Insomnia
If you tried watching late night TV and commercials, counting
sheep, pacing the floor and drinking more warm milk than what you can
really stomach and nothing helps you to get to sleep, you may have
insomnia, or trouble sleeping. Insomnia
comes in many forms. Some
people have difficulty falling asleep whereas others wake up during
the night and are not able to fall back asleep, or they may wake up
earlier in the morning then they wish to.
Insomnia is not a disease but it may be a warning sign that
something in awry. Stress at home or at work, too much caffeine, use of alcohol
and/or tobacco, changes in work shifts, depression and pain or other
medical problems may trigger insomnia.
Occasionally it can also be a warning sign of serious health
problems. Insomnia can
leave you with a “sleep debt” that may leave you feeling tired,
depressed, cranky or anxious and this may effectively reduce your
productivity.
Individual sleep requirements vary considerably and these may change
as each of us age. Our
sleep patterns can be nearly as individual as fingerprints and while
some people cannot function on less than ten hours of sleep per night,
others may do well with six hours or less.
Physically, adequate sleep seems to be important to maintain a
healthy, functioning body and mind.
Insufficient sleep may make you feel more stressful or cause
you to be less productive. It
also may impair your ability to perform tasks that involve memory,
learning, logical reasoning and mathematical calculation.
It reportedly is the blame for at least 100,000 people-reported
crashes in the United States annually.
It is not just enough to hope that you will sleep
better tonight…take some active steps to encourage a restful sleep.
·
Avoid caffeine, decongestants, alcohol and tobacco as
much as possible.
·
Exercise regularly.
·
Set aside time during the day to study your problems and
possible solutions.
·
Don’t nap during the day if you can’t sleep at
night.
·
Go to bed and wake up about the same time each day.
Think of it as re-training your body in the habit of sleeping.
By establishing a relaxing bedtime routine you will help
yourself unwind and send a “signal” to your brain that it is time
to sleep. It is very important to maintain this routine as regularly as
possible, even on weekends. Consequently,
follow the same routine each night in preparing for bed.
·
Use your bedroom only for sleep and/or sex.
Don’t work, eat or talk on the phone in bed.
·
If you can’t sleep after about 30 minutes, don’t
stay in bed tossing and turning.
Get up and involve yourself in a relaxing activity such as
listening to soothing music or reading until you feel sleepy.
Then go back to bed and repeat the process as necessary.
Usually, insomnia will go away when the
source of the problem is identified and treated.
If not, it may be necessary to seek a professional counselor to
deal with emotional stress or in cases where a solution to your
problem can’t be easily found, a local sleep disorder clinic may be
able to identify your cause of insomnia.
Sweet dreams! |
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