Sometimes patients already hold the door handle and say: “Doctor, I have not been sleeping well for a while.”
We have collected the best ten advices on this common problem, have a look:
- No one sleeps in a jerk
‘Do not worry if you wake up for a short while, because that happens to everyone every night several times. Approximately every hour and a half we wake up from a deep sleep. Most people open one eye, make sure that everything is safe, and continue to sleep.
There are also numerous mini-sleep interruptions, on average ten per hour. If you sleep well, you will remember nothing the next day. You have to lie awake for five minutes to know it in the morning.
But poor sleepers open both eyes and look at their alarm clock. That makes them uneasy. The trick is to learn to feel comfortable in your bed, even when you are awake. Pretend it’s the last five minutes before you have to get up and enjoy it. “
- Put the alarm clock out of your sight
‘Research in nursing homes has shown that the elderly is mainly awake because they worry about their sleep problem. Once that starts, you become tense. Sleeping assumes a relaxed situation.
For many, it is better to put the alarm clock out of sight. Bad sleepers panic when it is only one o’clock in the night – “Wake up for so long! – Butalso, at six o’clock in the morning -” Oops, now I will not be able to sleep. If you are awake, it is really not important what time it is. “
- Get up if you stay awake for twenty minutes
‘Whoever cannot sleep, can get up better, to avoid you connecting your bed with negative feelings about sleeping. I usually advise against watching TV, because that can hold your attention for too long.
Do something boring, or read a comic or book that does not interest you too much. Until you feel drowsy again: go back to bed to sleep. This advice is important for conditioning – “I go to bed, and that means lying awake to break. Conditioning starts after three weeks. ‘
- Do not make your bedroom a second living room
‘An advice that the sleeping shops will not thank me for. You obviously need a comfortable bed in a well-ventilated room, but that room is for sleeping, not for watching TV or reading. Also, not to discuss the planning of the next day or the next holiday with your partner. I do not want to take away that pleasure for people who read a little bit about the sleep ritual.
The most important thing is to do something relaxing just before bedtime and to connect your bed in your mind with relaxation. Because you can not learn to sleep. Sleeping comes naturally when your brain turns the knob. But you can learn to relax: sleeping is an advanced stage of relaxation. ‘
- Do not start exercising intensively before you go to sleep
‘Those who exercise intensively will stay awake for a few hours afterwards. Sports causes an adrenaline rush, which makes you work and perform well. There is an hour or two that goes before that energy level drops. Light activities before you go to sleep are good: a short walk, some yoga. Lovemaking also relaxes most people. ‘
- Always stay up at the same time
“There is a small center in our brains that causes us to wake up in the morning, and it helps to suppress our fatigue during the day. Because we become more tired during the course of a day. In the evening, that mechanism tilts and suddenly we feel all this fatigue. That is the time to go to sleep.
You have to step on the sleeper train as it passes. If you get up early and then get up very late, you will mess up that mechanism. By always getting up at about the same hour, you keep your internal clock, your day-and-night rhythm, well-tuned. ‘
- Avoid alcohol in the evening
‘Whoever drinks alcohol before going to sleep may well fall asleep. The start of the night is going well, although you are experiencing less sleep. The second part of the night is more restless: you wake up more often, you have bad dreams.
It is at the expense of deep sleep in that second period. You need deep sleep for the recovery of your body. It is during that sleep that growth hormone is produced. Those who make less of that hormone age faster.
The brake sleep is necessary for your mental recovery: compare it with cleaning your computer, defragmenting your hard drive. Alcohol is therefore at the expense of those two recovery mechanisms. Especially people who already experience sleep problems should look out for this. ‘
- Also avoid coffee, black tea, caffeine and nicotine
‘What most people do not know is how long caffeine stays in your body. The half-life is five o’clock: who drinks two cups of coffee at six o’clock, still feels like he has just drunk a cup at eleven o’clock.
After ten hours we have a quarter of the substance in our blood. This makes you sleep badlyand some people want to combat that problem with even more coffee. It is a vicious circle. “
Nicotine is worked out faster, but smokers do not sleep as well anyway. To begin with, the nicotine, which keeps them awake for an hour, and then the withdrawal symptoms due to lack of nicotine. In the morning they crave a cigarette.
- Three good reasons to stop sleeping medication
‘Sleep medication also has a negative effect on the quality of your sleep. The architecture of your sleep is changing, you do not have a deep sleep and less sleep, and you also have a lot of more micro-sleep interruptions.
Anyone who stops will thus sleep better and experience more virtue. Even those who have been taking pills for years can stop, although it is best to slow down slowly, under the supervision of a doctor. ‘ Or the best suggestion is only to take such pills like on and off, don’t get used to these drugs. Modafinil is so far the best-tested drug, that doesn’t have any side effects, you can order Modalert today at:RXshopmd.com!
- Exclude medical causes / do self-relaxation
“Sleep problems can also have a medical cause: people with depression, or with thyroid problems or people who take certain medications can lie awake. It is best to talk to your doctor about it and to rule out any external causes.
Fear and stress, through problems at work, in your relationship or through exams, can be tackled by relaxation exercises. To this end, I have included three listening fragments on a CD with my book. One of the three is meant for children: I remind them of a summer beach, floating in the water, or caressing a sweet bunny. Children are very susceptible to it.