Are you suffering from insomnia? Here are some suggestions to help you ease into a good night’s sleep.
Top tips to fall asleep
-Don’t do heavy exercise within two hours of bed time. Light exercise is perfectly fine though.
-Don’t drink any caffeine at least a few hours before bed. Some may need to cease caffeine consumption up to 8 hours before bed.
-Take a Jacuzzi or bath before bed. Add essential oils for an extra dose of doziness.
-Stay away from any type of video screens an hour before bed.
-Read if it tends to relax your mind, which could help you drift off to sleep.
-Try either wearing socks to bed or putting a warm water bottle beneath your feet.
-If following these tips to fall asleep doesn’t help, try something different. Rather than stay in bed and count sheep, get up and do something you hate to do. This is what my psychologist told me to do and it helped. I hated cleaning the cat box, so if I couldn’t get to sleep and I knew the catbox could use a cleaning, I got up and cleaned it. Afterward, I would fall asleep within thirty minutes.
Chronic Insomnia
If nothing seems to help and your insomnia turns into a chronic problem, there could be an underlying medical reason. I suffered from chronic insomnia for years before seeing a psychologist. It turned out my insomnia was caused by unfulfilled desires. There were things I wanted to do in life, but didn’t do them because I didn’t feel I deserved them. Once I addressed the things on my bucket list, my insomnia fizzled away.
- Make a List
To avoid chronic insomnia, make yourself a list of things you want to do in life and start doing them. Even addressing just one thing on your list can help you get to sleep at night. Keep making progress until you’ve crossed them all off and you may never have sleeping problems again.
-Try Therapy
Sometimes no matter how many self-help books you read or remedies you try, you just can’t seem to get any relief. That’s when it’s time to try therapy. You need therapy at this point because you’re not able to recognize the problem yourself. A psychologist will help get to the root of your problem. If you try a psychiatrist, you may be prescribed medication in addition to therapy. The medication may help short term, but it’s not going cure your problem, only therapy can do that.
-Talk to Others
Shy and passive people are often the ones who have trouble sleeping. When you talk about your problems to others it helps you see them objectively and release some of your pent-up angst. This alone can help you sleep at night.
Josh Tal is the Operations and Public Relations Manager for www.CityofSleep.com, an online sleep resource center. Josh is a boarded sleep technician (RPSGT) by trade. In addition, he is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at Palo Alto University with a focus on Women's Health and Neuroscience through Stanford University. He works as a research assistant at Stanford University's Late-Life and Lifespan Approach to Neuropsychiatric Disorders Lab.