Surviving Insomnia & Why It’s Important
January 29th, 2009 | 
Author: by Melanie Nelson
Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking. ~ Clifton Fadiman
A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow. ~ Charlotte Brontë
I’ve suffered from insomnia since I was about eight years old. I know it sounds a little young, but I simply could not sleep. I spent many a night coloring quietly in my bedroom, rearranging my closet, or just reading. I’m now an adult who suffers from insomnia and, frankly, it’s getting a little old. I’ve vowed to try to fix this problem once and for all. I am convinced I’ll be a happier, more productive woman if I can just get my sleep habits under control.
It’s clear why we need to take advantage of a good night’s sleep. From the Women’s Health Section at Oxadox.com:
"Inadequate rest impairs our ability to think, to handle stress, to maintain a healthy immune system and to moderate our emotions. In fact, sleep is so important to our overall health that total sleep deprivation has been proven to be fatal: lab rats denied the chance to rest die within two to three weeks."
Michele Bender at LifeScript quotes Jodi Mendell, director of the Sleep Center at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia:
You’ll also “get colds and flus, and long-term health problems, such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease from lack of sleep.
Lack of sleep has also been linked to fatigue (duh), reduction in brain performance and reflexes, and increasing your feelings of depression or sadness. It can even lead to weight gain. When we sleep, our body uses that time to correct chemical and hormonal imbalances, restoring proper blood-sugar levels, and generally reviatlize itself. When we don’t sleep enough our body makes more Cortisol (a stress hormone) which leads to weight gain around your middle.
For me, the main cause of a sleepless night is not being able to turn off my brain. I spend my entire day multi-tasking, organizing my thoughts for my blog articles, and taking care of my family. When I slow down and crawl into bed, I find it hard not to re-play my day. Inevitably, I find something I forgot to do or think of a better way to write a sentence. The next thing I know, it’s 3am and I’m seriously thinking about buying a home gym.
So how can those of us with this problem help ourselves? Kathy at Journey to Flow suggests the following:
* Sleep in complete darkness.
* Avoid loud alarm clocks.
* Get to bed early.
* Avoid caffeine.
* Take a hot bath, shower, or sauna before bed.
*
* Exercise regularly.
For earthy types, Veronika Namesse, in her article Overcoming Insomnia with Non-Medicinal Sleep Aids at Just Women’s Issues suggests improving your sleep hygiene and managing your stress and relaxation:
When you improve your sleep hygiene, you will help your body conquer insomnia. Make sure to assess your practices and make changes in your daily activities when you need to. . .
Try to learn how to relax both your physical and mental faculties. Since it’s hard to subjugate the function of the body and the minds right away, you need to wind them both down an hour before you go to sleep. . .
Further Reading:
* The Magic of a Good Night’s Sleep and How to Finally Get One by Eric Hamm at Motivate Thyself
* Fall Asleep Faster: A Four Week Program to Faster Sleep by Mark Stibich at About.com
Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions for beginning bloggers at Blogging Basics 101.
Mail this postPopularity: 58% [?]
Posted in 
Tags: 