SoundSleeper: Restore Your Sleep

By James Mackin

SoundSleeper: Restore Your Sleep is an evidence based practical guide to improving sleep written from the perspective of a UK-based General Practitioner with more than two decades experience in medicine.

Learn how the brain manages your sleep, why it becomes disrupted and, most importantly, how to correct the different factors at play. With more than 20 key steps and action points there is something here to benefit everyone.

You too can experience the release and freedom that comes when insomnia is no longer a dominant force in your life. Take back control, understand sleep better and find the strategies you need to overcome poor quality or absent sleep. Find the solution to relaxing into restorative sleep and being able to rise, refreshed, to meet the day ahead.

Organised into bite-sized and easy to digest sections, with a clear summary and resource section linking the reader to further support where needed, this is the perfect starting point in the quest to Restore Your Sleep.

Relax • Restore • Rise

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Mackin
• Release date: Dec 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781399942768

James Mackin

I'm a GP (Family Physician) in the UK who has written a guide to restoring sleep in those for whom insomnia is regular occurrence. It is not an academic review but a practical guide intended to help people find better ways of managing sleep than the traditional 'medical' approach of medication. As my own practice has changed I hope to spread the message in a more articulate way through this guide.

Book preview

SoundSleeper

Restore Your Sleep

Dr James Mackin

Copyright 2022 Felsted Mackins Limited

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-3999-4276-8

Distributed by Smashwords

Cover design by: Kamran Afzal

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

SoundSleeper

First Things First

Understanding Sleep Rhythms

Life Isn’t Fair

Five Frustrations

Light

Sound

Temperature

Unsupportive Bed

Untidy Room

Self-Inflicted Sleep Disruption

Alcohol

Caffeine

Nicotine

Medication and Drugs

Screens and The Internet

Other Considerations

Food

Exercise

Sex

Scents and Aromas

Melatonin

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

Stimulus Control

Sleep Restriction

Clear the Mind - Relax the Body

To-do list

The Bedtime Routine

Progressive Muscular Relaxation

SoundSleeper Relaxation

Sleep

Resources

Acknowledgements

References

Afterword

SoundSleeper

Restore Your Sleep

Sleep. That difficult to describe other-world-like place, where the majority of us disappear to for a significant period of time in each 24 hours of our lives.

Sleep. For some it’s oblivion; a time of nothingness until we next wake. For others the memory of it is of strange or mundane dreams, even nightmares that, dare we say it, some of us can even enjoy.

Sleep. For many the thought of it is the only dream we have. A word to be cursed enviously as we lie painfully awake. Craving. Desperate. Lonely. The night is a vast brooding ocean, frustrating us in our unsettled search for restoration and bliss on the magical island of relaxation that seems never to be reached. Whose shores, when they do fleetingly appear in our consciousness, are ripped away from our grasp as we’re cruelly spun around. Groggy and angry we’re left to face another day of toil with low reserves of energy - and worse - a deficit of love for life.

It is frustrating for so many of us and yet it often goes unspoken. Our lack of access to that domain – the very thing which mysteriously seems to conceal its nature even when we’re there – itself becomes a hidden burden, a secret we keep from all but those closest to us.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. This guide is for you. It will lead you back to that world of relaxation. That place where the mind and body are restored and from which we can emerge and rise, energised, to meet the day ahead. Maximising our potential and succeeding in overcoming the challenges that others set us as well as those we dream of setting for ourselves, if only we had the energy. We will guide you towards that place of relaxation and restoration so that, fortified, you can rise to the future.

RELAX - RESTORE – RISE

First Things First

For most of us, when sleep is poor it’s the result of multiple factors colliding and even competing. These are factors we can take control of and set properly aside until a better, more appropriate time. Factors we can learn to recognise and consciously master. This is what our guide will help you with. Of course, there is no single technique you might learn or single item you might purchase that will solve all your sleep problems in one fell swoop. What we’re looking at is a combination of actions you can take to achieve a more complete solution. A successful solution.

Firstly, though, there are other factors that can be major obstacles to normal sleep and for which the resulting disturbed sleep is just a symptom. Correcting this will be almost impossible without correcting the underlying causes. These causes are the medical conditions that need to be addressed before we can return to this guide.

They need to be recognised, acknowledged and the correct professional help sought for them.

So, first things first: is there a medical condition causing your insomnia and lethargy? Is your lack of energy in the daytime the result of an underlying condition that can be put right? More often than not we can’t diagnose these ourselves but we can recognise the telltale signs and we should take them to our family doctor before we do anything else.

Insomnia as a symptom

If an underlying condition is at play, what are the signs we should look out for?

There are several medical conditions that, when present, will more often than not disrupt sleep – such as:

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS): surprisingly common, sufferers describe this as an overwhelming urge to move the legs but without the true