Learn To Fight Insomnia Effectively
Having a good day starts with having a good night’s sleep. Insomnia affects many people and combating it is positioned as a goal that occupies a primary place on their scales of priorities. If at night we have not slept at all, we will probably try to “regain” sleep during the day with a nap, for example. This can make it easier for us to suffer insomnia again and perpetuate the vicious cycle.
The lifestyle habits that we have are tremendously important for homeostasis and the adjustment processes that occur in our body. It is important to take care of our health by doing everything in our power. Acquiring good habits before going to bed is one of them. It’s called sleep hygiene and it can help us sleep longer and better.
We are used to hearing that it is necessary to sleep, at least 8 hours a day, but realistically, with the way of life that we lead almost nobody complies with it. The workload on many occasions is very large and we want to take advantage of our free time.
That is why we dedicate our free hours to doing activities, watching television … and we try to go to sleep with the same speed with which we go from one daily activity to another, when good sleep requires some preparation time. These are some tips that the experts give us to enjoy a better rest and learn to fight insomnia:
1. Establish a bedtime and wake-up time
It helps a lot to regulate sleep to establish some guidelines. Going to sleep and waking up at the same time all the time creates a habit that can make it easier to sleep as usual bedtime approaches. In addition, it is important that if one day we have not slept well, we wake up at the same time as always. That will make it easier for us to fall asleep at night.
2. Avoid drinking alcohol before sleeping
Although alcohol is a central nervous system depressant and causes drowsiness, it does not provide restful sleep. Alcohol causes us to have a poor quality sleep with sleep interruptions and with a shorter time in the REM phase. If a lot of alcohol has been consumed, in addition to a fragmented sleep, sweating and very vivid dreams may appear.
3. Sleep in a room without light and at a suitable temperature
That there are no light distractors in the room, such as red pilot lights or lights that can awaken our senses. It is also counterproductive to have digital clocks that we can constantly look at while we cannot sleep. Temperature is also influential.
4. Exercise daily, but not just before bed
Sport is beneficial for almost all aspects of our health. Exercising daily for 20-30 minutes causes us to expend energy that can influence fatigue and the need to sleep at night. But it is always good that there is at least a three-hour gap between the moment we finish exercising and the moment we begin to prepare for sleep.
5. Do not use electronic devices in bed
The bed is a place of rest. It should not be used as a place for leisure, it is better to avoid the use of tablets, telephones or televisions in bed. Although at first it may seem that reading the news or watching television can facilitate sleep, we can actually delay it. Paying attention to the screen can take away our sleep, as well as stop associating the bed with sleeping.
6. Do not stay awake in bed for more than 30 minutes
There are days when we just can’t sleep and we can’t stop tossing and turning. Give yourself 30 minutes to try to sleep, if you can’t, get out of bed and do some relaxing activity. It is important that you do not spend too much time in bed without being able to sleep, the only thing you will achieve is frustrating yourself and promoting insomnia.
7. Relaxation techniques before sleeping
It is advisable to do some relaxation exercises before going to bed. For example breathing exercises, light stretching, listening to relaxing music or taking a warm bath. All these activities make us relax and put our worries aside.
8. Avoid consuming caffeine after 6 in the afternoon
Logically, having a coffee before going to sleep is not beneficial for falling asleep, but even drinking it in the afternoon can influence us. Keep in mind that caffeine remains in our body for 4 to 9 hours. Being a stimulant, it will directly interfere with sleep.
9. Waking up to sunlight
Some experts recommend waking up to sunlight. It can help regulate insomnia and our circadian rhythms by making our body start up and at night, when we are in the dark, the production of melatonin is promoted naturally in our body. Melatonin is a neurohormone secreted by the pineal gland and regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
10. Don’t go over important matters in bed
This advice is not easy to follow. When something that worries us is around our heads, bedtime is one of the most susceptible to think about it. Although we try to blank our minds, we are flooded with thought. That is why solving our problems before going to bed, making lists of what we have to do the next day, for example, can help.
11. Beware of naps
Nor is it about eliminating naps. There are people who benefit from them and who need them to recharge their batteries. But it is important to be cautious. It is not recommended that it last more than 30 minutes and should not serve to compensate for the lack of sleep. If we do not usually take a nap and we do it because we have suffered insomnia, it can make that night happen to us again.
The goal of maintaining good sleep hygiene is to have energy and feel good during the day. Implementing these habits in our day to day is a very good way to take care of our health and to fight insomnia in an easy and effective way. Is insomnia something you suffer from on a daily basis?
