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Every one needs a good night's sleep. According to sleep expert Sara Mednick, PhD, a sleep researcher at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. "7.5 to 8 hours of sleep is optimal... the standard [amount people need, although] there is a range." The average American adult, however, probably sleeps less than 7 hours at night. Simply put, there is a national epidemic of insomnia and other sleep disorders.
Big pharmaceutical companies love sleep disorders, because they generate huge profits on sleep medications. While many prescription and over-the-counter drugs can be useful for people who have problems sleeping enough, or at the right times, there are also many natural remedies that can help improve sleep patterns just as well as medication does. If you take the time to listen to your body's signals and adopt some common-sense habits that you probably already knew were healthy, you may find that you can get all the rest you need, at the right time of day, and you won't need any drugs at all. - Consume less caffeine. That good stuff in your morning coffee, your afternoon, chocolate, or your lunchtime diet coke may help you get through the day when insomnia leaves you tired and unfocused. The problem with caffeine is that it stays in your body for up to eight hours. An afternoon shot of caffeine may keep you wide-awake in the wee hours of the morning. The rule of thumb with caffeine is to put away the coffee no later than six hours before bedtime.
- Consume less alcohol at night. Alcohol does make you drowsy, so it helps to put you to sleep, but its effects on the body can wreak havoc on your sleep quality. A drink at bedtime could cause you to wake up in the middle of the night nauseous or having to run to the bathroom, and it could also disturb both your circadian rhythms and your REM sleep so that either you don't dream at all, or you have nightmares.
- Avoid nicotine. A cigarette may feel relaxing before bed, but it is best avoided because it fills your bloodstream with a chemical stimulant similar to caffeine.
- Stay calm before bedtime. Stressful days make for sleepless nights. The drowsies will come much more easily if you can set aside some time -- anywhere from ten minutes to an hour -- to put your daytime worries to bed with a night time ritual such as reading, drinking a cup of herbal tea, listening to quiet or soothing music, meditating, or perhaps even lying in the dark. It may also help you to make a to-do list, or an action plan, for the next day before you start your ritual. Recent research suggests that the act of writing down your stressors moves them to a back burner in your brain, and allows you to stop thinking obsessively about them. On the other hand, reminders of daytime stress could set you off again; looking at a clock, for example, can provoke all kinds of worries about the lateness of the hour, the danger of not getting enough sleep, and so forth. Once the alarm is set for the next day, it might be time to stop checking the time.
- Get regular exercise. Recent research strongly suggests that vigorous exercise, in addition to keeping you healthy, also helps wake you up in the morning and sleep better at night. Putting your muscles to work gives you a burst of energy right after exercising, but wears you out over time. Nighttime workouts may not be a good idea for insomniacs, because exercise tends to be energizing in the short term. However, the long-term effect of any kind of cardiovascular training or weight lifting is to make your body crave sustained rest and, therefore, help you fall asleep at night.
- Don't forget sleep hygiene. A dark, quiet and cozy room, emptied of unnecessary light and noise, makes sleep come easier. The ideal temperature for sleeping is between 68 and 72 degrees Farenheit. Insomnia can't thwart your body's need for sleep as much if you draw the curtains, pull down the blinds, put earplugs in, turn on the air conditioner and the moisturizer, or plug in the electric blanket when it's cold. When you wake up at night, it’s best to keep bright lights off and rely either on the moon or a night-light to make your way to and from the bathroom.
- Eat and drink in moderation. Some foods and drinks help you sleep because they contain a natural sleep-inducing chemical called tryptophan, or something similar. Among these insomniac-friendly foods are almonds, apricots, artichokes, asparagus, avocados, bananas, bok choy, buckwheat, eggs, halibut, milk, oats, peaches, potatoes, pumpkin, tuna, and walnuts; they are good choices for a light dinner before bedtime. However, a large meal produces an insomniac belly, that keeps you awake as it works at digesting your food, and the consumption of too many fluids after 8 PM might cause you to wake up repeatedly at night to go to the bathroom.
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Medication