Getting a Good Night's Sleep

Getting enough sleep is essential to a healthy body and mind. Experts say that you should get preferably 8, but at least 7 hours sleep a night. Type A personalities will tell you a "power nap" of 1 or two hours is enough, but they also have more ulcers, heart troubles, high blood pressure, and mental problems than most people.

What Keeps You Awake?

There are many things that can keep you awake, some of them you can't control. For example, if there is a loud party going on next door, or if the people in the apartment above or below you have the t.v. or stereo on loud, or are fighting, this is something you haven't much control over except to call the authorities and have them quiet down. Barking dogs and howling animals are another good example. When excess noise in the problem, earplugs are probably the best solution.

There are medical conditions that can cause you to lose sleep. One is called "Musical Ear Syndrome", and is common in people with hearing loss, or those taking certain medications. I found out about this phenomenon when I was taking a medication which caused it. It's a strange thing...you hear people talking, or a t.v. or radio playing, and it sounds like it's in a far away room. You can make out what kind of music it is, but sometimes not the words, or you can tell people are talking, but not what they are saying. It's actually a type of non-psychotic auditory hallucination, and it can make you think you're losing your mind. I did! So I stopped taking the offending medication, and that very night, the sounds disappeared. My medication happened to be an anti-depressant, but there are other medications that can cause this as well.

Other than noise, many things can disturb our sleep. We've all had nights when we just couldn't turn off our minds, and our thoughts were just racing. Pain can keep you awake as well, even those nasty little shooting pains that seem to come out of nowhere. Being physically over tired can keep you awake because your body is tense, and can't relax. Some of us, myself included, just have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep, and once I am awakened, I have a hard time getting back to sleep.

Sometimes sleep deprivation is necessary, such as if you have a small baby to tend to during the night. In this case, you try to sleep when you can, catching a few winks here and there, but eventually, your body is going to need a good night's sleep. In this case, you need to let someone else take over nightly duties with your child so you can get a good night's sleep.

There are two natural sleep aids that I use quite often. The downside is that they won't put you to sleep instantly, so you have to take them several hours before you want to go to bed. The upside is there are no hangover effects the next day.

Melatonin - I use 5 to 10 milligrams about 2 hours before I want to be asleep. I'm not sure how it works, but it does, and there are no side effect, no grogginess in the morning.

Valerian - I take capsules, or drink it as a tea. Some people say it will put you to sleep in 30 minutes, but it has always taken me at least an hour or maybe two for this to make me sleepy.

Mind Mantra - This works best for me when I'm lying awake at night and simply can't turn my mind off. You simply clear your thoughts (hard sometimes) and visualize the word "Sleep". Then you repeatedly think the word "Sleep", long and drawn out ("sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep") while visualizing it in your mind. You are actually programming your mind to put you to sleep.

Deep Relaxation Hypnosis - When I can't sleep because I'm physically over tired, I find this helps tremendously. Lie on your back, hands in a comfortable position (I fold mine on my stomach). Starting at your toes, relax each part of your body until you feel like you can't feel it. I silently think of each part of my body, and repeat a mental mantra such as "Relaaax toes, relaaaax, relaaaax". As each part completely relaxes, go up your body to the next part. You hardly ever get to your head, as you are usually asleep by then.

Pain Relief Hypnosis - All of us have those little shooting neuralgia pains from time to time that keep us awake. Did you know you can turn those nerves off with self-hypnosis? Close your eyes and concentrate on the exact point of the pain. I use the mantra "Pain go away". It will usually work within a minute or two with intense concentration. The strangest thing is, if you stop the mantra, sometimes you pain comes back. The mind is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

There are safe, effective over the counter medications that will help you feel drowsy so you can get to sleep. Most of these contain diphenhydramine, the ingredient in Benadryl. When all else fails, taking two diphenhydramine capsules will make you drowsy in about 30 minutes, and probably put you to sleep in less than an hour. The drawback to this is that there is a hangover effect in the morning, which makes you feel sort of spacey for a couple of hours after you wake up.

Still, I keep some cheap diphenhydramine capsules around, for when all else fails.

Hopefully, one of these techniques or remedies will work for you, and you'll be sleeping like a baby in no time at all.