I cannot seem to switch off at night. Thoughts are whirring around my head for hours and hours and I can’t get to sleep. I am becoming increasingly distressed as I rarely get a decent night’s sleep. Please help.

One method you can use is called a ‘worry diary’. This is a simple tool (a diary) where you allocate time in your day specifically for worries. Choose a time and write down or log your worries. The concept simply means that when they are logged, your brain doesn’t need to re-allocate these worries at the point of sleep. You can rightly inform your subconscious self that the concern in question has already been dealt with. Dealing with the source of your worries will also help. You need to take some time to work out where they are rooted. Once you’ve spent a month writing your ‘worry diary’, take the time to read over it and see if you can find the bigger picture. Our day-to-day anxieties often originate at a much deeper source, but once you understand them, you can feel sufficiently empowered to ring in the changes. Our obsession with technology is also a contributing factor to our lack of sleep. The blue light emitted from gadgets can keep you awake or cause poor sleep quality.

My 11-year-old daughter is extremely jealous of my seven-year-old son. It isn’t related to academics or sports but on a day-to-day basis, she feels he’s the beloved son and we always dote on him.

Firstly, we think it would help the situation if you spent some time with your daughter on her own. Nothing too elaborate, just good quality time. Perhaps you can arrange for your son to go to a friend’s home for a couple of hours here and there, so this can be achieved. This way you can begin to open up conversations that might allow you to get to the heart of where these feelings about her brother are coming from and also correct any misinterpretations on her part. It’s also important that you set positive clear boundaries for your daughter. When she is displaying overtly jealous behaviour towards your son, you need to label that emotion for her and teach her how to deal with it.