“Vampire” is the term we use at home to describe one who stays up way past their bedtime doing things that really don’t need to be done. Favourite ways to lose valuable sleep are TV watching and internetting.
The thing with vampires is that they get so engrossed in what they are doing that they literally forget to get tired.
Here’s the protocol for getting back onto a healthy sleep schedule…
1. Decide on a time that you would like to be asleep. Pick a time that you will be able to stick to. Ideally it will leave seven or eight hours before you need to be up and at it the next day. It should not take into account sleep-ins – part of a healthy sleep pattern is getting up at a relatively consistent time in the morning.
2. Consider what things inhibit your sleep when you do finally try to settle down. Mind racing at a thousand miles a minute? Random aches and pains? Just not sleepy? NP2 has three standard sleep inductions sessions tuned for each purpose. Select the one that best fits you, choosing the one for speakers. The “View Info” button in NP2 will provide you with a useful overview of the session.
3. Customise the NP2 session, extending the length to 90 minutes. Make sure “sounds” are turned off, use noise+tones only (that’s the default anyway).
4. Arrange your AVS setup so that you can hear the speakers alongside TV or whatever else you may be listening to.
5. Place your AVS light glasses nearby, in your peripheral vision, and so that they will add flicker to the ambient lighting. Ideally the glasses will reflect in or illuminate parts of whatever you’re looking at. The TV I often watch at night has a brushed aluminium panel below the screen that catches the light beautifully.
6. One hour before your intended sleep time, start the session and just let it hum and flash away in the background. Make sure you’re prepared to make the transition to sleep mode with a minimum of goofing around – get into pjs, toilet, last fluids, well ahead of the time you want to settle.
7. When bedtime comes, stop what you are doing, turn off TV, computer monitor and room lighting, turn off the AVS lights, leave the audio running and settle as promptly as possible with the full expectation that you will be asleep before the session ends.
This protocol presupposes that you’re watching TV in bed or don’t mind a night on the couch – lots of messing around before settling diminishes the effect greatly. A little bit of creativity with your AVS setup might be required so that the sound and light is where you need it when it’s needed.
If this strategy isn’t quite enough, add an Insomnia Help session earlier in the evening, immediately before starting the sleep induction would be fine. These are SMR based sessions, which can enhance your awake time while also telling your body clock that sleep time is coming. These are reasonably short sessions, 15-25 minutes, and the dissociative version, with headphones, is dynamite!
Sweet dreams.
Cheers,
Craig
CraigT AVS 