As absurd as it sounds, the number of people who suffer from insomnia has increased over the years. You would think that given how hectic and stressful the day is, it would be pretty easy to fall asleep. However, that’s not really how insomnia works. There are many things or factors that come into play when it comes to insomnia. A lot of this stems from stress. Soon after, you begin to associate the bed with your inability to sleep and your bedroom becomes a hostile territory. Here are a few ways to help you overcome your battle with insomnia.
1. Fix Your Body Clock
After an extremely long and stressful week, it’s always tempting to sleep till late on weekends. When you know you suffer from insomnia, you should try and get up at the same time every single day, including weekends. You need to train your body to wake up at a consistent time. Once your body gets conditioned to waking up at a certain time, you automatically start to realise the need of going to sleep at a certain time. It’s a good way to fix your body clock.
2. Control Your Alcohol, Nicotine & Caffeine
Sometimes, the effects of caffeine can last for several hours. If you’re not a routine caffeine drinker, it could even last up to 24 hours. Usually, these things tend to throw your sleep cycle off because they interfere with the process of sleep initiation. While alcohol may have a sedative effect for the first few hours, it could easily lead to a non-restful night’s sleep.
3. Nap Control
Who doesn’t like a good nap, right? Well, if you suffer from insomnia, taking too many naps may not be the best idea. In order to combat it, you need to maintain a regular sleep pattern and train yourself to sleep with cues like darkness. You need consistency and too many naps can mess with your nighttime sleep.
4. Keep Your Work Out Of The Bed
It’s essential to realise that your bed is just for sleeping and other sleep-related things (wink wink). Do not drag your work to bed. By that we mean, no replying to emails, making work calls or trying to figure out your speech. Just sleep. Also, it’s essential to avoid watching television on listening to the radio. These things can make it difficult to sleep as they divert your attention.
5. Try And Rid Yourself Of Any Stress
Before you jump into bed and call it a night, it’s a good idea to try and rid yourself of all the stress on your plate. If you go to bed with all your stress, it tends to eat away at you and it becomes impossible to get sleep. A loud mind with a bunch of things kicking about is highly disruptive. Try to relax with some meditation, breathing techniques, etc.
Are you an insomniac? If so, let us know what you do to help get a good night’s sleep in the comments below.
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