Many people today suffer from insomnia. Even though many may joke about it on their social media pages when they cannot sleep at night. It is a sleep disorder that they should take seriously. Ensure your bedroom is comfortable to enable you to sleep. Check a Casper mattress review to see quality mattresses to sleep in and get other comfortable beddings as well. Also, you can change lifestyles and behaviors as a step to help you beat insomnia. Below are 7 tips that will help you fight insomnia.
- Have a sleep routine
Try waking up and sleeping at the same time every day. Although you may want to sleep late during the weekend to catch up on lost sleep. However, if you are trying to fight insomnia, it is best to sleep and wake up at the same time daily. In this way, you train your body to have a consistent sleep cycle. Thus, a sleep routine is essential to help you improve your sleep quality when you have insomnia.
- Reduce naps
When you have to fight insomnia, it is best to limit the naps you have during the day. Although napping is known to help with catching up on lost sleep at night. Set and maintain a consistent sleep pattern and follow through with it to associate yourself with specific times of sleep. Therefore, associate your sleep with darkness and light cues to help your mind know when it is sleep time and wake up times. So as you reduce your naps, you will not affect the quality of sleep you get at night.
- Limit activities in the bed
Sleep therapists advise that the bed should be for sex and sleeping. Thus, if you are suffering from insomnia do not use it for other purposes. For instance, making phone calls, studying, watching television, and other activities, to maintain the use of the bedroom space and bed. Even when you love listening to music before you sleep. As you try to fight insomnia, ensure that you limit these activities that only increase alertness, and make it difficult for you to sleep.
- Reduce stress
When you have stress and many other worries, they induce insomnia as your brain is busy, making it hard to sleep. So try the various relaxation therapies to help curb your stress. Also, these stress reduction methods will help your mind and body relax before you sleep. Some that you can try are deep breathing techniques, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation like audiotapes.
- Eliminate stimulants and alcohol
Stimulants like caffeine and nicotine should not be part of your diet. Since the effects last for many hours, for instance, caffeine lasts for up to 24 hours. Therefore, the chances that it affects your sleep are significantly high. So, trying to sleep with these stimulants in your system is not easy, and if you fall asleep they will still cause frequent awakenings. Hence, you get non-restful sleep and also continuous insomnia episodes. Also, there are certain types of medications that act as stimulants like asthma inhalers, decongestants, so consult your doctor so that they do not affect your sleep.
- Make your sleeping environment comfortable
Lighting, noise, and temperature in your sleeping environment should be comfortable. Also, ensure that it is controlled to make your sleep environment conducive to help you fall asleep, and also stay asleep. Additionally, your bed should be comfortable, and if you have a pet that you sleep with, let it sleep elsewhere if it makes a lot of noise at night. In this way, you will be able to curb insomnia.
- Don’t drink or eat before sleeping
Snacking before bed or eating late dinner before going to sleep will activate the digestive system. As a result, it will keep you up, especially if you suffer from heartburn and GERD, avoid eating and drinking before bed to make symptoms worse. Also, when you drink a lot of fluids before sleep, it will overwhelm the bladder. Hence, making frequent bathroom visits that will interfere with your sleep. So choose foods and drinks that will help induce sleep, instead of those that make you not sleep.
