Can I let you into a little secret? Even sleep experts don’t sleep well all the time.

Despite having helped over 3000 people cure their insomnia or improve their sleep and having founded one of the UK’s only specialist insomnia services, I still have a bad night’s sleep every now and again.

BUT the important thing is, I know that sleep isn’t always perfect, and that’s what makes sure I don’t fall into the trap of ‘perfect’ ruining ‘good’. 

Perfect sleep does not exist. There, I said it! It’s so important to let go of the pressure of perfect, as this is often what’s ruining your sleep in the first place. So, here are three tips to help you get a good, not perfect, night’s sleep.

1. Remember, quality, not quantity. The eight-hour rule is a myth, so do not let yourself worry if you are not getting eight hours of sleep. You should focus on quality, deep sleep, not the number of hours you’re getting.

2. Notice your thoughts. Even if you feel like you are a bad sleeper, I want you to start noticing how often you say these things to yourself. Why? Because every day that you say these things, you train your brain to not only sleep poorly, but to continue that cycle as well. Don’t beat yourself up about it or be unkind to yourself about having the negative thoughts, but stop and notice them, and dissect each thought a little bit. Ask yourself, how is this thought making you feel?

3. Think like a good sleeper. Once you’ve started to notice a negative thought, the next step is to slightly reframe how you’re saying it. Once you begin re-framing these statements and seeing if you can change how they make you feel, the next step is to start thinking how a good sleeper thinks. If you want to feel like a good sleeper, you need to think like one! Start making a list of the things you would need to think if you wanted to feel like a good sleeper. For example, ‘even if I don’t sleep well, I will cope tomorrow’ or ‘I always get some sleep and I’m doing the right things to improve my sleep’.

To put it simply, you need to un-programme your bad thinking and re-programme yourself to think like a good sleeper!