Problems with sleepless nights

How to get a good night’s sleep.

By Flora McCraith

It can be extremely hard to get a good night’s shut eye whether it is due to stress, sharing a bed with someone or your mind is simply just racing. Whatever the reason, it can be incredibly frustrating and most of the time we don’t get enough sleep. Or declining and erratic sleep pattern wreaks havoc on our health and therefore it is important to improve the quality and quantity of our sleep and to train the body into shutting down and switching off. It isn’t good enough waiting for your body to get tired and staying awake until you feel you are ready because chances are you already are and your just aren’t attune to it. We look at how to get a good night’s sleep.


Never nap

Do not take any naps the day after you've lost sleep. When you feel sleepy, get up and do something. Walk, make the bed, or do your errands. This will ensure you are tired at bedtime. If you just can't make it through the day without a nap, sleep less than one hour, before 3 pm.


Early to bed

Our systems, particularly the adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. In addition, your gall bladder dumps toxins during this same period. If you are awake, the toxins back up into the liver which then secondarily back up into your entire system and cause further disruption of your health. Prior to the widespread use of electricity, people would go to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do, and which nature intended for humans as well.


Bedtime schedule

First, try to go to bed at about the same time every night. Be regular. Most people get hungry at 7 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. because they've eaten at those times for years. Going to bed at about the same time every night can make sleep as regular as hunger. Until you start sleeping well at a reasonable hour (before 11pm) make sure that you get up and go to bed at the same time every day. Even on weekends! When your sleep cycle has a regular rhythm, you will feel better.


Feng shui

This Chinese art can optimise positive energy in the bedroom, helping it become the sanctuary that it should be. Avoid sleeping opposite a mirror, under a beam or under a toilet on an upper floor for example.


Personalise

What may suit you may not suit your partner so make sure that you get a mattress that you both find comfortable. Buy a king sized mattress rather than a standard double if you or your partner finds it hard sharing a bed and get two single covers if one of you is a constant wriggler.


Go solo

Snoring can be a big problem for couples and sometimes there can be no choice but to sleep apart. It isn’t very romantic but lots of people do it. Make sure that you have a master bedroom where the magic happens and when one of you is sleepy move to another room.


Determine root causes

When bad sleep patterns are adopted, a person feels that they can’t go to bed early and sleep and therefore have to wait up until all hours until they feel sleepy. However, this is all a mindset and it isn’t hard to get back to a good sleeping habit and routine. If you are aware of the damage it is doing to your health then it is something you should rectify immediately. In other words you need to re-train your mind and body to go to sleep at a better hour therefore adopting a better sleeping pattern.

- MSN