It’s hard to imagine anything more irritating than lying in bed, looking straight up at the ceiling and wondering if you will ever get to sleep. We all have a night or two like that, but when it happens on a continual basis and starts to interfere with daily life, then it becomes a serious medical condition known as chronic insomnia. The question of how to relieve insomnia can be tricky to answer, but the following information can help you to finally have a good night’s sleep.

One thing that never seems to work is telling yourself “I have to get to sleep now!” All that will do is add more stress to the situation and will actually do more to keep you awake than it will to help you doze off. Let’s be realistic here, if you could force yourself to fall asleep in this way then insomnia wouldn’t be a problem.

We just mentioned stress can keep you awake, so it’s logical that removing stress from your life will help you get to sleep. The real secret is learning how to deal with stress during the day so you won’t have to deal with it when you would rather be sleeping.

Breathing exercises will calm you down and take your focus off of the things that are bothering you. Meditation is a wonderful way to de-stress. However, the best way to reduce stress in your life is to change your mindset. That doesn’t mean you should live in a fantasy world, but it does mean you should try to put things into a healthier perspective. Sure, there will always be things that get on your nerves, but don’t let them dominate your life, and do your best to face them head on or shrug them off.

While breathing exercises are one way of how to relieve insomnia, strenuous exercise too close to bedtime can cause insomnia. However, regular exercise at the right time of day will help you to fall asleep. An exercise program will get your body into shape, and that means all parts of it will function better. You can do light exercises such as a leisurely walk or soothing yoga a few hours before bed if you like.

The food you eat and when you eat it plays a major role in how well you sleep. Try to eat several smaller meals throughout the day, and don’t eat your heaviest meal last. Your body does a lot of work to digest your food, and you don’t want it to be in high gear as you’re trying to drift off to sleep. Also, don’t use alcohol to help you sleep. While it seems like it works, that’s only an illusion, and it may actually cause sleeplessness.

Having a regular bedtime will get your body in the habit of going into “sleep mode” at the same time. Give some thought to your bedroom and do whatever you can to make it a comfortable and relaxing environment. The question of how to relieve insomnia isn’t always the easiest one to answer, but you now have several things you can do to get a good night’s sleep.

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The definition of insomnia according to Dictionary.com is the, “inability to obtain sufficient sleep, esp. when chronic; difficulty in falling or staying asleep…..”

Wikipedia suggests that insomnia is not a disease in itself but can be a symptom of any one of several other sleep disorders. Basically, the definition of insomnia is characterised by a continual difficulty in being able to either fall asleep or in being able to remain asleep.

Insomnia is highly prevalent in the USA, with around 64 million regular sufferers recorded in 2007. Of those, it was found that women were more susceptible than men.

In treating insomnia there are four general categories: Behavioural treatments, rehabilitation, medications or other types of somatic treatments. As you will find on the rest of this site, it is suggested that neither of these approaches will suit all sufferers. This is because of the different nature and causes of any disorder. However, sufferers will often find immediate but maybe not long-term relief from medications or general somatic treatments.

The definition of insomnia appears to merely be a blanket cover term for a variety of underlying conditions.  That said, if you have any serious condition I’m sure you will have seen your doctor by now and will be undergoing treatment. If you are at all worried, do seek professional help. If you are reading this site, it is likely that your sleep deprivation may be due to some form of transitory stress or anxiety and you will find the help you need in these articles to break the cycle.

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Tags: Definition of Insomnia, Insomnia Causes, Sleep Deprivation Effects —

Although we spend around 3000 hours a year sleeping, you may ask, “what is sleep and what is its purpose”?

Sleep itself follows a set cycle every night; that of REM (rapid eye movement) when most dreaming occurs and non-rapid REM and we will repeat the cycle several times a night. An infant spends roughly half their sleep pattern in REM and the other half non-REM. Alternatively an average adult will spend only 20% of their sleeptime in REM sleep.

Research has shown that non-REM sleep consists of four stages before we reach REM sleep. Stage one is the time when we feel half awake and half asleep but our muscles begin to relax. After about ten minutes we reach Stage two and that lasts for around twenty minutes. This is the time we are fully asleep and our heart rate and breathing slows. While Stage two lasts the longest, we then go to Stage three and our deep sleep pattern where our heart and breathing is at their lowest begins. Finally, we reach Stage four where it is more difficult to be awakened and if we are, we are often rather grumpy! All these stages typically last up to 90 minutes before REM sleep.

REM sleep is a bit strange to describe as although we are not aware, our brain is particularly active and our eyes are exceptionally so (hence the term, rapid eye movement). You may not be aware, but apart from your body resting, your brain is far from inactive when you are asleep. Scientists can now record through the use of expensive equipment and sleep studies that different areas of the brain are certainly very active. During REM, the time when we dream and may sleepwalk, our breathing and blood pressure will begin to increase although our bodies don’t respond to this. It is suggested this is nature’s way of stopping us acting on our dreams and perhaps harming ourselves.

How much sleep we require differs between individuals, but if you don’t feel sleepy during the day, then you are probably getting enough. Sadly, many of us either do not get the opportunity for enough sleep or, when the opportunity is there we find we can’t sleep anyway!

Hopefully this quick overview about What Is Sleep will have been of help to you. If you feel you body has become ‘out of sync’, try some of the natural sleep aids reviewed on these pages.

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