Many people have trouble falling asleep. Waking up at night is really frustrating and has a negative impact on your health. Lack of sleep can lower your immune system, make you prone to depression and anxiety, and increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart problems. However, there are some simple techniques that can help you relax enough to fall asleep faster.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Using Relaxation Techniques
Step 1. Exercise in the morning
this will help you physically tired at night. Your body will also release endorphins which will calm you down emotionally.
- Exercise will also make your body fresh, so it's best to do it in the morning. If you can choose between going to the gym in the morning and in the evening, choose the morning.
- Adults between the ages of 18-64 should get 150 minutes of light exercise per week for at least 10 minutes of exercise at a time.
- Make sure children who have sleep problems get enough exercise. This will help tire them out at night.
Step 2. Drink soothing tea
Caffeine-free teas containing chamomile or valerian can help with the relaxation process before you go to sleep. Look for teas that contain these soothing ingredients.
Step 3. Do breathing exercises
This is a great way to calm your mind and relax your body so you can fall asleep. Once you are in bed and a comfortable position:
- Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
- Close your eyes and feel your breath moving through your body. Imagine the air you breathe in through your mouth and nose, into your lungs, and out again.
- Pay attention to where you bring tension to your body. As you exhale, loosen the tense areas.
- If you're worried again, come to your senses and focus back on your breathing.
Step 4. Use shadows
In this method, you give your mind something to focus on besides the stresses of your daily life. What works for you is very personal. It could be a favorite place, an imaginary location, doing an activity you enjoy, or telling a story to yourself.
- Slowly imagine the scene in as much detail as possible. For example, if you are imagining the beach, imagine the waves, listen to the crashing of the waves, listen to the sound of seagulls, and imagine the smell of the sea water. Feel the breeze blowing and the warmth of the sun.
- If you find yourself recalling stress in your daily life, remind yourself that you'll be dealing with it tomorrow and refocus on that image. This takes practice, and you'll get better at it.
- This method can also help children who have trouble sleeping.
Step 5. Try continuous muscle relaxation
This method is especially good for people who are physically stressed. If your stress is straining the muscles in your back, neck, or head, this method can help you relax and fall asleep.
- Start at your toes and work your way up to each muscle group in your body.
- Tense a muscle group for five seconds. Focus on how it feels. Then relax that muscle group. Feel the difference. Repeat this five times for each muscle. Then move on to the next muscle section.
- Don't hold your breath while tensing your muscles. Take a deep breath.
Step 6. Ask your partner to massage you
The part of the body where you carry stress can be painful and cause sleeplessness. Most people carry stress in the head and neck, causing back pain and headaches.
- Ask your partner to give you a gentle, short massage before going to bed. If you feel an area that hurts, focus on that area. The massage and the feeling of relaxing the muscles will relax you physically and emotionally, making you feel like sleeping.
- Turn off or dim the lights to reduce eye strain.
- If you use a massage oil, choose one that has a calming scent, such as lavender or vanilla.
Step 7. Read a calming book
Read a book that is so interesting that it prevents you from worrying. But don't read a book so enjoyable that you don't want to stop reading it.
- Reading informative or scientific material will appeal to your mind, not your emotions.
- Avoid mystery novels. This will make you stay up all night reading it even more.
- This technique is good for children who find it difficult to rest at night. Read stories to your child 10-20 minutes before bedtime to help them relax.
Step 8. Write down your stress or concern
If you can't relax because you're always thinking about what to do tomorrow, stop and write it down. Write down anything that bothers you or worries you. If you start to get stressed again, remind yourself that you wrote it down and can do it tomorrow.
Step 9. Stop trying when you can't sleep
If you are awake for more than 20 minutes, get up and take a walk. This will help you refresh your head and avoid worries. Take a walk for 10 minutes and try:
- Take a warm bath to relax.
- Read a book to remove worries from your mind.
- Listen to relaxing music.
Part 2 of 3: Creating a Bedtime Routine
Step 1. Maintain a sleep schedule. Waking up and going to bed at the same time each day will help your body's wake-sleep rhythm prepare you to sleep and wake up at the right time
Keep this schedule for a week. While you can sleep late on the weekends, don't be tempted to stay up late or stay up late.
- Adults need seven to nine hours of sleep per night. If you're still tired, you may need more. Some people need up to ten hours of sleep per night. Children and youth need even more time.
- Try not to take a nap. Even if it feels good, if it keeps you from sleeping at night, it's doing more harm than good.
Step 2. Take a warm bath
About an hour before bed, try a warm bath, so that your body feels relaxed and warm. When you enter cold air, your body temperature will drop, which prepares your body for sleep. Adding this step to your nighttime routine will help your body start to fall asleep.
Step 3. Prepare your room for a comfortable sleep
Cut down on any stimuli that keep you awake. These include noises, uncomfortable temperatures, television, light, allergens, or an uncomfortable mattress. The solution to handle this is:
- Use earplugs or a “white noise machine” to drown out the sound. The white noise engine produces a low constant noise that after a few minutes, you no longer notice it. It can also eliminate other noises that may be bothering you. This technique is useful if traffic noise or your neighbors are keeping you from sleeping.
- Use blackout blinds or curtains to reduce light. This will help if you work at night and need to sleep during the day, or if there is a bright street lamp outside your window.
- Keep your room at a comfortable temperature. Most people can sleep comfortably when the room temperature is between 16-19 °C. If you live in a hot, dry climate, try using a fan or air conditioner to lower the temperature.
- If you have allergies, try to reduce the allergens in your room. If you have pets, try not to be in the room. Don't forget to be diligent about cleaning allergens such as dust, dust, and pet dander.
- If your mattress is over 10 years old and you wake up with back pain, it's time to replace it with a new mattress. After very long use, the mattress is no longer as soft as it was when it was new. Check your mattress to see if it has formed an indentation where you sleep. If so, consider buying a new one. There's nothing wrong with investing in quality mattresses and pillows.
Step 4. Turn off electronic devices
Such as computers, laptops, televisions, and radios. The light from the screen makes it harder for your body to transition into the sleep phase of your wake-sleep cycle. It's also great for keeping devices like tablets and televisions out of the room. Try making your room a place to just sleep.
- Turn off the computer and screens that produce bright light. This light will stimulate and prevent your circadian rhythm from switching to night mode. This will make it even more difficult to sleep.
- Turn off sound-producing devices. Move the clock with a loud second sound and turn off the radio. If you find it easy to sleep with background noise, choose something soothing without words. Words will put your mind to work and make it harder for you to sleep.
- Don't let yourself look at the clock while trying to sleep. This will make you anxious about not falling asleep, which will make it even more difficult to fall asleep.
Step 5. Use light to regulate your sleep cycle
This technique is useful for shift workers who have to get up at night and sleep during the day. You can manipulate light stimulation naturally, or control it more accurately with a bright sunlamp.
- Take advantage of natural light by letting the sun enter your room in the morning or take a morning walk in the sun. This will help your body clock program yourself to wake up at this hour. Similarly, avoid bright light before bed.
- Buy a sunlamp that you can program to turn on a few minutes before your alarm goes off. The light from these lamps will give you exposure to the sun's spectrum, causing your body to start waking up. This will help your body maintain a regular sleep-wake cycle. It is also useful for shift workers who may not be exposed to natural light while they are awake.
Step 6. Avoid caffeine and other substances that will interfere with your sleep, such as caffeinated drinks, alcohol, and nicotine
- Don't drink coffee, caffeinated tea, or caffeinated soda after lunch. Even if you still feel tired and won't stop you from falling asleep, these drinks will interfere with your body's regulation of your sleep-wake cycle.
- Do not smoke. Nicotine is a stimulant and makes it difficult to sleep.
- Reduce alcohol consumption. While excessive drinking will make you drunk, alcohol will disrupt deeper stages of sleep, causing you to fall asleep restlessly and wake up more often. In addition, if you drink a lot before bed, you will be forced to wake up many times to urinate at night.
Step 7. Don't eat a heavy meal before going to bed
Stomach acid will rise and cause discomfort lying in bed. Eat dinner at least two hours before bed to give time for digestion. If you are hungry before bed, eat a small snack such as fruit or crackers.
Avoid foods that cause indigestion, such as fatty foods, tomatoes, or spicy foods
Step 8. Limit drinking before bed
Do not let the body dehydrated because if you are thirsty, you will wake up. Avoid drinks that contain a lot of sugar before bed. This will keep your body awake and cause you to need to pee in the middle of the night.
If you reduce your fluid intake before bed, make sure you drink a large glass of water when you wake up to prevent dehydration
Part 3 of 3: Seeking Help
Step 1. See a doctor if your sleep problems are interfering with your life
People with sleep problems, including insomnia, usually have the following symptoms:
- Takes 30 minutes or more to fall asleep
- Woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep
- Waking up too early
- Sleepy all day
- Bad mood, feeling depressed or anxious
- Forgetful, makes a lot of mistakes at school or work
- Headache due to tension
- Stomach problems
- Worried about not getting enough sleep
Step 2. Discuss your medications with your doctor
Some medicines contain stimulants or change your sleep patterns. This includes some over-the-counter medications. Medications that contain stimulants include:
- Over-the-counter medications, decongestants and diet products
- Stimulants such as Ritalin
- Allergy medicine
- Corticosteroids
- Antidepressants
- Medicine for heart and high blood
Step 3. Try therapy
This is often recommended for people who have had trouble sleeping for more than a month. There are several techniques the therapist may use:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy: This therapy aims to help you change thought patterns that can keep you awake. This is useful for those of you who worry easily or are under a lot of stress.
- Stimulus control therapy: In this technique, you reduce the amount of awake time you spend in bed and use your bed only for sleep and sexual activities.
- Sleep restriction therapy: in this method, you reduce the amount of sleep you get in one night, with the aim of making you sleep better the next night. Once you return to your regular sleep cycle, the amount of time you sleep increases.
- Paradoxical intention: This method is effective for people who are very worried about not being able to sleep. Instead of worrying about not sleeping, you try to stay awake.
- Biofeedback: This method is useful for people who may not realize that they are too tense to sleep. By measuring your body's activities, such as heart rate and muscle tension, you can learn to relax. To make sure you're doing it with someone you trust, ask if a doctor is supervising this activity.
Step 4. Get short term relief from medication
If you are very sleep deprived, your doctor will recommend medications that make you sleepy. However, many have serious side effects such as dependence. So, use it in the short term only. Usually, these drugs should not be taken for more than a week. Some medications you may take to sleep include:
- Over-the-counter antihistamines. Be warned you may be too sleepy to drive or operate machinery the next day. Also, if you have trouble urinating or wake up frequently at night to urinate, these medications will make things worse.
- Melatonin (Circadin). This treatment consists of the hormone melatonin which controls your sleep cycle. This drug is usually prescribed for seniors. This drug can be used for up to 13 weeks. Side effects include headaches, flu symptoms, back and joint pain.
- Benzodiazepines (Valium and others). These drugs can be addictive, and once you get used to them, become less effective. These drugs also cause side effects such as dizziness, difficulty focusing, lack of emotion, depression, irritability, and drowsiness the next day.
- Z-drug (Ambien, Sonata). These drugs are also addictive and less effective over time. This medicine may cause drowsiness, diarrhea, snoring, dry mouth, confusion, nightmares, delusions, and hallucinations. If you experience psychological side effects, go to the ER immediately.
