Cures for Insomnia

[andrews]

Found this whist searching around:

Relaxation techniques are one of the most effective ways to increase sleep time, fall asleep faster, and feel more rested in the morning. They require a minimum of 20 minutes before going to bed. There are many different techniques:


•Visualization - involves imagining a relaxing scene. You can try it in bed before falling asleep. Involve all your senses. If you're imagining yourself on a tropical island, think of the way the warm breeze feels against your skin. Imagine the sweet scent of the flowers, look at the water and listen the waves--you get the picture. The more vivid the visualization and the more senses you involve, the more effective it will be.
•Relaxation Response - A mind/body technique based on the principles of Transcendental Meditation.
•Mindfulness - A type of meditation that essentially involves focusing on your mind on the present.
•Yoga - combines deep breathing, meditation, and stretching. A Harvard study found that daily yoga for eight weeks improved total sleep time, the time to fall asleep. If you've never tried yoga before, not to worry. There are many gentle yoga styles to choose from.
•Progressive Muscle Relaxation - is a promising natural remedy for sleep. If you've never tried a relaxation technique before, this technique is easy to learn and simple to master.

[Diane65]

I just went to a lecture on Mindfulness last month but associated with pain relief, teaching people who live with pain methods of dealing with it. We had to close our eyes and clear our minds just focusing on the here and now (it helped that he had the most relaxing/soothing voice I have ever heard) and then focus on one area where you have pain (mental or physical), there were about 100 people in attendance and the majority found it really relaxing and enjoyed the experience. It was just to give us an insight of what mindfulness is so that we could direct patients not for us to teach it. As I don't have any pain anywhere I can't say it helped me personally but it was a relaxing experience so probably could be adapted to help people with sleep problems.

[McG]

I think I'll be on the sleeping tablet tonight !

[andrews]

Diet plays an important role in helping us sleep. I'd better get over to the Weightwatcher's Thread!

• Cut out caffeine
Caffeine can have a pronounced effect on sleep, causing insomnia and restlessness. In addition to coffee, tea, and soft drinks, look for hidden sources of caffeine such as chocolate, cough and cold medicine, and other over-the-counter medicine.

• Avoid sweets
Although sugar can give a burst of energy, it's short-lived and can cause uneven blood sugar levels. This can disrupt sleep in the middle of the night as blood sugar levels fall.

• Eat foods that help you sleep
Tryptophan is an amino acid that is a precursor to serotonin, which is then converted to melatonin. Carbohydrate snacks such whole grain crackers before bedtime may help to promote sleep. Just be sure to stay away from sweets.

• Eat magnesium-rich foods
Magnesium is a natural sedative. Deficiency of magnesium can result in difficulty sleeping, constipation, muscle tremors or cramps, anxiety, irritability, and pain. It has also been use for people with restless leg syndrome.
Foods rich in magnesium are legumes and seeds, dark leafy green vegetables, wheat bran, almonds, cashews, blackstrap molasses, brewer's yeast, and whole grains.

[Legs]

I suffered from insomnia for well over 10 years. The subject was covered a few times on radio phone-in shows and each time someone called in about Paul Mckennas - Sleep Like a Log CD so I decided to try it. I had loads of this type of CD but this one was amazing it really worked. It includes a whole load of instructions on things to do to aid better sleep but I didn't do any of it I just listened to the hypnoses part and it really worked. I never get to the end of the track because i am always asleep before it finishes.

I look back and can't believe how badly I used to sleep its amazing to be 'normal'. Ok so I know I'm writing this at 2am in the morning but I do sleep well now, honest!

[valda]

I suffered from insomnia for well over 10 years. The subject was covered a few times on radio phone-in shows and each time someone called in about Paul Mckennas - Sleep Like a Log CD so I decided to try it. I had loads of this type of CD but this one was amazing it really worked. It includes a whole load of instructions on things to do to aid better sleep but I didn't do any of it I just listened to the hypnoses part and it really worked. I never get to the end of the track because i am always asleep before it finishes.

I look back and can't believe how badly I used to sleep its amazing to be 'normal'. Ok so I know I'm writing this at 2am in the morning but I do sleep well now, honest!

Sadly it doesnt work for me.

I'm on leave at the moment and I am sleeping in and napping, trying to catch up with the missed hours.

[raj101]

The brain is wired to a 25 hour clock, apparently, so theres a natural part of us that wants to stay awake after dark. God knows why we have 25 hours in our brains.

Perhaps it was a safety device we developed long ago for us to get home to our caves and hovels after dark in one peice.

And I am not being very useful there.

[brettie]

If your hormones are out of kilter that will affect your sleeping ability quite drastically. Progesterone levels dropping during pre/perimenopause leading cause of insomnia. Also you could try melatonin (I got some shipped in from US as it is not available in UK) may help as help to resynchronise your body clock (goes out of synch esp during clock changeovers and takes some peoples bodies ages to catch up). Another cause may be low levels of vitamin D ( again common in UK)

[Ms Thrifty]

OH has had trouble sleeping in the past and found a combination of things helpful: a CD (not the Paul McKenna one and not hypnosis-based but from Innertalk, which gives you a choice of music or inaudible soundtracks); a plug-in diffuser (from chemists) with little tablets which give off a sleep-inducing aroma or a pillow spray which has a similar effect, and so on.

[akh43]

Nice to know I am not alone with sleep problems, but wish I were as I sympathise with anyone with similar problems. I cant remember the last time I slept the whole night, certainly not in the last 10 years. I do get tired, but often at the wrong times, probably due to not sleeping at night. Sometimes I am that tired from lack of sleep I cannot keep my eyes open so I will either go to bed or lie down on the sofa, but even though I am so tired only sleep at most for an hour or 2 and then back awake again. My main problem is getting back to sleep again. I have tried all the usual things mentioned, I have also tried sleeping tablets, which didnt work either. I hate being cold in bed, only have the window open in the summer when it is really hot. I sleep with the tv on most nights, but often it helps me nod off and if its not on then I hear everything around me so the tv stops me hearing them. At the moment we have a bird in the tree outside my bedroom windows that sings throughout the night, no idea what type of bird it is as it not a normal bird, but my neighbour hears it too. I probably do most of the things I am not supposed to, but I have tried the things that are supposed to and they dont work either.

Even after the marathon day out in Manchester yesterday, although I was shattered I didnt sleep any better than usual.

I think I have just got into a bad habit re sleep and have to live with it.

I will keep my eye on the thread in the hope of something new to try.

Thanks to Andrews for starting the thread

I thought I would update my my post above as things have improved greatly for me in the past couple of months which just goes to show you can change things.

I was referred under the NHS to an online course called Sleepio which uses various techniques combined together to improve your sleep. I was not convinced it would work and it is still work in progress but I am now sleeping an average of 6 hours a night. I have to complete a sleep diary every morning and this is used to tailor the course to suit my needs and even keeping a record helps. There is an online course every week for 6 weeks and also telephone support weekly to help you. A few weeks midway through the course were rocky when you have to do sleep restriction to retrain your sleeping pattern, but I am almost through that now and only have a couple of weeks left to go now. I still wake a couple of times some nights but the techniques learned have helped me get back to sleep more easily. I still have occasional bad nights, but my sleep efficiently is at 90% due to my changed my sleeping patterns and just working on the quality now and hopeful things will continue to improve.

A few of the tips mentioned on this thread are also recommended on the course and I have just started a course of magnesium citrate as it was recommended by quite a few people on the sleepio forum so I thought I would see if that helped.

I would definitely recommend if anyone has problems and can be referred under NHS