Themedguru suggests ways to slumber through those sleepless nights.
The Side-Effects of Insomnia
Feeling Tired: When you get proper sleep, you don't feel tired after a whole day’s work. However, with insomnia, you are prone to feel fatigued even with little work done.
Difficulty in Concentration: It's very difficult to concentrate with a tired mind and body. Insomnia gives you a heavy head and you cannot execute even the simple tasks with due concentration.
Irritating Behavior: Even the slightest noise can give insomniacs a headache and they tend to develop a somewhat irritated behavior.
Lacking Energy: Due to incomplete sleep, the sufferers do not feel relaxed or refreshed even at the beginning of the day.
Depression: Depression is the most common problem faced by insomniacs. People often feel dissatisfied and hopeless, and this sometimes leads to suicide in severe cases.
Other Side-Effects: Long term effects of insomnia are sleep apnea and narcolepsy. Restless leg syndrome can also be the outcome of this disease.
“Of course, eventually I could manage some sleep, but that didn't do me much good,” says 46-year-old Deepika Rastogi from New Delhi, who was unaware of the extent of her insomnia until she paid her doctor a visit.
Insomnia, a sleep disorder commonly referred to as sleeplessness, affects millions of people around the world, but many of them, like Rastogi, are not aware of the serious consequences of the disease.
“Insomnia is a serious disease though people don't take it seriously, may be because unlike other diseases this one does not kill. But only a sleep deprived person knows how lonely and terrible he/she feels in this state,” says Dr. S Pal, a psychiatrist from Jalandhar.
Here are the 10 ways to guide you through those sleepless nights:
1. Talk to a Doctor
Insomnia is caused due to tension, stress and anxiety. The more anxious you are about your sleeplessness, the worse it will get. So stop worrying and see a doctor. If he finds you insomniac, you will come to know just the right techniques and drugs to help you get some good sleep.
2. Have a Warm Bath Before Going to Bed
This is a great way to relax one's body. Try using one cup each of bath salts, Epsom salts and baking soda thrown in your bath tub. These will relax you and help remove toxins from your body. But remember not to over do it. Too long in hot water will drain your body of vitality.
3. Get a Massage
Get yourself a nice massage just before going to sleep. A short back-rub or a scalp and face massage can give your mood a boost, making you relaxed and calm. Have a slow, gentle, yet firm massage strokes, to work the tension out of your muscles and body.
4. Drink Warm Milk and/or Herb Tea
A glass of warm milk around 15 minutes before going to bed will soothe your body and nervous system. Milk is full of calcium that works on your jagged nerves to relax them.
Also, a cup of hot anise, catnip, camomile or fennel tea can provide a solution to sleeplessness. All these contain natural ingredients that help you doze off.
5. Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol
For a good sleep, try avoiding not only coffee, but chocolates and cola drinks as well, as they are high on caffeine. Some may believe that alcohol soothes and relieve them of their tensions, but that's not the case. Research has shown that alcohol upsets your sleep and prevents deep rest.
6. Sleep on your Back on a Good, Firm Bed
This is the best position to relax as it allows all your internal organs to rest. Sleep straight, but if you tend to sleep on your side, do it on your right side. Sleeping on the left causes lungs, stomach and liver to press against heart, causing stress on the organs.
Avoid sleeping on stomach. It can cause pressure on all your internal organs, including lungs, as this results in shallow breathing. A firm bed will give your entire body the support it needs to relax and this is good for your spine too.
7. Keep Regular Bed-Time Hours and Get Up Early
Your body loves regular routines. It knows the time when to get up each day at the same time, eat at the same time, and go to bed at the same time. So pick a reasonable and regular time to go to your bed and stick to it. Your body will become habitual to a timely routine.
You may hate getting up one hour early from your normal time, but if you follow this habit of getting up early everyday, you'll feel more tired at the end of the day and more apt to go to bed early at night.
8. Avoid Naps
If you are taking these small little naps during the day, avoid them if you want to have a good sleep at night. By not sleeping in the afternoon, you'll feel more tired just before your bedtime and will thus be able to fall asleep soon.
9. Don't Watch TV or Read Before Going to Bed
After reading or watching television, you should wait at least one-half hour before going to bed. The reason behind this is that while watching or reading a book, our minds are stimulated. An over-stimulated mind, along with anxiety and stress, keeps us awake. So avoid it.
10. Visualise Something Peaceful or Boring
Lie in your bed with your eyes closed and imagine yourself in your most favorite and peaceful place. It can be a sunny beach, where you are swinging in a hammock and can see the surroundings, hear the peaceful sounds, smell the fragrance of flowers, and feel the warmth of the sun. Just relax and enjoy it and drift off to sleep.
Or conversely, just visualize yourself at some place that you have always found extremely boring. It could be listening to your teacher, whose lectures always put you off to sleep. Whatever it is, visualize it and doze off to a lovely sleep.
Apart from these cures, alternative therapies such as yoga, meditation and vipassana are also found to be effective in dealing with insomnia.
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