would you ask an expert to help you sleep better at night?

Would you ask an expert to help you sleep better at night?

Learn and Talk III – Lesson 6

© 2016 Acadsoc Limited

Words

1. freelance /ˈfriː.lɑːns/ [adjective]earning money by selling your work or services to several different organizations ratherthan being employed by one particular organization

2. metaphorical /ˌmet.əˈfɒr.ɪ.kəl/ [adjective]not having real existence but representing some truth about a situation or other subject

3. gear /ɡɪər/ [noun]a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change thespeed or direction of transmitted motion

4. cite /saɪt/ [verb]to mention something as proof for a theory or as a reason why something hashappened

5. evoke /ɪˈvəʊk/ [verb]to make someone remember something or feel an emotion

Expressions

was overloaded with

dos and don’ts

stretched out

is impacted by

nod off

Preview

1



Kerstin Schneiderbauer, a freelance data analyst, washaving trouble sleeping. Her mind would keep runningthrough her work and to-do lists throughout the nightwhen she was overloaded with projects. When she wasn’tworking through an assignment, worrying about where thenext one was coming from interrupted her night’s rest.

When a friend recommended a sleep coach,Schneiderbauer initially resisted. “I thought, who needs acoach?” said Schneiderbauer, who lives near Vienna,Austria. She feared a coach would do nothing but give hera list of dos and don’ts to follow.

Would you ask an expert to

help you sleep better at night?

Article

2



To her surprise, her first session with sleep coach Christina Stefanwasn’t so straightforward. The session was more like career, life andsleep coaching rolled into one. Stefan wasn’t telling Schneiderbauerwhat to do. “She was asking questions, also about my family,” shesaid. Her primary problem was not being able to shut down fromwork. “I never really closed the office door in a metaphorical sense.”

After five of her 10 sessions, Schneiderbauer was sleeping better.She had learned a visual imaging technique for calming herself if shewas awake at night and changed key habits that became apparentafter keeping a sleep log. For starters, Schneiderbauer began writingdown in the evenings all her work to-dos for the next day so shecould switch gears, and expressing worries about work was bannedfrom evening conversation.

Almost half of us don’t sleep well: 45% of the world’spopulation is impacted by sleep problems that threaten healthand quality of life, according to the organizers of World SleepDay, citing a 2008 study.

3



While counting sheep never really works, there is something tobe said for distraction. In Schneiderbauer’s case, her coachadvised her to create an image in her mind that stimulatesrelaxation and evoke that image as needed. At Stefan’s Viennaoffice, she was stretched out on a sofa and asked to describe inwords and pictures an ideal state of relaxation.

Schneiderbauer imagined diving over a coral reef, feelingweightless and hearing only the sound of her own breathing. “Isee myself over the corals and with the fish, and I hear myselfbreathing. Then I begin to shut down,” she said.Schneiderbauer evokes the image one to two times a day inlow-stress periods and up to 10 times a day when she needs tocalm down or nod off. “I really try to not only see a picture, butto feel it. Now it’s automatic. Now it takes only minutes [to getcalm],” Schneiderbauer said.

4



Discussion

1. Do you sleep well? Have you ever had sleeplessness? Howdid you deal with it?

2. What do you think are the reasons of having troublesleeping?

3. What do you think is the connection of sleeping andhealth?

5



Further Reading

6

http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/while-you-sleep-your-brain-work-58207.html

http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/while-you-sleep-your-brain-work-58207.html

would you ask an expert to help you sleep better at night?

Documents