Insomnia, restless sleep, sleep apnea and other sleep disorders are common phenomena nowadays. Owing largely to stress and irregular eating habits, sleep patterns of most grownups are erratic and disturbed.
However, ample sleep is as essential as breathing fresh air. One’s entire day is dependent on how well he/she slept the previous night and thus for all those who do suffer from the occasional sleep deprivation, it is essential to resort to one or more solutions to get better sleep, counting sheep notwithstanding.
This article talks about seven basic but effective ways to get better sleep.
1.Take a Warm Shower before Bed- Taking a warm shower before bed and then entering a cooled bedroom, causes a drop in body temperature, reducing metabolism and making one drowsy. This helps to sleep better. Also the clean, fresh feeling induces improved sleep.
2.Have Warm Milk or Herbal Teas- Warm milk is known to be a sleep aid, most people swear by it being as soothing as a favorite blanket. Certain herbal teas like chamomile help in slowing down the nervous system and promote relaxation.
3.Get a Body/ Head Massage- Massage therapy works wonders for sleep inducement. A light body or head massage helps in relaxing the nerves and muscles slowly inducing sleep and drowsiness in the person. Try getting a masseuses to come home close to bed time or getting a loved one to massage some warm oil onto your head or back for better sleep.
4.Listen to Soothing Music- Put on your ear phones and listen to soothing music. Before you know it, your worries will be lost in the musical notes and you will be drifting into a blissful snooze.
5.Try Aroma Therapy- Light fragrant candles and use aroma therapy oils. These will help to drive stress away and soothe nerves. Often falling asleep is difficult owing to stress and the brain being in hyper mode all day. Aroma therapy will help to calm the mind down and thus rest better.
6. Cut down naps- Long and frequent naps in the day will adversely affect night time sleep. Make sure you take only a short nap of 30 minutes at the most in the afternoon. The body does not need 7-8 hours of sleep and if you are napping for 2 hours in the day, night sleep is bound to get affected.
7.Monitor food- Make sure you have a light snack at least an hour before sleeping. Not a heavy meal but maybe a fruit or biscuits. Often it is difficult to fall asleep if your last meal was a few hours back and you are hungry. Empty stomachs don’t exactly induce sleep. However, make sure your meal is not heavy, calorie laden, rich or difficult to digest. An overfull stomach is not sleep inducing either.
Occasional sleep issues are common and mostly nothing to stress about. However if they are persistent and highly troublesome, do not ignore them. In that case, simply following sleep inducement methods may not help, you will need medication and monitoring by a certified specialist hence you will need to contact a sleep clinic.