to look at the number of hours we sleep and work backwards to plan a bedtime. So, if you need 8 hours sleep, you will need to be asleep at 11pm for an 7am rise. Tom suggests being in bed 30 minutes before sleep onset, so that is bed at 10.30pm. And then the devices- phone, ipad etc need to be off for 60-90 minutes before going to bed. A good bedtime routine is helpful with herbal tea, a shower, nice sheets to make it a pleasant experience. 

It does take time to build good habits but imagine the rewards of feeling rested. Of the positive impact this could have on your mood, productivity, energy. 

As Tom says, you don't go the gym once and expect results. This does take patience and commitment. But alleviating the  burden of living with poor sleep should make this effort worthwhile. And as you build ' sleep confidence', it gets easier to maintain the good habits. 

Useful resources include Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, Andrew Huberman Toolkit for Sleep,  Quiet your mind and get to sleep by Colleen Carney.