Sometimes I don’t sleep too well.  It is a long term pattern that I have recently been attempting to resolve.  I used to think and worry too much and then thoughts would buzz at night and sleep would be difficult.  I learned over the years that caffeine, even early in the day can impact me and that meditation, exercise and journaling helped.  The counselling I had to have as part of my training in psychosynthesis also helped to clear out old ‘hurts’.   Sleep is important for a number of reasons and sleep is something we all need in order to function effectively!  Not getting enough sleep can leave us feeling irritable, unable to perform tasks properly and generally unwell. Aiming to get between 7 and 8 hours of sleep a night is usually recommended by health professionals. Last December saw the publication of two studies (1,2) linking adequate sleep to heart health. The relationship has been previously explored and it really does seem that sleep is vital for our health and wellbeing, not just in order to prevent tiredness. The second study (2) found that either too little sleep, 5 hours or less, or too much sleep, 9 hours or more, was associated with an increased risk of heart disease.  Not getting enough sleep has also been linked to weight gain and anxiety issues.  Recently two studies (3,4) were presented at a sleep conference, SLEEP 2011 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC (APSS).  One study….