Insomnia Prevention Tips and Options - OmniMedicalSearch.com, insomia

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Insomnia

Insomnia Prevention:
Ten Tips for Preventing Insomnia

After reviewing the causes behind many of the lifestyle and psychological reasons why people have difficulty falling asleep at night, one can see how simple changes make insomnia an easily treatable condition.

The following prevention tips and guidelines are assembled from several expert sources and are meant to breakthrough those road blocks and "bad habits" that prevent many people from getting a restful night's sleep.

1. Avoid caffeine 6 to 8 hours before going to bed. That cup of coffee you drink at 5 pm might linger in your system when it's time to go to bed. You might feel like you need one at 5 pm, but when you go to bed at 10 pm, you'll wish you never drank it.

2. Avoid drinking alcohol before going to bed. While a glass of wine or hard liquor might initially help you fall asleep, the effects quickly wear off and your sleep is not as productive. Excessive consumption of alcohol will seriously disturb your normal sleep pattern, cause you to go to the bathroom several times during the night and will leave you feeling tired and hungover the next day - which is usually worse than only getting a few hours of sleep.

3. Nicotene in cigarettes and cigars is actually a stimulant and could leave you awake for a few more hours.

4. If you are like many people who lay in bed and "worry" instead of going to sleep, or your brain can't turn off the emotional stress and anxiety you have about certain events in your life, you might find that writing down your emotional worries and thoughts in a journal, prior to going to bed, will release these anxieties from your mind. You might be able to "free up" your mind of all the problems it faces by getting these emotional pressures down on paper. Getting them out of your head and on paper is a great way to release your mind from it's worries, stress and anxieties that would otherwise keep you awake at night.

5. Don't eat a big meal or spicy foods before going to bed. It may come back to haunt you later with digestion or acid reflux (heart burn) that keeps you up.

6. Do not take a nap during the day. Many people find that during mid to late afternoon, they get a little groggy and tired. This is normal but the tired feeling usually goes away in a few hours. Taking a nap at this time will only leave you feeling too refreshed and awake when it's time to go to bed later that night.

7. Exercise during the day, 4 to 6 hours before going to bed. "Exercise, especially aerobic exercise, has been show to make people fall asleep faster and benefit from deeper and more restful sleep. Sex can be a natural sleep inducer and helps some people." (3)

8. Develop a relaxing routine before going to bed every night. The National Sleep Foundation recommends a warm bath or reading. The American Insomnia Association also recommends a warm relaxing bath with a glass of warm milk. Listening to soft music also helps people relax before going to bed.

9. Go to bed at a scheduled time each night and wake up at the same time every day. However, if you can't get to sleep after 30 minutes, get up and... "Do something else, like reading, watching television, or listening to music, until you feel tired. The anxiety of being unable to fall asleep can actually contribute to insomnia. (5)

10. If you are laying in bed and can't fall asleep, don't look at the clock. Looking at the clock will only make you more anxious about getting to sleep. As the American Insomnia Association puts it: e.g. "it's 2.30 - I've got to be up at 6.30."

Article by Jason Morrow,
OmniMedicalSearch.com

Sources:
(1). National Health Service, Insomnia, Health Encyclopaedia, NHSDirect.nhs.uk,
(2). American Insomnia Association
(3). MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, Insomnia, May 2006
(4). Mayo Clinic, Insomnia, December 2005
(5). National Sleep Foundation

Insomnia is sometimes misspelled as insomia.