SLEEP PROGRAM
MATERIALS NEEDED:
1. Clock with easily visible time readout.
2. Pad and paper
3. An easy meditation (a pleasant and rather detailed scene or sequence of imagined scenes involving a familiar setting).
· Time: 5-10 minutes
4. A difficult meditation (a list of sequences of action or procedures, or a highly complex scene with lots of detail).
· Time: 10-12 minutes
5. The Procrastinated Task. This is the most important element of the program. It has no time limits (not like baking a cake). It is not pleasurable (not like reading novels or watching TV). It is relatively quiet, and disturbs no one else in the household very much (not like vacuuming). It is something you SHOULD be doing for your own good and betterment, but somehow keep putting off or procrastinating. Examples include: sorting out old files and accounts, writing letters to old friends and relatives, studying trade magazines and reading professional journals and texbooks, learning a foreign lanaguage, etc.
METHOD FOR FALLING ASLEEP:
Follow proper sleep hygiene procedures re exercise wind-down, dietary intake tapering, lowering slope on body temperature. lowering activation level, reducing demands and stress, allowing relax time, etc.
Bedroom is a restricted area. Tell your roommates it is not to be used for computer work, study, discussion, problem solving, or any heavy agenda. The bedroom is to be used only for loving conversations, cuddling, etc., and sleeping.
At the beginning
of going to bed to sleep, write down the exact time of night (e.g.,
If still awake
(by
Now begin the easy meditation stage. Continue for a
max of 10min. When you check, if the time awake is after that (
Now you begin the
difficult meditation during the next
10-12min.. If you fall asleep before the end of this frame, go ahead and
enjoy yourself. Merely record your next time awake (say
If you continue awake through the Difficult Meditation, stay with it for 10-12 min. (11:40 tops).If you still can remain awake, get out of bed right away and move on to The Procrastinated Task.
Write down time (
When you are
aware that you have reached or gone beyond your limit of wakefulness, return to
bed, but remember to record the time (say
Now, here is the
Paradox. When you get back into bed, try to remain awake as you watch the
minutes go by and try to KEEP AWAKE. If you fall asleep within this frame, go
ahead and enjoy yourself. Merely record your next time awake (say
SLEEP PAUSE PROCEDURE:
Record the time you go back to bed or awaken from sleep. If you fall back asleep within 20min. allow yourself to enjoy this rest, and record your new time of awakening, and begin the count again.
If, however, you remain awake for the entire 20 minutes, you must get out of bed and begin or resume the Procrastinated Task. You continue this task until you begin to lose consciousness. Then you return to bed, record the time, and allow your mind to drift for the next 20 minutes.
When you get back
into bed, try to remain awake as you watch the minutes go by and try to KEEP
AWAKE. If you fall asleep within this frame, go ahead and enjoy yourself.
Merely record your next time awake (say
Follow this program exactly, and expect to be sleeping better within 4 days. Allow several weeks of this process to occur for the pattern of regular sleep cycles to develop a habit.
For fine tuning this program, consult its designer,
Frank D. Young Ph.D., C. Psych. B(403) 220-9436