How to Sleep Better (By Not Trying) with Dr. Guy Meadows

Sweet sleep - a good night’s sleep refreshes you, a bad one frustrates you. If you lie in bed tossing and turning, worrying about how knackered you’ll be in the morning without the perfect night’s sleep, then this episode is for you.

I spoke to Dr Guy Meadows about how to get a good night’s sleep, how to stop struggling against ‘bad sleep’, and what to do when you just can’t sleep due to young children or anxious thoughts.

Dr Guy Meadows is a leading figure in the area of chronic insomnia, pioneering the use of

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness treatment. He has

worked with thousands of insomnia sufferers over the last 10 years at his

London-based clinic and around the world, and has set up the Sleep School to help

stop insomniacs needlessly suffering around the world. Guy is the author of The Sleep Book – How to sleep well every night.

We cover:

Insomnia and its causesCircadian rhythms, sleep cycles and sleep driveWhy the world isn’t sleeping wellMyths around sleep The 8h mythDeep sleep is the best sleepSleeping through the night

- Sleep helps us be focused, motivated and problem solve

- Biological sleep needs and genetics

- The majority of us wake up unrefreshed

- Deep sleep, light sleep and REM sleep

- Why we sleep, and why we wake

- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

- The struggle with insomnia = fight/flight boosts alertness

- Physical/mental aspects of the sleep conditioned response

- Insomnia as a heightened sense of awareness

- The steps to sleeping well

- 1. Accepting the discomfort

- 2. Open to difficult thoughts and feelings

- 3. Live your life to lesson resentment

- Start living a valuable life _with_ insomnia, to feel more content

- The links between sleep and mood

- The science of sleep and the brain

- Changing what you can, accepting what you can’t

- Letting go of the rigid rules around sleep

- The benefits of rest if you can’t sleep

- Quiet wakefulness vs. active wakefulness

- Pause pockets

Order my book, The Lasting Connection, here

Find out more about my upcoming group coaching for women who struggle with perfectionism and not feeling enough by messaging me - www.thethomasconnection.co.uk/contact-us/

Find me at www.thethomasconnection.co.uk

Instagram: @the_thomas_connection

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thethomasconnection

Pause Purpose Play Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/pausepurposeplay

This episode was edited by Emily Crosby Media

Imagine if you could follow your ambition without drowning in it – how much more fulfilling life would be? That’s what Pause Purpose Play is all about – finding balance over burnout by setting you free from needing to be perfect, so that you can take action and get started with what matters to you, instead of getting stuck in procrastination and holding yourself back with self-limiting beliefs your inner critic tells you.

In this podcast, Michaela Thomas, Clinical Psychologist, Couples Therapist and founder of The Thomas Connection, shares bite-sized learning around psychology of performance, habits, self-confidence, stress, anxiety, perfectionism, parenthood and couples relationships.

The podcast will mix solo episodes with guest interviews; diving deep into their professional zone of genius and learning about how they have found pause, purpose and play in their life and in their work.

My new book, The Lasting Connection, is available now from all good bookshops.

• No. of episodes: 218
• Latest episode: 2025-05-07
• Education Health & Fitness Self-Improvement Mental Health

Where can you listen?