The Key to Better Sleep

I'm quoted in a short article on improving sleep that appears in Sleepopolis

Rachel MacPherson has published:

The Key to Better Sleep May Lie in Your Social Calendar, According to Doctors
at:
https://sleepopolis.com/news/socializing-more-could-improve-sleep/

You might be interested to read my comments in full:

Hi Rachel,
Sleep problems relate to brain and body rhythms and a person's weak control over them. Sleep requires a relaxed state in both body and mind, and a disengagement from vigilance.

Social activities will affect people differently. They may be relaxing, enervating, or anxiety producing. Beyond achieving relaxation, there are undercurrents in one's state of mind that can cause latent anxieties. A social engagement may be physically relaxing but psychologically upsetting.

People who struggle with sleep typically are having trouble managing the tensions in their body and mind. Many tensions are held below consciousness and either reside in the body or emerge in a contemplative state or a dream state. Sleep problems are not fully conscious.

What a person needs to do is become more aware of one's tensions, triggering issues, and underlying anxieties. No one exercise, or one exercise that addresses one aspect of one's anxiety, will provide a full integrating opportunity. Usually, the obstacles are near one's consciousness, but we avoid them. The issues that disturb our sleep are the same issues that disturb our lives.

If sleep is your issue, you might be interested in my book The Path to Sleep.