Help with Insomnia...??
Question: I can't get to sleep, no matter what i try. i tried alot of drugs and they just don't work. i want something more natural to help me sleep. what can i do? i sleep about an hour a week, at the most. please help me!
*~* Mc Kit Kit *~*
Answers: See a doctor.Insomnia can be a symptom of physical disorders, although for most of us it's the result of tension, stress and anxiety and of course the more anxious we get about our insomnia, the worse it gets. If your doctor pronounces you a healthy insomniac, he might suggest some of the techniques provided here. Or she might prescribe drugs to help you get to sleep.
Take a warm bath.It's a great way to relax your body. Don't overdo it, however. You merely want to relax your body, not exhaust it. Too long in hot water and your body is drained of vitality.Use bath salts, or throw in Epsom salts and baking soda,one cup of each. These will relax you and also help remove toxins from your body.
Get a massage.Have your spouse (or whoever) give you a massage just before going to sleep. If you can convince them to give you a full body massage, great. If not, even a short backrub and/or a face and scalp massage can be a big help. Have them make the massage strokes slow, gentle, yet firm, to work the tension out of your muscles and soothe you to sleep.
Listen to music.Play some soft, soothing music that will lull you to sleep. There are even cassettes and records designed for that very purpose. Some are specially composed music, others simply have sounds of waves rhythmically breaking, or the steady pattern of a heartbeat.
Drink warm milk.A glass of warm milk 15 minutes before going to bed will soothe your nervous system. Milk contains calcium, which works directly on jagged nerves to make them (and you) relax.
Drink herb tea.If you don't like milk or are avoiding dairy products try a cup of hot camomile, catnip, anise or fennel tea. All contain natural ingredients which will help you sleep. Most health food stores will also have special blends of herb tea designed to soothe you and help you get to sleep.
Eat a bedtime snack.A small, low protein, high carbohydrate bedtime snack, such as juice and cookies, eaten about an hour before bedtime, can help you fall asleep sooner. (Pizza does not qualify.)
Avoid Caffeine, Alcohol and Tobacco.It should be obvious, but some people forget that coffee is not the only drink containing caffeine. Tea (black, not herbal), chocolate and cola drinks are also high in caffeine.Alcohol may feel like it's soothing you, but all it's doing is stupefying you. Research has shown that alcohol upsets sleep, preventing a deep rest. Same with tobacco. Avoid them all.
Sleep in a well-ventilated room.Fresh air (it's hard in the wintertime) and a room temperature between 60-65 degrees will give you the best sleeping conditions. Any warmer and you'll toss and turn from the discomfort of being too warm. Keep the thermostat down and do your temperature-adjusting inside the bed with more or fewer blankets.
Sleep on a good firm bed.A firm bed will give your entire body the support it needs to really relax. It's better for your spine, too.
Sleep on your back.It's the best position for relaxing, and allows all your internal organs to rest properly. If you must sleep on your side, do it on your right side, not your left. Sleeping on the left side causes your lungs, stomach and liver to press against your heart, causing stress on an organ that most of us find quite useful.Neverever sleep on your stomach. It causes pressure on all your internal organs including your lungs, which results in shallow breathing. It can also, as you've no doubt discovered, cause a stiff neck and upper back problems.
Get some physical exercise during the day.People with mental jobs, like office workers, have far more trouble with insomnia than do people who work physically hard all day. Even 15 minutes a day of exercise (at least half an hour before going to bed so your body will have a chance to slow down) will give your body the activity and oxygen it needs to help you relax more and sleep better.
Keep regular bedtime hours.Your body likes regular routines, whether you do or not. It likes to know that it's going to get up at the same time each day, eat at the same times, and go to bed at the same time. Not very exciting, maybe, but comfortable. So pick a reasonable and regular time to go to bed each night. And stick to it. Even if you don't think you're tired when the time comes. Your body will appreciate it. And after a while when it feels it can rely on the routine, it will begin to repay the favor by letting you get to sleep when you want.
If you can't sleep, get up.Don't lie awake trying to get to sleep any longer than 30 minutes. If it goes that long, get up. Do something quiet and non-stimulating. When you feel tired again, go back to bed.
Don't sleep in.Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends and holidays. Once you've awakened, get up. Don't lie in bed awake, thinking about getting up. Just do it.
Get up earlier in the morning.At least try this when you're trying to set up your new regular bedtime routine. As much as you may hate getting up one-half hour earlier (or even more) than you really have to, you'll be that much more tired at night and more apt to get to sleep. Once you and your body have the confidence that you can get to sleep when you want at night, you can go back to your preferred wake-up-in-the-morning time.Keep Your bed is a place for sleep.Okay, and maybe for one other thing. But not for working, reading, watching television, doing crossword puzzles, or whatever else occupies you in the evening. Let your mind and body identify bed with sleeping.
Avoid naps.Sure, they're nice to do during the day, and if you couldn't sleep at night, you're grateful for any chance to sleep. But if you're really having trouble sleeping at night--and you're not a senior citizen who sleeps for small periods of time, skip naps. You'll be more tired at bedtime and more able to fall asleep.
Avoid illuminated bedroom clocks.Try to keep your bedroom as dark as possible. An illuminated bedroom clock is a source of light that can be extremely annoying if you're having a hard time getting to sleep. If you can't replace the clock, at least block its light with something.
Sleep with your head facing north.And, obviously -- unless you have a particularly unusual body your feet facing south. This aligns your body with the magnetic field of the planet, bringing your own energies into harmony with those of the Earth. Sound like a pretty bizarre theory? Try it. You'll see what a difference it makes.
Don't watch TV or read before going to bed.Wait at least one-half hour (preferably longer) before going to bed after reading or watching television. We know; some people say that reading a detective story or some such escapist book helps put them to sleep. If it works for them, great. But it seldom worked for us. And it probably hasn't worked for you either.The reason is that no matter how passively we watch television, or how innocuous the book we read is, our minds are still being stimulated. And an overstimulated mind -- along with anxiety and stress is what keeps us awake. It's all those thoughts in our head we have to get rid of before we can get to sleep. The last thing we need is more input into our heads from television or books.
Lie on your back (where you should be in the first place) and wiggle your toes up and down 12 times, wiggling the toes of both feet at the same time. This will relax your entire body, inside and out. When you wiggle your toes, you are stimulating -- and thus relaxing -- your entire body. (Incidentally, this is a good place to mention that you can be energized and relaxed at the same time. It's a matter of the quality of that energy. If it flows freely and smoothly, you will be relaxed. If the energy flow in your body is restricted or blocked, you will be tense. And toe wiggling helps to bring about a relaxing, free-flowing energy.)Rub your stomach.This soothes down the digestive system and helps to bring about a deeper relaxation. An extra benefit is that it will help you to lose weight by improving the functioning of the digestive system.
Simply lie on your back and place your hand on your navel. Begin to make small circles in a clockwise direction as you gently glide your hand over your stomach. Let your circles gradually become bigger and bigger. When your circles reach the outside of your stomach, gradually reduce their size until you are back at your navel again. Then reverse the direction (to counter-clockwise) and do the same thing again. Repeat this whole series with your other hand. Do this several times.One of the main reasons many of us are tense is our breathing. Most people breathe very shallowly, using only the top part of their lungs. Deep Breathing allows us to use our entire lungs, providing more oxygen to our bodies, and energizing and rejuvenating every organ and cell in our bodies. It is probably the most effective and beneficial method of relaxation we've seen.
Visualize Something Peaceful.Just lie there with your eyes closed and imagine you're in your very favorite, most peaceful place. It may be on a sunny beach, swinging in a hammock in the mountains or your back yard, or all alone in a cave in the Himalayas.Wherever it is, imagine you are there. You can see your surroundings, hear the peaceful sounds, smell the fragrance of the flowers, and feel the warmth of the sun or whatever sensations are there. Just relax and enjoy it -- and drift off to sleep. Once you've found a place that's especially peaceful and effective, you'll find that the more you use it, the more you can count on it to help you relax and get to sleep. Its comfort and familiarity will make it more and more effective.
Visualize Something Boring.We like this one in particular. The beauty of it is you can turn a negative into a positive. Just visualize that you are someplace that you have always found extremely boring. It could be listening to a particular teacher who was so boring that he or she almost always put you to sleep. Perhaps it's some friend or acquaintance whose incessant talk and theories put you to sleep. Maybe it's your work, maybe it's your commute each day. Whatever it is, visualize it. And recapture that bored, tired, heavy, sleepy feeling that you always experience. Let that feeling spread through your mind and all through your body till you're filled with complete tiredness and sleepiness. It works.
Imagine it's time to get up.This is a neat one too. Kind of a variation on the previous technique. Imagine that you're not allowed to go to sleep. Imagine that your morning alarm has gone off and it's time to get up and go to work. You know how delicious that feeling is in the morning when it's time to get up but you're so tired and your eyes are very heavy and you shouldn't do it but you just want to fall right back to sleep for a few minutes more?
They say that you have to quiet your mind in order to sleep. This sounds funny, but have you counted sheep? hehe. No, kidding. It may not be insomnia that you have. It may be an over-active and unfocused mind.
Try to think of nothing . Clear your mind. Take deep breaths. Get tired. Get hypnotized.
Try some melatonin. 3 to 6 mg each night can help take the edge off and help you get some rest.
seen a doctor yet?
see if this link helps =)
Have you tried meditation it can be very calming...also reading a book can make your eyes tired and suddenly you are sleeping.
have you tried essential oils, from my research jasmine, lavender, chamomile, and some citrus blends are sleep inducing because the scents cause a relaxing feeling maybe find natural room/ or linen sprays at health food retailers. or is there any place you can imagine as tranquil or relaxing i.e. forest, ocean, because soundscapes are great too. Or a combination of the above.
Whats wrong my Dear?
Insomnia is not a natural state and is often caused by an unrestable mind.
You need to confront whats bothering you and not only will you get a good nights sleep, but also have alot of weight lifted on your shoulders.
Some other advice : People who can't sleep often lay on their bed waiting to fall alseep, all this is doing is resting you and creating less need for you to fall alseep, almost like sleeping in an alternate state.
When it's bed time, don't go to bed, rather do stuff that can be exhausting, carry on till late, then get infront of the telle, put on a movie, not one thats scary or full of action, just lay on the couch and watch it relaxed, you'll find yourself waking up to a blank screen in the morning.
Wow, hang in there sounds tough. First of course make sure you aren't doing any physical activity within the hour before bed or spending a lot of time on the computer, like we both are now...) have you tried chamomile tea? How about warm milk? These are a mild sedative for some people. But if drugs and things haven't worked then maybe you need something external to relax you: classical music perhaps(I recommend Bach's Air on the G string by the London Symphony Orchestra)?
Also, I don't know if this is related but I had trouble sleeping a few years ago, nightmares mainly, I wouldn't dream about scary monsters etc. so much as emotional things like death of parents, being left alone, suicide, that type of thing. The only thing that I found to work was reading the Bible as the last thing that I do before going to bed. I found God to be the only one to give me comfort and peace so that I oculd rest, I don't know if you believe in Him or not and I am not trying to preach at you but seriously, as an answer to your problem you might want to check Him out. Try the Psalms. And if it means anything to you I promise I will pray that you can sleep right before I go to bed tonight.
Best wishes hon.
it can be due to unsatisfied sex life. good is not the word you need to have great orgasm if you need your sleep back
Please don't take melatonin. It messes up your natural levels of melatonin that occur in your body. Then you will be in an even bigger mess. so just go to your doctor and follow their directions even if you don't take the meds. Take a hot bath, no stimulation (tv,internet) they may offer you a sleep study to find out exactly whats wrong with your sleeping patterns.
warm milk with honey
try to cool ure mind...yoga can be a great help...it mite sound funny but im saying this out of personal experience...yoga really helps..especially the meditation part really calms you down...plus keep ureself occupied...
*~* Mc Kit Kit *~*
Answers: See a doctor.Insomnia can be a symptom of physical disorders, although for most of us it's the result of tension, stress and anxiety and of course the more anxious we get about our insomnia, the worse it gets. If your doctor pronounces you a healthy insomniac, he might suggest some of the techniques provided here. Or she might prescribe drugs to help you get to sleep.
Take a warm bath.It's a great way to relax your body. Don't overdo it, however. You merely want to relax your body, not exhaust it. Too long in hot water and your body is drained of vitality.Use bath salts, or throw in Epsom salts and baking soda,one cup of each. These will relax you and also help remove toxins from your body.
Get a massage.Have your spouse (or whoever) give you a massage just before going to sleep. If you can convince them to give you a full body massage, great. If not, even a short backrub and/or a face and scalp massage can be a big help. Have them make the massage strokes slow, gentle, yet firm, to work the tension out of your muscles and soothe you to sleep.
Listen to music.Play some soft, soothing music that will lull you to sleep. There are even cassettes and records designed for that very purpose. Some are specially composed music, others simply have sounds of waves rhythmically breaking, or the steady pattern of a heartbeat.
Drink warm milk.A glass of warm milk 15 minutes before going to bed will soothe your nervous system. Milk contains calcium, which works directly on jagged nerves to make them (and you) relax.
Drink herb tea.If you don't like milk or are avoiding dairy products try a cup of hot camomile, catnip, anise or fennel tea. All contain natural ingredients which will help you sleep. Most health food stores will also have special blends of herb tea designed to soothe you and help you get to sleep.
Eat a bedtime snack.A small, low protein, high carbohydrate bedtime snack, such as juice and cookies, eaten about an hour before bedtime, can help you fall asleep sooner. (Pizza does not qualify.)
Avoid Caffeine, Alcohol and Tobacco.It should be obvious, but some people forget that coffee is not the only drink containing caffeine. Tea (black, not herbal), chocolate and cola drinks are also high in caffeine.Alcohol may feel like it's soothing you, but all it's doing is stupefying you. Research has shown that alcohol upsets sleep, preventing a deep rest. Same with tobacco. Avoid them all.
Sleep in a well-ventilated room.Fresh air (it's hard in the wintertime) and a room temperature between 60-65 degrees will give you the best sleeping conditions. Any warmer and you'll toss and turn from the discomfort of being too warm. Keep the thermostat down and do your temperature-adjusting inside the bed with more or fewer blankets.
Sleep on a good firm bed.A firm bed will give your entire body the support it needs to really relax. It's better for your spine, too.
Sleep on your back.It's the best position for relaxing, and allows all your internal organs to rest properly. If you must sleep on your side, do it on your right side, not your left. Sleeping on the left side causes your lungs, stomach and liver to press against your heart, causing stress on an organ that most of us find quite useful.Neverever sleep on your stomach. It causes pressure on all your internal organs including your lungs, which results in shallow breathing. It can also, as you've no doubt discovered, cause a stiff neck and upper back problems.
Get some physical exercise during the day.People with mental jobs, like office workers, have far more trouble with insomnia than do people who work physically hard all day. Even 15 minutes a day of exercise (at least half an hour before going to bed so your body will have a chance to slow down) will give your body the activity and oxygen it needs to help you relax more and sleep better.
Keep regular bedtime hours.Your body likes regular routines, whether you do or not. It likes to know that it's going to get up at the same time each day, eat at the same times, and go to bed at the same time. Not very exciting, maybe, but comfortable. So pick a reasonable and regular time to go to bed each night. And stick to it. Even if you don't think you're tired when the time comes. Your body will appreciate it. And after a while when it feels it can rely on the routine, it will begin to repay the favor by letting you get to sleep when you want.
If you can't sleep, get up.Don't lie awake trying to get to sleep any longer than 30 minutes. If it goes that long, get up. Do something quiet and non-stimulating. When you feel tired again, go back to bed.
Don't sleep in.Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends and holidays. Once you've awakened, get up. Don't lie in bed awake, thinking about getting up. Just do it.
Get up earlier in the morning.At least try this when you're trying to set up your new regular bedtime routine. As much as you may hate getting up one-half hour earlier (or even more) than you really have to, you'll be that much more tired at night and more apt to get to sleep. Once you and your body have the confidence that you can get to sleep when you want at night, you can go back to your preferred wake-up-in-the-morning time.Keep Your bed is a place for sleep.Okay, and maybe for one other thing. But not for working, reading, watching television, doing crossword puzzles, or whatever else occupies you in the evening. Let your mind and body identify bed with sleeping.
Avoid naps.Sure, they're nice to do during the day, and if you couldn't sleep at night, you're grateful for any chance to sleep. But if you're really having trouble sleeping at night--and you're not a senior citizen who sleeps for small periods of time, skip naps. You'll be more tired at bedtime and more able to fall asleep.
Avoid illuminated bedroom clocks.Try to keep your bedroom as dark as possible. An illuminated bedroom clock is a source of light that can be extremely annoying if you're having a hard time getting to sleep. If you can't replace the clock, at least block its light with something.
Sleep with your head facing north.And, obviously -- unless you have a particularly unusual body your feet facing south. This aligns your body with the magnetic field of the planet, bringing your own energies into harmony with those of the Earth. Sound like a pretty bizarre theory? Try it. You'll see what a difference it makes.
Don't watch TV or read before going to bed.Wait at least one-half hour (preferably longer) before going to bed after reading or watching television. We know; some people say that reading a detective story or some such escapist book helps put them to sleep. If it works for them, great. But it seldom worked for us. And it probably hasn't worked for you either.The reason is that no matter how passively we watch television, or how innocuous the book we read is, our minds are still being stimulated. And an overstimulated mind -- along with anxiety and stress is what keeps us awake. It's all those thoughts in our head we have to get rid of before we can get to sleep. The last thing we need is more input into our heads from television or books.
Lie on your back (where you should be in the first place) and wiggle your toes up and down 12 times, wiggling the toes of both feet at the same time. This will relax your entire body, inside and out. When you wiggle your toes, you are stimulating -- and thus relaxing -- your entire body. (Incidentally, this is a good place to mention that you can be energized and relaxed at the same time. It's a matter of the quality of that energy. If it flows freely and smoothly, you will be relaxed. If the energy flow in your body is restricted or blocked, you will be tense. And toe wiggling helps to bring about a relaxing, free-flowing energy.)Rub your stomach.This soothes down the digestive system and helps to bring about a deeper relaxation. An extra benefit is that it will help you to lose weight by improving the functioning of the digestive system.
Simply lie on your back and place your hand on your navel. Begin to make small circles in a clockwise direction as you gently glide your hand over your stomach. Let your circles gradually become bigger and bigger. When your circles reach the outside of your stomach, gradually reduce their size until you are back at your navel again. Then reverse the direction (to counter-clockwise) and do the same thing again. Repeat this whole series with your other hand. Do this several times.One of the main reasons many of us are tense is our breathing. Most people breathe very shallowly, using only the top part of their lungs. Deep Breathing allows us to use our entire lungs, providing more oxygen to our bodies, and energizing and rejuvenating every organ and cell in our bodies. It is probably the most effective and beneficial method of relaxation we've seen.
Visualize Something Peaceful.Just lie there with your eyes closed and imagine you're in your very favorite, most peaceful place. It may be on a sunny beach, swinging in a hammock in the mountains or your back yard, or all alone in a cave in the Himalayas.Wherever it is, imagine you are there. You can see your surroundings, hear the peaceful sounds, smell the fragrance of the flowers, and feel the warmth of the sun or whatever sensations are there. Just relax and enjoy it -- and drift off to sleep. Once you've found a place that's especially peaceful and effective, you'll find that the more you use it, the more you can count on it to help you relax and get to sleep. Its comfort and familiarity will make it more and more effective.
Visualize Something Boring.We like this one in particular. The beauty of it is you can turn a negative into a positive. Just visualize that you are someplace that you have always found extremely boring. It could be listening to a particular teacher who was so boring that he or she almost always put you to sleep. Perhaps it's some friend or acquaintance whose incessant talk and theories put you to sleep. Maybe it's your work, maybe it's your commute each day. Whatever it is, visualize it. And recapture that bored, tired, heavy, sleepy feeling that you always experience. Let that feeling spread through your mind and all through your body till you're filled with complete tiredness and sleepiness. It works.
Imagine it's time to get up.This is a neat one too. Kind of a variation on the previous technique. Imagine that you're not allowed to go to sleep. Imagine that your morning alarm has gone off and it's time to get up and go to work. You know how delicious that feeling is in the morning when it's time to get up but you're so tired and your eyes are very heavy and you shouldn't do it but you just want to fall right back to sleep for a few minutes more?
They say that you have to quiet your mind in order to sleep. This sounds funny, but have you counted sheep? hehe. No, kidding. It may not be insomnia that you have. It may be an over-active and unfocused mind.
Try to think of nothing . Clear your mind. Take deep breaths. Get tired. Get hypnotized.
Try some melatonin. 3 to 6 mg each night can help take the edge off and help you get some rest.
seen a doctor yet?
see if this link helps =)
Have you tried meditation it can be very calming...also reading a book can make your eyes tired and suddenly you are sleeping.
have you tried essential oils, from my research jasmine, lavender, chamomile, and some citrus blends are sleep inducing because the scents cause a relaxing feeling maybe find natural room/ or linen sprays at health food retailers. or is there any place you can imagine as tranquil or relaxing i.e. forest, ocean, because soundscapes are great too. Or a combination of the above.
Whats wrong my Dear?
Insomnia is not a natural state and is often caused by an unrestable mind.
You need to confront whats bothering you and not only will you get a good nights sleep, but also have alot of weight lifted on your shoulders.
Some other advice : People who can't sleep often lay on their bed waiting to fall alseep, all this is doing is resting you and creating less need for you to fall alseep, almost like sleeping in an alternate state.
When it's bed time, don't go to bed, rather do stuff that can be exhausting, carry on till late, then get infront of the telle, put on a movie, not one thats scary or full of action, just lay on the couch and watch it relaxed, you'll find yourself waking up to a blank screen in the morning.
Wow, hang in there sounds tough. First of course make sure you aren't doing any physical activity within the hour before bed or spending a lot of time on the computer, like we both are now...) have you tried chamomile tea? How about warm milk? These are a mild sedative for some people. But if drugs and things haven't worked then maybe you need something external to relax you: classical music perhaps(I recommend Bach's Air on the G string by the London Symphony Orchestra)?
Also, I don't know if this is related but I had trouble sleeping a few years ago, nightmares mainly, I wouldn't dream about scary monsters etc. so much as emotional things like death of parents, being left alone, suicide, that type of thing. The only thing that I found to work was reading the Bible as the last thing that I do before going to bed. I found God to be the only one to give me comfort and peace so that I oculd rest, I don't know if you believe in Him or not and I am not trying to preach at you but seriously, as an answer to your problem you might want to check Him out. Try the Psalms. And if it means anything to you I promise I will pray that you can sleep right before I go to bed tonight.
Best wishes hon.
it can be due to unsatisfied sex life. good is not the word you need to have great orgasm if you need your sleep back
Please don't take melatonin. It messes up your natural levels of melatonin that occur in your body. Then you will be in an even bigger mess. so just go to your doctor and follow their directions even if you don't take the meds. Take a hot bath, no stimulation (tv,internet) they may offer you a sleep study to find out exactly whats wrong with your sleeping patterns.
warm milk with honey
try to cool ure mind...yoga can be a great help...it mite sound funny but im saying this out of personal experience...yoga really helps..especially the meditation part really calms you down...plus keep ureself occupied...
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