Sleep for Dancers

Many of us struggle with our sleep in our day to day lives. The excitement and nervousness of a big event can disrupt our sleep before we ever leave the house. During the dance event, we get up earlier, stay up later, and do other things that impact our sleep. Sleep for Dancers will examine some strategies to improve your sleep in general, with specific ideas for dance related events!

Sneak Peak

Stress Management for Better Sleep

There are things you can do during the day to reduce your stress. Reducing stress will help you sleep better at night. There are 5 ideas below, but don’t get overwhelmed by trying to implement everything at once. Pick one and practice it until it seems second nature and then add another.

1.Reframing Your Thinking

2.Containment Strategies

3.Coping Strategies

4.Reverse Bucket List

5.Practicing Gratitude

Ready? Let’s start.

1. Reframing Your Thinking

Our thoughts control our feelings, so often changing the way you think about something can change the way you feel. For example, if you are asked to do a job that requires you to manage a lot of details and you are not a “detail person” you can reframe the job as an opportunity to develop skills in a weak skill area rather than a task that is overwhelming or burdensome.

Next time you are experiencing a strong feeling, take a moment to write down the feeling and what you were thinking right before the feeling. Brainstorm other thoughts (that are realistic and plausible) and see if it changes the way you feel.

2. Containment Strategies

Sometimes we are in a situation where we need to contain our emotions because they are too overwhelming or because feeling them might get in the way of something important like sleep. For example, you are going to meet with your child’s teacher and you are very angry. Containing some of that anger so you can communicate effectively is a good strategy. This isn’t ignoring your feelings, but being able to set them aside for brief periods of time.

Examples of containment strategies include:

write in a journal as a temporary container for emotions (SLEEP JOURNAL),

listen to soothing music,

distract yourself with a funny video clip or engaging book,

practice “grounding” by engaging all of your senses to notice things in your environment. If you have never tried grounding, here is an example… as I am writing this email I am noticing my dog softly snoring on the chair beside me, I smell the pumpkin bread I am about to eat, I see the almost unpacked room (from moving) that I am sitting in, etc.

3. Coping Strategies

There are two categories of coping, emotion-focused and solution-focused.

Sometimes we are faced with a situation that we cannot control or impact in any way, for example, rain on your wedding day (now you are going to have the Alanis Morisette song running through your mind all day- you’re welcome). In those types of situations, emotion-focused coping strategies are going to work best.

Examples of Emotion-focused Coping Strategies are:

talk about your feelings,

write in a journal,

practice good self-care,

change the way you look at a situation,

add humor, etc.

Other times we are struggling with a situation that we can impact, for example, an argument with our partner. Here, solution-focused coping strategies are the best choice because you can have some impact.

Examples of Solution-focused Coping Strategies are:

brainstorming,

problem-solving,

skill-building,

communicating,

developing new ways of doing things, etc.

4. Reverse Bucket List

This technique is fun and can be on-going. Everyone has heard of a Bucket List where you list all of the things that you have not done but you want to do in your life. What about a Reverse Bucket List where you write down everything you have accomplished!

5. Practicing Gratitude

There is a lot of research that “practicing gratitude” can help you be more positive, have better relationships, increase your happiness and even sleep better! The most important change you can make with immediate impact and minimal effort is to express positive emotions to others.

Happy people communicate gratitude to their friends and love to their family in ways that strengthen the relationships. Try it. Tell someone something specific you appreciate about them.

I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peak. This class is available at the Belly Dance Business Academy online for $25. This class has already been taken by 34 dancers! Let me know if you have any questions.