If you’ve ever experienced a sleep problem, you know how exasperating it can be. The harder you try to make sleep come, the more sleep eludes you. Instead of counting sheep, sometimes the best way to handle persistent sleeplessness is to stop fighting it. There are lots of things you can do to for a good and quick sleep.
If you are having trouble sleeping, the following tips might help:
1. Drink a glass of warm milk. It turns out there’s a scientific basis for your grandmother’s old-time
remedy. Milk contains tryptophan, a chemical that may promote sleep in some people.
2. Try a peaceful mind exercise. For instance, count backward from 100 with your eyes closed. By the time you get to 10 (yawn) we hope you’ll feel very sleepy. And by 5, we hope you’ll feel yourself drifting off … 3, 2, 1, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
3. Read a book or listen music. Reading a peaceful book before or playing soothing music can help you have sweet dreams.
4. Make Your Bedroom Dark. The contrast between light during the day and dark at night helps reinforce your body’s natural rhythms. By making your bedroom dark at night, you will be able to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Closing drapes and doors can help reduce the light in your bedroom.
5. Avoid medications to help you sleep. Medications become ineffective over time, and may affect
daytime alertness. They may also wear off during the night, and cause night wakings. Some medications may cause nightmares or other types of sleep disturbance.
6. Try sex. For some, it’s a terrific remedy for sleeping problems. But for others, it may keep you up. Or maybe your partner chooses inconvenient times to rouse you. Bring in a little discipline along with the foreplay: Avoid nights when you have to get up early for work. Have sex at a time that works for both of you.
7. Get out of bed after 20 minutes of trying to fall asleep. Massage your neck or legs, take a warm bath, try earplugs to cut off the outside world, daydream, meditate, or visualize. If that doesn’t work, try some “negative reinforcement” balance your checkbook, or clean the bathroom. Return to bed only when you’re sleepy.
At last, if these lifestyle changes don’t help, contact your doctor. You may have a sleep disorder or just may need some temporary help getting yourself in good ‘sleep shape.’
Fresh air works well sometimes too, if you can open a window. I have trouble relaxing if the room feels too “stuffy”. Another tip - change your sheets. Seriously, fresh sheets feel so good, sometimes that does the trick!