Sometimes there are times when you are fast asleep but then get woken up. Other times you can't get to sleep ...

Last night was one of those nights. Just recently I have started to make sure I walk at least 10,000 steps every day. I had noticed that my weight had started to go up again and also I had been feeling quite depressed lately. The meditation and mindfulness helped but I also wanted to start exercising again as I know that helps too. Because of all this, I have been falling asleep quite quickly when I go to bed. 

One of the joys of living in a different culture is that you come across norms in that country that are completely alien to you. One of them is having your child sleep with you. This seems pretty accepted here in China, possibly because housing is very expensive (especially here in Shanghai) and so we don't have the luxury of extra rooms just for the children. My oldest daughter (17) has her own bedroom, but there isn't enough room for a bed for our 3 year old and so she sleeps with us. My two sons from my first marriage (in the UK) had their own rooms and were sleeping in their own beds or cots after a year- 6 months. Even before that we just had the cot in our room but they ever really slept with us. But now I have an active 3 year old sleeping in the same bed as me and my wife. She likes to sleep in the middle- when she gets cold she snuggles up to me, when she gets too hot from me she snuggles up to her mum to cool down. Life for her is perfect but it certainly makes things hard when you get woken up by a foot in the face.

So I sometimes face a struggle of trying to get back to sleep again. There is a breathing technique called the 4-7-8 breathing technique.

• First get into a relaxed position- better to sit a little upright if you can
• Keeping your tongue loose to the front of your mouth, inhale slowly (using the diaphragm rather than the chest) - it doesn't need to be a whole breath
• Hold that breath for 7 seconds
• Release that breath for 7 seconds- breathing out slowly the whole time
• Repeat a few times

This won't make you sleep straight away but it will relax your body and get you mentally prepared for sleep as you will be concentrating on the breathing rather than whatever it is that is keeping you awake.

Other alternatives to help you get to sleep include:

• a hot bath before you go to bed
• a cup of hot milk or cocoa (avoid coffee and most teas- camomile tea can be good to help you relax though)
• try reading a book
• keep a note pad next to the bed to write anything down that you think of and need to remember- by writing it down you will reassure yourself you won't forget and this will help your brain switch off
• don't watch television or play with your phone for at least 30 minutes before trying to sleep. 

Try some of these ideas next time you can't get to sleep or get woken up by a foot in the face. One last tip for the crypto fans amongst us- instead of counting sheep try picturing a dripping faucet with each drip giving you your favourite crypto coin- see how may you can collect before you fall asleep!

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