Sleep – Insomnia

Not being able to get to sleep at night is horrible, you’ve had an exhausting day, you know you have lots to do tomorrow and you need to get up early, yet you lie there tossing and turning and can’t get to sleep at all. So what can you do about it? Well below we look at 3 things you can do to make sure you get a good nights sleep:

Relax before you go to sleep: This is often not as simple as it sounds. Our lives are busy and we are always rushing about with loads of things on our mind, and if you try to go straight from being in that state, to lying down and expecting to sleep, then it doesn’t work. Throughout our day we are constantly begin bombarded with adverts, requests for our time, our phone ringing, kids running around etc, and if you try to go to sleep straight after all that then your head is spinning and can’t settle down.

Most people think they can relax by watching some TV before bed, but then you are stimulating yourself with colourful and noisy adverts, explosions, twists and turns etc, which is just making your head spin even more. The best way to relax is with a book, read for 20 – 30 minutes before you go to bed and it will help you focus on one thing and settle your mind down, or you could sit down and right a list of what you need to do the next day so you don’t think it over while in bed to go to sleep.

Add some noise to the night: There are devices on the market called white noise generators which you can buy that actually make a noise like a fan to help drown out background noise and give you something to focus on. Don’t ask me why having some noise at night can help you sleep, but I keep a dehumidifier in my bedroom to make a constant humming sound so I know that it works. Try it out and see what you think!

Exercise: I don’t mean going on an exercise bike just before bed, which will actually make it harder to get to sleep, but if you do some exercise during the day then you will be more tired when you go to bed so your mind and body will gratefully surrender to sleep. Also if you keep up the exercise then you’ll be losing weight and making your body healthier, so your sleep at night will be a better quality as your body does not have to fight as many problems when you try and rest.

Those are just 3 of many different ways you can increase your chances of getting a good nights sleep, and you might need a combination of all 3 to get the level of sleep you truly deserve. It might seem like a lot of effort just to get some sleep, but the next time you lie there looking at the ceiling, not being able to sleep, then you’ll know you need to give them a try.

A good night sleep is worth everything.