Last modified 10/05/2023
Insomnia tips – How to beat insomnia :
Sleeping is the restorative activity par excellence of the human body, which is why suffering from insomnia means not having a quality life, follow the advice that we are about to present or rely on your doctor, but do not miss more time.
All humans, after an exhausting and long day, require physical or mental strength to recover and this can be achieved through a break or with the aid of a restful sleep which, depending on our age, is going to vary considerably.
At each age, we require different amount of hours to sleep, babies need 18 hours, while 9 hours should be enough to adolescents and adults get a good rest in 8 hours, while elders get it in just 5 hours. But what happens when we find it difficult, almost impossible to sleep? Well this phenomenon is commonly known as insomnia.
Insomnia is the difficulty that human beings, teenagers or adults, have to sleep the hours they should thoroughly according to their age, whether they wake up in the middle of the night and cannot sleep anymore or because they simply cannot fall sleep, which in the morning will be translated into the feeling of restlessness, drowsiness and irritation that eventually will affect the quality of the life you are supposed to be enjoying.
You must be asking yourselves what is it that causes insomnia, and the answer is enclosed in different reasons, since in some cases it is due the use of hallucinogenic substances (cocaine, marijuana, heroin), the consumption of stimulants (coffee) and substance abuse (nicotine) in others, there might be various physical and somatic diseases such as rheumatic diseases, endocrine diseases (thyroid), respiratory diseases (asthma), digestive diseases (gastro esophageal reflux), neurological diseases (Alzheimer, headache and stroke) psychiatric disorders (depression, schizophrenia) and psychological illnesses caused by anxiety and stress. Finally also the variation of your life conditions and changing your place of residence (migrating from America to Europe or Asia) turn out to be causes of insomnia.
For a case of insomnia to be declared as chronic, it must be held more frequently than a month and below this period, it should always be considered transitional as long as it does not exceeds a fifteen day limit and if the occurrence happens in just one night, then it should be classified as intermittent.
The best advice one can give a person who has difficulty sleeping is to go to the doctor to determine the causes and get an appropriate treatment, you should never self medicate or take medical advice from someone who is not an specialist because many of these misdirected treatments can cause major problems in the health of the affected one.
Other tips include the following:
• Creating the adequate conditions for sleeping means trying to sleep and waking up always at the same time.
• Use your bedroom only for sleep, avoiding activities that can get you distracted from your desire to sleep.
• Do not drink coffee, soda, alcohol or cigarettes before bedtime.
• Put your mind blank, trying to forget any worries before bedtime.
• Keep a journal where you record all the difficulties you might have trying to get some sleep, as well as the hours of sleep you actually get, how many times you woke up during the night, etc.
• If after 30 minutes you were unable to fall asleep, get up and do other activities for 20 minutes and then lie down again. If the situation repeats, perform again the routine taught previously.
• Learn relaxation techniques to reduce anxiety and stress.
• Do not take naps during the day.
• Go to the bathroom before bedtime.
• It would be better if you had dinner at least three hours before bedtime.
• Take a hot bath.
Remember that if the problem that keeps you from sleeping is your habits, correcting them will mean been able to sleep properly and if not, the doctor must give you a proper treatment.
Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
