Positive Sleep Thoughts Vs. Negative Sleep Thoughts
Sleep is the one place where trying harder doesn’t make things better. In many areas of life, the harder you try the better you succeed. Not so in the world of sleep. If you are laying in bed trying to fall asleep or hoping to will yourself to sleep, you will most likely find it difficult. Assuming that trying harder will help you, is an inaccurate or false belief and therefore a Negative Sleep Thought.
For those of you struggling to sleep at night, it may be helpful to understand the difference between Positive Sleep Thoughts (PSTs) and Negative Sleep Thoughts (NSTs). Positive Sleep Thoughts are supportive of sleep in that they support a calm state of mind and an attitude of acceptance. They are accurate and based on truth. Negative Sleep Thoughts do the opposite, they keep us in an anxious and stressed state which supports a wakeful state and keeps our mind and body in a more active, or even panicked, mode. Negative Sleep Thoughts are often inaccurate, based on myths or simply unhelpful.
Examples of Positive Sleep Thoughts:
“If I have a poor night’s sleep tonight, I will have a great sleep tomorrow night”
“I have gotten through being tired before after a poor night of sleep”
“Even just resting or “fantasizing” is helpful and restorative to my mind and body”
“My subconscious knows how to sleep, it just needs reminding”
“Due to time distortion and amnesia during the hypnoidal and sleep stages, I may be sleeping more than I realize”*
Examples of Negative Sleep Thoughts:
“I will have a poor night’s sleep…I am not going to be able to sleep”
“I cannot manage another night without sleep”
“If I cannot sleep, I should try harder”
“Monitoring the clock or checking to see what time it is will help”
“If I don’t sleep well, I will be useless tomorrow- I won’t be able to function”
More on NSTs:
They can be distorted or unhealthy or both
It is normal to have them but you can change them
They tend to increase when you are fatigued, having strong emotions or stressed
NSTs feed more NSTs which adds to the insomnia spiral
They can be about other things in your life that increase your stress or anxiety and therefore interfere with your sleep drive
They can be thoughts that get in the way of your willingness to change unhealthy sleep related behaviors to more supportive ones
Unhelpful Thoughts:
These are thoughts that may be accurate or truthful but still have a negative impact on you or your sleep. They are a type of NST. They are thoughts that don’t serve you well even if they are true because they produce negative emotional responses like anxiety and frustration. An example of an unhelpful thought could be: “Even if I fall asleep right now, I will still only get 5 hours of sleep tonight”.
How to Help Yourself:
Now that you have a sense of what positive and negative sleep thoughts look like or sound like, begin to replace the negative with the positive. It may help to keep a thought record of both and to know that PSTs and NSTs can occur during the night or during the day. By replacing your NSTs with PSTs you will cultivate and reinforce more accurate thoughts about sleep and begin to assist or support you sleep drive as opposed to hindering it. You will also begin to identify patterns in your thoughts and be more prepared for them.
Identify the Thought- perhaps making use of a Thought Record
Challenge the Thought- look at a list of common cognitive distortions (such as catastrophizing, all or nothing thinking, mental filtering, etc.) , do some research on sleep, find the distortion or unhelpful elements in your thoughts
Find a Healthier Alternative Thought- it is not about forcing yourself to think positively or denying the situation, but looking for something more truthful, accurate, soothing or supportive.
If you would like additional assistance with PSTs and NSTs or learning how to guide yourself to sleep, or back to sleep, more quickly, go to this link here which will provide more information on the Hypnotherapy and Wellness 6-week online sleep recovery course. You may also wish to contact Andrea at Hypnotherapy and Wellness for an individual session on the topic by going here.
*Research provided by Dr. Gregg Jacobs at the Harvard School of Medicine.