Although it’s often dismissed as too simple, creating good sleep habits – known as sleep hygiene – can be an important first step in treating insomnia. The goal is to eliminate any stimulants that may be keeping you up, and to train your mind to associate your bedroom with sleep – successful sleep, says Andrew Jamieson, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Tips for good sleep include:
• Eliminate caffeine.
• Avoid naps.
• Don’t drink alcohol.
• Don’t eat a large meal near bedtime.
• Exercise.
• Go to bed and get up at the same
times every day.
• Reserve your bedroom for sleep and
sex – no TV, piles of laundry to sort or
even books.
• If you can’t sleep, get up after 20
minutes. Go into another room and read
or listen to music until you’re sleepy.
• Don’t use bright lights or watch TV.
Other tips to doze off naturally:
If you smoke, stop
A recent study published in the journal, CHEST (the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians), found that even healthy cigarette smokers are four times as likely as nonsmokers to report feeling unrested after a night’s sleep.
Create a routine
Create a nightly routine that prepares you for bed, such as changing into soft, loose pajamas, drinking soothing herbal tea, brushing your teeth, and washing your face. Eventually, these will become mental signals that it’s time to sleep. Also, it is important to go to sleep at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. This sets your internal clock, the mechanism inside your brain that tells you when to sleep, wake, eat and perform other everyday functions.
Whatever it does, it works. Good luck I hope it works for somebody else as good as it has been doing for me.
When i sleep in the spare room and relax and stretch out I wake up rested and the dark circles under my eyes and my all over acheness is nearly gone. I will always deal with some pain and stiffness and I do take celebrex each morning,but overall I feel so much better.
In Christ.
Helaine
o FOR family and other relatives;
o FOR those in need of prayers;
o FOR the souls in Purgatory;
o TO your Guardian Angel (there ARE such beings, you know) and ask for help to sleep and to wake up at a certain hour.
I admire the discipline of Robert Gonsalves.
Yes, Drs do tend to over prescribe. I am very sensitive to meds and have to break the pill or get the lowest possible dose.
I am 74 yrs and growing old is not fun yet..
From what I've read theirs is the purest form of Morniga and I adjust it as my pain is better or worse. Anyone else try this (as the scientist call is "Miracle Tree"?)
Also, sex after setting of the sun, bath and then light dinner, Rosary three times, then touch bed. You are bound for a DEEP SLEEP.
minutes and read
When I tried reading as stated above, I don't get much more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep. Everything I read says I need at least 6, 7 or 8 hours.
-Reserve your bedroom for sleep - no TV.
I have a very active mind. In the quiet-dark room I worry. I'm very creative and try to turn my thoughts to projects. I end up angry with my husband because I will need his help and I know he is not going to like any of my projects. Now I'm not only awake but I'm upset to boot.
One of the influencing factors, that I think is not considered enough is daylight savings time. I throws me off. I have to stay up and extra hour to stay on the routine. very difficult to do, or the reverse when we go off daylight savings time.
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