12 Strategies for Fighting Insomnia

From orlandohealth.com

By Ziad R. Mattar, MD

It’s hard to know where to begin if you struggle to fall asleep. Roughly a third of all adults battle insomnia at some point in their lives, and the answer to a better night’s rest may be as simple as changing a few everyday habits.

Before you seek the help of a sleep medicine specialist, here are some strategies you can try to return to restorative sleep.

Start a Sleep Log

Before you make any changes, begin a sleep log to track what is and isn’t working. Record what time you go to bed and awaken, as well as what time you wake up at night, if that’s an issue. The more information you track, the better. You may find it helpful to also track what time you finished dinner as well as if you exercised during the day.

A sleep log is typically the first step recommended by sleep doctors. They will suggest that you go to bed and wake up at the same time consistently. Routine is key, and helping the body fall asleep is easier if it’s at the same time nightly.

Awakening at the same time every morning helps. Setting an alarm and rising, even if you're in a deep sleep, will help you in the future. This may be unpleasant for a few days but will pay dividends in the long run.

Get Help for Mental Health Disorders

If you battle anxiety, depression or PTSD, you are not alone. These common conditions all affect your sleep. A doctor can prescribe medication, but most will recommend beginning mental health counselling as a first step. Lack of sleep exacerbates mental health disorders, so addressing the issue is key.

If you have experienced major trauma, help from a therapist or psychologist is best. Practices such as cognitive behavioural therapy can regulate your nervous system, helping you to rest and feel safe again, allowing for proper sleep.

 

Take A Look at Your Medications

Many people don’t realise that their medications act as stimulants, keeping them up at night. This can be maddening, especially if you’re more symptomatic and take medication at night. Medications prescribed for the following are worth another look.

• Depression
• Asthma
• Blood pressure
• Allergies

Ask your prescribing doctor if an alternative medication or lower dose may work. With your doctor’s OK, you can experiment by taking the medicine earlier in the day until you find a time that allows for a full night of sleep.

Herbal medications may also play a role. These are not regulated by the FDA and can contain more ingredients than you realise. Talk to your primary doctor if you suspect any herbs or herbal supplements are affecting your sleep.

Move Your Body

Physical and even social activity are two of the best ways to ensure a good night’s sleep. Ideally, you’re getting 30 minutes of physical exercise, five days a week. If your week currently doesn’t contain any exercise, it’s OK to do what you can and build up the amount of time spent moving. Every bit helps, whether it’s taking the stairs at the parking garage or parking in the farthest space at the grocery store to get more steps in.

Limit Naps

Naps can help you recover from missed sleep, but napping for too long each day can prevent you from falling and staying asleep. If you must nap, limit it to no more than 15 to 20 minutes.

Monitor Caffeine Intake

Caffeine is one of the biggest obstacles between you and sleep. Stop consuming caffeine by 5 pm. If this still keeps you awake, try stopping an hour earlier and walk your way back to a time that works. If you’re more sensitive to caffeine, you might have stop drinking it by 11 am or noon.

Stop Eating Late at Night

Avoid meals and snacking late at night. Your body can’t get the full rest it needs if it’s busy digesting food. It’s recommended that you finish eating between 2 and 4 hours before bedtime.

If you can, have your largest meals at breakfast or lunch, and opt for a smaller, easier-to-digest dinner. A lighter dinner, such as salad or soup, will satiate you without keeping you up. Avoid fried foods at dinner as they are hard to digest. Pay attention to foods such as tomatoes and tomato products that can cause acid reflux and affect sleep.

Skip Sweets

Avoid chocolate before bed. Chocolate is a stimulant and also can induce acid reflux.

Limit alcohol

The occasional single glass of wine with dinner is OK, but any more than that, especially right before bed, could compromise your sleep. Alcohol can help you fall asleep, but you will metabolize it in about 3 hours, turning into sugar, which will then wake you up.

Stop Smoking Before Bedtime

Don’t smoke before bedtime as smoking exacerbates insomnia. If you’re a smoker, try to have your last cigarette or vape at least 2 hours before bed.

Create Ideal Sleep Environment

Avoid too much stimulation in the bedroom. Turn off the TV or music, and put away your smartphone, when you’re trying to sleep. Your brain needs to rest at night, and any stimulation can disrupt the sleep cycle. If you must have sounds, choose a noise machine, an audio book or something similarly soothing and relatively monotone.

Light also plays a role in your sleep. You want your sleep space to be pitch black, which may necessitate wearing a sleep mask or hanging blackout curtains.

Create Before-Bed Routine

The hour before bed is ideally devoted to relaxing activities. Take a warm bath, practice a bit of light yoga, read or listen to soft, soothing music.

If you try all these measures and are still having issues, it’s time to see a sleep specialist.

https://www.orlandohealth.com/content-hub/12-strategies-for-fighting-insomnia

Here’s How to Fall Back Asleep After Waking Up in the Middle of the Night

From msn.com

Story by Corey Whelan, Miranda Manier

Put the phone away

When you wake up in the middle of the night, try to resist the urge to check email or hop on Facebook; the blue light emitted by electronics interferes with your sleep, according to Harvard research. If you find it impossible to skip your screen time, either before bed or at 3 a.m., try this trick from Nadine Hemens, a middle-school assistant principal. "Middle of the night insomnia is a big one for me, and I used to make it way worse by checking email," she says. "Now, I simply tell myself that whatever it is, it can wait, and I listen to a meditation app on my phone instead. I usually fall back asleep without even realizing it." If your computer, iPad or phone is a bedtime staple you can't do without, make sure to at least dim the screen down at night. This may help you stay asleep until morning.

Transform your bedroom into a quiet, dark sanctuary

"Middle of the night insomnia is often caused by emotional distress, anxiety or a busy mind. Throughout the night, we go into sleep cycles. As we go into each cycle, we wake up a little, but typically don't remember, and fall back asleep. If you are stressed out, those wake-ups can become a full awakening, and your mind gets very busy," explains Rachel Ross, a certified sleep consultant with the Family Sleep Institute. If you're frequently waking up in the middle of the night, Ross recommends making your bedroom soothing and dark. "Even if you're a shift worker, keep it quiet and comfortable. You have to work with what you have. If you live in a noisy city, and can't sleep through it, white noise is helpful. A fan works just fine, or you can try a white noise machine that includes nature sounds. You can also try earplugs, and an eye mask, if there is too much ambient light in the middle of the night," she adds.

One, two, three, sleep! Not

If waking up in the middle of the night feels a lot like your brain has a mind of its own, you're right. According to the National Sleep Foundation, insomnia is the inability of the brain to stop being awake. Wondering how to fall back asleep? Don't just lie there; do something soothing, suggests Ross. "Try deep breathing, relaxation exercises or soothing music. If you have a snoring partner, place a white noise machine on your side of the bed. And never, ever, have an alarm clock facing you while you're trying to sleep," she says. If it's really hard to get your brain to rest, go to a chair and read, but do not turn on all the lights. And absolutely do not start an activity that will wake you up even more, like watching the news on TV, she says.

Eliminate your after-dinner drink

Alcohol is a depressant known for making people fall asleep quickly, but it may also be the reason you're up during the second half of the night when your sleep should be its deepest, according to the NSF. "I always thought that having a late-night drink would help me sleep, but I started to notice it backfiring," says Suzanne Miller, a busy attorney and mom to two teens. "On nights when I had a few glasses of wine, I would find myself staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m. I started to replace alcohol with chamomile tea and found that I was calmer and better able to sleep. I also wake up feeling less dehydrated, and more refreshed," she adds. If you wake up in the middle of the night, don't use alcohol as a sleep aid. Try sipping some water, or have a cup of herbal tea instead.

Need another reason to stop smoking? Here it is

You already know that smoking is bad for your health, but did you also know it may adversely affect your natural circadian rhythm, making it harder to stay asleep? Smokers have a greater risk of developing the heavy-snoring disorder of sleep apnoea, they sleep more lightly than non-smokers and they wake up more frequently in the middle of the night, according to the NSF. Skimping on sleep has been linked to multiple diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, obesity and depression. If you're looking for another reason to quit, consider it found. Talk to your doctor about strategies to help you quit, and remember that it may briefly get worse before it gets better: temporary insomnia is a common side effect of nicotine withdrawal.

Bore yourself sleepy

If you can't fall back asleep for 20 minutes or more, try reciting poems you memorized as a kid, the multiplication times table or movie scenes from your favourite films. You can even sing songs to yourself in your head, suggests the NSF. If this sounds a little bit like counting sheep, it's because the principle behind it is the same. Repetition can be soothing, allowing your brain to relax, slowly gentling you back into sleep. There are also apps and podcasts that tell nonsensical and/or boring bedtime stories.

Try progressive muscle relaxation

Use your body to relax your brain and reduce stress by using relaxation techniques, the NSF advises. Not sure how to do that? Try this progressive muscle relaxation: Work on one muscle group at a time, starting with your feet going up towards your head. Gently tense your muscles, count to five, and slowly let them relax. Do one extremity at a time, and make sure to keep breathing deeply during each contraction. Pay special attention to areas of your body which hold the most stress, such as your jaw, or neck. The 4-7-8 breathing technique follows a rhythm of breathing in for four seconds, holding for seven and exhaling for eight.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/heres-how-to-fall-back-asleep-after-waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night/ar-AA13mwrT

How to Fight the Causes of Insomnia

From thriveglobal.com

Insomnia is commonly faced by modern man. Fortunately, most of the causes that cause it can be dealt with. The following are a few causes of insomnia and ways to fight against it.

Reason 1: Nervous disorders and stress. Almost the most common cause of insomnia, which is not so easy to get rid of. Sometimes a nervous breakdown may be accompanied by depression. In this case, of course, it is necessary to seek the help of a qualified specialist, but if the reason for your emotional over excitation lies in everyday experiences, this is surmountable.
How to fight. First, save yourself from all the sources of stress you can. For example, do not watch TV before going to bed, but read a book. Secondly, do relaxation procedures for the night. Massage the temple area with lavender oil, prepare a relaxing foot bath, take a warm shower or a bath with the addition of chamomile flowers. Thirdly, create all the conditions for a comfortable sleep: ventilate the room, turn off the light (darkness helps to produce a special substance in the body that causes relaxation faster) and eliminate any noise.

Reason 2: Excessive caffeine intake. Without noticing it, people often drink one, two or five cups of coffee per day (everyone determines this critical maximum for himself). Coffee is, of course, delicious, sometimes even healthy, but only in the morning!
How to fight: Three hours before bedtime, it is strongly recommended not to eat foods and drinks containing caffeine! The products like tea, (the stronger the tea, the higher the concentration of caffeine in it), cocoa, chocolate, Coca-Cola and energy drinks.

Reason 3: Improper and untimely nutrition. The work of our body depends on how we nourish it, and most importantly – by what. Have you heard the saying, “You are what you eat”? We cannot control the composition of all the foods we eat, and some contain components that interfere with the proper functioning of the body. In addition, eating right before bedtime also has an undesirable effect on the body. The body will not be able to give itself rest due to the active digestion of food.
How to fight: It is helpful to drink a glass of warm milk with honey before going to bed and it is better to eat light food at night. It is essential to remember that a feeling of hunger also contributes to insomnia. Eat three hours before going to bed and this rule is not only for those who are losing weight!

Reason 4: Smoking. Not everyone knows that nicotine is almost as potent an energy stimulant as caffeine.
How to fight: Ideally you have to completely quit smoking. It is quite obvious that not everyone is capable of quitting, and that is why it is advised not to smoke at least two to three hours before bedtime.

Reason 5: Drinking alcohol. Yes, especially at night! Some people with insomnia drink a small dose of alcohol “to fall asleep faster.” However, the regular ingestion of any dose of alcohol into the body leaves an imprint on the functioning of the nervous system and can be the cause of a nervous breakdown.
How to deal: Break the pattern of drinking by indulging yourself in alternative activities at the exact same time you use to drink. You can go for a walk or exercise deep breathing to relax and clear your mind. You can also choose to do something creative as per your level of interest.

Reason 6: Lack of rest during the day. Modern man is active and overwhelmed with work matters and other household duties so much that he is used to considering rest an occupation for wimps. We deliberately burden ourselves with additional responsibilities after the core, so as not to look too loose.
How to fight: In the afternoon, give yourself a break at least a couple of minutes before embarking on a new business. So, fatigue will not accumulate. Fans of evening fitness are advised to finish their workouts not later than 8–9 o’clock in the evening so that the body has time to tune in to sleep. Calm walks also relieve the stress accumulated during the day.

Reason 7: Nightmares. Bad dreams are one of the common causes of insomnia. You are subconsciously afraid to see a nightmare, and the body begins to actively resist sleep.
How to fight: Nightmares can dream of each of us, there is nothing supernatural in this. Moreover, the most terrible dreams for us are not even those where a six-armed killer maniac with a knife in each hand drives you into a dilapidated plant and just disappears (in a dream this often happens). Terrible dreams are those where events from real life are mixed into one big illogical com. To avoid such nightmares, try to free your head from chaotic thoughts. The ideal recipe is meditation. If you still do not feel the strength to seriously engage in it, start with yoga, Pilates and other relaxing exercises.

Reason 8: Disturbed sleep patterns. We cannot sleep for two days, then sleep a couple of hours and continue to do our own thing normally. Everything seems to be fine, but at some point, the body just malfunctions. And not because the body is such an insidious cruel, but simply because the body works on the principle of a battery. By not allowing the body to charge in time, you yourself bring this moment closer.
How to fight: The best time to sleep is eight hours. Depending on who you are, an owl or an early bird, you can choose your own schedule. Even for people working in shifts or students working on essay assignments at night, there are ways. By going to bed at the exact same time on alternate day and night, the body will get habitual to it and stop resisting. Students can choose to get essay help and opt for better sleep instead of spending sleepless nights.

Reason 9: Information flow. Information surrounds us everywhere, on the Internet, on television, and in our own head (this is information about problems concerning us personally). It is worth distracting from physical affairs, as a real information war opens in the head. Everything heard and experienced during the day is trying to fight for your attention. It doesn’t matter to your body at all that you are already struggling to fall asleep.
How to deal: Distribute cases according to the complexity so that in the evening you have the easiest and most pleasant ones that will “block” the impression of difficult news or difficult tasks. Relax before bedtime with a massage or a soothing solution of lavender and chamomile.

Reason 10: Uncomfortable items for sleeping. Such items can be pyjamas, bedding, a bed, a mattress and everything that relates to comfort in a dream (that is, it concerns you directly).
 How to deal: Choose a comfortable bed that is the epitome of ease and comfort. If there is light in your room which is annoying you, try a sleep mask that will help you get total darkness for good sleep. Wear comfortable and loose clothes.

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-to-fight-the-causes-of-insomnia/