(ThySistas.com) Insomnia is one of the most common health problems in the world, and many people do not know what they should be doing to counter it. Most people fail to even appreciate that it is a health problem – but the truth is that not getting enough sleep can drastically affect almost every other aspect of your health and your daily life. If you have been suffering from insomnia for quite some time now, it might be time that you found a way to deal with it. In this post, we are going to look at some of the effective steps you can take to ensure you get more sleep night after night.
What’s The True Cause?
Every individual sufferer of insomnia has their own unique causes behind it, and one of the major challenges for you will be to find out what yours are. For some people, the reason they don’t get much sleep is purely psychological, while for others it might be a physical problem like excessive snoring. It could even be merely environmental, such as living in a noisy and dangerous city. Whatever your own insomnia cause is, you need to try and find a way to identify it so that you can deal with it more accurately and head-on.
Bear in mind here that it is perfectly possible that there is more than one cause behind your insomnia. If this is the case, you might need to focus on a few different areas, and treatment could take a lot longer. It will still be worthwhile however, if it means that you can get more sleep than you have been getting. Find the underlying cause, and you can direct your efforts in the most sensible and logical way possible.
The Sleeping Environment
Probably the most important step you can take is to ensure that your sleeping environment is as conducive to proper sleep as possible. This means that you need to make sure your bed is as comfortable as possible, your pillows are plump and not too firm, there is not to much noise around, you can keep light to a minimum, and so on. These are all obvious things, but if you are struggling to sleep it is worth taking another look to see if you are really sleeping in the most comfortable setting possible.
Many people who believe they have insomnia really just suffer from an uncomfortable sleeping arrangement. Sorting this out first will ensure that you are more likely to get the sleep you need, and will mean you can approach the problem in a much more logical and direct manner.
Lifestyle Changes
If you manage to make your bed and bedroom as comfortable as you can and you still struggle to sleep, it is likely that you could benefit from making some lifestyle changes. There are so many things associated with sleep or lack thereof that it is hard to be certain whether or not you’re doing everything you can to help. Nonetheless, you can start with some of the most common culprits and work from there, and in that way you can ensure that you are taking the right steps towards getting more sleep.
First of all, take a look at your diet. There are certain common things to look out for if you regularly suffer with poor sleep. An obvious one is caffeine. Whilst a little caffeine is okay, it can affect your quality of sleep up to twelve hours after consumption. If you are serious about getting as much sleep as you can, cutting out caffeine entirely is the way to go. If you can’t manage that, try to stick to only a little in the mornings. Even making that change should suffice in helping you to get much more sleep in the long run.
It’s not just caffeine, however. You should also limit your alcohol intake. Many people fall under the spell of thinking that because alcohol is a depressant, it helps you to sleep. The opposite is true. With alcohol, you might well be faster to doze off, but you are much more likely to wake up during the night from dehydration. Keeping your alcohol intake down is likely to be a good idea here.
Lifestyle is not just about what you eat and drink, of course. One great way to ensure that you get enough sleep is to exercise a little during the day. Ideally, you should carry out some cardiovascular exercise in the afternoon, as this is more likely to help you fall asleep and have a more restful night. If you are struggling to find time to exercise, you should try to rearrange your life so that it is a little easier. This will be one of the best things you can do for your insomnia, so it is worth considering seriously.
Beyond the basic lifestyle changes, you might also want to consider one or two lesser-known things that you can include in your daily routine. Taking some moringa leaf powder once a day can be an effective insomnia remedy, as can a tablet of the herbal valerian. Make sure you know what you are taking before you do however, and be sure to consult your doctor if you are unsure about anything. Making all of these changes will go most of the way to securing more sleep, but you might still find you need to do more to improve the quality of your sleep further still. Let’s take a look at the more advanced steps you might want to take too.
Practising Meditation
If you have never meditated before, you might have all sorts of images and ideas associated with it – many of which are likely to be false. Meditation at its simplest is the act of focusing your mind on an object – usually the breath – in order to bring about a centred and calm mindfulness. If you carry out this deceptively simple and powerful activity once a day, you will find that you are sleeping much more effectively and more deeply. If you want to try this and you are unsure exactly how to get started, you can find a beginner’s book or even follow along a guided meditation on youtube. Before long, you will be into a daily meditation practice which will ease your mind and body, and help you sleep much better.
The Power Of Routine
It might be worth trying to establish some kind of a stable routine for your bedtime. Having a routine helps the mind to relax and let go at the right times, and this can be all you need to do in order to find yourself sleeping much more often. Your routine should be slow and gentle, and you should be sure to avoid certain things which can inhibit your sleeping patterns. For example, try not to look at screens before bed, as this can interrupt your body’s ability to sleep well. You might also want to think about carrying out some breathing exercises as you get into bed, or even a muscle-by-muscle relaxing meditative session. Whatever you do, having a routine is likely to make a huge difference to how well – and how often – you sleep.
When you get enough sleep, it changes your whole life. You have more energy throughout the day, you are able to keep control of your emotions, and you are much less susceptible to anxiety, depression or worry. If you follow the steps above, you will be well on your way to getting more sleep – and having a more fulfilling life.
Staff Writer; Lisa Shaw