The Sleep Seekers Podcast

Do you use bedtime affirmations? Have you used affirmations as part of your wind down time or to help improve your sleep? We are going to talk all about this today and I’m going to give you loads of suggestions that you might like to try. 

Are you ready for a September reset? Do you want to get some good routines in place to take you through the next few months? I’m certainly in this headspace. If you are too then today's episode is for you. 

One of the most important things I find myself regularly reminding people of is this - every night is a fresh start. It is a really important perspective to hold on to. I’m going to talk all about it in today’s episode.

The idea that you shouldn’t have a clock in the bedroom has been a regular message within some of the mainstream sleep hygiene advice in recent years and it is something I find many people worry about. I have a different perspective to a lot of the mainstream advice - I will share it with you in this episode. 

Sleep trackers have become so popular in recent years. I get asked a lot - ‘should I use a sleep tracker?’ so I’m going to tell you my thoughts in this episode.

Would you like a simple framework to guide you in considering how you could reduce or better manage a stressful situation in your life? That’s what I am sharing with you on today’s episode.

Stress comes in all different shapes and sizes. It is one word we use to describe a whole range of experiences and causes - all of which can be affecting your sleep. In this episode I want to unpick the different types of stress to help you to perhaps better understand your experience and perhaps acknowledge what you are actually dealing with. So, listen in now.

Have you heard of the sleep - stress cycle? It is normal and expected for sleep to be impacted by stress here and there but when you get stuck in a sleep - stress cycle it can cause big problems for your every day life and functioning, and even lead to much bigger problems.

In today’s episode I will talk about what the sleep - stress cycle is, the 4 main ways I see people running into trouble with it and the 3 most important things to help you get out of it.  

Most people know that stress can affect sleep, but do you know how specifically sleep can be affected? Do you know the different ways that stress can show itself in your sleep? In this episode I will explain all the different indicators that suggest stress is interfering in the quantity or quality of your sleep.

Listen in now …

Do you ever wonder what you should actually be doing in your time before bed to help you to wind down? Well today, we have it covered in this episode with 21 ideas and a few caveats on how to use them. 

Today’s episode is a celebration of the magic of sleep in honour of World Sleep Day - possibly my favourite day of the year! Sleep is literally amazing. It’s importance and benefits can’t be underestimated. Matt Walker, the well known sleep scientist describes it as our life support system and I think that’s a brilliant way to describe it because sleep literally underpins every aspect of our health and functioning. Our physical health, mental health and emotional health.

I'm going to attempt to sum up the magic of sleep in this short podcast episode!

Should you worry about using screens before bed? Can you watch TV, use your phone, read on a device and still sleep well? What is the aspect of our screen time that I believe matters more than the blue light? We will cover all of this and more on todays episode.

This is a very special episode dedicated to women and sleep to mark International Women's Day. We have all heard of the gender pay gap but did you know there is also a gender sleep gap. Not spoken about so much but hugely impactful on women and women's wellbeing. 

In this episode I talk about some of the issues relating to women and sleep and the gender sleep gap, I talk a bit about some of the issues that contribute to these differences and then I talk about what we can do to reduce the sleep gap.

All days are not created equal and so all wind down time should not be created equal either. Do you know how to create a flexible wind down routine that can change depending on the needs of your day or the phase you are in? That’s what we are talking about in this episode.

Do you want to know how to successfully implement an improved wind down time? Or maybe you have tried to do this before and it fizzled out very quickly? Implementing new habits can take some thinking about … that’s exactly what we will do in this episode.

Have you ever done a brain dump? It can be such a valuable tool and I advocate for using one at the end of every day as part of your wind down time. 

Find out why, and how to do it in this episode.

There are 4 components to your wind down time and covering each effectively means you are optimising this part of your day to prepare you mind and body in the best way possible for sleep.  These components make up my model, the safe sleep formula and are what all of my work is based on. My programmes, the wind down journal…everything, follow this structure. 

I will talk you through all 4 components in todays episode.

Do you know if you are exhausted or relaxed when you go to sleep? Did you know that depending on which one you are can have a big impact on the quality of your sleep and also how long you stay asleep? 

Let’s explore this in today's podcast episode. 

Do you know the difference between distraction and relaxation? And do you know the difference these two states make to your sleep? One supports your sleep while the other sabotages it. It's time to find out more in this podcast episode.

Can you guess the 3 mistakes I see people making the most often when it comes to how they use their time before bed? 

The things that are likely to be sabotaging sleep rather than supporting it. 

Could you be guilty of some or maybe even all 3 of them? Let’s find out in this episode. 

Do you know what the number one purpose of wind down time is? Do you know what makes your time before bed effective or not? 

In this episode I explain how to effectively wind down before bed by understanding the one thing your wind down time needs to be achieving in order to lead to a great night's sleep.

Welcome to the first podcast in a series dedicated to wind down time - that magical bit of time before bed that can make or break your sleep. 

In this episode, I explain why your wind down time is so important and go through the main benefits to your sleep when you get your wind down time right. 

Your time before bed should be designed to support the needs and context of your unique life and is certainly not just about turning off your tech before bed.  

In this episode I give you an introduction to me and my work with sleep as well as the work I do in other areas of mental health and wellbeing. I explain my reasons for starting the podcast as well as why my work and my offers are split into tow separate businesses - Sleep Seekers and Managing Minds.

This episode gives you an overview of all the programmes, services and products that Sleep Seekers currently has to offer to help you to promote or restore good quality, natural sleep. I also give you an insight into what we are working on and developing for the future.