Trouble Sleeping? Insomnia Cures Are Here!

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Title: TROUBLE SLEEPING? INSOMNIA CURES ARE HERE!
Author: Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW
Email: mailto:editor@overcoming-depression.com
copyright: by Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW
Web Address: http://www.Overcoming-Depression.com
Word Count: 946
Category: Health

TROUBLE SLEEPING? INSOMNIA CURES ARE HERE!

I yawn, stretch my arms behind my head and stare at the
ceiling. I've been in bed for a few minutes. Ahhh, the
peaceful quiet all around. The room is dark. The kids are
asleep. It's an expansive moment for my mind. My mind
seems to fill the entire room.

Okay, it's been 20 minutes now. The novel meditative
moment has passed. Now my mind seems to be filling up like
a bowl that's been left outside in a torrential downpour. I
can't seem to slow down or empty out my mind. So many
things to think about, not the least of which is why in
tarnation can't I fall asleep?

I am tired, but cannot sleep. I begin to feel agitated and
become physically restless. I turn this way... I turn that
way. I cross and uncross my legs. I lay on my stomach,
side and back. Each passing moment lends itself to
increased anger and frustration. Now my mind has jumped
ahead to tomorrow, lining up all those things I have to
accomplish knowing that I'll only do so by dragging this
haggard, exhausted and fatigued body around for the entire
day. This process goes deeply into the night.

Any of that sound familiar?

Recent estimates indicate that approximately 25 million
Americans suffer from chronic insomnia. Some reasons for
insomnia include:

1. Restless Leg Syndrome
2. Circadian Rhythm Disorders
3. Depression
4. Alcohol and other drug abuse
5. Life changes and/or accumulation of life stressors
6. Anxiety
7. Sleep Apnea

You should consult with your physician in order to
determine the exact cause of your sleep problems. He/she
may order a sleep study, give you a depression screen, check
social stressors, order a blood panel to check for vitamin
and mineral deficiencies, suggest you stop drinking, give
an anxiety scale or any number of interventions to identify
a cause and get you focused on appropriate solutions.

In the meantime here are a few "Do's and Don'ts" on how to
reclaim your beauty sleep.

1. When you lay down to sleep, deepen and lengthen your
breathing patterns -- shoot for five second inhales and
five second exhales. You'll be taking 6 breathes per
minute. This takes some practice but works nicely.

2. Take a deep breath and hold it. While holding your
breathe, tense up the muscles throughout your entire body
and hold both for 30 seconds. Exhale completely and
relax. Take several relaxed breathes and repeat three
times.

3. Choose any relaxing color (blue, green, yellow, etc).
Place your hands on your stomach and imagine that you are
expanding a colored balloon in your stomach. Exhale an
insomnia/anxiety color (red, black, etc) through your
mouth. Continue this for 5-10-50 times, whatever it
takes. It is impossible to focus on your body/breath
while entertaining thoughts.

4. Take a hot shower or bath before bed, or get up and do
so
if you are unable to fall asleep within 15 minutes.

5. Take some sleep food for the brain. Before going to bed
eat 1 ounce of protein, 1 ounce of cheese and 5 grapes or
the equivalent.

6. Get out of bed if you have not fallen asleep within 15
minutes. The brain is quite easily programmed. I don't
want your brain to associate "bed" with "awake."

7. Once you're out of bed do not watch TV, get on the
computer, listen to stimulating music, turn on a bunch of
lights or do anything else that stimulates your brain
into high gear.

8. Once out of bed do sit quietly, meditate on emptying
the
mind, listen to quiet, soothing music or do some "light"
reading. The research shows that deep meditation is as
restorative as sleep and takes less time than sleeping
for 8 hours.

9. Purchase a Brain Entrainment CD and some ear buds
(they are the most comfortable to sleep on). Make sure
the CD is designed for sleep. I won't go into all the
scientific details here. Just know that the brain needs
to be in delta wave state 60 minutes for you to wake up
feeling fresh. My favorite is "Sleeping Through
The Rain" by a company you can find at
www.hemi-sync.com. Don't try this on just a boom box.
The ear buds are very important to make this work.

10. Make sure your bedroom is dark. Lights out!

11. Exercise regularly. Exercise does a fantastic job of
regulating sleep cycles. The only catch here is do not
exercise within two hours of bedtime, as this can
activate mind and body systems that will keep you awake.

12. Drink Chamomile Tea an hour before bedtime and take
Valerian root with it. If you open up your first bottle
of Valerian root and it smells like rotten socks, don't
throw it away, it's supposed to smell like that! Can
you believe it!? ;-)

13. If worse comes to worst, consult a doctor. There are
many effective medications used for sleep which can
be prescribed by your doctor. Some of these include
Ambien, Temazepam, Sonata, Remeron, Benadryl (non-
prescription), Melatonin (Don't take this if you have
Seasonal Affective Disorder) Trazadone and others.

14. Stay away from alcohol as a sleep aid. Many will argue
that alcohol gets them to sleep, but brain wave studies
show that once asleep, an individual does not reach the
restorative level of sleep that results in feeling well
rested in the morning.

Too many sleepless nights can lead to what feels like a
psychotic break, so don't push yourself over the edge.
Good self care is so important. After just 2 nights without
sleep, intervention is necessary! Please take care of
yourself. A great night's sleep after not sleeping well
for a long time can be an absolutely wonderful gift to give
yourself.

I welcome you to more restful nights!