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Treating Insomnia
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Published: October 9, 2006
There you are, lying in bed staring at the ceiling. It is 3 a.m. and, if you cannot fall asleep soon, surviving your day tomorrow is going to be nearly impossible. Sure, this has happened to everyone at one point. Maybe your sleeplessness was triggered by a stressful day, too much espresso or an emotional event.
But what if this happens to you often? So often, in fact, it affects your life on an almost daily basis? This is called insomnia.
Insomnia is a sleep disorder prohibiting you from attaining normal levels of sleep, even if you feel tired. Not getting enough sleep can impair your body’s reactionary functions as much as alcohol. This can impair work performance and increase the risk of injury.
Not getting enough sleep over a long period of time can cause a wide range of health problems. Insomnia wears your immune system down, which does not allow your body necessary recovery time.
Insomnia’s causes are varied and complicated. In the medical world, treatment and evaluation, as well as available prescription drugs, are constantly being debated and altered. Serious cases of insomnia should be treated by a healthcare professional, but there are many things you can do to ease milder cases of insomnia and get high-quality sleep more regularly.
Sleeping Environment
1. Make sure your bedroom is clean. Clutter can create a general feeling of disorganization, causing anxiety and interfering with falling asleep.
2. Make sure the room is dark and quiet. Small amounts of noise can interfere with your sleeping cycle even if it does not fully wake you up. Invest in a sleeping mask, white noise machine or ear plugs if needed.
3. Make sure the room is cool because cooler temperatures facilitate deeper sleep.
4. Some aromas, like lavender, have been shown to help with relaxation. Try spraying an aromatherapy scent on your pillow.
The Mind and the Body
1. Keep a regular sleeping schedule. This helps your body know when it should get tired and when it should remain awake. The more regularly you tell your body to sleep at the same time every night and wake at the same time every morning, the easier it will be for your body to remember these patterns.
2. Prepare for sleep. Not only should you condition your body to go to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, but you also should start preparing for sleep about 30 minutes before hitting the sheets.
3. Create a calming nighttime ritual, like reading or taking a bath. Once your body starts to connect this action with sleeping, the activity will calm you and make your body sleepy.
4. Find ways to keep stress, worries, anger and other anxieties under control at nighttime. Meditation or breathing exercises may help and allow you to relax.
5. If you find your mind racing every time your head hits the pillow, try keeping a notebook by your bed to write down everything you are thinking about. Once it is written down, usually your mind will have an easier time letting go of it.
Specific Things You Can Do to Help
1. Avoid caffeine, cigarettes, spicy foods and high-sugar foods at least three hours before you go to bed.
2. Do not overeat before bed (indigestion can wake you) and make sure to eat within three hours of going to bed (hunger can wake you).
3. Know that after-lunch sleepy feeling you sometimes get? Recreate it by having a high-carbohydrate snack right before bed causing your blood sugar to suddenly spike then drop, helping to make you sleepy.
4. Shower or bathe before bed. Warming your body, then cooling it down when you dry off can help lower your core temperature and make you sleepy.
5. Listen to relaxing music at bedtime.
Sources:
http://www.shuteye.com/insomnia.asp
http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/articles/trauma/ trsleep.html
But what if this happens to you often? So often, in fact, it affects your life on an almost daily basis? This is called insomnia.
Insomnia is a sleep disorder prohibiting you from attaining normal levels of sleep, even if you feel tired. Not getting enough sleep can impair your body’s reactionary functions as much as alcohol. This can impair work performance and increase the risk of injury.
Not getting enough sleep over a long period of time can cause a wide range of health problems. Insomnia wears your immune system down, which does not allow your body necessary recovery time.
Insomnia’s causes are varied and complicated. In the medical world, treatment and evaluation, as well as available prescription drugs, are constantly being debated and altered. Serious cases of insomnia should be treated by a healthcare professional, but there are many things you can do to ease milder cases of insomnia and get high-quality sleep more regularly.
Sleeping Environment
1. Make sure your bedroom is clean. Clutter can create a general feeling of disorganization, causing anxiety and interfering with falling asleep.
2. Make sure the room is dark and quiet. Small amounts of noise can interfere with your sleeping cycle even if it does not fully wake you up. Invest in a sleeping mask, white noise machine or ear plugs if needed.
3. Make sure the room is cool because cooler temperatures facilitate deeper sleep.
4. Some aromas, like lavender, have been shown to help with relaxation. Try spraying an aromatherapy scent on your pillow.
The Mind and the Body
1. Keep a regular sleeping schedule. This helps your body know when it should get tired and when it should remain awake. The more regularly you tell your body to sleep at the same time every night and wake at the same time every morning, the easier it will be for your body to remember these patterns.
2. Prepare for sleep. Not only should you condition your body to go to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, but you also should start preparing for sleep about 30 minutes before hitting the sheets.
3. Create a calming nighttime ritual, like reading or taking a bath. Once your body starts to connect this action with sleeping, the activity will calm you and make your body sleepy.
4. Find ways to keep stress, worries, anger and other anxieties under control at nighttime. Meditation or breathing exercises may help and allow you to relax.
5. If you find your mind racing every time your head hits the pillow, try keeping a notebook by your bed to write down everything you are thinking about. Once it is written down, usually your mind will have an easier time letting go of it.
Specific Things You Can Do to Help
1. Avoid caffeine, cigarettes, spicy foods and high-sugar foods at least three hours before you go to bed.
2. Do not overeat before bed (indigestion can wake you) and make sure to eat within three hours of going to bed (hunger can wake you).
3. Know that after-lunch sleepy feeling you sometimes get? Recreate it by having a high-carbohydrate snack right before bed causing your blood sugar to suddenly spike then drop, helping to make you sleepy.
4. Shower or bathe before bed. Warming your body, then cooling it down when you dry off can help lower your core temperature and make you sleepy.
5. Listen to relaxing music at bedtime.
Sources:
http://www.shuteye.com/insomnia.asp
http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/articles/trauma/ trsleep.html
