Sleepless no more

Do you have difficulties in falling asleep? Or experience frequent awakenings in the middle of your slumber? Or wake up too early in the morning still feeling tired and lethargic? You might be suffering from insomnia. This common health problem, if left unchecked, can cause you to feel depressed or irritable and affect your day to day activities. Insomnia also can affect your social life and limit the energy you have to spend with friends and family.
My friend Shawn Ulmsted, a former insomniac, suggests the following tips to help curb this problem. Shawn says that the first thing insomniacs should do is to improve their sleeping environment. It may seem obvious, but make your bed as comfortable as possible. Experiment with what works best for you, be it a feather bed, waterbed, bed of roses, whatever.
Your sleeping position is of utmost importance, choose one that is conducive to sleep. This is usually the position you find yourself waking up in. If you share your bed with somebody and he/she is the source of your insomnia (they snore or toss and turn in bed) and asking him/her to sleep elsewhere isn't a viable option, consider buying a bigger bed or earplugs. If he/she makes many toilet trips during the night, situate him/her on the side of the bed closer to the bathroom.

Get rid of anything that would distract you like that huge, luminous clock on a wall staring at you! It not only produces bothersome light and ticking noise, it is also a stressful reminder that "Hey, you aren't sleeping. Yep, that's right. Not sleeping!" The act of worrying about sleep is, in itself, enough to keep you awake.

Limit the amount of light in your bedroom. Excessive brightness not only affects your eyes, but it also influences the hormone production that helps to establish a healthy sleep cycle. Wear a sleep mask if necessary or pull down the window shades if that light post outside is flooding your room with too much light.

When it comes to noise, many people find repetitive sounds easier to sleep through than intermittent and abrupt ones. Ear plugs or a continuous background sound such as a fan can help mask disturbing noise (the next-door neighbors' fight, a barking dog, landing aircrafts at the nearby airport, etc). Another option to consider is a white noise machine which churns out natural sounds like rain and ocean waves that induce relaxation and sleep.