Self-Help Rules for People who suffer from Insomnia
- Establish a routine; go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time each morning.
- Improve your sleep surroundings. Ideally you should remove the television, telephone, and any other distractions; this reinforces the idea that this room is meant for sleeping. An ideal environment is quiet, dark, and relatively cool, with a comfortable bed and minimal clutter. Darkness is conducive to sleep and have a dim ‘night-light’ in case you need to get up.
- Beware alcohol; it relaxes you at first, but has a rebound awakening effect some hours later. Alcohol can also make snoring worse!
- Reduce caffeine intake (coffee, tea, cola etc) especially later in the day; in some especially sensitive people a coffee in the morning means a sleepless night! Caffeine is also a diuretic (makes you pass more urine) and can increase the need to get up to go to the bathroom.
- Take daily exercise, but not in the few hours before retiring. Aerobic exercises –walking, swimming, running improve sleep quality and are especially recommended.
- Avoid cat-naps during the day.
- Avoid rich or heavy meals in the few hours before bed-time
- If you lie awake worrying about your problems, plan to deal with them earlier in the evening; write down on paper each problem and what you propose to do about it; then close the “worry file” on that problem.
- Do not worry about how much sleep you need; your body is pretty smart and will generally look after itself. Even just lying in bed in the dark will generally restore you. If you wake up, do not look at the clock.
- Some people benefit from a pre-bed-time bath (experiment with warm vs cool!), milky drink or soothing music.
- If you can’t sleep just read in a dim light until you feel sleepy; do not watch television.
- If you smoke, do stop – loads of reasons for this outside of insomnia.
- Some people are very sensitive to certain foodstuffs; if all else fails, try excluding the following foods (except for breakfast): cheese, chocolate, greasy, fatty or fried foods and even citrus fruits.
- Try to avoid taking sleeping pills. If you do take a prescription sleep medicine, work with your doctor to use it effectively and for as short a time as possible; they quickly lose their effectiveness if taken every night. Some patients like to have a sleeping pill under their pillow “for emergencies” and the reassurance of it being there seems to improve their sleep!
- Keep a sleep log with a page for every day. Start in the morning and write down how much sleep you have had. Record any “cat-naps” during the day, any exceptional physical activity or events, and comment also on your diet of the day. Use this log for about three weeks and feel free to review it with your doctor.
- Do not lie awake in bed if you do not feel sleepy; get up and read, or do jig-saw puzzle or some craft activity until you feel sleepy.
- Reduce the time in bed when you are not sleeping. For example; suppose you spend 8 hours in bed, but only 5 house is spent asleep, then schedule the next week so you spend only 5 hours in bed; increase the time in bed each week by just 15 minutes each night.
- Remember that insomnia is very common; about 10 – 15% of all adults have a chronic sleep problem. As long as there are no negative daytime consequences (eg falling asleep inappropriately, not functioning well, feeling tired or irritable) then just follow the rules above and don’t worry.
This handout is to help you; do let me know what you think of it:
b.shevlin02@gmail.com
Above all: Good Luck!!!
Bernard