In my life, sleep is the number one way I can improve my self-care and nurture myself or defeat my self-care and deplete my energy, calmness, and productivity, all in one fell swoop.

When I am rested I am more resistant to stress. My body is more flexible and willing to work, my head is clearer and more focused, I feel happier and more at peace, and I am kinder to myself AND others.

When I’m too tired, on the other hand, my body and emotions feel more fragile. Unexpected turns can send me into a hurricane of nervousness, my mind is cloudy and I’m much less likely to be nice to you OR myself.

I know this. I have known for some time. So, you’d think I sleep consistently enough to make sure the first scenario happens every time, right? After all, I AM the “self-care coach”, my self-care has to be perfect, right?

Well not so much.

In addition to writing about sleep, I have to mention another self-care concept here, to explain why I’m a little tired today. The concept is SELF-SABOTAGE.

The dictionary definition of sabotage is “an act or process tending to hinder or injure” or “deliberate subversion”. Why the hell would we sabotage ourselves? That is a complicated answer. And a simple one. We choose.

Sometimes it is so frightening to imagine changing, growing, or making conscious decisions that we deliberately hinder our own efforts. We make decisions every minute of every day. Our life depends on us. These are scary thoughts. And doing things the way we’ve always done them feels safe and comforting.

I know that I will feel much better if I sleep well. And sometimes, for whatever reason, I don’t choose to “feel good.”

And when self love and common sense win out and I AM able to do what I need to do in order to get a good night’s sleep, I am rewarded.

Aside from the benefits I’ve already mentioned, a good night’s sleep can also have specific rewards for us creatively. A few months ago I came across an article titled “Does Sleeping Well Make You Smarter?” (www.msnbc.com, in the “Health” section). The article described an ongoing research project at the University of Luebeck in Germany, which has determined that getting a good night’s sleep not only makes us smarter and better at solving problems, but also more creative!

The article notes that “history is dotted with incidents in which artists and scientists have awoken to make their most remarkable contributions after long periods of frustration.”

In other words, when we’re struggling with a problem in the hours before we go to sleep, our brains keep working on the problem while we sleep, and the answer might just “show up” in the morning!

So, the more time and more restful we have, the more time our “sleeping brain” has to work on the problem our “waking brain” has been struggling with.

This relates to the common spiritual practice of praying, before bed, for the solution of a problem, or to the self-help practice of writing a question on a piece of paper and slipping it under the pillow before going to bed.

So what keeps you from getting a good night’s sleep? How do you sabotage your efforts? Overwork? TV? Internet surfing or gaming? Food, drink, or other substances that make it hard to sleep? Irregular sleeping habits?

These are the five things that work best for ME to get a good night’s sleep.

1. Turn off the computer and television an hour before I would like to sleep. This gives me time to relax, calm my thoughts, and prepare for sleep.

2. Get up early on weekends. This means I don’t stay up too late or sleep too much on weekends. I try to keep my bedtime and wake up within an hour of what I do during the week. Otherwise I spend half the week readjusting and life is too short!

3. Give up caffeine. Even before I quit completely, I really had to limit my caffeine and “just say no” anytime after 5pm or the caffeine affected my sleep that night.

4. Breathing techniques and other relaxation exercises. Just a few minutes of deep breathing can calm me down and put me to sleep right away.

The simplest tips are to focus on breathing from the belly (diaphragmatic breathing) and to focus on long exhalations (exhalation is associated with the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for relaxation).

5. Setting the scene with music. I use music both when I’m winding down and getting ready for bed and when I’m going to sleep. I have experimented to find the music that works best for me; this is obviously a very individual choice.

I recommend instrumental music or vocal music without words or sung in a language you don’t understand (so you don’t get caught up in the words while trying to fall asleep). Wind instruments (I like the shakuhachi flute) are nice as the natural breaths and pauses the player makes can mirror your own deep, slow breathing.

Have you ever woken up in the morning (or in the middle of the night!) with a solution to a problem, a new idea for a song, or another creative spark? That sounds like the work of a good night’s sleep!

This article was originally published on the Muses Muse Songwriter’s Resource website (January 2005) http://www.musesmuse.com.

(c) Copyright 2005, Genuine Coaching Services.