The second most important thing that you can do to remain resilient is to get enough sleep to recharge your battery (brain). There is plenty of information on the internet about sleep so I am not going to bang-on for too long about how to get to sleep.
The main things that you can do are;
· Make it regular - Go to bed at the same time every night.
· Exercise - Go for a 30 minute walk at least 2 hours before bedtime.
· Relax - Use good relaxation techniques, there's plenty to choose from.
· Shower - Have a hot shower about 30 minutes before bed and as your body cools, it sends a signal to your brain that it is time to rest.
· Cold and dark - Just like a cave, your bedroom needs to be cool and dark. If your room is too hot, your brain will keep working, your brain must be cool to go to sleep. Closing your eyes doesn't block out the light, use blackout curtains.
· Avoid electronics - Apart from keeping your brain energised when you use them, computers, tablets and smart phones all emit a strong light in the same spectrum as the sun. Your brain sees this light and starts producing melatonin, it takes about 4 hours for melatonin to kick-in and help you get to sleep. If you use these forms of electronics at 9pm, expect to get to sleep about 1am.
· Stop your brain - If your brain's wheels are still spinning when your head hits the pillow, think of one thing (your happy place) and only think of that one place. Your brain will want you to think about other things, keep going back to that one thought.
· Keep cool - Don't have too many blankets on your bed, you will have bad dreams as your brain will be kept in limbo between working on 'stuff' and with going into REM.
· Don't panic - The worst thing that you can do is worry about not getting to sleep. You will eventually sleep and you will be able to function the next day. Worrying sets off your fight or flight response which produces adrenalin.
Most of all, make it a habit. Stick with a pattern for one week, if it doesn't work then change one small thing then stick with that for a week. Once you have found what works for you, stick with it and make it a habit