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Insomnia support and Sleeping Strategy Advice
by Kirsten Taylor Naturopath, Medical Herbalist
New Zealand Health Shop
Do you have trouble sleeping? Do you endure restless nights? There's nothing troubled sleepers covet more than a relaxing, deep, carefree sleep from which they awake refreshed and ready to face their daily life.
Discover these easy ways that will hopefully have you sleeping like a baby again. Use these approaches in combination with our SLEEP Drops.
1) Make sure you're tired
Do some exercise during the day, but never close to bedtime or your heart rate will go up and your adrenaline will still be pumping when you get into bed.
2) Get up at a decent hour. If you're in bed by 11pm, you should be up by 8am.
If you go to sleep late, don't let yourself sleep in, in the morning. Get up 8 hours later no matter what!
3)Mineral deficiencies are a leading cause of sleep disturbances. Minerals are lacking in our food chain due to modern agricultural methods, due to increased requirements from the body for modern living along with decreased absorption in the body we just can’t seem to get and/or utilise enough! Minerals taken before bed can have a positive impact on naturally sedating the nervous system. They help neurons to “fire” more functionally or more specifically stop them from over firing.
To get the most of your Sleep drops or for them to be the most effective they can be and to ensure you get to sleep as quickly as possible you will need to get some minerals. If you have trouble getting to sleep take Calcium. If you have trouble staying asleep then take Magnesium. Please call our team on 09 378 0444 and we will get you some good quality supplements that are prescription grade nutriceuticals.
4) Cortisol can have a serious impact on your ability to fall asleep. If you find you have a second wind from 10pm til 1am, this might be you so make sure you are in bed by 9:30. Lights out by 10pm.
5) Don't over drink during the day or night otherwise a full bladder can stop you getting to sleep and wake you up in the night.
Our bodies want on average no more than 30mls of good quality water per Kg of body weight per day. Our kidneys prefer it if we only drink a maximum of 200mls per half hour.
If you are waking in the night to go to the toilet then stop all beverages at least 1 .5 hours before you plan to retire for the day.
6) Thirsty in the night?
Keep an ECOtanka Stainless steel drink bottle with a sipper top next to your bed. Glasses can be knocked over too easily and are easy to spill while half asleep. If night thirst is a real problem you may not be utilising your water adequately during the day. Try adding some Biotrace Elete drops or CMD minerals to your water. Or a cheap option is a very small pinch of salt on your tongue each morning and night for 6 weeks. ( avoid if you have high blood pressure)
7) Naturally relaxing foods/Tryptophan containing foods.
Turkey, Bananas, milk are natural tranquilisers because they contain Tryptophan which is a "feel good" neurotransmitter that has a role in the sleep cycle. Consuming these foods is helpful for some people. Please be aware of the high incidence of dairy allergy. If this is you avoid the milk option. And definitely don't have cheese. There is an old wives tale about the connection between cheese before bed and the occurrence of nightmares in some people!
8) Avoid all caffeine. Seriously it is not good for you. If you must drink your coffee during the day then absolutely do not have any caffeine after 2:30pm!
9) Don't drink tea (or anything with caffeine, of course) in the evening.
10) Avoid using alcohol as a sedative to get you to sleep. It is not good quality sleep. You don't get the full phases of sleep and it will often wake you up between 2 and 3am which according to Chinese medicine is Liver time.
11) Prepare for tomorrow
Check your schedule as you finish work for the day so you are not wondering if you have forgotten anything for the next work day. Make a list of everything you need to do the next day - even the small things like making a phone call. Do this at least an hour before you go to bed - that way any thing you may have forgotten will most likely pop into your head while you're getting ready for bed.
12) Wash your worries away
A warm bath helps your muscles relax. Add 5 drops of lavender officinalis to the water or sprinkle some chamomile flowers into the water. Epsom salts are an easy way to get some magnesium into your body which is a natural sedative for the nervous system.
13) Listen to Your inner voice or subconscious mind
Keep a nice diary or notebook and pen by your bed. Any thoughts that keep you awake or wake you up in the night time can easily be recorded, then you can go back to sleep without worrying that you might forget about them by morning.
14) Temperature regulation
Make sure you are not too cold or too hot. Be sure to wear wool next to your body in winter to keep your core body organs warm. If you get hot feet - don't wear socks. If you do wake too hot or too cold, do something about it straight away. Don't lie there thinking you will be alright because you won't get the quality of sleep you need.
15) Don't keep an alarm clock next to your bed. They emit radiation and the light can stop your body from sleeping properly. If you must have one as an alarm clock set it and put it into a drawer where you can't see the light.
16) Snooze control. Make your self snooze control rules. There is no point in hitting the snooze button every 5 or 10 minutes for one hour. This is a wasted opportunity to keep sleeping. Give yourself no more than 3 chances to hit snooze and then that's it - Up and at it!
17) If you have a busy mind and cannot switch off or stop the mind chatter take 1 ~ 2 drops more of your SLEEP Drops each minute.
18) Try listening to relaxing music such as a guided meditation or self hypnosis that will help encourage you to go to sleep. These are highly effective for many people. But make sure you turn the music off once you are finished. Have a easy turn off system such as only having to push one button or shut the lid on your lap top.
19) If you are sensitive to noise you will most likely respond to some magnesium supplementation before bed. Tinnitus or ringing in the ears often responds to magnesium. Another way to stop outside noise is to get some ear plugs ( industrial grade) that are soft so you can pop them in your ears and be comfortable.
20) Tense your muscles and then relax them. This is a way of training your body to remember what it is like to relax - if it has forgotten :)
Lie down on your bed and starting with one side of the body and then the other start by tensing your foot and then relaxing. Then do the same to the other one. Slowly move up the body doing a section at a time, tensing and relaxing until you get to the top of your head. Then imagine slow, gentle waves of relaxation moving down your body.
21) Deep slow breathing can reset your nervous system and induce a state of relaxation. Breathe slowly in for the count of 9 and slowly out for the count of 11. This takes practice but dothis nightly for at least 30 breaths and you should be seriously relaxed!
22) Do not fall asleep with the TV on. You might think that it is a sedative but it stops you from being able to enjoy the full phases of sleep and stimulates your nervous system! Turn it off pleaseJ
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