Last week I afforded myself the opportunity to float through the South East and Riverland, catching up with friends and former clients.
Having worked with individuals across a period of time, people have gained confidence to tell me many of their problems.
One such case was from a guy who had become frustrated about not be able to sleep at night. This chap runs a large business and pushes himself to the limit - which could be a big part of his problem.
Having spent many hours tossing and turning in bed in my life, I had a real empathy for his situation. In many instances I have felt more tired when I got up in the morning than when I went to bed.
Bed is one of the best places to do your thinking because there is no noise, you are hopefully relaxed and the surrounds are dark, so there are no visual and audible distractions.
Most of my career I only used mental energy so often when I went to bed, I was not physically tired. If I am physically tired, then I am more likely to go to and stay asleep.
Many farmers are in this situation for the majority of the year. Technology has replaced many of the physical activities to run a farm.
Reading books on the subject of sleep, they recommend getting out of bed and doing something and making a second attempt a little while later.
A lot of sleep deprivation can be put down to worry. Whatever the subject may be, if you are worrying about it, you need to deal with the matter full on and that usually involves discussing it with someone else.
Writing things down is like offloading your mind because now you do not have to rely on your memory for everything.
I have long believed if something consumes you, it has a chance of bringing you undone. In other words, it will rob you of sleep and your performance during the next day will be sub-par.
Distractions can be useful in allowing our minds to switch off from the all-consuming topic.
If you are suffering from a lack of sleep, it may be time to study the type of matters that are causing the problem.
If worrying is the underlying cause of your lack of sleep, it may pay to log these matters over time.
It is interesting to note that when most people analyse past worries, they usually find that less than 10 per cent of the issues were worth worrying about.
Not letting your mind return to work-related issues following the evening meals may help, and turning the phone off may do likewise.
Having a hot drink or bath before going to bed helps some but not me.
Self-talk - where you continually tell yourself the same thing - can lead the mind to ultimately believing the change you want.
If it was only as simple as doing one thing to improve the amount of sleep you attain. For most, it may require doing more than one thing to bring about an improved sleep pattern.
It is far too important to our enjoyment of life to let a sleep problem linger.
