Many of us that suffer with insomnia can actually pinpoint the time it started. It could be the death of a loved one, exams or a stressful relationship. But ever since then we’ve not been able to sleep well.

Even if the triggering event has passed and no longer concerns us, our sleep continues to suffer. This means we’ve actually learned to sleep badly and this is what we’ve come to expect. We believe we’re poor sleepers and therefore we will continue to sleep poorly.

Our insomnia is actually just a bad habit!

Hey, that’s actually good news! Habits can be broken and beliefs can be changed with a bit of effort. Sometimes just realising this can be enough to allow us to experience better sleep.

Usually though, it will take a bit more work. Habits can become pretty firmly entrenched (as any smoker would attest to!) We’ve got to change the belief that we don’t sleep well into the belief that we enjoy deep and restful sleep every night.

Affirmations work well. An affirmation is when we repeat positive statements to ourselves over and over again until our sub conscious mind accepts it and changes our bad habits into good ones.

Many people poo pah affirmations saying, “I’ve tried them and they don’t work” Well they do work but you must keep them up. Don’t affirm for a few days and give up. Affirmations can take weeks to have a beneficial effect.

Another reason affirmations may not work is that we have trouble believing them. Our rational mind agues all the time. For instance if we affirm, “I sleep well for 8 hours every night”, we think to ourselves, “That’s rubbish! I’m lucky if I get 4 hours a night!”

So make your affirmations believable. Try affirming, “I am sleeping better and waking up more refreshed”.

Another useful tip is to say your affirmations when you’re relaxed. This is when your sub conscious mind is most receptive and will accept the suggestions more readily. Try it during a relaxing meditation, last thing at night or when you’ve just woken up.

A natural sleep aid is very useful during this time as you’re learning to sleep better. The site below will recommend safe and natural sleep medications.

If you have the odd night when sleep refuses to come no matter what, try to relax and accept this as part of being normal. Even the best sleepers have nights like these. Just lie still and remember that you will still get some benefit from just lying back and relaxing.

So don’t tell yourself you suffer from insomnia. Instil positive affirmations into your mind and watch your sleep improve.