Sleep
Sleep is a natural biological process. It cannot be forced.
When you are not sleeping well, it is understandable to want to do something about it. I work with people who want to sleep well again, without their nights and days becoming organised around trying to make sleep happen.
My works is grounded in sleep and circadian science and pays close attention to your own experience of sleep and wakefulness.
When sleep becomes a struggle
You may find it difficult to fall asleep, wake during the night and struggle to return to sleep, or wake earlier than you would like. These are common experiences of insomnia. Perhaps your sleep no longer feels as reliable as it once did. Or the timing of your sleep does not fit easily with the life you need or want to live.
Poor sleep is one part of the experience. Then there is how you begin to respond to it.
You may wonder whether you will sleep tonight, watch the clock, change your routine, cancel things after a poor night, or worry about how you will manage the following day. You may have tried different advice and strategies, only to find yourself thinking about sleep more and more.
What begins as wanting to sleep can gradually become a feeling that you have to sleep.
When this happens, there are things we can work with.
How I understand sleep problems
Sleep and waking life
My background is in sleep and circadian science, including the relationship between our body clock and sleep.
Sleep is biological. Our body clock and sleep pressure help determine when and how we sleep, while light, activity, hormones, health and the substances we consume can all influence the process.
And sleep does not happen separately from the rest of our lives.
Stress, illness, hormonal changes, grief, work or changes in our circumstances can disrupt sleep. Often, the thing that first disturbed our sleep passes or changes, yet the sleep problem remains.
Part of the reason can lie in what happens next: how we respond to being awake at night, what we change in an effort to sleep, what we think and feel about not sleeping, and how we approach the following day.
Sleep and waking life have a two-way relationship.
This is why I don’t begin with a standard set of sleep rules. Different things matter for different people.
Working with me
We start by getting curious about your sleep.
I want to understand what happens during your nights and your days: your sleep pattern and body-clock timing, what changed when the problem began, what you do when sleep is difficult and how you respond the following day.
Thoughts and feelings are part of this too, including what happens when you are awake and have to sleep, and how you respond to yourself when sleep doesn’t come.
We are not looking for another way to control sleep. Instead, we work towards there being less effort and struggle around sleep and wakefulness.
My work draws on sleep and circadian science as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). What this looks like will be different for each person.
What can change?
Of course, if you are struggling with sleep, you want to sleep well. That matters.
Our work is also about changing what happens around sleep, so that there can be less worry, effort and pressure around the night, and less need for the following day to be determined by how well you slept.
A poor night may still be a poor night. It does not have to take over. You can begin to respond more flexibly when sleep is difficult and stay engaged with the people and things that matter to you.
And as some of the struggle around sleep begins to loosen, there is more room for sleep to happen naturally.
Contact me
If you are thinking about working with me, you can book a free 15-minute phone call through my online diary.
We can briefly talk about what is happening with your sleep and what you are looking for help with. I can answer any questions you have and explain the fee and what happens next.
Sleep sessions are 50 minutes and take place online.