If we cannot force sleep, we can create the conditions so that it arrives faster and naturally.
After a day marked by a strong mental activity and many cogitations, it is often difficult to sleep. It is not because the night falls that we can simply say to our brain: “Stop, you can sleep”. On the contrary, it is often at this point that the mind begins to process and organize all the information accumulated during the day. This intense psychic activity delays falling asleep. In psychology, sleep is sometimes described as “little death”: a moment of total letting go. However, for people with a strong need for control, this detachment can be a source of anxiety and make sleep even more difficult. So what to do?
To promote rapid falling asleep, beyond conventional recommendations such as extinguishing screens or finishing your meal at least two hours before bedtime, the best according to Gaëlle Piton is to use sophrology. This psycho-corporeal discipline, which connects the body and the mind, is based on breathing, muscle relaxation and visualization. The sophrologist recommends practicing abdominal breathing just before sleeping: “Inspire by gently inflating the belly then exhausting by letting it deflate, while imagining that the body gradually becomes heavier on the mattress. By feeling the support points and the body’s contact with the bed, you gradually slide towards sleep. “
This technique is the simplest and most effective to calm the body and mind before sleeping. For an even better result, prepare sleep throughout the day. “Practicing breathing exercises in the evening, lying on the back, can help prepare the body for rest. But it is even more effective to integrate small moments of break into your day, such as decompression airlocks” she continues. In the same way, the regularity is essential: it is better to practice abdominal breathing 3 minutes a day every day (or even several times during the day) than 45 minutes only once a week.
Small bonus of the specialist: “Imagine your day as a page that is closed, by posing an intention:” May I spend a quiet night which allows me to recover “. Associated with breathing, this intention becomes more powerful: in inspiration, we mobilize this wish, and to the expiration, we imagine disseminating the energy of a restful sleep in each of the cells of his body.”
Thanks to Gaëlle Piton, author of “The great book of Sophrology on a daily basis” (ed. Le Courrier du Livre)
