Can't sleep? Not getting a good nights sleep can make you feel miserable. There are many things that you can do to help yourself get a good nights sleep.
1. Keep busy and active during the day. Get at least 30 minutes of physical exercise each day. If your body is not doing any work all day then it won't be tired at night. Your body is designed to move, stretch and be active. People who do some from of exercise usually don't have chronic sleep problems because they use their bodies the way they were designed, for physical activity. You don't need to become an athlete, just start with 10-15 minutes walking and build up from there.
2. Develop a bedtime routine. A routine will train your body to prepare for sleep each night. Having a warm bath or shower in the evening helps to induce sleep because it raises your body temperature. When you feel warm you feel sleepy. Think of how you feel on a hot day and this will give you an idea of how a warm bath or shower before bed can help you to sleep. Have the same routine each night and after a few weeks it will become a trigger for your body to feel drowsy.
3. Get up at the same time everyday Do this even if you are feeling tired or if you have a day off. This will help to reset your body clock to a better routine. Often people with poor sleep or chronic insomnia sleep later and later each day because they are tired. This actually makes the problem worse, not better. Decide on a time that you will get up every day and then stick to it even if you feel tired. Do this for 2-3 weeks and you will begin to see an improvement in your sleeping patterns.
4. Do not sleep in the daytime no matter how tired you are. It can be very difficult not to have an afternoon nap when you have insomnia. But daytime napping will just make your sleep problems continue. You will feel tired for the first few days you stop having a nap but remember that is a good thing. Your body needs to feel a little tired to sleep well at night.
5. Notice how you feel after you eat certain foods. Do you feels sleepy after you have eaten a meal of carbohydrates? Do you fall asleep on the lounge after a meal of potatoes? Carbohydrate sensitive people often have problems sleeping. This is caused by a complex hormonal response in the body that is linked to weight gain hypertension and insomnia. If you are carb sensitive then have your carbs with breakfast and lunch. Eat only vegetable carbs with your evening meal (cauliflower, broccoli etc).
6. Keep a diary of your sleep patterns for a month. Write down your times for waking, sleeping, what you ate, what exercise you did, how much energy you had and what your mood was. Do this for each day and you will begin to see patterns. Then you can make changes according to what works for you. If you can't sleep it is probably affecting your health and wellbeing. There are solutions for sleep problems and chronic insomnia that are easy to use and get results.
Susan Robertson is a health professional. She used to suffer from chronic insomnia & stubborn weight gain after many years of doing shiftwork. Get 2 FREE e-courses now! Retrain your brain for a Good Nights Sleep! and Get rid of stubborn fat!
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