Strategies to Help You Sleep
DO
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Keep a regular sleep schedule—try to go to bed and get up at the same time everyday.The most powerful tool for keeping your biological clock synchronized is a regular wake-up time.
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Try to get 8-9 hours of sleep a night to maintain a healthy weight. Sleep deprivation disrupts weight-related hormones and can lower the rate at which we burn fat, resulting in weight gain.
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Use good sleep to strengthen memories. During sleep the brain appears to strengthen connections between brain cells, and edit out inconsequential memories and sensations that have occurred during the day.
- After a bad nights sleep, try to be physically active the next day.
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Do something relaxing before bed—such as a warm bath (not a shower)—add some Epsom salts or relaxing herbal salts. The drop in body temperature after a warm bath may trigger your natural circadian sleep rhythm.
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Get out during the day into natural sunlight to help regulate your circadian rhythms. Early morning light is particularly effective.
- Exercise in the morning hours. If you have problems sleeping, exercise at least six hours before bedtime.
- Keep the temperature in your bedroom cooler, to facilitate lowering body temperature at night. Add blankets as needed for warmth.
- Sleep in a dark, quiet environment—even if noises don’t wake you up they are apt to disturb sleep. Some people use ear plugs or have a fan or humidifier running to provide white noise.
- Break any association between insomnia and your bed. Only go to bed when sleepy, turn out the lights right away. If you can’t sleep after twenty minutes, get up out of bed and engage in a quiet activity in a dimly-lit room until you are sleepy again.
- Consult with your doctor when combining medications and herbal supplements. If you think your prescription medication is keeping you awake, ask if you can take it at a different time of day. Check with your doctor if you are considering medication as a sleep aid—some medications can make the insomnia worse when you quit taking it. Most sleep medications are for short-term use only, and become less effective over time.
- Seek help for anxiety or depression or mood swings which might be triggering sleep problems.
- Use your bed only for sleep or having sex. Watching T.V., studying, even reading should be done somewhere else. That way, you associate your bed primarily with sleep.
- Be aware of the rhythms of your sleep—we cycle through five stages of sleep, ranging from light sleep to deep sleep to REM sleep, over a period of about two hours. If you are having difficulty getting to sleep, you may just need to wait 30 minutes for your biorhythms to cycle back to sleep onset.
DON’T
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Nap—it throws off your biological clock. Try to keep yourself awake by moving around during the day. If you must nap, do it before 3 p.m. and for less than an hour.
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Change your patterns after a single night of poor sleep. The best strategy is to do nothing, and let your natural sleep regulator correct itself the next night. Avoid sleeping late, napping, or going to bed earlier the next night.
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Drink alcohol. Alcohol might induce sleep initially, but then it tends to disrupt sleep and cause you to wake up more, particularly the second phase of the sleep cycle.
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Sleep on an empty stomach. Try a light carbohydrate snack (whole grains or starchy vegetables) or foods with the amino acid tryptophan such as milk, turkey, tuna, bananas, dates or figs about an hour before bed-time
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But don’t eat a large meal before bed. Avoid spicy foods that might give you heartburn when you are laying prone. Again, a light snack is best.
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Eat food containing tyramine, which discourages the production of the sleep-inducing neurochemical, serotonin. This includes cheese, spinach, sauerkraut, processed meats such as ham, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, red wine, and beer. Sugary foods should also be avoided, as they can cause blood sugar fluctuations which might interrupt your sleep.
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Drink coffee or other caffeinated drinks 4-6 hours before going to bed. Caffeine can stay in the body for up to 12 hours, so if you are highly sensitive to it you may need to avoid it completely after mid-morning. Some people find herbal teas in the evening relaxing. Certain herbs such as chamomile and valerian are considered to have relaxing qualities. Make sure your night-time tea does not contain black or green tea, which contain caffeine. Check your over-the-counter medications (esp. those for menstrual cramps, headaches, allergies) to make sure they don’t containt caffeine.
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On the other hand, some people find it best to avoid drinking fluids before bed to keep an empty bladder.
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Smoke—especially close to bedtime. Nicotine is linked to difficulty falling asleep and waking up.
- Toss and turn in bed if you can’t sleep—get up and do something else until you are sleepy.
- If it’s after 5 a.m., it may be best to just get up for good and catch up the next night.
- Clock-watch. Turn on your alarm but face your clock away from the bed so you don’t spend the night monitoring how long it’s taking you to get to sleep.
- Foster a fear of insomnia, which can become self-fulfilling. Be patient, allow yourself to experience some occasional problems with sleep as an unfortunate, but normal response to stress.
A National Sleep Foundation poll found that nearly 60 percent of adults reported experiencing symptoms of insomnia a few nights of the week or more.
Remember that even though sleep deprivation results in fatigue, irritability, decreased concentration and emotionality, your insomnia won’t last forever. After a few sleepless nights, exhaustion usually over-rides your brain. Trust your body to eventually take charge and lead you back into a solid night’s sleep. If your sleep problems persist, consult your doctor.
SLEEP PROBLEM REMEDIES
Late Sleep Onset: Wait to go to bed about the time you’ve been actually falling asleep. Then gradually move the clock back fifteen minutes over the next couple weeks until your body adjusts to an earlier sleep time. For example, if you haven’t been getting to sleep until 2 a.m., go to bed at 2 a.m. the first night, at 1:45 the next night, 1:30 the next, etc.
Early morning awakening: Reset your biological rhythms by going to bed one later.
Difficulty getting up: Maintain your regular wake time and immediately go outside or turn on bright lights for at least fifteen minutes. Progressively move your bed time earlier and follow the wake-up with bright lights.
Worrying: Pick a time earlier in the day to jot down your worries in a worry notebook, including concerns and possible solutions. Place it on your bed stand at night. When you go to bed and the worries start to return, ask yourself if there is anything new for you to write down. If not, confirm a time the next day to review your concerns and strategies, and mentally shut the notebook.
Another visualizing technique is to picture a basket outside your bedroom door, and as a worry enters your mind, picture yourself setting that worry in your basket, ready to be picked up as part of your business the next day.
Clock watching: Set your alarm, but turn your clock so you can’t see it. If you have a clock that is illuminated, keep it at least 3 feet from your bed.
Nightmares: The best strategy for relieving nightmares is to confront them with your imagination. Immediately when waking up, identify the part of your nightmare that caused distress, then allow your imagination to generate a solution to the threat. It can be as fantastic as you want—become a super hero, grow into a giant and overcome the threat, become a flying kung-fu expert.