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Not being able to sleep is very common and it is often caused by not being able to switch off when we want to sleep. Now before I start: on the one hand I am no sleep expert, on the other hand I have suffered from insomnia myself, so I do I have first hand experience. I now no longer suffer from it, but still manage to have the odd restless night. Over the years I have come up with many solutions all of which have worked to an extent.
The Cause
Often the cause of not being able to fall asleep is that our brains stay active. When we go to bed we really need our bodies and minds to switch off. But if we are stressed or trying to resolve problems there is not going to be much chance of getting a good night’s sleep. Another problem is having too much energy that we haven’t burnt off throughout the day. This keeps us active in body and mind and we are also affected by the type of food and drinks we have consumed during the day. For example a heavy coffee drinker will more likely suffer from sleep problems due to the stimulant effects of the caffeine. So how do we get into the ideal restful state?
The Cure
We have to look at this bit in stages. Let’s start with the diet and its effect on our bodies and minds with regards to sleeping. Any food we eat affects our bodies in different ways.
Watch What You Eat and Drink
The types of foods that give us energy and that might cause sleep problems register very high on the glycaemic index and generally have a high concentration of sugars. These foods are okay in small quantities but as soon as we start consuming more than we should it gives us energy. If these types of foods are consumed too late in the evening then you will have a restless night. The idea is to keep the majority of these types of food for morning and early afternoon consumption. Cutting them out after 4pm will greatly improve your chances of a good night’s sleep. As well as the stimulant effects from sugar we have similar effects from tea, coffee and sweet fizzy drinks. Consumption of these throughout the day can keep us on our toes and many of us turn to them to help us through. However, like the high energy foods we should drink them in moderation and restrict them to pre 4pm. I would go even further and say just have them in the morning. You can see the cycle we can get ourselves into. We get a bad night’s sleep so we drink tea or coffee all day to get us through, this stimulant then keeps us awake at night so the next day we drink them again to see us through the day. This is followed by another bad night’s sleep and so on and on.
Tricks to Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Now once you have sorted out your diet and you still can’t sleep there are a few other tricks you can apply before bedtime.
Write it Down
Stress is a big cause of sleeplessness and whilst not all problems can be resolved, it can get things off your mind if you write them down before you go to bed. By just writing down something that is worrying you will help to get it off your mind. This will then help you to relax and if these worries include things you have to remember, this is a way of ensuring that you won’t forget. Never go to bed thinking ‘I must remember to do this’ keep a pad of paper and pen next to the bed and write it down!
Relax Your Body
When we are stressed we don’t only show it in our emotions but we show it in our bodies. We tighten up in our shoulders arms and our muscles. When our muscles tighten it draws blood to them which will wake up the body and if the body is not relaxed then the mind won’t relax either. A good way round this is to stretch all the tightness out of your bodies by stretching all the major muscle groups this will allow the body to relax. (Now I was just going to leave a website address showing good stretches, it has taken me 2 hours of searching as the majority of them are rubbish! This is the best one I could find but please leave out "standing lower back stretch". Visit "Go for your life". Also if you have a bad back then look at our very own bad back section)
Hot Baths
Another way to help the body to relax is having a hot bath, the heat will help the muscles relax and become less tense. Another trick is about one hour before bedtime reduce the light in every room you use. By having less light and making the room less bright you will activate proteins in your eyes that encourage your body to sleep. (This really works well for me). Using the qualities of lavender is another great tip. I use oils in a burner in our bedroom, perhaps a little girly, but it really works. I feel completely relaxed and nearly always have great night’s sleep. Of course don’t tell anyone! These tips won’t be able to help everyone but for the majority of people a combination of the tips above, or using all of them should help you sleep more easily and soundly.
I would love to know of any other tips or ideas that you have used that work so if you have any please leave those in the comments section at the bottom of this post. Thank you.
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May 8th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
[...] It is fairly obvious why not getting enough sleep will effect how tired you feel so I am not going to go into this one in detail on this occasion. However if you do have problems sleeping please read our article on sleep. You should also find that your sleep improves when you deal with your diet, water intake and exercise. [...]
September 5th, 2007 at 10:35 am
My personal opinion on how to get to sleep at night is by doing intense physical activity. It can be either working out at the gym or doing physical work around your house. An alcoholic drink can also help.