Working with Dr. Amanda Mwale
#6
#6
The problem with problem-solving minds
The problem with problem-solving minds
The problem with problem-solving minds
How problem-solving can be helpful in life, but unhelpful when it comes to sleep.
ACT
Post Video Reflection
Post Video Reflection
Notice
Are you treating sleep like a broken appliance that your mind should be able to work out, diagnose and repair?
Are you treating sleep like a broken appliance that your mind should be able to work out, diagnose and repair?
Try
Try
In bed, could you focus on one physical detail - the sheet, a seam, a button or your hair - rather than following the worry chain in your mind?
In bed, could you focus on one physical detail - the sheet, a seam, a button or your hair - rather than following the worry chain in your mind?
Live
Live
Which daytime activity could become your regular practice for using your senses and returning to the present?
Which daytime activity could become your regular practice for using your senses and returning to the present?
I've answered these (e.g. in my notebook)
Session Recap
01
Thoughts can snowball at nigt
A thought such as “I’ll be tired tomorrow if I don't sleep” can rapidly expand into worrying predictions about work, health, finances or the future. The mind begins responding to an imagined chain of consequences rather than simply noticing that it is just awake.
01
Thoughts can snowball at nigt
A thought such as “I’ll be tired tomorrow if I don't sleep” can rapidly expand into worrying predictions about work, health, finances or the future. The mind begins responding to an imagined chain of consequences rather than simply noticing that it is just awake.
02
Helpful actions can become tests
Meditation, yoga, breathwork and other calming activities are not inherently unhelpful. Pressure develops when they are used as tests and tools that must make sleep happen, followed by frustration when they do not.
02
Helpful actions can become tests
Meditation, yoga, breathwork and other calming activities are not inherently unhelpful. Pressure develops when they are used as tests and tools that must make sleep happen, followed by frustration when they do not.
03
Observation and naming creates a pause
Thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations can be noticed before responding to them. This pause creates an opportunity to choose what happens next instead of automatically entering another attempt to fix sleep. Secondly giving an experience a simple name, such as “worrying,” “planning” or “feeling tense”, can make it easier to observe.
03
Observation and naming creates a pause
Thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations can be noticed before responding to them. This pause creates an opportunity to choose what happens next instead of automatically entering another attempt to fix sleep. Secondly giving an experience a simple name, such as “worrying,” “planning” or “feeling tense”, can make it easier to observe.
Next Session
Taking the pressure off bedtime
Taking the pressure off bedtime
Lowering the stakes and allowing the bed just to be a place of rest.
Lowering the stakes and allowing the bed just to be a place of rest.
An ACT & CFT based approach helping you to improve your relationship with sleep.
Sluzzle offers educational help for everyday sleep challenges and isn’t designed for medical sleep disorders.
©2026 Sluzzle - All rights reserved. Address: 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE
An ACT & CFT based approach helping you to improve your relationship with sleep.
Sluzzle offers educational help for everyday sleep challenges and isn’t designed for medical sleep disorders.
©2026 Sluzzle - All rights reserved. Address: 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE
An ACT & CFT based approach helping you to improve your relationship with sleep.
Sluzzle offers educational help for everyday sleep challenges and isn’t designed for medical sleep disorders.
©2026 Sluzzle - All rights reserved. Address: 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE