Insomnia – Ten Top Tips for a Better Sleep

Insomnia – my ten top tips for a good night’s sleep.

Insomnia or sleeplessness is described as any or all of the following:- difficulty falling asleep, waking up often in the night, trouble getting back to sleep and not sleeping long enough to feel refreshed.  Most people will experience one or more of the symptoms of insomnia in their lives however it is when you suffer for a period of time that you can start to worry.

My bed is one of my favourite places in our house. Somewhere to hide away, read, catchup on social media, have a lie in on a Sunday morning.

I fall asleep within 5 minutes of laying my head down however at around 03:30 or 0:400 in the morning I wake up.  I try not to let my mind know I am awake but sure enough it always knows and once it knows I am awake it starts rattling like an old cage! Mind you some of my best ideas come from that hour – hour and a half that I lay there waiting for the sandman to come back and sprinkle his sand into my eyes to send me back to sleep!

As with any troubling condition it is best to consult your GP, however ruling out any medical condition, insomnia can be very frustrating.  There are a few tips to help you have a restful and satisfying sleep.

Ten top tips to try to beat your insomnia:-

1. Try to stick to a bedtime routine. Going to sleep at approximately the same time every night will get your brain trained that it is time to sleep.
2. I like to sleep with the bedroom window open a crack at night for most of the year unless it really gets cold outside.  The fresh air will help you sleep deeper. A bedroom that gets filled with stale sleep air is not healthy.
3. Watch what you eat and drink close to bedtime.  That glass of wine or beer will help you fall asleep in the short term however is likely to cause you to wake or at least affect the quality of  your sleep.
4. If you are lying there thinking about your to do list or worrying about the meeting in the morning keep a journal or small notebook near your bed and write things down.  Sit up, put the light on and write down your thoughts. You can then get back to the business of getting a refreshing sleep until the alarm goes off in the morning.
5. Listening to soothing music or a hot bath can help you to relax therefore helping you to drift off to a deep sleep.
6. Reduce your exposure to blue light.  If you cannot bear to sleep without your phone or tablet by your side try not to look at it at least 30 minutes before you want to fall asleep.  Resist the urge to pick the device up when you get a notification. Most things can wait until the morning. However saying that I am the worst offender!!
7. Reduce the amount of light that comes into the room.  I need to sleep in complete darkness and often use a sleep eye mask to keep out the light or sleep with a blanket over my head for complete darkness.  It doesn’t take much light to wake me and then I have a hard time getting back to sleep.
8. If you travel or stay in hotels familiarise yourself before bedtime with exit routes and fire exits.  Our brains still have a per-historic hot wire to not drop into a deep sleep on the first night in a strange bed.  Part of your brain will stay alert until it is sure there is no imminent danger.  The subsequent nights that you sleep in that bed should be a lot better!
9. I keep an aromatherapy spray for my pillow and a pulse point roller that I got from a hotel once. 
10. If you are worried that none of the tips above are working speak to your local pharmacist. They may be able to suggest a short-term sleep aid to help you get a good night’s sleep and to break the cycle of sleeplessness.  Your pharmacist may recommend Phenergan Night Time, an antihistamine which causes you to feel sedated and drift off to sleep.

I hope you can take something from one of the sleep tips above.  I do find that if I can break the cycle of waking at a certain time then I will feel more refreshed and alert in the morning.

Have a look at my top travel tips.

Some of the tips supplied by Dr Irshaad Ebrahim, Medical Director of the London Sleep Centre. I was not required to write a positive post.  All opinions and photographs are my own.  No photographs may be reproduced in any form without my written permission.