8  The good sleep handbook
Find your sleep personality
You are considerate and thoughtful, but
sometimes you find yourself thinking
too much about things. I wouldn’t be
surprised if these worries sometimes Over-
keep you awake at night. You may thinker
even see falling asleep effortlessly as
an elusive goal. The racing mind is a
common experience in those with sleep
problems – being unable to quieten
our mind when we need it most, at
night in our bed. Fortunately there are
techniques you can follow to distract
yourself from these persistent thoughts
(see page 20).
Do you think
You believe health is important, that it’s important to
people should be responsible and
look after themselves. Science shows put a lot of effort
that sleep is crucial for our wellbeing
and this is every bit as true for our
into staying
mental health as it is for our physical physically fit?
health. You like order and routine,
and your sleep will thrive on that.
Just be careful that that you don’t
over-focus on things, especially
your sleep, if at times you get a
little anxious. It’s important to Yes
relax and allow nature to take
its course.
Sensible
sleeper
Do you tend to think about things in great detail?
Yes
Yes
Do you
frequently find
yourself worrying
about things?
no
You probably see sleep as a bit of a
mystery to “figure out”. Perhaps you’ve
wondered how much sleep you need.
There is no simple answer. Just as
other features differ naturally between
individuals, such as height and eye
colour, we all differ in the amount of
sleep we need to feel satisfied. Perhaps
you need to find out your personal
optimum level by measuring your sleep
– after all that’s how you know your
no height and shoe size. Become your own
scientist and start taking a “sleep diary”,
recording each morning how many
hours you slept and the impact
on your general wellbeing.
Sleep
analyst
9
Your attitude towards sleep may have a knock-on effect on the quality of
your slumber. Follow this flow chart to discover what category you fall under
Ambitious and energetic, you
probably see sleep as fuel – boring
Sleep but necessary. Since you want to use
your time to maximum effect, sleep
shirker may sometimes get short-changed
as you burn the candle at both ends.
Your sleep pattern must be creaking
under the weight of all that pressure.
As a positive person you can face up to
no realities. So why not stop to consider
Yes that by paying more respect to your
sleep you might actually become
more productive in the 
long run?
Do you
sacrifice sleep
for your work or
to further your
career?
no
Are you happy Some people are naturally night owls;
they come to life late on, and others
to stay out late are morning larks. You are probably an
socialising even if it owl. You don’t mind turning night into
day if the occasion is right, so sleep
You probably see sleep as a sanctuary,
a little bit of heaven on earth. We spend means struggling sometimes takes second place to having
fun. You probably see sleep as a lifestyle
a third of our lives asleep, so it’s great
that you enjoy your bed. Even if you’re
the next day? thing – it really depends on what you’ve
got on. This may be your natural way,
not part of the 10% of the population
but take care that your sleep pattern
that have chronic sleep problems you
doesn’t drift too much into the
should still try to keep your sleep
night – otherwise you risk
in good shape. You should avoid
napping during the day unless you
feel dangerously sleepy. Save all of
no Yes becoming chronically tired in
the morning. Keep to a routine
as far as you can and get out into
your sleep for bed at night.
daylight as soon as
you get up.
POMME CHAN/AGENCYRUSH.COM
Sleep Night
addict owl