Posts Tagged ‘problems falling asleep’
The Importance of Sleep For Your Health
Sleep is a significant health concern and just as important as nutrition, exercise and stress management. While we sleep at night, we heal and recuperate from the wear and tear of our day. Unfortunately, more and more people find it necessary to cut back on their sleep. The consequences for their health and quality of life can be devastating. In fact, sleep deprivation has become such a widespread phenomenon, that some states have enacted legislation that defines “fatigued driving” in similar terms to drunk driving. Lack of sleep is not only a potential health hazard; it affects the safety of everyone on the road and at the work place.
Clinical studies have shown that sleep deprivation can be a contributing factor to a number of lifestyle-related illnesses among them obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Patients with persistent sleep deficits have routinely shown alterations in their metabolism, inhibiting their ability to manage glucose levels by making their cells increasingly insulin resistant.
Sleeplessness can lead to imbalances in the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol. Potential consequences are weakening of the immune system, risk of a variety of chronic illnesses as well as psychological effects, such as memory loss, mood swings and depression. Sleep deprivation may also have a significant impact on one’s life expectancy.
Natural Ways to Fall Asleep and Stay Asleep
Falling asleep is difficult enough for some people, but staying asleep can be even more challenging. After waking up in the middle of the night when everyone else is sleeping, the countdown begins, and trying to sleep becomes a vicious circle. Those who can’t sleep find themselves continually looking at the clock because they know they only have a few more hours to get the sleep they need to feel good the next day, and they end up losing even more sleep worrying about not sleeping.
Consider the following natural ways to fall asleep and stay asleep, and in time your body will become accustomed to the routine. When following a routine of natural ways to fall asleep and stay asleep, eventually you might not even need an alarm clock.
Forget About the Alarm Clock
Melatonin As A “Greener” Sleep Aid?
Midweek Mental Greening
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying melatonin as a sleep aid – not every night, mind you, but here and there.
How to get better sleep
Sleep Hygiene – Best Practices
Experts recommend these to help you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start a new day.
- Go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning. Set and maintain a sleep schedule. Try to stick to it even on weekends and when life gets crazy. Failure to do so can lead to insomnia. “Sleeping in†on the weekends will make it harder to wake up on Monday morning because it resets your sleep cycle.
- Avoid drinking alcohol close to bedtime. While it may initially sedate you, alcohol keeps your brain in light sleep – you have trouble getting to the deep sleep and REM sleep phases and your sleep is less efficient. Arousals due to alcohol can cause sweating, headaches and intense dreaming.
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Curious Insomnia Cures
Curious Cures
Over the thousands of years that humans have been on this planet there are many remedies to try to cure insomnia. Some of these are questionnable, some are effective, some are harmful. But they are all attempts that seem to have been effective to some insomnia sufferers.