Intuitive people, the very people who need their reboot time the most, often don’t get enough sleep. More sensitive to light, sound, noise and external stimuli, intuitives, highly sensitive people, and empaths often have trouble sleeping.
Getting a deeper sleep promotes access to the higher level dream states, enabling you to access deeper insight, guidance, and symbolism in your sleep. Thus, sleep is important to the intuitive, in addition to all the usual reasons why sleep is necessary for health overall.
So if you have you haven’t been dreaming lately, try out some of these techniques to start getting some of that much-needed rest and get back on your game.
USE EARPLUGS
Highly sensitive people are well, sensitive. Thus, they are sensitive to noise, light, and movement and reducing all three of these things in the best way you can, can help you achieve a better night’s sleep. Ear plugs work specifically well for city dwellers, but they also work well for forest dwellers dealing with all the bumps and knocks in the night. I like the squishy kind you see here.
Ear plugs don’t block out all the sound, because some sound is actually not heard through the ears but felt through the bones. So those worried about not being able to hear a break in – don’t worry – ear plugs don’t make you completely deaf, they just lighten the burden of what you’re capable to attuning to hearing, making a restful sleep more possible than before.
WEAR AN EYE MASK
Artificial lighting affects the rest cycles of the world’s ocean critters, so of course, it can impact your sleeping situation. Lighting as simple as a small porch lamp coming in through a window is enough light pollution to disrupt a single person’s sleep/wake cycle, as is the lighting of the full moon. To counteract these effects, I suggest investing in a comfortable silk sleep mask like the one you see here – it’s completely changed the way I sleep, so much so, that I can’t travel without it!
INSTALL BEDROOM LOCKS
Fear of intruders, people breaking in, and a possible night time burglary rest heavy on the minds of anyone trying to have a restful night’s sleep. Having these thoughts cycle through your awareness can indeed make one jumpy, which in turn prevents a full, deep sleep cycle from taking place.
Thus, you’d be surprised at the impact of installing simple door locks can make on one’s improved ability to rest peacefully. Outside of installing a new door knob, I suggest adding an inexpensive child proof lock to your interior bedroom door like these, made for sliding doors or these that sit inside the door frame, made for hinge doors. It won’t be enough to keep to intruder out, but it will be enough to alert you that something’s awry – which is often just what is needed to put your mind at ease. Once the mind is at ease, sleep becomes more possible.
TALK TO YOUR PARTNER… ABOUT SLEEPING SOLO
Sensitive people are highly sensitive to movement around them, as well as both light and sound, so for some sensitives, sleeping alone on night’s when they’re feeling most awake, is going to be the key to getting a good night’s rest, especially if your partner tosses and turns.
According to Judith Orloff M.D. in her article, Secrets for Sensitive People: Why Emotional Empaths Stay Lonely, many emotional empaths and sensitives sleep alone or don’t share a bed with their partner at least some, if not all, of the time. Talking to your partner about the need for more space when sleeping, then taking the necessary actions of that discussion, can make all the difference in getting a better night’s rest.
WATCH YOUR CAFFEINE LEVELS (AND ALSO, IDENTIFY YOUR PEAK SENSITIVITY TO IT)
Too much caffeine can inhibit your ability to get a good night’s rest. To find out how sensitive you are, practice reducing your caffeine intake to a minimum level, then slowly build back up to test your sensitivity.
Here is a listing of the average caffeine levels in different teas and coffees, which you can use for lowering your initial intake and then slowly raising it back up which will help you identify your peak sensitivity level (MayoClinic.org).
BOOST YOUR MELATONIN LEVELS
The leading causes of melatonin deficiency are:
Lack of sleep, or an increase in anything that disrupts sleep, such as:
- Shift work
- Late nights
- Jet lag
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Blood sugar
- Stress
- Exposure to artificial lights (mainly blue light, so careful with those acne masks before bed!)
- Electromagnetic waves
- And age, as some adults produce no melatonin, at all!
(Source: The Institute of Health Sciences)
Taking a low dosage supplement of Melatonin can dramatically improve your ability to get a good night’s rest. This is something that’s worked for me for years, and it also comes highly recommended by Dr. Laura Koniver, The Intuition Physician. It’s not something you need to do every night, so it’s great as a pick me up during particularly stressful periods, and in the meantime –
Did you know that Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland? This is an interesting fact for those interested in the pineal gland’s connections to intuition and the sleep-wake cycle.
START WINDING DOWN TWO HOURS BEFORE BED
By reducing your artificial lighting, decreasing your stimuli, and beginning your relaxation process in the several hours before bed, you’re priming your body and your mind for a restful sleep.
Starting your bedtime process earlier can not only help you sleep more deeply, but it can help you relax, detox your nerve endings and get a little me-time in.