FAST ASLEEP FAST

FAST ASLEEP FAST

FAST
ASLEEP
FAST

Nigel Cragg

FAST ASLEEP FAST

CAUTION PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE STARTING THIS BOOK

Should you have any sleep problems which may be caused by

medication for conditions such as high blood pressure and asthma,
or medical disorders such as heart disease, epilepsy, the menopause
or asthma, please consult your medical advisor.

FAST ASLEEP FAST

CONTENTS
How to Use This Book

Introduction

Part 1

11

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Getting Off to a Good Start

Understanding Sleep
Myths Concerning Sleep
Food, Drink and Fragrances

12
16
19

The Formula...and so to bed

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6

22

Setting the Scene Groundwork

Preparation Specifics
Pre-Sleep Routine
Getting Comfortable
Resolving Conflict
Calming the Racing Mind

Resolving Specific Issues

37

Restless Leg Syndrome

Waking Up at Night
Shift Work
Jet Lag

38
41
44
47

If All Else Fails.....

49

What to Do Next
Energy: The Pulse of Life

50
53

Part 5 Living Life to the Full

23
24
27
29
33
35

58

How to Get Money for Anything Fast!

How to Feel Wonderful
How to Change a Negative Thought
Three Really Useful Attitudes
Courage The Inner Authority
Dealing with Physical and Emotional Problems
The Idea Generator
Creating Hard Energy

References

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65
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68
69
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Copyright

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HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

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#1 Read the Introduction and decide whether your level of insomnia is transient, short
term or chronic.
#2 If you are suffering transient insomnia, breeze through the chapters and play with the
areas you think will give you a temporary fix until the event that caused it has passed. Also
pay particular attention to the self-development sections in Part 5 which are there to
provide alternative behaviours you might like to explore.
#3 At Wherever Your Level Of Sleeplessness Is, Read Part 4!
#4 If you are suffering from persistent sleeplessness, again scope through the chapters
until you find what you think applies specifically to your condition. If you dont find an
immediate solution, work through the formula, indicated by the blue highlighted areas.

INTRODUCTION
The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.
W C Fields

My mission is simple.
I want you not only to manage your lack of refreshing sleep, but, where possible, to find a
permanent cure for it.
This book will help you in three ways:
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Firstly, for those who wish to get back to basics, it offers a complete, proven formula that
will take you through progressive stages, in simple, non-technical language, which are easy
to apply. These are highlighted in the blue areas of the book.
Secondly, it offers easy tabulation for those who have specific problems and wish to dive in
at once to sort them out as quickly as possible.
Thirdly, it provides a series of self-development exercises which will take your life to a
higher and more enriching level. These techniques can be found at the end of the book and
have produced extraordinary results. They are simple, easy to put into practice, and above
all, they work.
Having said that, there will be people who, due to specific infirmities, are dependent on
drugs which contain alcohol or caffeine, or those with waterworks problems which
necessitate frequent visits to the bathroom, who will always be robbed of uninterrupted
refreshing sleep.
For these people Part 4 is particularly relevant in coping and living more easily with
insomnia.
Over 40% of the population have sleeping problems you see, youre not alone. And, it is
generally agreed, that 80% of that number have sleep problems brought about by
psychological conditions.
All the information Ive read on the subject concentrates on solving immediate problems
like restless leg syndrome, the racing mind, etc. Which is fine if you just want a temporary
fix.
But what you dont want is to be re-opening this book in x months time because the
underlying causes have not been addressed. And youve had to come back - again!
So, what if we need a more permanent solution?
It seems to me that if the causes are psychological, and this leads to an inability to cope with
life, we need more than a temporary plaster to cover up the cracks. We need to provide
permanent solutions.
This means having available the latest cutting-edge technologies of neuroscience to turn our
lives around and so provide permanent solutions to the psychological factors that caused
the sleep problems in the first place.
Doesnt that make sense? It does.
So, my intention is to provide as many people as possible with an array of techniques to
overcome their sleep difficulties right now and to give them the tools to improve their
mental and physical well-being for the future.
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To this end, I have gathered together a collection of the most effective techniques available
and added a few which I have developed and used myself.
This is in no way a medical text. It is simply a quick overview of the best ways of dealing
with your sleep difficulties effectively and efficiently.
It is my hope that this concise but informative book will allow you to pinpoint your specific
areas of concern, take care of them, and move on with your life.
Lets take a look at where we are.
Neuroscience has moved on from the idea of asserting that there is only one system that
works for all in any area. What really matters is what works for you.
This being so, I dont feel at all uneasy in offering to you alternative techniques, which I
havent used personally, but which have proved to be successful for others.
Sleep efficiency is more about losing bad habits than beating yourself up trying to learn a
whole raft of new ones. Like Michelangelo, we are looking to chip away the unwanted
marble to reveal the masterpiece underneath. In your case, a perfect nights rest.
So, lets cut to the chase.
Animals fall asleep. They just do. Have you ever seen a cat or a dog struggle or fight to get
to sleep? No, they dont. And nor should you, all things being equal. Most of us were born
with an innate ability to sleep when we needed to. Just look at tiny tots. All we have to do
is recapture that ability. Sleeping is natural and there is no reason why we cannot reconnect
with our natural state.
Now, I have a confession to make. I dont follow all of the suggestions I offer in this book. I
watch TV late at night, drink coffee before going to bed and dip into a couple of books
before I turn over and go to sleep. Yet I get a refreshing nights sleep.
How did I get to this stage?
It was a simple process of identifying precisely what were the stumbling blocks that were
preventing my smooth pathway to the land of dreams, and finding solutions to remove
them. For me it was a combination of restless leg syndrome, my mind racing all over the
place in double quick time and waking up during the night. Once I had identified and
resolved these areas of conflict, my restful nights were guaranteed. I didnt have to strip
down the gearbox. I had only to look at the manual.
We are not all the same. We have different environments, different histories, different
ways of thinking and different ways of living. You are unique.

FAST ASLEEP FAST

I cannot emphasise too much that you need to find solutions that fit your particular
circumstances. I dont believe in a one-size-fits-all approach or a one-two-three system that
will cure everyone. I think that each one of us has different innate coping mechanisms,
which is why I can drink caffeine before bed with no detrimental effect on my sleep, and you
possibly cant. Having said that, I maintain that my 6 step formula does provide a natural
basic system which can be modified to suit your specific requirements.
On the other hand, dont become a sleep hypochondriac and start going through the book
applying every offering I make to every imagined symptom.
Believe me, I do know what you are going through. Tossing and turning, thoughts going
through your mind, wondering if you are ever going to get to sleep again.
Remember this: you are not going to die. Insomnia is not a fatal disease. It isnt even a
disease. It is usually only a temporary disorder. It has never killed anyone. No. No - I sit
partially corrected. Further research shows me that a man called Michael Corke did die after
six months of total sleeplessness. But there were contributory factors including prion
disease. Most unlikely to happen to you, Im thinking. And other famous cases where there
has been a prolonged period of sleeplessness, were preceded by a severe fever, and none of
the victims then died as a direct result.
So dont worry. Its just not going to happen to you.
Yes, you may feel a bit suicidal now. Yes, you may be tired out. Yes, you may be lacking in
concentration. Yes, you may feel as if you are going out of your mind and yes, you may feel
that your life is running out of control, but there is a cure. There is a way to manage. Help is
at hand.
My suggestions are like a smorgasbord. Pick and mix. Note the specific symptoms that
affect you that you need to challenge, and concentrate primarily on them.
Lets use some common sense here. Nobody follows all the rules of sleep. You must know
people who like to drink in the evening, party until late or watch TV until the small hours yet
are able to function perfectly well on all four cylinders the next day.
However, having said that, although we are all different, there are basic steps that we do all
follow, and these are covered by the formula in Part 2.
Your body will compensate naturally for breaking the sleep rules in some areas. In other
areas it may not, which is why you need to pinpoint your symptoms and then take decisive
action.
If you already know what is hindering you, go straight to the relevant chapter and get
cracking correcting it right now. No point in wasting time.

FAST ASLEEP FAST

If not, become a detective. Go to bed tonight and just make a note of what you think is
keeping you awake. Then take on board the chapters that relate to them and apply them.
It may be that all that is required is a little tweaking here, a little fine-tuning there, like the
case of a small boy who for three years suffered dreadful sleep problems. One day a woman
at his nursery suggested that his mother give him a banana before bedtime. Magic, case
sorted immediately.
Use the suggestions, try them out. Play with them. Give them time to work and that is
important. Be assured that success will come eventually, if you persist.
I have deliberately kept the word insomnia to a minimum because it has become so
devalued. Insomniac now seems to raise up images of someone with a slightly depleted
IQ and not totally in charge of their life. Its rather like the default word depressed.
Nowadays no-one is sad or a bit down or unhappy any more. We are all depressed.
However, having said that, people who are truly depressed are deserving of our fullest
sympathy.
Everyone has occasional episodes of insomnia, but for most people, fortunately, they last
for only a few days. Dont forget, even if you are lying awake and not actually sleeping, your
body is at least recuperating physically from the efforts of the day.
Take your time, relax, have fun and look forward to a refreshing nights sleep.
Please enjoy the book. I wish you well.

PART 1
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FAST ASLEEP FAST

Getting Off to a Good Start

UNDERSTANDING SLEEP
To sleep, perchance to dream
William Shakespeare
This chapter is mainly about the mechanics of sleep, so please feel free to skip it if it doesnt
actually light your fire. It wont have any adverse impact on your results. After all, we use
electricity all the time and very few of us really know what goes on behind the switch. But it
still works.
I have included it because I appreciate that a few people may need to know the underlying
scientific principles involved before trusting me enough to follow through on my
suggestions.
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Lets take a look at what sleep actually is.

It is a profoundly mysterious phenomenon. Why? Because a) we dont completely
understand it, b) the amount of sleep people need differs vastly from person to person, and
c) the number of reasons why we have problems in this area, both internal and external, is
large.
Some super-sleepers can get by on 4-5 hours sleep a night, following such examples as
Leonardo de Vinci, Winston Churchill and Florence Nightingale, while others may require
anything up to ten hours. Or more.
And, what about those round-the-world sailors? Have you ever thought about how much
sleep they get? Because of the need for almost constant management of the ship,
navigation and safety concerns, they average 2-3 hour slots of time during the night and a
few snatched cat-naps during the day, if they are lucky all depending on the weather. And
this goes on for month after month. It also takes them 2-3 weeks to establish this sleep
pattern when they first set sail and again 2-3 weeks to re-establish their natural pattern
when they return to land. This is known as polyphasic sleep, or polynapping.
On the other side of the coin, Roger Federer and Andy Murray both claim to sleep 12 hours
at a time during tournaments to keep on top of their game. Teenagers usually need more
than the rest of us because of the significant changes going on in their bodies, both
physically and emotionally, while Italians and Spaniards tend to sleep 6 hours at night and
take a couple of hours siesta in the afternoon.
Puts our concerns about sleep loss into real perspective, doesnt it?
Some fortunate people can just lie down and zap off to sleep while others remain restive for
hours. Some can fall asleep on a washing line anytime, any place, anywhere while others
struggle just to get comfortable.
Why do we need sleep?
Sleep is natures way of telling your body that, during your current waking cycle at least, it
has had enough experiences, emotionally and physically, for one day and it needs to restore
you to your default position, having learned and tucked away the lessons of the day.
It does this in two ways. During the night you go through periods of deep sleep and lighter
sleep. The first is called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, so called because the eyes move
quickly back and forth physically while you sleep. This enables the brain to consolidate
memories and experiences and make room for newer ones rather like defragmenting your
computers hard drive. This takes up about a quarter of your sleep period at different times
throughout the night. It is during this time that we dream and come to terms with, or at
least manage, unresolved emotional issues.

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The second way is through non-REM sleep where the mind concentrates on restoring the
bodys physical processes.
During normal sleep we move cyclically through these stages of sleep. If we are interrupted
the results are shown in feelings of tiredness, irritation and lack of concentration.
Its difficult to gauge how much sleep we need. Again, we are all different. Consensus has it
that 7 to 8 hours sleep a night is the optimum for dreaming and self-healing, although 2/3
of the population regularly survive on less than 7 hours. It is less the amount of time you
spend asleep and more the quality of that sleep which counts. If, after being up for more
than half an hour after sleeping you are not actually zinging around, the indications are that
you may a need more fulfilling sleep.
Lack of sleep can be categorized into three types, transient, short term or chronic.
Transient. A few days. We all have times in our lives when sleep eludes us, and these times
fortunately fall mainly within this category. I say fortunately, because immediately the
perceived traumatic event is over, we soon regain our normal pattern.
You may have an important business meeting coming up, or you have to sing a solo, or,
horror of horrors, you have to make a speech, or (please put your own worst scenario here).
This is all quite natural. Your adrenalin is flowing, and so of course it is going to affect your
sleep. Accept it. Accommodate it. It will soon be over. And dont forget that 95% of what
you fear never happens.
Short Term. 2-3 weeks. We are getting into deeper waters here. We are in the realms of
job change, financial problems, death of a close relative, serious illness or a change of
schedule, and other similar disturbances.
Chronic. This affects about 10-15% of the population. They have interrupted sleep through
heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, pregnancy (though only for a few months), the
menopause and arthritis, and medication for high blood pressure and asthma. Again, please
see a doctor about your sleep loss should you suffer from any of these.
Symptoms consist of irritability, slow reaction times, depression, lack of concentration, or
just nodding off for a few seconds or more. This is so commonplace when driving that the
US state of New Jersey has made it a criminal offence if an accident is caused through
insomolence.
And just something to be borne in mind. The Challenger disaster, the Exxon Valdez oil spill
and the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, not to mention Three Mile Island, can be partly linked
to people with severe lack of sleep.
Stages of sleep

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During sleep we go through various stages according to our circadian rhythms

(circa=around; diem = day)
A circadian rhythm is any biological process that displays an internal fluctuation of about 24
hours, according to Wikipedia. Or to you and me, it is the physical, mental and behavioural
activities that take place every 24 hours. Effectively, it is an internal body clock that governs
when we feel sleepy and when we should wake up.
When it is dark, the body clock triggers an increased release of melatonin, the sleep
hormone, while when it becomes light, it reduces the hormones output to minimum levels.
This body clock also regulates the phases we go through during sleep which guarantees that
we make the most of its recuperative powers.
When sleeping, our body experiences several cycles of stages and types of sleep.
The first stage is initially a transitional phase where the mind and body settles down.
The second stage occupies a half-sleep period where the body is more relaxed, body
temperature falls, and heart beats slow down leading to deeper relaxation.
Stages three and four take the body into even greater depths of relaxation where delta
waves are produced. This level is where the use of hypnotic instruction tapes and wave
music recordings are most effective.
Finally we come to the final stage- REM sleep, which we have already discussed.
This set of stages presents itself in roughly 90 minute cycles, which means that you get to
experience the whole cleansing phase 4/5 times a night.
So much for the technicalities. Now forget them and concentrate on putting to use some of
the ideas you will find in this book.
Finally, be optimistic. Most sleep problems can be self-cured without sleeping pills or
specialists. Expect to go to sleep. Dont beat yourself up. And dont forget small changes
can make big differences.

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MYTHS CONCERNING SLEEP

Old myths...have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our
minds.
Stanley Kunitz

Im just highlighting and clearing up a few myths before we get started. We all grew up
collecting a mish-mash of ideas and even now, when we like to consider that we are
reasonably sophisticated human beings and can tell fact from fiction, we still fall for some of
the guff we read in the press.
How often have you read that drinking a glass of wine a day will improve your health only to
be told the next week by the same newspaper that doing this will bring down all manner of
illnesses upon you?

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And talk about Christmas. There is always a special section in the newspaper bringing out
the latest best-selling diet to end all diets, just before the big day. Then in the follow-up to
New Year, hey presto, theres another block-busting diet. And to crown it all, in the early
days of January it brings out yet another special, extolling the virtues of yet another diet!
So its no wonder that, being bombarded by all this contradictory information, we dont
have a clue about whats going on. So, here we go.
Myth 1. The older you get, the less sleep you need.
No you dont. You may have more interrupted sleep because you tend to wake up early, or
you need to make nightly visits to the bathroom, or you just wake up. But you still need to
get your 7-8 hours of sleep. You will find a specific chapter on this later in the book. I know
that people like Margaret Thatcher and Leonardo da Vinci survived on many fewer hours
but we arent them.
Myth 2. Sleeping in late, over the week-end, compensates for lack of sleep during the
week.
Recent research has it that even the loss of one hours sleep a night results in your reaction
time being 10 times slower by the end of the next day and taking an extended sleep in one
fell swoop doesnt really help matters. Just resume your normal sleeping routine as soon as
possible.
Myth 3. You can train yourself to get by on less sleep.
You might possibly get by through cutting an hour or so but the quality of your work will
suffer.
Myth 4. Eating turkey sends you to sleep.
That great turkey fest Thanksgiving has given rise to the concept that eating turkey
encourages a nice deep sleep, known as turkey coma. The rationale is that turkey meat
contains tryptophan which produces serotonin, which in turn induces sleep. In fact, the
sleep following the turkey meal has more to do with the massive amounts of protein,
carbohydrates and alcohol consumed during the meal combined with the bodys natural
rhythm of slowing down in the afternoon. While it is true that turkey does contain
tryptophan, very little of it reaches the brain because it acts better on an empty stomach.
Myth 5. Early to bed, early to rise.
Both Benjamin Franklin and Aristotle jumped on the band-wagon with this one.
Unfortunately for them the University of Liege in Belgium could find no difference at any
performance level between the lark and the owl on this one.
Myth 6. Eating cheese gives you nightmares.
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I remember this one from my childhood. It may have arisen from a scene in Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol where Scrooge attributes his vision of a ghost to perhaps a crumb of
cheese. Certainly, it has no scientific basis.
Myth 7. To cure drowsy driving on the motorway, open the window and turn on the radio.
As 100,000 accidents in the USA result from this factor alone, it is worth giving it due
attention. While a blast of cold air might wake you up a bit, the effect will only be shortlived . Same with the radio.
The only sure way I know of is to jolt yourself out of your temporary lack of concentration is
to SING!! AS LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE!! AND TAKE DEEP BREATHS!! This has the double effect
of actively concentrating the mind and filling the lungs with oxygen. This will at least get you
to the next service station where you can sort yourself out. (Ignore shouts from the
passengers safety comes first).
Myth 8. Sleep disorders are difficult to treat.
Sleep disorders are highly treatable and medication isnt a must. Depending on the severity
of the sleep disorder, it may need only a slight adjustment to your sleeping arrangements to
effect a cure.
Myth 9. Exercising at night will help you sleep.
Exercise is a double-edged sword. While exercise undoubtedly helps promote health, and
therefore sleep, it also raises the core body temperature which militates against sleep. So
best not done within 2-3 hours before bed. If you feel the need to exercise just before
bedtime then go in for a spot of yoga or stretching.
Myth 10. Theres something wrong if you do not remember your dreams.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Its simply a question of timing. Only if you wake up
during the dream, or immediately after it occurs, will you remember it. If not, you wont.

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FOOD, DRINK AND FRAGRANCES

Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.
Hippocrates

I am slotting in here just a few notes on what I call the peripheries of sleep, as an easy
reference point when these come up in later chapters.
The following terms will crop up from time to time throughout the book so lets get
introductions out of the way. Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulates your internal
body-clock, causes drowsiness and lowers your body temperature. Serotonin is a
neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates mood, appetite and sleep while Tryptophan is
an amino acid which aids sleep in its part in the production of serotonin.
What to Avoid
The three main contenders for sleep deprivation are alcohol, caffeine and nicotine
although in rare cases it is claimed that caffeine can actually be beneficial to sleep.

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Alcohol has the advantage of allowing you to go to sleep finally yet the downside is that
you wake up unrefreshed, befuddled and possibly with a hangover. This is because it
deprives you of that vital ingredient REM sleep. Rather unfairly, it tends to affect women
more than men.
Caffeine has two distinct disadvantages. Firstly it is a diuretic which means that if you drink
it later during the day, you could be spending a few pennies when you should be sleeping at
night. Ideally, coffee, tea, coke (the drinking kind) and chocolate, all having caffeine
constituents, should not be taken within 7 hours of going to bed. I know, Could ruin your
social life and so its not very practical advice but you get the drift.
Secondly, it is a psychoactive substance that blocks a neurotransmitter called adenosine
which inhibits wakefulness and prepares you for sleep. But, if you drink a glass of water
before drinking coffee, it will reduce its effect to a certain extent.
However, even though caffeine increases adrenalin, there is no proof that that, by itself,
inhibits sleep. Anyway, try cutting some of these out of your diet for a couple of weeks.
Worth trying, and could be greatly beneficial. Also, try to cut down on smoking.
A word about sleeping pills. Along with anti-depressants they seem to be handed out like
sweets. Ok in the immediate short term. Should not be taken for more than a couple of
weeks, after which they generally become addictive the more you have the more you
need as their effectiveness decreases. They react dangerously to some forms of medication
and alcohol and its easy to take an overdose.
Also try to avoid medication such as antidepressants, cold and flu remedies with alcohol
content, pain relievers with caffeine, diuretics, cortile steroids, thyroid hormone and high
blood pressure medication.
Eating should be a daytime diversion and avoided last thing at night unless its a very light
snack and at least an hour before going to bed.
What to Encourage
Its always good to enjoy a beneficial eating regime. It not only slims and strengthens your
body but it certainly helps in regulating your sleep.
Try to home in on whole grain food such as oatmeal, cereals and granary bread. They
increase production of serotonin which slows down nerve activity and spread a feel-good
message throughout the body.
For that late-night snack you can try other food that is also high on tryptophan such as
bananas, figs, dates, milk and tuna. Be careful with milk, though. It may work for some but
not for others.

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And heres a sneaky one. A bowl of cherries wouldnt go amiss as cherries produce
melatonin.
While we are on the subject of diets, I should mention that correct sleeping habits have a
decided effect on weight loss. If your body is deprived of sleep it releases higher levels of
ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger, and lower levels of leptin, a hunger-suppressant
hormone. So we create hunger pangs, and yes, there we go again, more trips to the fridge.
Enough said.
What to Try
We are now going to enter the realms of aromatherapy and herbal remedies. I personally
have not tried any of these methods because I overcame my situation using other means,
but I do have a daughter who is seriously into this area and she assures me that Ive got it
about right.
One of the major aids is melatonin* which can be taken in capsules. Take half an hour
before bed. This is NOT for people who suffer from depression, schizophrenia, autoimmune
and other serious diseases. Also a no-go area for pregnant and nursing women.
This is a good supplement for older folk as natural production of melatonin decreases with
age.
A close second in the popularity stakes comes valerian, a herbal extract from the valerian
root which is the most powerful and also the safest remedy. Recommended for anxiety and
nervous tension, it acts on the brain much like valium, without the side effects. It also has a
mild sedative effect. It is non-addictive and doesnt make you feel groggy in the morning.
Unfortunately it does not work for everybody and so it is very much a case of suck it and
see. In UK lab tests containing valerian, 44% of insomniacs achieved perfect sleep and 89%
improved sleep. For some people only it may produce mild indigestion, headaches,
palpitations or dizziness.
Its an over-the-counter medicine which can be taken in tablet form. Should be taken at
least an hour before bed and takes between 2 3 weeks to become fully effective. This
should run for no more than 3 months at a time.
Other supplements include:
Chamomile (camomile) which calms the nerves, is a mild pain-killer and aids digestion.
Recommended beverage is 3 tsp of dried herbs in a cup of warm/hot water before bed. Add
1 tsp honey if needed.
Lavender - which caters for anxiety, stomach disorders and mood swings. It calms nerves
and promotes sleep. Tea 1 tsp dried. Warm/hot cup of water. Add lemon or honey.

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Lemon balm is good for depression, insomnia and headaches. 2 tsps to 1 cup of warm/hot
water. Add honey.
Others you might like to consider are elderberry (but not for pregnant women), catnip,
passionflower and marjoram.
And on the non-edible side, herb pillows also seem popular.
I cant finish this chapter without mentioning yoga, mindfulness, Neuro-Linguistic
Programming (NLP) and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), all of which have proved
beneficial for curing sleep imbalance. See Part 5.
*Available only under prescription in the UK.

Part 2

The Formula.....and so to Bed

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STEP 1: SETTING THE SCENE GROUNDWORK

Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.
Lao Tzu

Fine. We are now back in the bedroom. Hopefully you have carried out all the
requirements of the last chapter.
This is really a brief overall view to ensure that you have covered all bases so that your
sojourn in the land of nod will be relaxed and fulfilling.
Light
Some people can just close their eyes and are not bothered by extraneous light. If you are,
the following tips might help. If you are inconvenienced by light coming from an outside
source (and I always seem to end up in a bedroom where this is the norm) make sure that
the curtains are heavily lined, wear the sort of eye-mask they dish out on long-haul flights,
or, in desperation, just turn over away from the light. You could also fix a rolling black-out
blind that completely blocks out light coming through your window panes.
Noise

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Have a word with your family about noise levels, fix those clanging pipes, get a pair of earplugs or invest in a white noise machine. These machines produce a noise reminiscent of a
low-power vacuum cleaner which emits a soothing hum.
Pets
I realise that I am treading on dangerous ground here and that this might not go down well
with the animal-loving community, but if you are serious about sustaining uninterrupted
sleep throughout the night, at least consider the idea of exiling your pet from your sleeping
quarters.(However I do realise that with some types of pets this will not be possible.)
I know. Ive been there and done that. And Im as fond of our dumb friends as you are. But
let me assure you, your pets will not pine away just because they havent spent the night
cuddled up to you, and will be all the happier for having a nicely refreshed Mummy and
Daddy to play with them the next morning. And, lets be honest. Who benefits most
emotionally from having Izzy sleeping on your bed you or Izzy? Just another thought.
Either you want uninterrupted sleep, or you dont. Its that simple. Your choice.
Remove from your bedroom the most external intrusive elements that prevent sound sleep,
namely noise, light and the presence of pets.

STEP 2: PREPARATION SPECIFICS

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
Benjamin Franklin

From the moment you wake up in the morning, until the time you go to bed, you are making
choices that can affect how well you sleep at night. Making wise choices throughout the day
can help you sleep soundly at night and wake with renewed energy.
Prepare the bedroom
As the bedroom is the main area of operations, lets take a look at how it should be set out.
Everything should be arranged to give a feeling of restfulness and well-being. Turn your
bedroom into a sleep-inducing environment. It should want to drag you into it, come
bedtime.
Use restful colours.
A few plants scattered around would improve the ambience and sprinkling some lavender
water on your pillows could certainly add to a feeling of relaxation.
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Install a dimmer switch. If you have to turn the light on at night, it pays to use the
minimum of light.
Ventilate the room. Theres nothing worse than sleeping in a stuffy room. Oxygen is the
breath of life, and we need it whether we are hammering it out on the treadmill at the gym,
or resting peacefully at night. Throw your windows open during the day, and if its cold,
leave them open just a bit.
Remove clutter for minimal adverse impact. Clutter is the bane of modern life. Particularly
in the smaller bedrooms you need to create as much illusion of space as possible.
For those of us of the feng shui persuasion, dont forget to align your bed so that you are
sleeping north (head) south (feet) if room allows.
Absolutely no TV in the bedroom. Your inner sanctum ideally should be for sleep, intimacy
either with a partner or self-administered, or recovering from illness. Thats it. Nothing else.
Have a non-light clock with a gentle alarm as even a small amount of light can inhibit sleep.
It is important that if you do use an alarm you are not suddenly shattered into wakefulness.
It can be very helpful to tell yourself just before you go to sleep that you will wake up at a
predetermined time. You will then find that you will wake up a little before the alarm is
activated which will give you time to turn it off before it leaps into action, and there you are,
having woken up naturally, but with a back-up.
Get a good firm/body shaping mattress if yours is uncomfortable, and you wish to avoid
being prodded its springs or inconvenient lumps. But if you are short of cash you dont
have to rush out and bankrupt yourself. Get an inexpensive duvet and place it under you
directly on the mattress. Whoever said that duvets are only for covering you! Be creative.
Put one underneath you on top of the mattress. That should do the job.
Progressive preparation during the day
Preparation for a good nights sleep begins first thing in the morning. Yes, thats right. As
soon as you get up, and your bed is aired, make it. Get your bed ready for sleeping later in
the day, so that its inviting. It should be as welcoming as when you reach your hotel
bedroom after a hard days travel. Crisp, white bed linen is the order of the day with nicely
plumped up pillows and a white duvet. White because it is an innocent, inviting colour.
There is no specific point in the day when you should begin to think about preparation for
sleep. It will very much depend on your life-style and family/work/social commitments.
Anyway, just a word here about taking naps during the day. It seems to be a very
contentious subject. One side says dont do any napping during the day, the other says nap
when you like. In some countries with higher temperatures people often steal a couple of

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hours in the afternoon. Find out for yourself if you can benefit from it. This is not the same
as power naps which we shall look at in Part 4.
Again, play around with it. If you think that it interferes with your night sleeping, deduct the
amount of time you spend napping, from your nightly sleep total, and see if that works. Try
not napping at all. If you do nap, best its done before 5pm which will give your body time to
recover and begin its journey towards bedtime.
At some time during the day, you might set time aside for bringing closure to some
outstanding matters answering emails, preparing a to-do list for tomorrow, paying bills,
etc. I find that making a list for the next day and perhaps doing one or two items in advance
is a basic psychological ploy for making a good start tomorrow and giving you good feelings
today.
Make sure that you try to get at least one hours sunshine, weather permitting, to help
along the production of melatonin.

Physical
Obviously, its a good thing to exercise every day. Regarding your sleep obligations, better to
work out during the day and late afternoon can be a good time. If you defer it until the
evening you run the risk of hyping up body temperature, which will delay the onset of
tiredness.
Be aware that the less sleep you have, the more reluctant you are to exercise. Higher levels
than normal of ghrelin, the hormone that controls appetite is produced, and this is doubled
by lower amounts of leptin, a hormone that puts the brake on food intake. That means
simply that the less sleep you have, the more you are likely to pile on the weight. So, less
food, more exercise is the ideal regimen for any diet.
Take care of your diet. Nothing too severe. Be guided by your bodys messages. If you end
up feeling bloated, tired, lethargic, or having other unfortunate side effects, you know what
to do. Eat enough, but not too much and take some exercise. If you dislike a punishing
work-out just take the easier option walking. Depending on your age and state of health,
power walking is a very right-on area. If not, normal walking about 1 hour a day is good.
We are approaching the end of the day when we are beginning to put in place certain
mechanisms which will prepare the body and mind for sleep.

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Make it easy on yourself to maximise your environment for best results. Make sure that
your bedroom is clear of everything that is not essential to a restful ambience. Ensure that
your bed is supportive and comfortable. Gradually take specific steps to slow down towards
the end of the day and maintain an exercise and diet regime that keeps you fit and healthy.

STEP 3: PRE-SLEEP ROUTINE

The secret to your future is hidden in your daily routine.
Mike Murdoch

We create habits for one reason, and one reason only to make life safer and easier. Well,
good habits, at least. We find a new routine, refine it, learn it and get it ingrained as a habit.
This way we develop and sustain improvements. And getting ready for bed shouldnt be any
different.
Our body craves routine and likes to know whats coming up. - Dr L Epstein.
You can help your body recognize that bedtime is approaching by setting routines and
reinforcing them every day.
When should you begin this countdown?

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This will depend very much on your lifestyle and commitments. The idea is to gradually
calm the body and mind and prime them for sleep. Ideally, it is a gradual slowing down
from early evening with a light meal, at least three hours before you go to bed.
Just ease yourself into the routine. Wind down by clearing up your kitchen, lounge and
desk. Put on some light music, watch a low-tension TV documentary or a comedy show.
Comedy will lift your mood and put you in a positive mindset for sleep.
One hour before sleep wind down routine
If you must use your computer at night, use www.steropsis.com free software which
automatically lets your screen match you indoor light as the day progresses. Without this it
will emit excessive blue light which suppresses production of melatonin.
Tidy up desk/kitchen/lounge which not only indicates to your mind that you are serious
about going to bed and getting a good nights sleep, but will also give you a pleasant feeling
in the morning of starting with a clean sheet.
Then lock up.
For many people, reading a short story or magazine, or listening to soft instrumental music
provides an adequate prelude to ending the day.
My preference is to listen to or watch half an hour of comedy which dovetails neatly into my
routine. This leaves me upbeat and relaxed. I picked this up after reading about Norman
Cousins cure for his own cancer by using what he called laughter therapy.
Why not stroke your pet, or hug a loved one to make you more relaxed?
Just a quick observation at this stage. Go to bed when you feel sleepy. If you dont, you will
come out of your sleepy state and become progressively more awake.
The body loves routine so as much as possible go to bed at the same time every night each
day, every day, day in day out. No exceptions, no deviations. Slow down your activities as
the evening progresses to prepare yourself physically and psychologically for sleep.

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STEP 4: GETTING COMFORTABLE

Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.
John Lennon

We are getting to the nitty-gritty. The stage has been set and you, the star of the play, are
now ready to put your best foot forward, or rather, your best head on the bed.
Temperature
Now we come to temperature. Room temperature is pretty well a matter of personal
preference. This can obviously be regulated by adjusting ventilation from the outside or
heating from the inside. In any event, windows should be open sufficiently to allow at least
some fresh air to get into the bedroom. If your bedroom temperature rises with the advent
of the afternoon sun, and you have the opportunity, close the curtains at midday.

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Body temperature is crucial because it is a component part of your sleep physiology. Your
temperature needs to cool as you head towards sleep. And this is where the devil creeps in.
Its a little more difficult to regulate. If you are too hot, it may not be sufficient or advisable
just to hurl off the duvet, particularly in winter. You could soon go from nice to ice fairly
quickly. However, the body does need to cool down.
Here are a few tips which might help you. Try pillow-flipping, that is turning your pillow
over from time to time to access the cool side which is next to the under sheet. Its
surprising how quickly the hot side cools down when you flip the pillow.
You could also purchase a cool pillow which is a great aid. Now heres another sneaky one.
Use a cold water bottle, that is, a hot water bottle filled with cold water. Unlike hot water, it
may not diffuse the cold around the bed, but is still very effective when you hold it close to
your body. Place it on your stomach, between your legs, or even on your pillow just
touching your face. For other specific areas use a bar of soap, which will always keep cool.
You can also try a damp towel round your neck. And dont forget to place an extra
absorbent layer under you, such as terry-towelling, to cope with excess sweating.
Maybe you could even put on socks which have been pre-chilled in the refrigerator! Why
not experiment by cooling your pillow in this way, as well?
If all else fails, maybe a more radical solution might be needed. Think about relocating your
bedroom to the cooler atmosphere of the ground floor. On the assumption that as hot air
rises, then obviously the lower in the building you get, the cooler you become. You could get
to swap your bedroom, say, for your study without too much inconvenience. Might be
worth considering it as a last resort.
And while we are going down this road, hammocks and futons could be your answer as they
can be both closer to the ground and therefore much cooler.
Oh, and of course, lets not forget a low-humming fan.
A hot bath is also recommended because when you step out of it your temperature drops,
and as we know, lowering body temperature is a concomitant aid to sleeping
Too cold? Why not get a duvet with a higher tog, and use the old, lighter tog one as an
under-blanket. This will give you more warmth on the top of you and more insulation under
you. Come summer, you can always switch back.
And what about a trick that replenishes a hot water bottle which cools considerably as the
long winter night progresses, without having the inconvenience of getting up in the middle
of the night? When you go to bed take two hot water bottles with you. Stick the extra one
under an adjacent pillow, or some insulated covering near at hand. If you wake up cold
during the night you can swap them and then you have instant renewed heat.
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If all else fails, go to sleep on your stomach with your arms folded underneath you. It works
on the same principle as a Scotsmans kilt which keeps him warm by having a lot of material
around his vital areas. However, be aware that this position can put a strain on your spine
and neck, so only use it as a last resort.
Relaxation
I personally feel that you are never relaxed 100% until you fall asleep, if then. If that were all
that there was to it, you wouldnt have a problem getting to sleep. And even then some
people, like me, remain fairly restless. ( Im told that I fight WW2 when I am asleep.)
Dont over-worry about relaxing yourself. The trick is just to get as comfortable and relaxed
as possible.
Received opinion is that the body should become totally relaxed first and then the mind will
follow automatocally. I beg to differ. Ever seen a child fall asleep in its high chair while
eating? Her concentration goes first and only when shes away with the fairies does her
body fully relax and her head smacks into the mashed potato. First the mind, and then the
body. Total body relaxation is the final, almost unconscious, stage.
But that doesnt mean that we shouldnt help the body along the way by doing everything
we can to get as comfortable as possible before we tackle the mind.
Now you are ready to settle down.
No reason why you shouldnt do a bit of controlled breathing or listen to music, if that works
better for you.
Breathing
Many people preface their sleep by taking up a comfortable position and carrying out a
breathing sequence.
Regular deep breathing. Some people start off their nightly sleep protocol by lying on their
backs and performing deep, rhythmic breathing for a couple of minutes before turning over
into their preferred sleeping position.
There is an alternative, though more contrived, breathing ritual which also begins on your
back. Inhale deeply and exhale twice as long as you inhale. This should be smooth and
relaxed with no pauses. Do not empty the lungs. Begin with 8 inhalations/exhalations on
your back. Then turn on the right with 16 of each and on the left with 32, and so on.
With all these relaxation exercises you would benefit from actively sinking progressively into
your mattress whenever you exhale. After trying this out for a few days you will find
yourself automatically beginning to relax into the mattress as soon you start the breathing
routine.
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Posture
The recommended posture for sleeping is on your back. Not sure that this is very
commonplace as personally Ive only seen babies, and people in films, do it. The advantage
is that it provides good support for head, neck and spine, reduces acid reflux and, wonder of
wonders, is said to reduce wrinkles.
You can alter your habitual sleeping position to this new arrangement, but it will take a
couple of weeks for it to feel comfortable. At the end of the day, your body will alert you to
what best suits you.
Sleeping on your side is good for the neck and back while sleeping on your left side during
pregnancy is also recommended by doctors as it improves circulation to the heart.
If you really want to finesse your relaxation skills, heres a tip from M R Kopmeyer, a selfdevelopment guru of the 70s, who recommended the following steps for complete
relaxation. First, deeply relax your body well, thats pretty obvious. But then he goes on to
the importance of deliberately relaxing the head, starting with the jaw, face and most
importantly, the eyes.
A last observation, but a very important one. Get changed out of your clothes. I mean strip
off your day clothes completely and change into your night gear, making sure that it isnt
too tight. This signals to your body that the business of the day is over and you are ready for
sleep. This will also make you feel more comfortable and relaxed.
Prepare your body by making both external and internal adjustments. Regulate the room
temperature and also your body temperature by some of the suggestions above. Find a
comfortable position for yourself and sink into your mattress.

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STEP 5: RESOLVING CONFLICT

Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.
Mahatma Gandhi

This isnt about solving all your problems its about resolving them at least on a temporary
basis, enabling you to put them aside before you get to bed.
If you are alive, you have problems (or situations/possibilities/opportunities if you inhabit
the world of sales). They are there to help you grow. They are a part of life. Get used to it.
Be comforted with the thought that the Chinese word for crisis is made up of two
characters, one meaning danger and the other opportunity both of which can act as a
springboard for action.
Lets take a broader view of this. Think of all the problems youve had in the past. Hundreds
of thousands of them. Are they bothering you now? Of course not, because you had the
capacity to get through them then. And you have that capacity still. You have it now.
Part of the solution is to make a list of what you must do tomorrow and anything of major
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concern. Think about the immediate next step you will take with each one, and make a note
of it. Just doing that will put the matter to rest, even if it is just temporary.
Hang onto two thoughts. Firstly dont forget that 75% of problems go away automatically,
with changes which happen outside yourself. And secondly, things usually arent as bad as
they look. Thats comforting.
During the day, concerns will pop up in your mind from time to time but usually dont
intrude too much. You have other things to occupy your mind, like just getting through the
day.
But even if you have made your list earlier in the day, negative thoughts might still pop up
as you are preparing to sleep. The dreaded time comes when the lights are turned off,
youve settled down comfortably and suddenly your mind goes into free-fall. Youre not
actually doing anything. Your mind has become directionless.
Just why the mind reverts to negative thoughts at night is still something of a mystery.
These thoughts are possibly different from the ones we experience during the day. We
know that they tend to focus on the future and our inability to bring things to a successful
conclusion.
You have two parts of the nervous system the sympathetic branch which acts as an
accelerator and the parasympathetic branch which acts as a brake. The yin yang of the set
up. Unfortunately, during the night the functions of the two branches are temporarily
disrupted and thoughts are given a free range. All this is perfectly natural and things return
to normal by the morning.
To eradicate your negative thoughts please see the relevant section in Part 5.
Theres a lot to be said for putting a problem to bed by sleeping on it. Tell yourself that you
will receive an answer by tomorrow, or whatever time scale you envisage. I would strongly
advise that you keep a notebook on your bedside table, so that if you wake up during the
night with the answer, you write it down straight away however tired you feel or however
inconvenient it is.
Just consign your situation to the subconscious and let it do its job.
Also, dont forget the next step act on it as soon as you can. Your subconscious will be
delivering your answer at the right time, in the right place.
If you dont write it down immediately, it will be gone forever. Dont say to yourself Im
too tired to write it down now, Ill wait till the morning. because it wont be there, I can
assure you.
And taking this a step further, always have a notebook on you. I carry one with me and have
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a note-book in every room in the house, even the bathroom. You never know when your
mind comes up with solutions. If you dont catch them in the moment, you lose them.
I had a chance to try out this method when I was turned down for an interview for a job, in
the days when they actually bothered to reply. I have to say I got a little post-officed (or,
more politely, greatly annoyed) with the refusal. That night I went to bed and told myself
that I would have the answer that would guarantee me an interview, by the next morning.
And it came to pass, thats exactly what happened. Bingo! I have a rather elegant chess set
that I had bought in Thailand. I wrote a letter to the manager, as if it had come from one of
the chessmen, to the effect that he should really grant Nigel Cragg an interview because he
was the best thing since sliced bread, he had all these amazing qualities and he just had to
see him, etc. etc. (Its amazing the things you can say about yourself if it is being delivered
by a third party, even if its just a piece of polished wood).
I chose my best chess piece, packed it up carefully with the letter, and sent it off. Back came
a reply asking me to come to an interview. Now, I dont know whether I was given access
because they wanted to see what kind of idiot would be daft enough to pull such a stunt, or
if they wanted to give me back the piece personally, or whether they admired my ingenuity.
Thats not the point. The point is that it got me the interview I wanted. Yes, I got my chess
piece back, and no, I didnt get the job. Thats life.

STEP 6: CALMING THE RACING MIND

The Windmills of Your Mind
Michael Legrand (sung by Noel Harrison)

This is the most critical part of your sleep procedure, not only because it is the last step but
because for lots of people it is the most difficult.
I have used the word calming rather than clearing because it better describes my
approach. Perhaps we are able to clear our mind of certain things but we can never clear
the mind completely, otherwise we wouldnt have a sleep problem. If you can calm a
situation you are then in a better position to redirect it.
Many practitioners recommend visualising some sort of idyllic pastoral scene or some happy
moment from your past. Undoubtedly this works for many people, but not everyone is
good at constructing these scenes. Im not, for one.
And for those of a similar disposition, I can hear you saying Oh no, not visualisation. I tried
it once. All I did was fidget, my mind went anywhere and everywhere I should be doing

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this, that and the other. I ended up with worries upon worries. Complete waste of time.
Ive managed to avoid this.
Heres the exact process I use to get off to sleep quickly:

Relax as much as you can.

Breathe deeply and every time you breathe feel yourself sinking ever deeper into
your bed. Soon you will be doing this part automatically.
Look into your eye-lids and see the coloured dots dancing around. With your eyes
softly focused, try to penetrate into the mass, softly but firmly.
As you are doing this, go through the alphabet naming birds, animals, countries,
cities, people, languages, etc. Your choice. Dont think too hard with this exercise. In
fact you should be thinking yourself so relaxed that you are struggling sluggishly
through thick fog to get the answers. I usually find that before Ive reached the end
of the second set, sleep has stolen up on me. A word of advice here. You need to
have about 20 list headings in reserve so that you can ring the changes. If you have
only three or four you will soon be answering them by rote, which defeats the object
of the technique. After a couple of weeks you will be falling asleep without the lists.

This exercise has the following benefits:

You experience progressive relaxation

You concentrate your mind easily on something you dont have to artificially
construct
You create a secondary diversion for the mind that minimises intrusive thoughts

Again, the secret is - dont fight anything. This is all happening in a relaxed, expectant
atmosphere.
Now, from time to time, when you are doing all this, negative thoughts and ideas will creep
in. Hopefully these will have been minimised if you have jotted down your anxieties as I
have already recommended. If you need more help see the relevant chapter in Part 5.

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PART 3
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Resolving Specific Issues

RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME

My arms and legs fell asleep. Silence of the limbs.
Jarod Kintz

Now we come to a favourite of mine - restless leg syndrome (RLS) the urge to move parts
of the body for no apparent reason. If, like me, you thought for years that it was an
aberration that was peculiar to just you, think again. 10% of the nation suffers from it to
some degree.
Those who have it rarely think it worth talking about because it doesnt occur to them that
others might be suffering from a similar condition. No wonder the medical fraternity refer to
it as the commonest movement disorder you have never heard of.
In 1672 Sir Thomas Willis, an English physician, wrote of leapings and confractions so
intense that the sufferers are not more able to sleep than if they were in a place of the
greatest torture.

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It was first accurately described as a medical condition by the Swedish neurologist Dr KarlAxel Ekbon in 1945 and it is only since then that it has been accorded the status that has
enabled it to be treated with the seriousness that it deserves. It is now officially known as
the Ekbon Syndrome and occasionally as the Willis-Ekbon Syndrome
It is classified as a syndrome by some, and as a disease by others.
What is it?
Experts believe that RLS results from an over abundance of dopamine, a chemical that sends
signals between nerve cells in the brain. This can cause you to feel sleepy during the day as
the result of too little sleep or a bad quality of sleep. If you are tired the symptoms increase.
Women are twice as vulnerable.
Most people have the idiopathic form meaning that there is no known cause therefore
it is static and there is no danger of it escalating. However, 60% of sufferers are known to
have inherited it and it tends to intensify in one out of ten cases over the age of 45.
Testing for it has proved elusive and consequently there is little medical advice available.
Severity varies between mild restlessness of the legs on some evenings to a problem that
occurs every evening and night, disturbing sleep. For most people it shows itself in a
tightening of leg muscles which is relieved by simply moving to another position. For others
it can reach almost intolerable proportions..
You lie down in bed ready to go to sleep, and just as your body begins to relax, an
uncomfortable sensation begins to overwhelm your legs. You try to ignore the crawling,
tingling or itching in your legs, hoping it will go away, but it only gets worse. You toss and
turn for a while, but eventually the urge to move more aggressively gets too much. You get
out of bed to stretch and pace the floor, and for a moment you find relief. But when you lie
down again, the restless sensations in your leg start all over again.
Experience differs greatly and in extreme cases it has been described variously like insects
crawling through your legs/soda running through your veins/water running down your leg/a
deep burning in your muscles. It can also affect the arms, though this is rare.
RLS should not be confused with another medical condition known as Periodic Limb
Movement Disorder (PLMD) where the legs twitch every 20-40 seconds when you are
asleep, for which medical advice should be sought.
Nor with a brief, involuntary total body twitch, or myoclonic jerk, which occurs when you
drift off to sleep. This is completely normal and is experienced by 75% of the population.
Causes and Remedies
The first mode of attack should be attending to factors which might contribute towards this
condition. Apart from the inherited type, RLS can be activated by other medical conditions.
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It can be brought on by pregnancy, although this usually disappears within a month of giving
birth.
Try increasing your iron levels, either by an appropriate diet or by taking tablets, as this is
the cause of 20% of cases.
Diabetes can damage blood vessels and nerves that effect leg muscles as can medication for
allergies such as anti-depressants, antihistamines, over-the-counter sleep aids and antinausea capsules.
And here are some relief actions you might like to consider. Remember you are unique
and what may not work for others, may work for you, and vice versa.

Lose weight
Have a regular sleep schedule
Wear compression socks
Cut down on caffeine, alcohol and smoking
Try out yoga, meditation or stretching before bed
Take a hot bath and concentrate on massaging your calf muscles
Grip a pillow between your legs
Tie a wrist band below the aggravating area
Apply ice-cubes or something cold
Take a cup of chamomile tea
Try a bar of lavender soap under your pillow
Stretch your legs

Here I am going to contradict myself. Earlier in the book I suggested that sleeping on your
front is the last position you should adopt for getting off to sleep. But if all else has failed, I
am suggesting doing this exactly as a last resort. I relieved my leg problems by using this
method.
The secret is to start off lying on your front. You will find that putting one arm under your
chest and the other just inside your thigh will give you a tolerably comfortable position.
Then make sure that your feet are pointing down towards the bottom of the bed. This will
give your calf muscles just enough tension which seems to prevent nerves in the legs from
compressing, and this is all that is needed.
When you feel that the sensations have been relieved, turn over to your usual pre-sleep
position. Should you fall asleep while doing this exercise, your body will soon revert to its
normal slumbering configuration.

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In extreme cases, where none of the above remedies work, take paracetamol. This will
certainly give you temporary relief until you fall asleep. But dont rely on this as it can
become addictive.

WAKING UP AT NIGHT
The sleep he went back to was never the one he left.
Ann Patchett
Do you wake up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep again?
This is the classic paradox of insomnia wanting sleep so badly that the action of wanting it
prevents you from obtaining it. Its a tough nut to crack.
Emily Martin , a professor at New York University comments The condition of sleep is
profoundly contradictory......to obtain it one must seemingly give it up.
On average, 35% of people over the age of 18 experience some degree of wakefulness three
times a week, which would indicate that with the demands of modern society our general
sleep patterns are undergoing some modifications.

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Night insomnia where you wake up and have difficulty in returning to sleep is a double
whammy as you have little power to prevent it and you feel cheated because, having got to
sleep initially, you now find yourself back exactly where you dont want to be.
Causes
Varied and many, Im afraid. They range from pain, pregnancy, anxiety and difficulty in
breathing to hunger and thirst, a need for the bathroom, sickness and an erratic sleep
schedule.
Unfortunately, the older you get, the more likely you are to experience this phenomenon. In
later life, the body tends to get tired by about 9 oclock and wants to wake up between 3
and 4 am. Also, the amount of time spent in REM sleep begins to decline. And at this stage,
many people will inevitably suffer from problems with their waterworks.
Remedies
But all is not lost! Dont forget that one of our objectives is to find coping mechanisms and
although some of the triggers are out of reach of instant solutions, there are ways in which
we can minimise their effects and return to sleep as soon as possible.

Keep your Eyes Wide Shut. If you recognise this as the title of a film starring Tom Cruise
and Nichole Kidman, you wouldnt be wrong. But it does convey exactly what I mean. If you
wake up in the night do your utmost to keep your eyes shut. The intention is to dupe your
brain into thinking that you are not actually awake and that what you are doing is just part
of your natural sleep routine and it neednt bother to concern itself any further. If you need
to blow your nose, eat a banana or check that the alarm is switched on, do these things with
your eyes closed.
As soon as you open your eyes you are done for. Ill repeat that because its so important..
as soon as you open your eyes you are done for. So long as your eyes are closed you are
minimising the use of your senses, concentrating only on the senses of touch, taste and your
imagination. When you open your eyes you are bombarded with a million other pieces of
information all vying for your attention, and effectively bringing full wakefulness upon
yourself.
Sometimes, all you need to do is accept that you are awake. Tell yourself that its perfectly
OK to wake up during the night, turn over and begin your relax/empty the mind process.
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A little preparation can minimise some of the effects.

If hunger is one of your triggers, and this tends to be constantly repeated, have a light snack
nearer your bedtime, or take a glass of milk with you and drink it when you wake up. As we
have already discussed, milk contains melatonin.
My preferred bedside food is a banana. Not only does it contain tryptophan, but potassium
and magnesium which help to relax muscles. It is easy to eat in the dark, isnt messy, retains
its integrity if you dont consume it then and also has the benefit of being one of your five
fruits/vegetables a day. Its a no-brainer.
Urinary problems. No need to get fully awake and go to the bathroom. Keep an appropriate
receptacle close to your bed where you can locate it easily without opening your eyes
under the bed or by an adjacent radiator or your night table. Also visit the toilet before you
begin your nightly ablutions and again immediately before you get into bed. This will at
least give you a head start.
Why not try yawning, based on the old adage of fake it till you make it? After all, yawning
is contagious so lets make it self-contagious it does work.
Other remedies
Dont give yourself more than about 20 minutes to get back to sleep. This would probably
be counterproductive. Get out of bed and leave your bedroom ( because, remember, bed is
for sleep/sex/recovery only). Busy yourself with stretching, reading, doing a crossword or
something that is creative.
As you feel tiredness creeping up on you and it will either go straight back to bed or go
through part of your pre-sleep routine to get you in the right frame of mind. Your choice is
whether you go through the whole routine again or select any part to start with and work
from there.
Preventatives
Lets take a look at some of the very positive steps that can be taken as preventative
measures before we even think about going to bed.
The great coffee rule. As it takes about 7 hours for the effects of coffee to wear off, received
wisdom has it that, to be on the safe side, we shouldnt drink any after midday. Tough
choice, I know. Could put a brake on your social life, but worth doing to have a night of
blissful slumber.....?
Avoid anything stressful before you go to bed such as arguments or listening to depressing
news.
Try to get at least one hour of direct sunlight a day, to top up your melatonin levels.
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If you are woken up consistently because of extraneous noises, you might consider investing
in a white noise machine.

SHIFT WORK
Im an insomniac; my mind works the night-shift.
Pete Wentz

Sorry, this one comes with another acronym SWSD or Shift Work Sleep Disorder.
Obviously, if you change your sleep pattern, and more so if you do it on a regular basis, its
going to impact upon you comprehensively.
SWSD is a circadian sleep disorder where paradoxically you have to sleep when your body
wants to be awake and be awake when your body wants to be asleep. As nearly every cell in
our body has a circadian rhythm, you can see how important it is to minimise any
interruption as effectively as possible.

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Unfortunately, businesses and organisations have become increasingly dependent on shift

workers to meet the demands of the 24 hour society and little consideration, until now, has
been given to the life/work needs of those involved.
This sleep disorder is going to be a little harder to manage not only because it will involve
the co-operation, hopefully, of your employer and family, but also the frequency of change.
We have evolved to be active during the day and to sleep at night. In bygone ages we were
programmed to wake during the hours of daylight and to sleep when it was dark.
Many people who work nights get plenty of sleep during the day. Some people are natural
night-owls and they adjust well to working at night. So getting enough good quality sleep
is not a problem for everyone who works nights.
However, working shifts can involve excessive sleeplessness resulting from working and
sleeping at non-standard times with a tendency to nap and lapse into unintended dozing.
Although research indicates that our bodies may never fully adapt to shift-work it also
shows that SWSD affects only 10% of those working the graveyard shift. So its not all bad
news. And it should be mentioned that, like most of the areas we have already looked at,
younger people tend to cope better.
Also on the plus side, these imbalances occur only during the shift-pattern sequence and the
body reverts to normal hours when the ordinary day pattern is resumed.
Unfortunately, shift work is often combined with longer than an 8 hour schedule. As a
result, shift workers tend to sleep less than day workers and become more sleep-deprived
over several days.
Workers with irregular or rotating shifts are at a particularly high risk of accidents and their
sleep problem is harder to manage.
Its probably easier to describe some of the effects, more than the causes, of the condition.
These could involve lack of mental alertness, reduced performance, poor concentration etc,
etc. Well, you know what I mean the clues are pretty obvious.
Long term, it can result in health problems such as an increased risk of flu, breast and
prostate cancer, higher cholesterol, heart attacks and obesity.
And, of course, the effect on family life should not be discounted lightly. Apart from the
disruption of normal family routines, the added pressure of possible short-temperedness
and general lack of awareness of what is happening around you can also increase tensions in
your life.
Preventatives
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Here are my 5 top preventative measures that have proved effective.

1. Because the body produces less melatonin if you work at night, make sure that you get at
least one hours sunlight, if possible, each day.
2. Eat a healthy diet. Learn to say No to foods which do not add to a healthy life style such
as sugar, salt and white-flour products. I know its difficult with supermarkets slipping extras
such as sugars and salt into their products indiscriminately to take advantage of our little
weaknesses. But do your best.
3. Make sleep a priority.
4. Keep to the same sleep/wake patterns (remember the power of habit)
5. Avoid caffeine and alcohol
Then, there are other factors to be considered.
To ensure darkness during the day, use curtains and drapes, but best of all is to use Velcro
to cover window panes. You could also consider an eye mask you know, the one that you
retained from that overnight flight you last travelled on, and is now lost in the nether
regions of your chest of draws.
Take the occasional cat-nap.
Exercise before work.
Avoid bright lights on the way home so that you can fall asleep quickly.

Coping at Work
There are a number of things that you can do for yourself at work to minimise the effect of
lack of sleep.
Ever thought of just making a quick call to the family? It benefits you, particularly if you are
working on your own, giving you something to look forward to, and also your loved ones
because they feel that, although they wont be seeing much of you the next day, they know
that you are thinking about them.
Time meals to match your day, and when you get home have only a light meal before
sleeping.
Take a few short breaks for exercise anything from just walking to a few press-ups.
Make sure that you are working under bright lights and perhaps have some fast-paced
music playing in the background.
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Work with others to help keep you awake maybe some word games for a couple of
minutes or even just light banter. Perhaps make parts of your work a little competitive.
Do help yourself by drinking coffee, tea or colas, but not towards the end of the shift.
Dont leave the most tedious or boring parts of the job until the end because this can lead to
a sense of a lack of fulfilment. Dont forget that finishing strong goes a long way to
maintaining your mental health and the quality of your sleep.
Its taken a long time, but industry and commerce are gradually becoming acquainted with
best practices regarding improving the efficiency of their night-work staff. Help yourself as
much as you can with the above suggestions.
Hopefully you might be able to approach management with a few of these ideas and, if you
are lucky, they might even arrange for you to slip in a couple of cat-naps, persuading them
with the fact that scientists at Massey University in New Zealand have concluded that
sleeping at work can improve performance.!

JET LAG
Jet lag is your soul trying to catch up after flying.
Ryan Ross

As more people than ever are taking to the air for their choice of travel, jet lag has become a
widespread short term type of insomnia.
This is brought on by various factors and obviously increases the longer your flight takes,
travelling west to east.

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If you have an early morning take-off then you start your flight already deprived of half a
nights good sleep. And this is the beginning of what is called body-clock mismatch where
your circadian rhythm is out of sync with your current sleep pattern.
Then you have the added discomfort of changing time zones, possibly an inability to sleep
particularly on a long journey, and a lack of oxygen. No wonder you feel a bit light-headed
and exhausted at the end of it all.
First piece of advice dont resort to pills before trying out the following natural remedies.
For several days prior to your embarkation make sure that you have plenty of sleep,
particularly the night before.
Reset your watch to your destination time zone. I think that this prepares you
psychologically, as well as physically, for the change. Anyway, whats the point of keeping it
to coincide with a zone that you have already left?
Make sure you keep well hydrated.
I know that in some cases its virtually impossible, but try to move about as much as you can
during the flight.
Nap when you can. If you are desperate for sleep you could try out an ostrich pillow so
called because it envelops your head, like the ostrich with its head in the sand, and allows
you to slump in silence anywhere. Just hope you dont mind looking like a Martian.
Beware of boredom keep your mind as active as possible.
When you arrive, avoid sleeping immediately and try to take an hours walk. Sunlight helps
to reset your internal clock. When I was working in the Gulf I would go straight to the office
and start work directly after a 7+ hour flight from Amsterdam and then go home at the end
of the day and sleep for about 10 hours. Certainly did the trick for me.
If you suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome try putting your bag in front of your seat so that
you can put your feet on it. This raises the legs and can provide some relief.
Lets end with some good news. Scientists have discovered how to reset the bodys clock
and a pill to do this will be on the market within five to ten years.
Jet lag is arguably the most difficult of sleeping problems to solve, not least because there
are so many variables over which you have no control delays, noise, time, uncomfortable
seating and so on. Use the suggestions I have outlined above to try to diminish your
discomfort.

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PART 4
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If All Else Fails.......

WHAT TO DO NEXT
You have to develop your whole game to completion.
Isaiah Thomas

So, we have now gone through the process. That is, you have either gone straight to the
area you think is the cause of your insomnia, or you have employed some detective work to
discover a few possibilities and have tried them out, or you have followed through using my
formula.

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Or, you may have gone to the resource areas I included and found that, miraculously, they
have made such an impact on your life that lack of sleep is no longer a problem. In which
case, you probably have never reached this chapter! Congratulations.
In spite of this, you may feel that you havent quite achieved your objective or that, for
whatever reason, you are still worried about feeling tired and think that however much
sleep you did manage to attain, its still not sufficient.
Now, I made two promises to you at the beginning of the book. I would make your sleeping
hours habitually blissful and effective, or I would show you a way of coping with your
condition.
In this chapter I will show you how others have coped with theirs.
Let me introduce you to Ali. She and her husband run a cafe which I visit once a week on my
trip to the great metropolis. The other day I caught her working on her accounts at one of
the tables and I joined her. As we were chatting I mentioned that I was writing this book and
the results I hoped it would achieve.
She then told me that she had suffered from insomnia for the last four years. Before that
she would enjoy a deep, fulfilling 8-hour long sleep every night. But four years ago, she was
involved in a car accident which resulted in severe back and neck injuries. Since then she has
managed to sleep only 4-5 hours a night.
When I asked her what effect this had had on her, she replied it was very little. Once she
had come to terms with the fact that this condition would be part of her life forever, she
just accepted it and refused to worry about it. What is, is.
The starting point is acceptance. Remember the old adage What you resist persists.? If
you try to fight it, you will end up tossing and turning, worrying about why you are not
sleeping and getting even more tired. Acceptance means that you have come to terms with
it and are not in denial. It also frees up your mind to consider alternatives.
Go to bed thinking Okay, I might not get to sleep as soon as I would like, but hey, I accept
that I have this condition and I will get to sleep at some stage. Then settle down, go over in
your mind and experience happy memories from the past, knowing that tomorrow is
another day and good things will come. Eventually you will fall asleep.
Thats all there is to it. The secret is in letting go.
But, you say, I do all this but I still wake up feeling like a wrung-out dish cloth in the
morning. Fair comment. We have an answer for that, too, which will be revealed in the
next chapter. Its sort of an advanced birthday present for you. The icing on the cake.

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Now, lets look at how some famous, and not so famous, people who have managed their
insomnia. Im not doing this for you to copy any of their methods. Its just to show you that,
in spite of suffering from sleeplessness, you can still live a productive and fulfilling life.
Leonardo da Vinci is reputed to have slept only 2 hours a day, napping 15 minutes in every 2
hours. Okay, I know the math doesnt add up, but you get my drift.
So, whats my point? It is that the human mind and body are hugely adaptable and resilient,
particularly when it comes to our sleeping arrangements, because it can draw on other
resources which I shall go into later in the book.
If you do suffer from interrupted sleep, it isnt Armageddon. Lets take a look at those who
have led very successful lives in spite of this disability, and how they overcame or at least
managed to live with it.
Marlene Dietrich, the actress, insisted on a sardine and onion sandwich on rye as her presleep snack.
Winston Churchill, politician, suffered from insomnia when he was depressed and insisted
on changing beds.
Amy Lowell, the poet, when travelling, would book five rooms in any hotel she stayed in.
The five rooms were the one she stayed in, a room on either side, the one below and the
one above, so guaranteeing a quiet night.
It is said that Edison, who managed only 5 hours a night, only invented the light bulb so that
he would have light to read by when he couldnt sleep.
Theodore Roosevelt conquered his sleep problem with a glass of milk laced with cognac.
And the list goes on Alexandre Dumas, Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, Franz
Kafka, Tallulah Bankhead, and to bring us right up to date, Oscar Pretorius, the paralympic
gold medal winner. All suffering some kind of sleep deprivation, yet all managing to lead
successful lives.
And if we really need to hammer the point of the amazing capacity of the brain to adapt,
think of Lee Hadwin who actually draws in his sleep see him on YouTube.
So, totally accept where you are and be aware of how others reconcile their working life to
their insomnia.

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ENERGY: THE PULSE OF LIFE

If you want to find the secrets of the universe think in terms of energy,
frequency and vibration.
Nikola Tesla.

So, youve just had a rotten night. Your nerves are all shot and you can just about crawl out
of bed. Youve had it up to here. Youve been all through the book, religiously eaten the
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right food, taken the right herbal remedies, followed instructions implicitly and youve tried
all the methods. And here you are, right back where you started. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
First of all, lets get the negatives out of the way. Stop reading miles of newspaper, stop
watching great swathes of TV and stop wasting your time surfing the web.. All these
activities are leaching away your energy minute by minute, thus making you even more
tired.
Im not of course saying dont continue to do these things, but in moderation, please.
Im very sorry for you folk who are in unemployment. Not your fault. Times are hard. I
understand. And what else is there to do except all of the above which takes your mind
temporarily off the constraints of your life. But for your own good, please try to make the
effort to discover something creative and positive you can do. Sitting around all day will
only add to your sleeplessness. Been there myself.
So what now?
The truth is that we must turn our focus away from the pursuit to capture as much sleep as
possible, and look to other ways of reducing our tiredness. Accept it and move on. Lets see
if nature has provided you with a natural default position so that in spite of your lack of
sleep and present sluggish condition, you can find a way of reinvigorating yourself, and
getting rid of this inertia.
Well, she has. I have a surprise for you. Here is the birthday present I promised you in the
last chapter. The gift of energy. Well, its not actually a gift more a part of your physical
make-up that you may have overlooked in your search for solutions.
Energy is the fuel that drives you to action.
As humans we have a great potential for producing and using physical energy. Take ultra
endurance runner Stu Mittleman who once ran 1000 miles in 11 days and 19 hours. He
would run for 21 hours a day and sleep only 3 hours out of 24. Its just amazing the
resources that the human body has to draw on. Ever wondered how in your life when you
have been presented with a crisis, sufficient energy was produced for you to cope with it?
Of course, you have already been acquiring energy naturally through a host of physiological
activities like breathing, eating and exercise. Thats a given. But now its time to put in a bit
more effort to maximise output, to put your shoulder to the wheel.
Authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their groundbreaking work The Power of Full
Engagement take a radical view on some of the old assumptions of the management of
energy. They have turned around the concepts of regimented segments and produced this
more relaxed model.

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THE POWER OF FULL ENGAGEMENT

Old Paradigm

New Paradigm

Manage time

Manage energy

Avoid stress

Seek Stress

Life is a marathon

Life is a series of sprints

Downtime is wasted time

Downtime is productive time

Rewards fuel performance

Purpose fuels performance

Self-discipline rules

Rituals rule

The power of positive thinking

The power of full engagement

Now, while I may not buy into the whole package (Im a time-control freak myself) the
message is very clear. Dont wait until you have had your cup of coffee and sat for an hour
waiting for motivation, hoping that your body will spring to life. It wont unless someone
throws a firework through your window.
Im not saying that this will wipe out all the effects of insomnia that you are experiencing in
your daily life it might. But it will at least help you to cope with it.
Monica Seles, Pete Sampras, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Gabriela Sabatini all have
immense talent and skill. But even they eventually reached the point where their play flat lined. Which is when they paid a visit to the aforementioned experts, whose only focus was
to improve their energy levels. No new techniques, no new psychologies, no new workout
regimes just the increase of latent energy by careful awareness of how they were using
their bodies, to raise their game,
Now, these champions of the court went through several gruelling months of training to
maximise their resources and harness them to the specifics of their craft which resulted in
further championship-winning performances.
Does anyone reading this have a sports championship in mind? I thought not. So I wont be
introducing you to all the mechanisms outlined in the book, but I think we can steal a few
ideas to compensate for our lack of vim and zest.
All things being equal, in life, as in sport, it is your well-spring of energy that makes the
difference.
The fundamental rule is full engagement. This means, whatever you are doing, give it
your full attention. Get up and do something! It doesnt matter if its cleaning the car, doing
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the washing-up or taking the dog for a walk. Just do it as the Nike ads used to say. Take
physical action! Focus all your physical, emotional and mental resources on the job in hand.
Action produces energy, the more energy, the more action, and so momentum increases.
Before a performance, Elvis Presley paced out an exact number of steps from a starting
position to the stage where he would become fully hyped up having ramped up his energy
level with every step. He never forgot to be fully charged before every performance.
Now, for those of you who shudder at the very thought of concerning yourself with
something in the physically active area, let me put forward an idea which many people have
found useful
Its called the 15 Second Principle created by Al Secunda and works on the by an inch its
a cinch concept. Its rather like dipping your toe in the water before going in for a swim.
The body doesnt like change and is naturally resistant to any alteration in its state. This
method fools the mind into thinking that it isnt really a change, more of a momentary
diversion.
You select a task, any task, and promise yourself you will keep at it for at least 15 seconds.
This amount of time has been chosen because apart from holding your hand in boiling
water you can stick at anything for at least that length of time.
Once you have done this, you will find it easier to go on and complete the whole job. I
prefer to give it five minutes which takes me happily to the point where I feel I want to
continue.
So, full engagement, full focus.
When I was at school I received some very good advice on writing essays. Start with an
earthquake and work up to a climax. Very good advice indeed. And thats exactly what we
should do to raise out energy levels. Explode onto the scene in the morning. Sing, put on
your favourite music, dance around followed, perhaps, by a few quick press-ups. Do
whatever you need to do to get that heart pumping. As the teacher shouting down the
corridor would yell, MOOOVE!!
And, dont forget that, on recent findings, willpower is an expendable commodity and as
the day proceeds, it diminishes. Take advantage of it when you can. So start the day strong.
Make use of power-naps. Make them deliberate, lasting from 20-30 minutes. No more. This
is not the same as taking 40 winks because then you just happen to nod off.
Try talking to yourself either verbally or mentally. Is this already fairly widespread or am I
the only one who indulges in this practice? No, I believe more people do than care to admit
it. Self-talk focuses the mind and keeps out intruding thoughts, concentrating more energy
on the task in hand.
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Cut down stress, that is, unproductive stress physically relax. Just become aware of the
tension in your body during the day and deliberately relax. It can be quite a revelation how
much tension we carry around with us. The aim is to conserve energy.
Dont let your focus drift. Keep sharp. Dont misunderstand me. Daydreaming has its place
and thats exactly it it has its place when doing mundane or repetitive work, walking, etc.
But when you should be concentrating, keep your mind on the job.
Acknowledge your negative feelings and thoughts just acknowledge them and move on.
Giving them more than passing attention debilitates you and makes you lose focus.
Being a little more mundane, the use of a timer for your tasks relieves you of extraneous
pressure. It takes your attention off the clock and puts it where it should be. Estimate the
time you need for a job plus a bit extra.
I have kept my best piece of advice until now. Its a technique I picked up so many years ago
that I cant remember its origin. Its a fantastic way of giving yourself a boost, particularly in
public, without anyone being aware that you are doing it. Here it is.
Be in a relaxed position, either standing or sitting. Begin to tense your body lightly by slowly
clenching your hands, bearing in mind that you never actually get to close your fists entirely.
It feels more like a nervous tension rather than a muscular one. While you are doing this
concentrate on your arms. You will soon feel a sense of energy, like an electrical charge,
going through your arms, chest, and then a general diffusion throughout the body. A bit of
imagination might help initially. You should feel it most powerfully in your solar plexus and
lower abdomen.
If you continue to tense/release you will feel increased surges of energy.
Use intent. At the beginning of any task just say to yourself I intend to...... It is a direct
non-pressured order to your subconscious which gathers together all your forces.
Work in bursts. There is a rhythm in everything the seasons, the tides, the weather. So it is
with energy. It ebbs and flows, comes and goes. So take frequent mini-breaks. Work in
spurts and commit to full engagement.

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Part 5

Living Life to the Full

TECHNIQUE
HOW TO GET MONEY FOR ANYTHING FAST!
Stuart Lichtman

I know, I know. It seems so improbable. But allow me to explain.

Im taking a guess here, but I am willing to bet that, the economy being what it is, the cause
of not being able to get to sleep for many people is concerns about money. This being so, I
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make no apology for steering you in the direction of this website. If lack of money is keeping
you awake at night, then the least I can do is to introduce you to a method that I personally
have used to access cash with no downsides in a matter of weeks.
By using it, I have received cash from unexpected sources such as tax rebates, a commission
cheque being paid 15 years after I had left a company, bequests, and so on.
There are hundreds of scams on the market that promise you untold riches, vast houses,
expensive holidays, yada,yada,yada. You purchase a product which you cant make work so
you ditch it. You buy another one which is so complicated you give up after a couple of days.
Then you jump to the next one which does not live up to its advertising. And you go on to
the next, losing even more of your hard earned cash. And that one doesnt work.
By now you are caught in what I call the spiral of hope. You become addicted to surfing the
net, hoping that the next site will provide the answer to your prayers. Dont worry. Youre
no different from the rest of the population. Weve all been there.
Stuart Lichtmans techniques are simple, but you do have to put in some effort. It isnt a
get rich quick scheme, but it will produce sums of cash, usually within a month or less.
Hence the word fast.
Unlike most of the methods I will give you in this book, I cannot isolate one technique to
give you an immediate taste of it, or by itself bring an immediate outcome. The system is
built on a series of psychological principles involving clearly defined goals backed up by selftalk, writing, imaging, etc.
The rationale behind the process is simple. It is based on taking any successful experience
you have had in the past and that really does mean any. Whether its scoring a goal,
winning an argument, or even triumphing in a family game of monopoly, everyone has
enjoyed some moments of success. This experience is then used as a stepping-stone to
create something you want in the fairly near future.
I know that that sounds a bit like every other self-improvement course you may have come
across but I urge you at least to give it a look. Youve nothing to lose. (Im tempted here to
write trust me on this, but Ive learned that when someone says trust me you rightly
give them a wide berth!) Anyway, use the link below, visit the site and see what you think.

To visit the webpage for Stuart Lichtmans book click on:

https://svpi.infusionsoft.com/go/AF2/MALAFOOF

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TECHNIQUE
HOW TO FEEL WONDERFUL
Richard Bandler

I would be remiss if I didnt mention another technology that has made a huge impact on
the neuroscience scene and this is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, now known under the
more popular name of NLP.

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Its main premise is that if you change the way you view the world, and how you feel about
it, you change the way you react to it. If you are aware of the way you project pictures in
your mind, you also have the power to change what effect the images have on the way
things look. Dependent on the feeling you have about it, you can either reinforce or
diminish it.
Again, you can view most of the techniques on YouTube being very ably presented and I
wouldnt presume to upstage the professionals.
But, while you are reading this, you might like to divert yourself by taking a dip into this
experience. It is an exercise designed by Richard Bandler, co-founder of NLP:

How to Feel Wonderful

1. Think of a time when you felt wonderful.
2. Close your eyes and imagine that time in vivid detail. See the image clearly, hear the
sounds loudly, remember the feelings they were then.
3. Imagine yourself stepping into that experience and imagine being in that memory as
if its happening now. See what youd see, hear what youd hear, feel how good
youd feel. Make the colours stronger and make it brighter if that helps. Notice how
you were breathing back then and breathe that way now.
4. Pay attention to the wonderful feeling in your body and get a sense of where the
feeling starts, where it goes and the direction it moves in. Imagine taking control
over the feeling and spinning it faster and faster and stronger and stronger through
your body as the feelings increase.
5. Think of a time in the future where you could use these good feelings. Spin these
feelings throughout your body as you think of the future and the things that you are
doing over the next few weeks. Dont be too surprised to find yourself feeling really
good for absolutely no reason.

Get the Life You Want Richard Bandler

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TECHNIQUE
HOW TO CHANGE A NEGATIVE THOUGHT
Richard Bandler

Another attitude-changing exercise from Richard Bandler:

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If you find yourself in a negative or unresourceful state, you can change it by altering the
qualities of the feeling.
For example, think about somebody who annoys you, intimidates you or irritates you. Make
an image of them and see them look at you in whatever way they look at you when they are
annoying you. Hear them say whatever it is that they say and notice the bad feeling that
happens in your body.
Next, take this image and make it black and white. Move it far off into the distance. Make it
much smaller, one eighth its size. Place a clowns nose on their face. Hear them say
whatever it is that they say but hear them say it in the voice of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck
or Sylvester the Cat. This changes the feeling that you have towards them and allows you to
deal with them with more confidence and effectiveness.

Get the Life You Want - Richard Bandler

TECHNIQUE
THREE REALLY USEFUL ATTITUDES
Nicholas Boothman

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Nicholas Boothman is a Canadian who spent the first 25 years of his working life as a fashion
photographer and has used his experience to add a new dimension to communication in
business and personal life. Here are his three values:

There are three really useful attitudes that successful leaders have in common: enthusiasm,
curiosity and humility. In the right combination, these three attitudes create an irresistible
presence.
Be enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is hypnotic, magnetic, unstoppable. You cant buy it you can
only reveal it. It infects others with feelings of excitement, energy and vitality. The word
enthusiasm comes from the Greek, meaning God flowing through.
Stay curious. Show me a business person who is hungry to learn more about whats going
on around them and Ill show you someone who is evolving, moving forward, making
connections. Always be open to your natural-born curiosity.
Embrace humility. Most successful people have large egos and a flair for self-promotion,
yet manage to contain them and display a public persona rooted in modesty and service to
others. When a large ego is generously wrapped in humility, it is a handsome package. An
ego thats not tempered with humility is arrogant and ugly.
Think of any great leader you admire and you will find these three attitudes at the centre of
their success. Enthusiasm, curiosity, and humility can be consciously chosen behaviours.
They can infuse you with unmistakable signals of vigour and openness.

Convince Them in 90 Seconds or Less - Nicholas Boothman

TECHNIQUE
COURAGE - THE INNER AUTHORITY
Phil Stutz and Barry Michels

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Sometimes we look at people in the public domain such as entertainers, politicians,

sportsmen, musicians, seminar presenters even, and wonder at their total self-assurance.
Where does it come from?
Firstly, it comes from years of stretching the boundaries, making mistakes and learning from
them, pushing themselves on a consistent basis and being willing to make present sacrifices
for future gains..
Ever thought of the difference between a professional and an amateur? The amateur
practises until he gets it right and the professional practises until he cant get it wrong. Its
that simple. It takes time and persistence. One of my sons is a professional magician and he
spends hours and hours perfecting his tricks or illusions, as he prefers to call them. And he
keeps on practising them after he has mastered them. Nothing comes without a price.
Secondly, they all have situations where they are completely incompetent, so maybe we
should be aware that in many ways they are as human as we are. We all have our own
strengths and weaknesses. This is probably why we like seeing our stars in celebrity
programmes where they are performing out of character and we see their vulnerable sides.
Now, there are occasions in our lives when we are required to do things that are outside our
area of competence such as making a speech, performing on stage, or making a point at a
public gathering. Or even having the courage to front up to someone who is giving us grief.
Perhaps you dont have time to put in weeks of preparation, to practice in situ, or to hone
your skills to perfection as the professionals do in the real world.
Two American psychologists, Phil Stutz and Barry Michels, have come to our aid and
formulated a technique which will allow us to overcome our insecurities in situations when
we find it difficult to express ourselves the moments when we freeze and find ourselves
tongue-tied.
They call this method Inner Authority.
When you are in a situation where you need to call on your inner reserves in a fight or
flight situation, you have inner turmoil. There is one part of you desperately wanting to
handle the situation in a mature way which leaves you with your dignity intact and there is
another part screaming at you that youre not up to doing this, you lack the skills to cope
and, most psychologically devastating of all, you will probably end up being humiliated.
No wonder most of us dont want to put our toes in the water.
Inner Authority looks to take that negative part of yourself and to use it to strengthen your
approach.
Lets suppose you create an imaginary person that represents the negative side of you, that
part which is intent on sabotaging all your efforts, feeding you with all those rational ideas
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why you wont succeed in what you are trying to accomplish. Lets call this part your
Shadow. Give it a shape and create it in front of you. Dont worry about getting the right
image, it will continue evolving anyway. Practise conjuring up the Shadow until it becomes
easy. The authors then go on to explain:
The tool consists of three steps: projecting the Shadow image, creating a bond with it, and
then silently commanding the audience to listen as you turn to face it.
Imagine that youre standing in front of an audience of one, or many. See an image of your
Shadow off to one side, facing you. Ignore the audience completely and focus all of your
attention on the Shadow. Feel an unbreakable bond between the two of you as a unit
youre fearless.
Together, you and the Shadow forcefully turn toward the audience and silently command
them to Listen!. Feel the authority that comes when you and your shadow speak with
one voice.

The Tools 5 Life-Changing Techniques to Unlock Your Potential - Phil Stutz and Barry
Michels

TECHNIQUE
DEALING WITH PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS
Tapping

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Emotional Freedom Technique

This technique was known originally as EFT but is now better known as Tapping.
There are scores of people far more qualified than I am to explain this system to you, but I
will give you a brief outline.
Suffice to say that several years ago I was suffering acute back pain that was so severe that
the only way I could get out of bed was by rolling off it. I couldn't even sit up to read a book.
After following the procedure for about ten minutes, the discomfort disappeared and hasn't
presented itself since. That's how powerful it is. Since then I have recommended it to friends
and colleagues who have had similar amazing results.
Put simply, it is based on acupuncture, using your fingers instead of needles to tap on the
chakras, or power-points, of the body. This is accompanied by a series of verbal statements
asserting that you acknowledge that you have this specific symptom, which confirms that
you are not in denial, and that, despite all your faults you are happy with yourself, which
demonstrates that you have the capacity to change the situation.
No point in my going into further detail on the technique. Just go to Google/YouTube on
your computer, type in EFT followed by your ailment, and you will find no shortage of
people there ready to explain and guide you through the process.

TECHNIQUE
THE IDEA GENERATOR
Michael Neill
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1. Choose a comfy chair and choose a time when you have no appointments or
commitments. (Recommendation is that you take half-an-hour minimum, but I often
have results in 10 minutes).
2. Turn off the phone and go sit in your comfy chair. Your job is to stay in that chair
unless or until you get in touch with an authentic heartfelt desire: something youre
really inspired to do.
3. Each time you get an impulse to get up and do something, ask yourself if the impulse
is coming from your scripting (conditioning) or your wanting: the voice of the
should or the voice of inspiration.
If you suddenly remember something urgent you have to do, its probably just your
emotions trying to re-assert their authority. Kick their butts back into line by sitting
on yours just a little bit longer.
If its inspiration calling, get up and do it, then go back to your comfy chair and wait
for the next authentic impulse. Its important to always go back to the chair
between each task.

You Can Have What You Want - Michael Neill

TECHNIQUE
CREATING HARD ENERGY
Daniel Browne

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Hard energy is the energy of excitement and enthusiasm, of motion and emotion the type
of energy you experience when you are at a great concert or watching a football match or
playing sports or exercising. Your energy can be influenced by your surroundings, your
emotions or your actions. And when you create hard energy you also create endorphins in
your body. Endorphins are the chemicals produced in your brain that make you feel good,
reduce pain and increase your immune system.
To generate hard energy, you need to think of something exciting, and you will find yourself
becoming excited. Move your body in a way that energises you. If you are not in the mood,
just fake it until you make it.
Exercises for instant energy (You may want to do this somewhere in private!)

Jump up and down with excitement. Just jump up and down and be excited for 30
seconds. If youre not in the mood, again just fake it until you make it. The more
you practise this the more proficient you will become. Practise being more excited
than you have ever been.
Energy clap. A quick technique I do when I want to get ready for action. Just clap
your hands together and shout (or think it to yourself) something like Lets go!,
Lets rock! or Im ready! This doesnt create as much energy as other exercises but
it induces a mental shift to psych yourself up for another activity or to get cracking
on what you are already doing.
The surprise technique. A great way to wake up your body if you are feeling tired.
While sitting normally, suddenly imagine yourself being surprised by something that
creates a shock to your system, like someone throwing ice-cold water in your face.
Take in a sharp breath and really imagine it so that it seems real to you. Your
imagination is so powerful that the brain cant tell the difference between
imagination and reality (if you do it right). Allow your imagination to awaken you to
alertness.
Primal roar. Youll need to do this where you can make some noise. Just let out a
scream or a roar at the top of your voice. Pour any emotion you want into it. The
idea is to let go and let rip, tap into your primal nature. You will instantly wake
yourself up and feel more alert.
The fun factor. Probably the simplest way to create more energy, is to increase the
amount of fun in your life. Have you noticed, when you have more fun you feel
more energetic and need less sleep? Laughing releases endorphins in your brain and
makes you feel better. So increase the amount of fun you have, preferably with no or
limited alcohol as too much negates the effects. Be spontaneous and be open to
having fun, everywhere.

The Energy Equation Daniel Browne

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REFERENCES

Tired But Wired - Nerina Ramlakhan

The Effortless Sleep Method - Sasha Stephens
Get A Better Nights Sleep - Ian Oswald and Kirstine Adam
I Can Make You Sleep - Paul McKenna
An Introduction to Coping with Insomnia and Sleep Problems - Colin A Espie
The Energy Equation - Daniel Browne
The Power of Full Engagement - Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
The 15 Second Principle - Al Secunda
You Can Have What You Want Michael Neill
The Tools 5 Life-Changing Techniques Phil Stutz & Barry Michels
Convince Them in 90 Seconds or Less Nicholas Boothman

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COPYRIGHT

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission
of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations.

Nigel Cragg fastasleepfast.com

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