Insomnia sufferers Listen up!!!!

Insomnia is just one of those things everybody suffers from at one point or another in your life. Insomnia is when you have difficulty getting to or staying asleep so ecveryone should have some experience with this. A lot of the time it is usually brought on by or linked to stress. It's that time during the night in which your brain just won't switch off at all and no matter how hard you try you just can't fall asleep or in some cases you might just get to sleep when you wake straight back up again. 

Well in one of those people that always gets insomnia when I get really stressed for example I can never sleep for a while before exams or if there is something that I am absolutely dreading. However I have found some things that help me at times such as these. If I know I'm not going to be able to sleep I try various different things.

List of things to try when your suffering from insomnia:

• About an hour it two before I go upstairs to be I will do some kind of excercise so that my body is tired and even if my brain isn't I might still get to sleep. For me the excercise was always doing just dance on the Wii with my mum.
• You could try a warm bath with bubbles or scented candles to help your muscles relax.
• Have a warm drink. I will usually take this upstairs with me to drink whilst listening to music. Make sure it's not a caffeinated drink as that will only keep you up. I prefer fruit teas such as Berry or Apple tea which are really nice. However you could try warm milk like my brother used to have when he was little (He used to call it Milk Ping because of the noise the microwave made when it was finished)
• Read a book for about an hour in bed (try not to use any electrics as it will only keep you awake. If you are really struggling to sleep during the night find the most boring book you can because that might put you to sleep simply because you can't understand it. For example when you are trying to read a boring book for revision bit just can't concentrate or keep focused on the book. This should work the same at night and surely send you to sleep.
• Put on some calming music none of this heavy metal or rock n roll because that's rather loud.
• If none of that works lay back and try to count backwards or forwards in your times tables if you do this for a whole you'll soon be able to recite them like a pro if you couldn't before and even if you can a little practice never hurt anyone. You could even try counting in French or Spanish or something.
• My mum got me a relaxation CD which works on teaching you how to relax your body and mind and surprisingly it works amazingly. Even if it doesn't help you to relax it does a good job of putting you to sleep just because to the readers tone of voice.
• You could also try listening to audiobooks because that doesn't involve any work on your part so because your brain isn't being stimulated by activity it should be easier to fall asleep.

 

Don't

•  Try to avoid thinking about whatever it is that is making to stressed or anxious
• Don't clock watch because this will make it worse because you will then become anxious about how many hours of sleep you will be getting from then until the time you have to wake up.
• Don't start making a list of all the things you have to do the next day this will just keep you awake.
• If still in school don't think about how much homework you have left to do save that for the next day when you have loads of time to properly think without panicking because you are picturing a worst case scenario which will keep you up all night.
•  Don't play and computer games or watch T.V because this stimulates the brain which is certain to keep you up. (even if it is the season finale to Game of Thrones you can catch up on that the next day rest is more important)

 

Hope this helps or gives you some ideas

BellePheonix 

Xx