Here are some interesting stats on sleep issues…

Statistics Canada found about 40 percent of men and 48 per cent of women do not consistently have a refreshing night's sleep.

New research from the American College of Cardiology suggests poor sleep patterns cause up to 8% of deaths. And the American Heart Association recently added ‘sleep duration’ to its list of important components for optimizing brain and heart health, as they share:

Getting little or poor sleep doesn't just make people feel tired the next day – it places them at higher risk for heart attacks and early death, along with cognitive decline, dementia, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, depression, and other chronic health conditions.

I also have had my own challenges with insomnia throughout my life, and it’s usually between 2-4am as well, and when I’m not responding or adapting well to stress. We also have two large dogs who like to announce if they hear raccoon noises outside in the middle of the night. Once I’m awake, whether it’s of my own volition or the dogs, that’s it. My brain is up and ready to run a marathon at 2am.

Over the years of dealing with my insomnia and recognizing my patterns, I’ve discovered a number of things that have helped - hopefully some of these may be of help to you.

Let’s start with a short exercise. Grab a pen and paper and answer these questions as honestly as you can:

Listen to learn more.