Millions of people across the world suffer from insomnia each and every day. Because of this, many people are frustrated with how insomnia affects their mood, their career, family life and many other day-to-day events. Many people simply try to deal with insomnia on their own, but quickly find out that doesn’t always work. Read on to learn more about insomnia.
Play some music right before you go to bed. Music can have a really relaxing effect on the body, and that’s important for those suffering from insomnia. Choose music that calms you, and have it playing lightly in the background as you lay down for sleep. Don’t go with any music that’s energizing. That’s the wrong direction you want to go!
Take some time in the early evening to put the day’s worries away. Write down any stresses, or tasks that were left undone, and plan to do them tomorrow. If things you have to do the following day are keeping you up, make a solid plan, or even a schedule, so that you do not have to linger over these thoughts while you are trying to sleep.
If insomnia is creeping up on you every night, consider getting earplugs. Many people are sensitive to sound, and don’t even know it. Even quiet sounds will instigate insomnia, preventing needed rest. The earplugs will block out all sounds, and should help you get to sleep faster and stay asleep too.
Sticking to a schedule could be the key to restful and lengthy sleep. It’s always tempting to sleep in on the weekends, but this could make insomnia worse. Instead, pick a bedtime and a wake-up time and stick to it. This will train your brain to sleep when it needs to, for as long as it needs to.
Set your alarm clock for a good hour to get up. Oversleeping may feel luxurious, but it can increase the odds of a bout with insomnia on the night after your long night’s rest. Most adults do just fine with between six and eight hours each night.
If you want to have a bedtime snack, do so at least an hour before bed. This gives your stomach time to process the food, ensuring that you don’t feel full or bloated when you lie down. This can also help with the heartburn you may deal with at bed time.
Have a sleep study done. If you are not able to sleep, or feel that you are having trouble staying asleep, you might have some form of sleep apnea that makes you unable to sleep properly. A sleep study is the best way for people to determine this and find out what is going on.
Try not to eat spicy foods for dinner or you may end up in discomfort at bedtime. Spicy foods can cause heartburn, and this can cause you to have problems falling or staying asleep. Keep the spice to lunch and you may find that you can sleep better at night.
For those who have mild insomnia only periodically, counting exercises have been known to bore them to sleep. Try counting backward from one thousand, taking a deep breath between numbers. Try visually typing phrases, or song lyrics on an imaginary typewriter. You may be surprised to find you fell asleep without knowing it.
If you aren’t able to sleep more than a few hours at night, then restrict yourself to only those hours in bed. For example, if you are sleeping 3 hours a night, then stay in bed for no longer than 3 hours. Once you start falling asleep immediately, increase it by an hour at a time. Be sure not to nap during the day as you try to fix your schedule.
If you feel yourself worrying about sleep for more than 15 minutes while lying in bed, get up and do something else for short while. Distract your mind until you feel tired again, then go back to bed, using breathing exercises rather than obsessing about sleep. Try to turn your brain off.
Try aromatherapy to help relax your mind and sooth your nerves. You can use a calming lavender bubble bath to relax in the tub. You might find that using a lavender scented laundry softener on your sheets works well too. Vanilla is also relaxing so consider using vanilla if you don’t like lavender.
Have some whole grain crackers a few hours before bed to help you fall asleep. They contain tryptophan, just like turkey does, and this leaves you drowsy once it is digested. They also leave your tummy feeling full and your blood sugar high enough that you won’t wake up feeling hungry.
As you can see, there are many things to understand about insomnia that we often don’t pick up on ourselves without some education. If you’re suffering from insomnia, you may need to try a number of things to get through it much easier. Keep the advice in mind from this article, and you will be on your way to peaceful sleep!
