267 thoughts on “Sleep”

1. I love this blog Anne, and all you share in your understanding of the subject of sleep. A must read for anyone, because the importance of sleep is widely underestimated, and in showing the bigger picture, we can see that sleep or lack of sleep impacts our every day quality of life and how we relate and interact with others.

2. What a beautiful and inspiring blog Anne. This sentence alone is something most people have to digest: “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” Imagine more people would live life like this – I am sure the world would be a different place to stay.

3. So many of us resist sleep and the repose it offers us. Do we prepare for sleep as well as we prepare for our day?.

4. So many of us resist sleep and the repose it offers us. Do we prepare for sleep as well as we prepare for our day ?

5. Beauty-full Anne – a simple reminder of our values that support us deeply day in and out. A gorgeous reminder of what I got to do!

6. From some time to now I’m learning to rest in my body before rest in my bed. This means don’t go to bed with my unresolved issues and with the anxiousness for resting well fed by the beliefs about sleeping, which left me more exhausted even. Developing a loving ritual before sleep and going to bed early is deeply supporting me to rest like a baby. I appreciate so much the quality in that I’m living today after working with Universal Medicine which allows me to be more present, joyful and tender with myself night and day.

7. Deeply resting is a mode unto itself – we can’t expect it to work by approaching it in the same active way we live our day. But as you beautifully show Anne our ability to access true repose is defined by not our quality of bed or pillow but the energy we’ve chosen to align to throughout the day.

8. To be able to relate our sleep with how we live during the day is a great step forward as much as it is to relate our quality during the day back to how we rest.

9. Sleep is so important to me and because of this I can procrastinate being with myself and surrendering at the end of the day. I know a surrendered loving sleep can restore harmony, revitalise and bring me greater awareness. Why fight it? Because there’s a part of me that likes the world to be a struggle, because when it is I get so caught up in just getting through the day, I don’t have to feel the amazingness I would otherwise bring to the world, and bring it!

10. This is a great example for me to ponder, because I am a person who can resist sleep…I can feel how I have used that behaviour to not feel, to numb, to feel tired so I do not put into action what is needed…we can sabotage ourselves in all sorts of ways. It is worth us looking at what we choose that prevents us from shining.

11. So true Anne, how we sleep is a good indicator of how we live our day.

12. In reading this I can see how sleep is such an important part of one’s full commitment to life, which is essentially a commitment to the quality of one’s movements through life.

13. Each point you make is worth deep consideration Anne and all take a while to work with in daily life. I am now for example much more consciously completing my day and not starting tomorrow already today by way of thinking about everything that needs done then. To feel complete in the day is a very beautiful and restful way of being.

14. Wow Anne with what you have shared it is very clear that we are more in the doing than in resting our body. Perhaps this is one reason why sleeping problems are so rapidly on the way up!

15. Anne, these are all great and very relatable examples of how we as spirits ‘ride the out-breath of God’ and in so doing create an endless cycle of excess motion so we can exist contrary to the greater flow of life we are a part of and naturally fall in rhythm with when we are not fighting it.

    1. Beautifully said. Like a wayward wild horse who doesn’t want to know the exquisiteness of obedience and harmony. I’m feeling the consequences of excess motion and how my recklessness is wrecking my life.

16. This is great for me to read, as I have been finding lately that I have been staying up late to get work finished, rather than getting up early and that I am not taking the time to prepare myself to rest. From reading this I can feel how much of a difference it would make to the quality I wake up in, if I took more care putting myself to sleep.

17. What Anne has shared here makes so much sense. I can feel so strongly how when I bring my work home with me and have held back expressing myself in any way, it directly affects my sleep in a negative way. But when I take the time and provide space to wind down, do my gentle exercises before bed and other rituals consistently, I sleep like a baby and wake up ready to go!

18. An empowering revelation that is revealing to us that we can live more than we are currently living and that it starts by such simple changes (movements). To dare and go there and break cycles, start new flows in life that hold a different quality of energy and that supports you. Coming back to the ancient knowing of what cycles are all about and claiming that love and truth to be part of your life – by your own free will!

19. So true – for me, it is not always possible to go to bed early, but how I prepare myself before going to bed, how I spend my day, especially whether I have held back my expression or not, makes a huge difference in the quality of sleep, and how I would feel the next day.

20. It’s amazing to realise how the quality in which we live one moment is the quality that leads us to live the next. In that, the quality that we live is a reflection of the energy we have chosen to align to, or let move us, which is something that we have the will to change at any given moment. Bringing awareness to the quality in which I go or prepare to sleep has been a huge support in developing a deeper connection to my body and being, and being able to sustain this presence more and more throughout my day.

21. Sleep is so very precious, and when it is taken in as part of the waking day, that day becomes precious too.

22. It makes absolute sense that we cannot seperate sleep from any other part of our day. Many times I have felt more tired after nights full of stressful dreams, feeling as though my nervous system is working twice as hard while I’m out to it. Sleep is not the same as true nurturing and restorative rest and there is no way to fake it.

    1. It’s so true Leonne – sleep is as equally important as breathing, as is how we live every moment of our day. Bringing awareness of the quality of how I go to sleep has brought greater depth to the quality of presences in my living day, in which the opportunity to continue to deepen, refine and adjust is a beautiful journey of discovering and confirming what supports best to for me to live the real me.

23. “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” Realising this changes one’s whole approach to life.

24. “Sleep does so much for us if we but allow it.” this is so true, and how do we allow this one might ask? by merely treating sleep not as something we just do because we are exhausted, but as something that is sacred as in truth it regenerates and prepares us for the quality of life and volume we are capable of having access for the next day, to gain more connection to that which is divine within us all.

25. And approaching sleep as part of our day works like a dream.

26. You explain so beautifully Anne, how the rhythm of the day impacts on the quality of our sleep and that is the quality of the next day. It is so worth it to nurture ourselves in this way.

27. Given how important sleep is and how it is such a major problem for so many in our world it makes me wonder why such simple common wisdom of sleep that you share here Anne is not being applied by many more. It is not that we do not know this but that we do not choose to live it’s way.

    1. That’s it Joshua, we all know an early night makes a huge difference to the way we feel when we wake the next day but we choose to fight it. We start fighting our sleep from a young age wanting to stay up late and continue to override our tiredness as adults. When we listen to our bodies and honour the messages we receive we naturally start to change our rhythm.

       1. many people feel out they miss out on social time or me time when they go to bed early and I am finding that a lot of activities in my community do not start until 8 or 8.30 pm. So we all keep rolling with the ball until enough people have enough love and care for themselves to say no longer and we can change this unnatural rhythm around.

28. Even before I came across Universal Medicine if I was feeling out of sorts, I naturally knew that an early night would do me the world of good, allowing my body time to catch up with itself, and through Universal Medicine I have learnt that regularly going to bed early has vast health benefits as it gives my body a regular rhythm to heal itself, without me putting it under stress by staying up late.

29. ‘I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day’. This changes our whole approach to sleep as its quality is not just something that ‘happens’ at the end of the day but is a product of the quality of our entire day.

30. I used to struggle with sleep. These days I enjoy going to bed – and early too. I have much more respect for sleep than I once did, because I now understand how different I feel the next day after a really good sleep. And much of this is built on a more loving relationship with myself, one that is self-caring and nurturing, one that accepts more responsibility for who I am in the world and with others. Sleep is part of the foundation of who I am going to be in my day and when this foundation is lovingly in place, life is more vital and joy-full. It may appear dull to some, but my experience is that the opposite is true.

31. ‘I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.’ I like this seemingly turning things upside down Anne and with putting it like this it gives both parts of the 24 hour cycle we live in the same importance, it is a given that it all is just one day over and over again.

32. Anne, this blog needs to go to all ‘sleep clinics’ and surely provides the answer to all those out there who struggle with sleeping and for those sleeping has become a challenge.

33. For years I went to bed around 11pm, probably sometimes 12am. I didn’t have an issue with sleep as such, but would often toss and turn for some time before eventually falling asleep. About 8 years ago, I experimented with going to bed early, and whilst it took some time to adjust, I’ve never looked back. I find in general, providing I’m not killing myself during the day, I sleep much deeper and need less hours. It’s made a huge difference to my life.

34. Interesting article to read when out of bed after only 4 hours sleep unable to go back to sleep! I’ve had a week of not much sleep and what has been interesting is my response to my perceived lack of sleep. On a day like today where I’ve been awake since 12.30am, not that it happens that often, but when it does I usually tell myself I’ll be tired and struggle through the day. I set myself up so that I move in this way and sure enough the day is a struggle. But this week I’ve just decided to roll with it. My body is not actually that tired and for some reason I’m waking up extremely early. If I stay with myself during the day and rest when needed, my day can be quite lovely rather than living out a struggle.

35. It is such a great understanding of sleep Anne. I love the way you describe it takes all day to prepare for sleep bit also the quality of our sleep also affects our next day. It becomes obvious what rolling on roller coaster it is for people with poor sleep, but we look in the wrong place for the answers. Instead of looking at our sleep patterns, we need to look at our day patterns.

36. So beautiful Anne – your words lay out the truth like a cosy blanket for us to rest, and what you present about our responsibility is like a supportive cushion for our head. The only thing missing from this bedroom scene, is to me, the mattress of the simple fact, that we are designed to live and rest holding everyone in this world with an open heart. We are each, way more valuable and precious than any amount of diamonds and pearls. We are the real riches we should dream of in this world.

37. Every detail our our daily living effects how we will prepare for sleep and then how we will wake to start a new day. Our bodies hold a natural rhythm and from this rhythm we can refine how early we feel to go to bed and what food’s to eat, even how we dress or walk. Moving in a way that supports us to be vital holds us in good stead to live a life of joy, ease and great health and how we wind down to sleep is a big part of that.

38. It’s beautiful to revisit this again and feel just how supported we are by our bodies and the cycles we are intrinsically part of to explore, discover and learn how to master living in connection to our love, our essence, so we can live who we are in full through our every day… and night. Thank you Anne.

39. I had always looked at sleep as time out. As a part of your life that was wasted. I remember a stat coming out at one point that was similar to we sleep nearly a third of our entire life and I remember thinking what a waste. In other words while I new sleep was necessary I was hassled by it and would constantly try and fight it. I remember when I was young having a similar feeling. No matter how I felt I would always try and stay up later and this carried over into my adult life. Now sleep to me is a crucial part of my day, crucial in the sense that it not only mirrors what happens when I am awake but they are both in relationship with each other. In other words while we physically may close our eyes nothing else closes and in fact in some ways we possibly need to take more care when we are asleep because you have part of you shut down while part of you is still running. It’s great to talk about sleep and even better to sleep restfully and deeply.

40. It does make a difference when we prepare in the morning for our day compared to not preparing, so it makes sense to do the same with our sleep. I have certainly felt the benefits of having a ‘wind down’ time before I go to bed. I sleep deeper and quicker (it used to take hours for me to fall asleep, now it’s eyes closed and gone) and most days now I wake up earlier and more refreshed – this never happened when I did not prepare for my sleep. And when I sleep better I live better which shows to me how they are connected.

41. I love my sleep and being a shift worker I often work through the night and would feel very tired and grumpy after these work shifts. But like you Anne I have been discovering a lot about sleep and breaking down some beliefs around this and have also found it is not about how much sleep I get. it’s the quality of my sleep that counts, learning to apply these simple principles you have outlined here truly support us to enjoy more restful and quality sleep.

42. I am still very much learning with this one ‘I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.
    The quality of my sleep is a reflection of the way I have lived the day.’

43. ‘If I eat too much food, I cannot sleep for a few hours.’ I find if I eat late I wake up feeling more sluggish than if I eat earlier, especially if I have overeaten too.

44. It’s the quality I live in my day which determines the quality of my sleep, if I eat foods or drink drinks that stimulate me and live disconnected from my movements / body then this is the quality I take to bed with me and it is understandable that I may struggle to sleep. On the other hand if I am present with my movements and avoid foods which I know stimulate then surrendering to sleep is a joy.

45. A friend recently said to me how supportive she finds it to go to bed early and I have realised that in order for me to achieve this I need to be prepared in my day so that what is needed is complete leaving space for me to unwind properly for sleep.

    1. Last night I put to the test my friends advice, instead of racing around and getting all of my chores done just before going to bed, I made a conscious decision to leave them until the morning. I took myself to bed an hour earlier than usual and although I struggled to get to sleep, I woke up much earlier and feeling more vibrant than I had the day before.

46. Sleep is part of our cycle, a cycle that gets repeated and repeated, so it’s quite peculiar how when we know certain choices impact our sleep negatively that we should continue to repeat them again and again. I’m exploring my sleep patterns at the moment and starting to look at what I use to stimulate me throughout my day and into the evening which then impacts on my ability to go straight to sleep.

47. Sleep has always been my friend and while I struggled with it for a fair few years when I was unwell, I know as I did when I was younger sleep fairly well. I guess when we sleep we think everything shuts down but a lot of our body is still going and so we need energy to sleep. In that way it would be important what you go to sleep in, in that go to bed thinking about the day or the tomorrow and your sleep will be pretty full. I never really placed an importance on sleep as it was just something you did and after all you were asleep what does it matter. But now I can see another part of the importance of sleep that takes it well beyond a mere process.

48. Thank you Anne. I’ve often complained about lack of sleep but Your blog reminds me that this is really a way of avoiding looking at the way I am living.

49. Sleep is a daily reminder (right in our faces) that the quality of your movements affects what comes next. This is as valid regarding the day relative to the night as the night relative to the following day.

50. Working in a health food shop has me seeing a train of people who have difficulties with sleep purchasing all kinds of remedies to bring it on or to keep them asleep so it really is a problem many suffer from. I love this quote . . . “Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care.” (William Shakespeare, Macbeth) and I love your sharing. Preparing for sleep is great advice for how can we possibly, after having a million things running through our mind, expect to suddenly on demand turn off and go to sleep?

51. I spent a little while fixated on getting to bed early while missing all the other components to a good night’s sleep, so I didn’t really feel much difference. An early night is great, but so much of a good night’s sleep is about the quality I go to sleep in, and how I’ve been in the day. The more present I am in my day, and less reactive and emotional, the more energy I have, the steadier I feel, and the better night’s sleep I get.

    1. I know what you mean Bryony. I was fixated on getting to sleep early last night and rather than focus on the quality of my movements I rushed to get everything done so that I could be in bed early and then proceeded to lie in bed awake unable to let go of my day with thoughts racing round at a million miles an hour.

52. Sleep is a precious gift that allows the body to restore itself ready for a new day ahead. Thank you Anne for all that you offer to us about sleep, I have lately been making my bed in the morning with tender loving care , and when I get into bed each night I feel a sense of being wrapped up in my love.

53. I find sleep fascinating, lately I have been getting too much of it and I swear its making my more tried, I think the model that we have been sold about sleep is much like the out dated food pyramid model. The best way to be vital and get the most out of the sleep you have is to feel things for yourself and in your body, this article has so many great tips of how to get the most out of bedtime, love it!

    1. Great point Sarah I feel you are definitely on to something!

    2. Yes Sarah, I feel I have an internal battle between what my head is telling me, i.e. You need a good 8 hours sleep and what my body is telling me, which is it’s leaving me feeling more tired and groggy when I ignore these messages. The tussle is interesting as it goes against everything I have been told or read on getting enough sleep and I know that waking feeling refreshed makes a huge difference to my day so I resist what my body tells me in the belief I’m going to be left feeling tired and yet here I am, having not listened and feeling quite groggy.

54. Your article here alone gives us enough information on sleep and how to care for this period of our day.

55. “I have come to know that the way I sleep is a reflection of the way I live the day” This is a great lesson to learn that we have as much responsibility for the way we sleep as in the way we live each day; it is all one and the same part of the cycle.

56. It is incredible how much we as a society overlook the power of sleep, and how greatly the quality in which we sleep determines the quality in which we awaken, rise and move through the following day. Since realising this being aware of how I sleep is a vital part of my well-being routine, and if I don’t pay attention to honoring this equally important part of my day through winding down, reflecting, being thankful, appreciating and nurturing my body for carrying me through the day, I certainly feel it the following day. The more we honor ourselves throughout the day, sleep included, the more of ourselves we can bring to everyday.

57. You could have called this the science of sleep. There is far more to it then putting our heads on a pillow and closing our eyes. It is one life, in this all we do contributes to the next movement.

58. So very true Anne, I have long observed that children who don’t establish a good sleep rhythm of early to bed (which almost always means… early to rise), are less healthy, vital, mentally clear, focussed, even-tempered and joyful. It is hard to be any of those things when the body is lethargic and overloaded.

59. Preparing for sleep takes the whole day – I completely agree. And a good night’s sleep feels like a great session – my body feels totally surrendered and ready for the next day and I feel more able to understand and appreciate what was offered in my dream.

60. My work does not allow me to be home early enough to enjoy an evening dinner with the family and a long winding down time before sleep now, and so it is all the more important to live my day with even more awareness in love than before, being even more gentle to myself than before, being more firm in standing by my own love than before to go to bed full of this love and understanding to myself, to still enjoy the immense benefits of sleep.

61. I ate some food that I don’t normally eat and let an emotional issue run last night and then I had dreams that I was very active in and I woke up feeling drained. Almost like I had run a marathon. It was good to read this, this morning to refine my choices throughout the day and what I will choose tonight so that I have a rejuvenating sleep.

62. I have never had trouble sleeping but have come to understand why I can sleep for 8 hours and still wake up feeling tired. The practical things you have mentioned in your blog Anne have made the world of difference to the quality of my sleep. Now I make sure I dont go to bed with unresolved issues buzzing around in my head and I don’t eat heavy foods for dinner as this makes me wake feeling sluggish the next day. As a result of these simple things I now actually need less sleep and wake feeling rested and ready for my day.

63. I love this line…”Sleep does so much for us, if we but allow it. It is up to us to support ourselves, to bring ourselves to sleep with love, so that we can bring the fullness of ourselves to each and every day.” Sleep is essential and even if we sleep well always looking at day and our rhythms will continue to deepen the quality of our sleep and the quality of what we bring during the day.

64. Over the last few years I have began to truly understand that that preparing to sleep takes the whole day, our quality in our movements for the whole day impacts our quality of sleep. As I have become more aware and have changed my movement, my sleep is more restful and I am less tired when I awake. Still working on deepening the quality of my sleep.

65. Anne, Your personal experiences with the profound changes in your sleep pattern, reveal how super important it is to have a winding down rhythm in place at the end of the day. This is then beautifully supportive for the quality we can bring to the following morning.
    How inspiring this blog is – a simple foundation to true wellbeing – thank you!

66. Anne – What great practical steps you bring to address ill-sleeping patterns and thus introducing the beginning of change to a deep quality of rest and rejuvenation to the body and feeling clear and ready for the next day.

67. We can’t maintain our day at a fast pace and then literally skid into bed and expect quality sleep… our body first needs to wind down.

    1. Suse thats so true, I remember a few years ago, I was just living like that, fully in fast pace and then thinking if I just stopped an hour or so before, my body would settle down, how wrong I was. My brain never stopped and my body was just exhausted.

       1. There’s a big difference between what we’d deem a ‘good’ night’s sleep – sometimes it can seem as though we’re sleeping well, but actually the body is exhausted and basically shuts down to not take anything else on. When we’re not racing around in the day, and go to bed in that state of even-ness, the body gets to rejuvenate itself at night and we wake up actually feeling refreshed. It’s a totally different sensation.

68. Yesterday I worked a late shift, normally the morning after I am completely dead. But I had to get up and out the door for 6:30am. Last night I didn’t feel so drained as I used to, and this morning, yes I am very tired but not a zombie. Something about how I am while doing a late shift has changed the quality of my sleep and how I then wake up. Seeing my day as a learning first comes to me as if I go to bed with unmet expectations that doesn’t support me to surrender to sleep.

69. Anne you are presenting gold for people who are struggling with sleep – “The quality of my sleep is a reflection of the way I have lived the day.” That is something most of the people are not aware of. It means that we are responsible for the quality of our sleep and that is something some of us has to swallow.

70. Considering how we are in our day contributes to our sleep brings an enormous amount of responsibility which can mean we would rather have the quick fixes than the true lasting change. I remember when I got honest I wanted to sleep for days – and I mean days! That is not very practical with young kids so there was an element of having to be really tender with myself as I undid some of my normal go-to behaviour with stimulants.

71. This is such a clear summary as to how the quality of our daily way of life impacts on the way we sleep, and then how the quality of our sleep impacts on how we feel the next day; simply a continuous 24 hour cycle, one in which the quality every single minute is as important as the next.

72. No amount of sleeping pills can ever make up for taking the responsibility to live an honouring and self loving quality during the day. One is expensive in the long run, the other may be challenging but so rewarding to commit to in full.

73. This is something I have learned much about and also been deeply inspired by, Anne – particularly through the presentations of Natalie Benhayon and Serge Benhayon. If we but choose one part of our daily rhythm to focus on – the quality of our sleep being a fabulous example – we cannot but be alerted to the whole cycle of each day, and made more aware of what’s going on for us in this.
    Thing is, are we really willing to see so much? It can be very exposing of where we actually sabotage ourselves… and yet so deeply enriching when we choose another way.

74. I find that I am more aware of what impacts on my quality of sleep. If I take on stuff from the day then my sleep is erratic and restless as I have gone to bed still carrying the day instead of going to bed to rest. When I am more open, less invested and express more of myself during the day – I can then settle in the evenings and my body is more surrendered.

75. I have found the most precious gift we can give ourselves is to go to bed early.

76. The way in which we live in each moment leads on into the next, and with that we always have the choice to re-imprint if we feel ‘off’ or deepen how we are living if it feels on track.

    1. I have found that unless I appreciate myself then it is hard to live ‘on track’ as it allows my mind to be consumed with self doubt and criticism. Appreciation is like a glue that sticks together those good moments which we simply do not use often enough.

77. “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” Brilliantly expressed Anne. I also love how you allow yourself enough time to get ready for bed as you do to get ready in the morning. That’s awesome inspiration for me.

78. We, as a society, have ended up in a vicious cycle of exhaustion and overdrive stimulated by coffee, sugar and other stimulants. People cannot sleep during the night as their nervous system cannot calm down and they wake up tired which leads them to reach for more stimulation. At one point we need to stop and take responsibility to care for our exhausted body and give it the rest, it and we so deserve.

79. What was in our body during the day does not disappear just because it is time to rest. We rest with it. Resting is a movement. We move with and in sync with that which have said yes to during the day. It makes too much sense. The quietness of night though is a very revealing time of the extent to which how we live helps us settle in our body or not and the impact that this has on us. So, trouble to sleep? Change your movements during the day so you are settle in your body!!

80. Thank you Anne for your sharing on sleep. I find that some nights I am quite restless in my sleep, talking and throwing myself around, when this happens I make a point of looking at what my day has been like and how I have wound down or what I may have eaten or watched on TV.

81. I completely agree that sleep is a reflection of our 24 hour way of living. Any disharmony shows up in our sleep but can affect us in different ways. In my case, if I allow myself to become anxious or stressed, I still sleep well at night (although the quality is less rejuvenating) but I sleep for longer and also fall asleep at all sorts of other times during the day!

    1. I can relate to what you write Nicola and I love how Anne has expressed it in her blog: “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” If we live this attitude everything we do matters and counts towards our well-being and therefore what we can bring to humanity.

82. Thank you Anne. Lately I have noticed that I’m constantly dreaming about work or problems that seem to need solving- it’s exhausting! You remind me that my sleep is a reflection of my day and this shows me how to address the cycle I am in.

83. After just waking up from a not so restful sleep and feeling my body is in some anxiousness and nervousness I know this is something for me to very much look at within my life, so it is perfect for me to read this right now. What you have shared is very true ‘I have come to know that the way I sleep is a reflection of the way I live during the day’ and this is something I have learnt and understood through Universal Medicine but something I am very much still learning from and needing to change. How we live, move and our choices etc are a living momentum that carry through to each moment including our night so if we are stressed, busy, anxious, or feel our day is not complete then basically this is what we sleep with! Hence being tired the next morning and so the cycle continues until we change how we live within our day. I have also experience this as well if I overeat at night I have a really restless night. In the world how many of us wind down in the evening, leaving work behind and knowing that all is complete! I would say very few which could be one of the main reasons the world feels so restless not restful!

84. A great article to read Anne I love the winding down time in the evening feeling into what my day has been and gently putting myself to bed in preparation for the next day. I really love this line, “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.”

85. This makes perfect sense to me Anne, as there are times when I have plenty of sleep but will then wake up tired, so thank you for sharing your insights into our sleep patterns and that there is more to consider when we prepare ourselves for a restful and deeply nurturing sleep.

86. The more I learn about sleep the more I appreciate its benefits and how as you say it is a reflection of how I live my day. I heard Serge Benhayon once describe sleep as ‘sacred’ and I agree – sleep is a time of sacredness, a time of surrender and of repose and since I learned to treat it with the respect it deserves, my life has changed accordingly. Time for bed!

87. With the realisation that to “come to know that the way I sleep is a reflection of the way I live the day”, I knew without any doubt that it was time to make changes in my life. And from choosing to live a more loving and present way during the day I now sleep more restfully than I used to. There are nights when I struggle to go to sleep and when I look back at how I was living during that day I can always see why sleep was eluding me, but instead of beating myself up I then make the choice to bring that awareness to the next day.

88. I used to think of sleep as the end of the day, often a very welcome and needed end at that. Natalie Benhayon presented that for her going to bed is actually the start of the next day, for the quality in which we go to bed is the one we will wake up in. This makes so much sense to me and has inspired me to live this rhythm for myself.

89. A wise friend said to me a few years ago that ‘sleep is sacred’ and since then I have transformed my relationship with sleep. I used to wrestle with sleep and find it would take me a long time to ‘drop off’ once in bed. But, through a change in understanding – similar to Anne, this is rarely the case any more and I am usually asleep within a few minutes of my head being on the pillow. I agree that how we live our day and how we approach it affects the quality of our sleep deeply – and hence the ongoing cycles that follow. How we feel and the quality of our energy reveals much to us if we are willing to ‘read’ it. My life is certainly richer for doing so.

90. Anne,
    There have been periods in my life where I couldn’t sleep for worry. I can remember being so exhausted in each instance that at some point I would make the choice to stop the worry, that if the worse thought I had happened, then I would deal with it when it did. Immediately, everytime, I slept soundly. Little did I know then just how powerful my choice was to stop the pattern I was in and to some how know that I could face anything that came to me.

91. I like the practicality of this article, its interesting to know the quality of our choices during the day determine the quality of sleep we will have. One big constant cycle and the quality determined by choices.

92. Brilliant Anne, I love the simple wisdom that you share. It is Stillness we run from and the excess motion we use to do so, is what keeps us so awake. Stillness is a quality of the Soul. It is the movement of breathing in, before the motion that comes with breathing out. If we live in perpetual motion (out-breath) not only will we ‘hyperventilate’, we will exhaust ourselves in the process and fill our bodies with an imbalance of energy that will not let us surrender when the night falls and repose is upon us.

    Read more on Stillness here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-stillness.html

93. I can relate to this. I’ve been going to bed early and waking up early for years, and I was amazed at the difference. What I’ve noticed over time though is that nothing stands still, so what worked for me many years ago in terms of how I went to sleep etc, no longer does. What I mean is that there is always an opportunity to bring the level of self care to another level. At the moment I’m on a bit of a food/sugar bandwagon and I’m noticing how much that is affecting how much sleep I need. It’s dragging me down, and I’m sleeping up to 3 hours more than I need as my body works overtime to process the types of food. I know this mainly because I’ve experimented with it. It’s pretty cool to observe.

94. Such a worthwhile blog to reread. What stood out for me this time around is that it takes the whole day to prepare for sleep. This one sentence is really worth pondering on deeply…what does it mean? What effect would it have on my life? One of the things that I can feel is the way that I have lived and still do in part, is that I live in segments and sleep is one of those segments, like it is separate from everything else during the day. But really it’s not, for everything during the day, how I have been, what I have taken on and how I have expressed, will all come with me as I prepare for sleep and then when I sleep.

95. Allowing ourselves to wind down a couple of hours before we actually get into bed is the natural end of the cycle we call a day. It makes perfect sense that this would effect the quality of our sleep and yet many people are so unaware of this. As I work in a health food shop, and so many want to buy a ‘quick fix’ to their sleep problems, when I suggest this simple approach they love it.

96. Amazing how ‘asleep’ most of us are regarding the profound impact that quality sleep has on our daily lives. Awesome blog Anne which is a confirmation of the truth held in the quote by Benjamin Franklin ‘Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’.

97. I love this blog Anne and I am realising more and more that when we don’t appreciate ourselves and leave the previous day’s experiences unresolved we take that to bed with us and like a hangover drag it into the next day with us. How can this not accumulate.

98. A great blog to read about sleep, Anne, it is a topic that is talked about a lot. When we learn that our sleep is affected by how we are in the day brings a greater understanding and importance to being aware of our day. I know consistency and rhythm in my day play a huge part in how well I sleep and the quality of sleep I will have.

99. Sleep is massively important and it is one of the hot topics at work each morning. I didn’t sleep well, I couldn’t get to sleep, I went to sleep too late, I couldn’t get out of bed, I’m so tired and how my gonna get through the day? What is interesting though when it’s discussed further most are going to bed at midnight or in the early hours of the morning and expecting to feel vital and ready for the next day. I know well that that doesn’t work, when my children were young I would stay up late craving some time for myself and time to do what I wanted to do. The next day I would feel absolutely exhausted and get easily frustrated. Now I love going to sleep early and waking up early. I don’t always choose it but when I do it supports me and my day flows and I’m not tired.

100. Beautiful Anne – this is huge. This shows us that there is no end to life, a day, a month , year of years.. That the day is the same as the night and that it all is in relation to each other and influenced by how we choose to live. This makes total sense, and brings us back to our responsibility – that is to make sure that we care; care about ourselves and about people and making choices from there.

101. “It means allowing enough time to get ready for bed in the evening, as I do to get ready for the day in the morning.” Wow….I leave so much time in the morning to get ready for the day but in terms of prepping for my sleep, that needs much work. And I realise I have all day really 🙂 Thank you Anne.

102. Such a great reminder. Thank you for sharing so openly. I love how you broke it down and gave simply examples how you chose in your day and how this affects your sleep.

103. I recently noticed that it is quite normal for most people to wake up tired and need a coffee. And this is not questioned. … But after a good night sleep we should be awake and lively – should we not? So to question, why we are tired after sleeping is not just worth doing, it is a responsibility we have. Coffee or other stimulants are not a solution – just making it worse, and postpone ‘dealing with it’. But what do we do? We are pleased for the next version of a latte macchiato ‘to go’ with our special flavour – and so we try to sweeten our way of denying our misery. …not as clever as we may think we are, are we at the end.

104. Going to bed early really does make a huge difference to the quality of our life. I have had a spell of going to bed late and have begun to feel how ragged this makes me feel. It is a false economy to think one can get more done by staying up late. We may get more done but what quality are we doing it in? We may think we are doing OK but an underlying tiredness begins to show itself. I have found myself more distracted, bumping into things and forgetting things. Having an extra hour at the beginning of the day works so much better.

105. This is such a great blog offering pearls of great wisdom and honouring of sleep and its importance and understanding.”I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” It is our livingness that counts in every moment that is our sleeps reflection to us and our foundation always. A Beautiful sharing and so supportive to reflect on.

106. What you have shared here Anne is very helpful and makes a lot of sense. I have learnt that if I get too anxious at work about a situation which was playing out, often my sleep will be disrupted in the night and the first thing on waking will be the situation, or I will be dreaming of it – then it is no wonder I wake up tired and feel as tired as I did when I lay down.

107. I notice how the quality of our sleep is governed by the willingness of us to surrender to our inner truth – what we are feeling deep within to be truth in our essence. When we get attached, hooked and pulled into things in the day and not let those go the quality of sleep is enormously impacted.

108. A very timely read for me. I have been noticing how I end up going to bed late these past weeks. Yes, there are work commitment and things that need to be taken care of – which would inevitably have affect on when I go to bed and sometimes edge on and push, but I can feel there’s more to it – how I have allowed that to be more extreme than it needs to be – and I totally agree with you that ‘preparing for sleep takes the whole day’.

109. Great to come back to this great blog, Anne, a great reminder of the fact that the whole way we live our day is what sets us up for the sleep that we have when we put our head on the pillow. It certainly pays to take your great list of suggestions to assist a good sleep into account, and practice them daily. And when we live our every day in that pattern then we build a body that is fit and ready every morning for all that has to be faced and dealt with during that next day. Going to bed early, for me, is the key. I now love to snuggle up in bed before 9 pm. I am usually well asleep by that time of night.

110. I have learnt with sleep that my sleep depends on how my day has been but then my day can depend on how my sleep has been! But there is always a moment to start the cycle and I have come to see it is just this – “It is up to us to support ourselves, to bring ourselves to sleep with love, so that we can bring the fullness of ourselves to each and every day.” Which comes back to what we choose in every moment matters. Thank you Anne for the reminder of not sabotaging my sleep.

111. Sleep is so much more than conking out and turning our back on the world for a few hours – you describe its deeper meaning and the continuum it is a part of really well – and it makes perfect sense.

112. “I have come to know that the way I sleep is a reflection of the way I live the day.” I can definitely see how this is the case. No doubt we have all experienced the nights where our mind keeps running and we keeping thinking about a certain situation or a think we have to do. Doesn’t make the sleep very peaceful.

113. The best bedtime story I’ve ever read! Thank you Anne. I am going to put myself to bed shortly and it feels delicious to know I can choose to tuck myself in with gentleness and love.

114. Such a great blog Anne, the steps you have taken to improve the quality of your sleep is very inspiring and supportive for anyone who has any sleeping difficulties. Sometimes I wake up after 7-8 hours sleep still feeling tired and at first I think that doesn’t make sense but when I become more honest and look at the choices I made in last 24 hours that may have affected the quality of my sleep – it definitely becomes a lot clearer.

115. I don’t think we yet know how powerful sleep really is and what it’s potential is for us or maybe we do and we fight against it at every turn. For if we allowed it to be what it is, we would need to change everything about how we live. I need to take note of this myself.

     1. Me too Jennifer. I can also see that when we improve the quality of our sleep it allows us to live our lives in a vital, full and rich way. When we sabotage the quality of our sleep we sabotage the quality of our health and relationships too.

116. I reckon insomnia is a very common problem because if we look at how most people live, it is often with a push, a drive and raciness. So, what you’ve shared here is a huge support for us to understand how we live, move, work and express during our day affects our sleep. The gentler and loving we are during our day it makes so much sense that our sleep will also reflect this.

117. It’s so true Anne. All that we have lived during the day including all that remains unresolved from that day goes to bed with us at night. And if our body is already running behind from the stress and tension of what was previously unresolved and accumulated from previous days then it is impossible to get the quality of sleep that our body requires because it is trying to clear the back log so to speak. It’s a vicious circle, but to break this pattern requires all day commitment.

118. I have been feeling lately that how I wake up is as you’ve shared, it highlights to me how I slept and thus how I lived the day before. But repeatedly now I have woken up with leg cramps and chosen to give myself a hard time for this end result that is the start of my new day which doesn’t help at all. And I wonder now – if this were being experienced by a child how would I approach the situation? rather than be harsh on whats already an unpleasant feeling in the body, simply making matters worse what can be done to understand what is repeatedly occurring to achieve these repeated results. I feel the answer lies in a deeper connection with the body – if the end result is simply our bodies shouting at us then what are the quieter messages throughout the day?

     1. Thanks for sharing Leigh. I can be quite harsh on myself for waking up groggy and sore. It is worth exploring how I would support a child through the same situation so I can bring the same level of care and understanding to myself.

119. Sleep is certainly very important Anne I agree. What you’ve shared is amazing, I haven’t considered that it takes a whole day to prepare for quality sleep at night. It makes sense really because everything we choose in our day affects how the quality of energy we go to bed in.

120. Feeling the importance of your words here Anne as they reflect so clearly the fact that our relationship with sleep reflects our relationship with self and the quality we choose to bring to our day.

121. It is beautiful to read the awarenesses you have come to and the incredible difference they have made to the quality of your life when applied. Sharing these will be an enormous support to many and an absolute blessing to those suffering from sleeplessness.

122. This is gold, especially with the rising sleeplessness most are experiencing. It is actually very simple to get a good nights sleep, we just have to live more responsibly during our day

123. It was great to re-read this blog. What I have realised is that I am not finishing work at a set time and therefore am not completing my day. With this still going on the quality of my day is not complete so some days I am feeling very tired. I am going to look at setting a finish time and then know my day is complete to support me in my sleep rhythm.

124. Great to re-read your words Anne and to know that our sleep so reflects the quality of the way we have lived in the day. If we struggle with sleep the first place to start is to look at how we have been living the day before and from there we have the opportunity to make another choice.

125. ‘I have come to know that the way I sleep is a reflection of the way I live the day’. This is a wonderful revelation for us all Anne that beautifully illustrates how our day cannot be compartmentalised into separate parts because in truth it is all one day, and so no part can ever be considered more important than another. Then with this awareness, we also realise that that one day then flows into the next and then the next, so in effect our present day is always built on the quality of our yesterday and that quality most definitely is influenced by how we are sleeping.

126. Sleep as well as vitality are such valuable ‘commodities’ that we cannot purchase and we take for granted until we loose them. What you share here Anne is very empowering, because it shows us what we can do to support the body to have a good nights rest and wake up vital and refreshed and that it is up to us and our choices.

127. Going to be early was for me quite a trial and I had to face the fact that I was feeling empty and the day did not feel complete so I would stay up using food or tv to try to complete it. Of course this left me feeling very tired the next day and sustained the same cycle of existing rather than living joyfully. With the support of Universal Medicine I was able to make simple choices in my day to wind down and be able to sleep early and then the lovely improvement of quality of life Anne expresses began to work for me. The point is it did not happen all at once but eventually I realised how normal it was to go to bed early feeling complete, cosy and snuggly and wake up feeling refreshed.

128. I am still learning the importance of ritual and rhythm in my sleep routine. Since going to bed early and not pushing or rushing myself at the end of the day is so important. Since I have been taking the time to prepare my bed when I make it of a morning and taking care of the details such as gently straightening all the covers and remaking my bed I have slept wonderfully well, therefore I am very much aware of what has gone on in my day now and what difference that makes to the quality of my sleep.

129. There is nothing better than to wake up early naturally, refreshed and ready to gently begin the day without the need to rush. This has occurred since I have become aware of the way I am with myself before I go to bed, and by choosing to go to bed early, not waiting until I am so tired it becomes an effort to get myself there. In fact if I do go to bed without staying in that lovely rhythm, part of which is allowing myself enough time to gently slow down and then end up going to bed later, I find it difficult to get to sleep, the quality of my sleep is effected and in turn that effects the beginning and maybe even the whole of the next day. From my own experience I totally agree Anne “The quality I wake up in reflects the way I have slept, which reflects the way I lived the day before”.

130. “One day, in desperation, I decided to take the advice of a good friend and go to bed early. It was a revelation! I woke the next morning after a sound sleep, feeling rested and vital and looking forward to the day.” I used to try and keep myself awake til it was an appropriate time to go to bed. Now I go the moment I feel that wave of sleep coming and when I do I’m always pleasantly surprised and my choice confirmed by the quality of sleep I experience and how rested I feel whereas if I push past this that’s when the restless night’s sleep occurs.

131. I have hardly ever had any problem falling asleep, in fact I have used sleep as my hiding place. I would just stay in bed keep going back to sleep until something inside me could no longer bear feeling like getting rotten from its core in the holding back. I did it when I didn’t want to go to school/work trying to convince myself that I was not well, or the world was not worth getting up for; or even on my days off telling myself that all I needed was a sleep-in. I can feel how this was creating a cycle of self-abuse as I would eventually get out of bed either feeling totally grumpy because I could tell from the way my body was feeling that it was not the right thing to do, and/or in order to compensate that feeling I would go into excess of motions. I noticed that this pattern resurfacing again lately, so I will take your advice today and make sure that I would go to bed early, and prepare myself for that.

132. I had never seen and been aware of the importance of sleep until I came across Universal Medicine. In my one to one sessions and my attendance at workshops, presentations and a Universal Medicine retreat, I have understood the power of sleep much more. As a result I have adjusted my own sleep pattern and I have to say that I am aware of a noticeable difference in my energy levels and I am able to output much more work effortlessly.

133. I love reading this blog Anne – your recipe for a great night’s sleep is very inspiring, especially this line ‘The quality I wake up in reflects the way I have slept, which reflects the way I lived the day before.’ – A beautiful and simple reminder thank you.

134. A beautiful blog Anne. “Sleep does so much for us, if we but allow it. It is up to us to support ourselves, to bring ourselves to sleep with love, so that we can bring the fullness of ourselves to each and every day.” I so agree. I love my sleep. Changing my daily rhythms has enabled me to now have a really good uninterrupted sleep of 6 or 7 hours and I wake naturally – gorgeous.

     1. I know, I love that feeling of waking naturally; without an alarm clock sueq2012.

135. Thank you Anne. I love being reminded that the quality of my sleep is a result of every choice I make. So often I have looked to sleep to ‘fix everything’ stay up late sleep in to ‘feel better’ etc. I feel like laughing at how duped I have been! Time and time again I could feel this ‘sleep in’ approach does not work and yet I have persisted with it right up until now! Awesome to feel.

136. “We support sleep and sleep supports us” – beautifully said, Amanda. Sleep is definitely not a dumping ground where we throw in an exhausted body and somehow expect it to be magically recovered the next day.

137. This is great Anne. There is a lot of focus given to the sleep itself when we cannot sleep as though there is something wrong with us and sleep but rarely do we consider that it is just a reflection of how we live the day. It makes absolute sense and perhaps is too exposing for many to consider when lying wide awake struggling to get to sleep.

138. “If I live a day in anxiousness, pushing myself, driving myself to complete tasks, that energy is still in my body (and my head) when I go to sleep.” This is so true for a long while I was going to bed earlier, but my body was still showing tiredness and I could not understand. But during a session, it was brought to my awareness that it could be in the way I expected myself to complete tasks and that anxiousness was still driving my body. As soon as I acknowledged this and started my day knowing it was already complete, my body felt different and I was not experiencing that same tiredness again.

139. It’s so supportive to re-read this. I often struggle getting to sleep or sleep for far too long. I can feel my weariness to surrendering of a night because I know what energies are not me that I’ve let into my body during the day or evening and I want to stay up vigilant so they do not trash my body while I’m not there. I’m really appreciating the importance of being with me throughout the day so I don’t leave gaps for undesirables (so to speak) to enter and really stay with myself through a bedtime routine. Often as a child I didn’t like to sleep as I wanted to stay on guard until the morning when it felt safe. Writing this I realise I still carry these same fears and it’s about being a loving parent to myself, being with my every movement as I lovingly put myself to bed.

140. “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” This is a beautiful understanding of the continuous cycle we live in and how we live each day affects our sleep and then how our sleep affects our day.

141. “We support sleep and sleep supports us”. What a beautiful way to describe the cycle and rhythm of sleep Amanda – and in fact to describe the quality of the way we live… “We support the quality of the way we live and the quality of the way we live supports us.”

142. Mark I also used to be disturbed and then react and not get back to a settled sleep because of my reaction long after the disturbance was gone. I realise is I was reacting to was the reflection of others I believed who were not caring about my sleep when I was the one who hadn’t brought due care to my quality of sleep. Wearing ear plugs is part of the care I bring myself.

143. Anne, I love the commitment you bring to sleep. I see how reckless I am with sleep and how I can live rhythms that disturb. I grew up thinking sleep was a waste of time but now I know it is the foundation of the day and requires a respect and consideration equal to all aspects of my day.

144. Anne I love this “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” Until I met Universal Medicine sleep was something I did at the end of the day, necessary and unavoidable, to recharge the batteries for the full day ahead. Although I went to bed relatively early there was never any thought or feeling about the quality of my sleep. I was aware of waking up bright or not so bright in the mornings but never pondered as to why this was. These days I give sleep the importance it deserves, recognising its place in the life cycle in preparation for the day ahead.

145. I love what is expressed here Anne, and that is that the quality of our sleep is not limited to the time we are actually in bed with our eyes shut, but connected to the quality we live every day.

146. What a powerful piece Anne, thanks so much. I love especially your expression: “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” It is so true, whatever we do or don’t do, it affects the quality of our sleep. Thanks for your inspirations about sleep.

147. You are so right Anne- preparing for sleep is the key and it starts at the beginning of the day. I find it so much easier to get up early now if I have prepared for sleep in a loving way.

148. There is so much for us to learn about sleep and not take a “good nights sleep” for granted, I never realised the depth of sleeping disorders it’s huge and Anne has just given us a great piece to share with the world.

149. This is such an important subject to discuss as so many people have sleep issues that they just accept as normal. For me I used to sleep longer hours than I do now but always woke dragging myself out of bed taking ages to wake up. I too have learnt it’s the quality of our sleep that is key not the quantity and I love this reminder Anne -‘The quality I wake up in reflects the way I have slept, which reflects the way I lived the day before.’

150. Thank you Anne for this piece. It was a very important reminder to me today about the very foundation of our day/night cycle. Sleep and its problems are a global health issue! Your blog would be helpful for many, I feel.

151. ‘I have come to know that the way I sleep is a reflection of the way I live the day’ – this is exposing and offers so much in approaching the way I live, work and am in my day. Thanks Anne – there is much to ponder here.

152. The quality that I take to bed with me has an impact on the quality of my sleep and then how I feel when I wake up the next morning. How I live each day affects how I wake up for the next day. A simple and loving choice for us to make. Thank you Anne for writing about how we sleep.

153. Dear Anne, thank you for reminding me of all of that. As I often eat too late and too much in the evening I then can`t sleep, need more sleep and wake up still full and tired. I feel in this moment that sleeping is not just resting, it’s much more and a very important part of our life that often gets hardly any attention. It’s being fully in and with the body and can be a clearing and healing process, but also an empty, lying in bed for some hours without any nurturing of the body if we do not bring an adequate quality to our sleep.

154. I enjoyed re-reading this Anne. Revealing that how we live our day determines the quality of our sleep.

155. Anne this is a great blog on sleep and how the way we live our day affects our sleep. A big one for me is ‘If I do not feel complete about my day, I take it to bed with me.’ This causes me anxiety which leads to a restless sleep and waking feeling exhausted. It’s about me learning to draw the line and know that I will not get through everything on my to-do list. I like how you describe leaving work at a fixed time and leaving work at work, making sure you bring just you home.

156. I sometimes allow myself to watch a movie, later in the evening that I know is suitable for my wind-down period. Generally I cannot look at screens or do computer work after 7:30pm if I’m to be asleep by around 9pm. What’s underneath that, is me trying to get something I didn’t live or give to myself during the day. Seeking an external source of fulfilment.

157. Sleep is such a vital part of our lives, if we do not get enough or the true quality of sleep our body needs, it effects everything in our lives. Our entire body gets effected from physical, mental and emotional state. Having a true understanding about sleep from the Universal medicine Presentations was a true eye opener. When you get to understand how important it is that the quality you sleep in, supports the quality of sleep you have. And how important it is in the quality we live each moment, is the quality we take to sleep. It makes it easier to honour our sleep and go to bed early to support the body.

158. Sleep plays such an important role in one’s life and I love it, how you share all your experiences with sleep Anne.

159. Nothing feels better than waking naturally, before the sun rises, feeling completely awake and vital and joyful, looking forward to nothing in particular! And you’re right, it’s not just because I had my 8 hours sleep or went to bed early, it was because I lived the entire day before and the one before that and the one before that… in a way that was gentle and loving on my body and mind that allowed me to be able to take myself to bed in the first instance.

160. ‘I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.’ I love this Anne, your blog is simple and wise. Going to bed early has changed my way of sleeping from struggle to nurturing myself, l now love going to bed early. I always had the idea I would miss out by going to bed early and I never completed the day. To look at going to sleep as an important part of the 24 hours cycle of one day has changed my whole perspective of life. Thanks to Natalie Benhayon who has inspired me to change my day and night rhythm.

161. Thank you for all your sleeping tips Anne, I have found the same to be true. Having a good sleep is a big deal…it can either leave you feeling refreshed and ready for the day or tired, dull and grumpy.

162. “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” Anne this line really struck a chord with me. It does go to show that the way we are with ourselves in every moment is reflected back to us. So it makes it vitally important to allow ourselves the time and care to prepare for our sleep and the way we are during the day to have a restful sleep at the end of the day. Just another beautiful part of our own self care routine.

163. Beautiful Anne, even when we know clearly what is good for us, and helpful to our sleep, we often still live in the opposite way. Crazy really, but it shows that there is constant tension with us, between what is true and what is not. When we live in a way that honours what is right, it fosters an easiness in everything we do – and all of this feeds back into our sleep. So true then as you say “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day”.

164. I have heard it said that to work on getting a better nights sleep focus on the way we live in the day because if things are left incomplete, or we have not fully supported and held ourselves in the day we will feel that that night in how we sleep

165. Every word of this blog I relate to. My sleeping problems date back to the age of 7. My family experienced a crisis in this year and my sleep was forever affected. I recall my desperate father giving me whiskey one night to make me sleep. It did not help at all, and thankfully tasted so revolting that it did not set me on a path of alcoholism. In later years I started taking a heavy painkiller with a relaxant to get to sleep. Again I was blessed to not become addicted. I took valerian for a while. But my typical strategy was like yours, sit up later and later to get so tired that I would easily sleep. My pattern was bizarre; I was exhausted all day and hit my energetic peak at around 9pm.
     When I started to go to bed early I would lie in bed restless and agitated staring at the ceiling, until I started to get the whole point that the way I was feeling in bed was a mirror to the day. Aha! There was the key. Now I am a good sleeper…a great sleeper. Not because I am perfect but because when I have the occasional “bad” night I do a check on the day or two or three before that bad night. There will be something there to look at, something that has thrown me a bit and so I can deal with it. The days of tablet induced sleep are over for which I am thankful. Written in appreciation of Natalie Benhayon – great sleep educator.

166. Your earlier experiences of sleep and trying to get to sleep very much mirror my own. It is so true about going to bed early and this has been a gentle reminder of how to look after myself more so that I don’t feel depleted after waking in the morning.

167. It feels we live in a world where we are doing our best to avoid sleep and where we think it is not important. We have created 24/7 societies where our focus is to do as much as possible with little to no sleep. In fact, we are quite arrogant when it comes to sleep. For me sleep is very important and I honor it every day.

168. Sleep is something that every living being has to do, animals, plants and humans sleep. Preparing for sleep, winding down after a day of activity is beneficial to a solid nights sleep.Thank you Anne for expressing the benefits of preparing for sleep.

169. Sleep does so much for us, if we but allow it. Great sharing- yes that is absolutely true! And it is very interesting to check why we sabotage our sleep so often. For me even the tiniest things do affect my sleep and being more aware about everything now I can totally agree- sleep is everything.

170. Such a beautiful blog Anne, as sleep is an integral part of our lives as it sets us up for the following day – and in that the rest of our lives. I can feel in my own body that I am not offering myself a sufficiently loving wind down at the end of the day and feel inspired to begin anew. Thank you.

171. I enjoyed re-reading your blog Anne. For me, what is standing out as being very significant is holding in mind the responsibility and power of setting ourselves up through our sleep so that we can ‘bring the fullness of ourselves to each and every day’.

172. Simple wisdom Anne, and so powerful with all the awareness you share. The quality we live our day in is the body we lay down to rest at night.

173. Simply beautiful Anne and I particularly like the point you make about allowing enough time to prepare for bed as we do when we start our day.

174. Agree, sleep isn’t the 30 minutes you lay in and try to go to sleep. But every moment to the point we lay in bed and close our eyes

175. This is such a powerful sharing Anne that relays not only the importance of sleep but also the rhythms we live in our day in supporting ourselves to sleep well. Such a simple yet profound sharing that supports so many.

176. I am a recent convertee to the total benefits of sleep.

177. It was really beautiful to read your blog on sleep and feel the inspiration and understanding you pass on through your expression.

178. Anne you raise much an important topic here. I have always loved my sleep but never consider the quality of it. To me as long as I got to sleep for a long time preferably with a sleep in, I thought I was all good. It has been so revealing to me to consider the way I live during the day impacts the quality of my sleep.
     This understanding has completely changed my sleep and continues to be refined according to how I feel when I wake up each day.

179. What a joy to read about what you have discovered about sleep, especially how our day goes influences our sleep and how we sleep influences our day and so on. Everything you say about sleep I have experienced too, so I am joyed Anne that you have written about it and posted it here for everyone to read. I was at a conference today and one speaker quoted a statistic that 30% of people suffer insomnia, so this post is full of tips that I say are priceless. The tremendous healing and restoration that is possible when we sleep seems to be forgotten these days, or at least is under rated. The popular and most likely modern catch cry ‘I’ll sleep when I am dead’ has not done a lot for the common sense value of sleep and looking after ourselves. Give me quality sleep any day, without, I am the living dead.

180. Thank you for your awesome and practical blog on sleep Anne, getting a good night’s sleep is a work in progress for me. One of the missing ingredients has been to take myself to bed with love, thank you for sharing this.

181. Dear Anne thank you for this blog. Sleep is so important but we are not taught how to have quality, restorative sleep – how great would it be if this was a subject in school. The presentations of Universal Medicine have supported me to understand the sleep cycle and to improve the quality of my sleep.

182. So the moment we wake up, we are already choosing the quality of our sleep for that night – it’s totally up to us.

     1. Wow Vicky , then the quality of every moment lived leads us to the quality of our future to be lived.

183. Thank you, Anne, for a simple and clear blog with “checklist” for good night sleep.
     I learn more and more each time from Natalie Benhayon’s presentations and keep putting things into practice, but it is always another – deeper- level of understanding, and refining the rhythm of living during a day and night.

184. I’ve noticed too Anne that how I wake up is very much linked to how I go to bed. I like how you explained that your wind down was like how you get ready in the mornings..not many people would see it this way.

     1. Me too Emily, how I wake up is very linked to how I go to bed, and how I go to bed is very linked to how my day has been. It is clear from Anne’s blog that we have a natural rhythm that we can flow with and the quality of one activity leads to the next. How important is it to always be aware of our energetic quality in all that we do.

        1. Great point at the end Mary-Louise- always be aware of our energetic quality in all that we do.

185. Thanks Anne for a great reminder of just how supportive sleep is for us, and that its quality is determined by our daily rhythm.

186. Anne I agree sleep can do so much for us. I find it a great marker for how I have lived my day. Thank you for sharing the importance of this activity we all do.

187. Thanks Anne, your comment – ‘I have come to know that the way I sleep is a reflection of the way I live the day.’ lets us know we have a choice and asks that we take responsibility for how we live. After much observation I am starting to find a balance that is loving and supportive of me. Whilst there is still some fine tuning to go I appreciate knowing that it is how I live and the choices I make that build the quality of all that I do, including the quality of sleep.

188. I never saw the importance in the quality of sleep I received, until I attended workshops by Natalie Benhayon and Universal Medicine, but it all makes so much sense. Every aspect of my daily life has an impact on how I will, or will not, sleep of a night. At first it sounded extreme and difficult to accept, but now if I have unresolved issues from work my sleep suffers and I wake up feeling really exhausted, especially if it is an issue that has been going on for some time.
     Is it any wonder sleep disorders are increasing and hard to treat – looking at our daily living is definitely the way to go.

     1. Thank you Anne and Julie, I agree and great point ‘is it any wonder sleep disorders are increasing and hard to treat – looking at our daily living is definitely the way to go.’ Sleep problems for the students of the Livingness are a thing of the past, thanks to the presentations of Natalie Benhayon. Maybe in the simplicity of this way of living as presented in this blog is a truth that can be studied for the benefit of humanity.

189. Thank you Anne, in the past I would religiously count the number of hours of sleep I had had in order to fee refreshed when I woke (but I never did). Since attending the presentations of Universal Medicine I now appreciate that it is so much more than the number of hours that make a difference, it is about about everything that happened before I went to sleep too that matters.

190. Love this Anne, I will take myself to bed from now in the quality I would like: “The first thing I have learned is to understand how important sleep is and to make a commitment to going to sleep in the quality I would like – in gentleness, in love.” It is just a choice.

191. Wonderful blog Anne. I agree with all you have written. Sleep has such a restorative impact on our bodies but sadly sleep problems are often viewed in a very linear way without consideration of the whole picture, especially the way the person has lived the preceding day.

192. I have been inspired by what has been presented by Natalie Benhayon at a Universal Medicine workshop, in which I understood that the next day starts the evening before, with the winding down period and then sleep itself – and it makes so much sense and builds a great foundation for the following morning and the whole day.

193. Great blog Anne, which inspires me to refine my rhythm to go to bed.

194. What I have come to learn from my body is how much impact what I eat has on the quality of my sleep and how and when I wake up in the morning. Sugar has a particularly big impact on me, if I eat too much I find my sleep is very restless and busy with weird dreams and I tend to wake up groggy and much later.

195. I love how you describe your preparation for sleep, starting with how you are during the day. So often we do not consider what we do during the day having impact on our sleep.

196. Dear Anne,
     Sleep is something that I can do with ease, occasionally I will have restless nights, but they are few and far between. What was occurring for me though was restless legs on going to bed. I have come to understand that this for me was because of the way I was living my day, allowing anxiousness to run my body. By steadily dealing with the anxiousness and also changing my evening routine, I am now going to bed and my body is still. I sleep well and feel more refreshed at the start of the next day. How we live our day really does matter.

     1. Reading this comment Leigh shed some light on restless legs syndrome. When the legs are being used restlessly all day that restless carries on into the night. Far from being a curse, they are in fact a blessing, showing the way we have been walking, each and every day.

        1. Very true Rachel,
           I have been in conversations recently where people are having trouble sleeping. Not necessarily because they have restless legs, but more because their whole body is restless. Many speak of having difficulty in winding down after their day. There is definitely much to be explored and discussed here in relation to how we are being in our days and how this impacts on our sleep patterns.

197. At times there seems nothing worse than having difficulties falling asleep and the harder I try the more I wind myself up and fret that I will be tired in the morning. So these days I really value the quality of my sleep and it is a great indicator of how I have been living my day time if my sleep pattern changes. Great topic Anne.

198. What you offer here is golden Ann and perfect timing for me to re-read as I so needed this reminder, lately because I have been more busy then usual I have been going to bed with out much of a wind down and this has directly impacted how I am the following day. Thank you for the inspiration for me to stop and re-imprint this with a gentle and loving way.

199. This is really great, Anne, thank you. Indeed, the quality of our sleep rests during the day when we are awake!

200. Anne. this is such a helpful sleep “checklist ” for me and a beautiful reminder that our sleep is a reflection of how we are living and the rhythm we are living in!

201. Thanks Anne, your words are so clear and so full of the truth of how we all need to live… so that we may sleep… and sleep, so that we may live.

202. Having a good day equals having a good night – essentially cycling around and around.

203. Awesome blog of simplicity Anne, and it made me reflect about my entire days with your words and realisation that: “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day”. So often we like to compartmentalise between the two, but as you say they are the same, so our sleep is our day, and our day is our night. Both a reflection, or reflecting the quality of each other. Makes complete sense, and worth a deeper consideration.

     1. I love this line too Zofia about how preparing sleep takes the whole day. A lot of the time I race to finish everything before the end of the day, cramming it all in before screeching to a halt and throwing myself into bed, only to lie there wide awake. When I make more space in the evenings by paying attention to what I’m doing and slowing down a bit, the quality of my sleep is so much deeper. I feel more alive and energised and less out of it the next day. I love how this connection gets stronger and deeper the more I put as much time into preparing myself for sleep as I do to prepare myself for the day.

204. I love your simple description of what makes a good sleep. And I realize that actually the way we live and sleep is all connected, that sleep is a true rest when everything in the day before is complete.

205. Yes, the whole day is setting up the quality of the sleep to come. We use to think in departments and plan the day in divided pieces whereas it is an all intertwined circle living itself forth again and again and again.

206. This such a nurturing article. A line that rings out for me is “I have come to know that preparing for sleep takes the whole day.” So if I take responsibility all day in the way I live in preparation for sleep then my body is able to take responsibility to prepare me while I sleep at night for the day.

     1. Mary, beautiful what you have written here, thank you. If we care deeply for our body, our body is then able to do what it naturally needs to do as we sleep. Bringing us into each day with a readiness to live our love.

     2. That is a very wise comment on a very wise and supporting blog, thank you Anne and Mary. This blog reminded me that sleep is an active activity and how I live during the day acts out in my sleep.

207. I often had difficulty sleeping as a teen and early 20s. I was as surprised as you how much winding down, preparing to sleep and going to bed early helped me sleep with ease.

     1. I have found having a routine before going to bed helps set me up for a good nights sleep. I have stopped using my computer and phone before going to bed, because I noticed how it kept me very alert, long after I had put my head on the pillow.

208. I had always known that sleep was an important part of our day, but until recently I hadn’t considered it a separate activity that needed to be nurtured, and it makes sense to focus and take care preparing for it.

     1. Absolutely agree nicolesjardin, sleep for me was what I just did, because of getting tired, but I have also come to the understanding that sleep is my time when I restore and prepare for the next day, and it has become a very nurturing activity, not just this check out and fall asleep thing. I always thought sleep was a waste of time and now I love it.

209. Every cell in my body response to your blog saying: “Yeah, she’s right – that’s what I need” 🙂

210. Anne reading your blog put a lovely warm smile on my face. Sleep is another supportive step in our daily rhythm and it can really show us how we lived our day with such simple loving honesty. Thank you.

211. What amazing points to consider when it comes to one of the world’s great issues, there is much here to reflect upon. Thanks Anne.

     1. I agree, Tonisteenson. I rarely struggled with sleep – I absolutely loved how it fixed me up every day but I went through the same experience as Anne. Going to bed early made a huge difference.

        1. Yes christophschnelle, everything turned around for me when I started to go to bed early. I would usually feel tired at around 9pm, but would push myself to stay up, feeling that I was missing out on more of the evening. Now I go to sleep when I’m tired.

212. ‘Allowing enough time to get ready for bed in the evening, as I do to get ready for the day in the morning.’ – This is something I had forgotten and brushed aside. I have a ritual every night and I love it but the time spent for each thing is much more quicker in the night to the morning. So this is a great reminder for me and something I will be playing with tonight.

213. Thank you Anne, I too have struggled with quality sleep and appreciate what you have shared. ‘Waking in the morning feeling more tired than I was the night before’ is a ghastly feeling and a vicious circle that I feel encourages behaviours such as craving stress, emotional dramas and eating foods that do not support and nourish your body during daylight hours just to help you survive the day. This I find actually feeds this cycle of constant sleep deprivation so the merry go round goes around and around.

214. ‘Spending the day’ preparing for sleep – I love that reflection, it changes everything around the beliefs and ideals regarding the importance and place ‘sleep’ has in our lives. The way ‘Sleep’ is approached, is the foundation to loving self and taking responsibility in that. Great sharing Anne.

215. I find your story a great reflection on this subject of sleep. Thank you Anne. It makes great logic that the quality of our sleep is in the quality of our living. And allow the planing for sleep within the process. I too have made this change and am better for it. I have more quality energy, I function better and with out reactions. I sleep soundly and wake up with inspiration hours before daylight.

216. Thank you for sharing your relationship to sleep. I never had big trouble in falling asleep or didn’t want to sleep but I realized how I avoided for a long time to be connected with me before I fell asleep or got ready to sleep. Knowing that actually the `going to bed` is the new beginning of the next day I knew there has to be a change to have a solid loving rhythm. And I can share it is mindblowing! More selflove, appreciation and connection to my body brought me to this.

217. Lovely Anne thank you so much for your detailed information about a good sleep rhythm. Your sentences: “The quality of my sleep is a reflection of the way I have lived the day” was for me the clue to have a deeper sleep. Now I am finding that most of the people I meet are not aware of this fact either. How can it be that we do not learn such an important lesson from our parents or at school???

218. I agree, sleep is reflecting how we live the day – here we can start to make loving changes…and yes going to bed a little bit earlier or winding down consciously makes a huge difference.

219. Before I understood sleep as a part of the rhythm that defined the day ahead, and was defined by the day spent, sleep was somewhere I escaped to. Developing a rhythm around the sleep to ensure its quality, therefore the quality of the waking hours makes so much sense for us to live each day in our fullness.

220. Beautiful blog Anne. There is so much to discover about our sleep, more than putting our head down on the pillow and closing our eyes. What you have offered here is the understanding that how we live affects how we sleep as well as the already understood how we sleep affects how we live. Thank you.

221. I’m continually learning about my sleep cycle, and this valuable blog has contributed more for me to ponder on. I have recently been going to sleep half and hour earlier and my quality of sleep is so much better just from this one simple change, and I’m waking with more energy.

222. This Is a great reminder of how our day and our night reflect each other. As you say “sleep does so much for us if we but allow it”

223. I’ve come to realise that sleep is so incredibly important to my whole healthy approach to life. I recently had a rare late night till midnight and I was unable to recover for several days. The ripple effect was huge. I ate foods I normally don’t, I didn’t commit to my work day as usual and many other things changed. A good night’s sleep is an integral part of making loving choices for ones self.

224. I simply love this blog. There is so much truth in it!! I had trouble sleeping for almost ten years and I truly know what you were referring to. This went on until I started cutting down a huge momentum that did not allow me to switch to the energy of repose. I also learned all you learned and incorporated it into my life. Now, I have a very clear routine to put myself to sleep that I apply consistently. The change is not less than miraculous. There is no night now that I go to bed in fear that I will/may not sleep (like in the past). I go to bed in the absolute certainty that I will and I do, every night. For me the issue now is to keep refining its quality and with it my livingness.

225. It’s a beautiful revelation when you realise that preparing for sleep, for the daily restoration and clearing that is needed for our bodies to be vital for our next day of living, has already begun when you wake up. Thank you Anne for this great reflection and reminder of an equally important part of our day.

226. This is so simple and so lovely Anne, ‘The first thing I have learned is to understand how important sleep is and to make a commitment to going to sleep in the quality I would like – in gentleness, in love.’

227. Thank you Anne, I loved your story you set out very simply and clearly all the ways we can support ourselves . It is all a continuing cycle and everything we do affects everything, and nothing is ever done in isolation.

228. I have never had trouble sleeping and yet am understanding more and more how quality of sleep, is everything for my day and quality of my day, is everything for my sleep, as Anne has shared here. This is a beautiful way of understanding choosing of cycles that feed harmony back into our bodies and our being.

229. I love the simplicity of your article Anne. It’s a great reminder of the importance of sleep, but also the responsibility we have, through our daily activities, on the quality of sleep we have.

230. Sleep and winding down 101–definitely should be a course in our text books at school. Without this course, how can students truly support themselves in the huge pressures they face and subsequently the even more intense pressures when they enter the work force? Thank you for your inspiring blog Anne, it just inspired me to answer my own question.

231. I read your blog this morning Anne and it has been so lovely to feel this with me throughout the day… I will sleep well tonight, because I have chosen today to love and care for myself, to share this with others and to enjoy being me. Goodnight. 🙂

232. I keep coming back to this blog – the simplicity of it is supporting me to deeply connect to the importance of my day and sleep cycle.

233. Ahhh mysterious sleep – I too have had similar revelations to you Anne with sleep. Spending time at the Universal Medicine retreats (for me in Vietnam) have been life-changing with Natalie Benhayon’s presentations on sleep. I now have so many great tools to assist me in looking at how I sleep, and if I don’t sleep well, why that might be. All of what you have shared here I can relate to.

234. “It means allowing enough time to get ready for bed in the evening, as I do to get ready for the day in the morning.” while I was reading this I felt how important a rhythm is in our lives. For my personally I take enough time for being with myself in my morning routine that is there, I cannot say this from my evening routine most of the times and I can feel this every morning when I wake up. So thank you Anne to highlight the importance of the quality of our sleep in the 24 hours cycle.

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