Posts at 2:00 in the morning on Facebook mean one thing: You can’t sleep. Millions of people search everyday, and of course every night, for the magic cure to insomnia. Natural, pharmaceutical, and make believe home remedies are bought and tried by desperate people everywhere whose greatest wish is to snooze like they once did. If you envy babies, dogs, and people that fall asleep at church, sleep is a problem for you, but there is a solution. Thank goodness!!

Many people view the natural act of sleep as an enemy. In order to make sleep an ally, we need to change the way we think and act towards this biological need. We all have different root causes that lead to the same effect: No ZZ”S!!! Anxiety is the main culprit fighting our basic desire to achieve peaceful oblivion. Job anxiety, social anxiety, baby anxiety, school anxiety, sleep anxiety and just plain life anxiety are all interfering with our innate ability for quality rest.

My issues with sleep began as many sleep problems do with the birth of a child. Of course, this is understandable. Who would be able to doze off at night with a baby letting out shrill screams in order to breast feed half the night? The problem was that I was dead tired but still couldn’t sleep when given the opportunity. I had major anxiety. I had an irrational fear that I would never be able to sleep again. This is very common among insomniacs. I began researching tips for sleep extensively as it was affecting my whole entire life and that of my family. I read books, saw therapists and learned many helpful solutions that I still use today when faced with a never-ending night of tossing and turning.

Sleep Promoting Habits– There are a few physiological concepts that you should understand about sleep. Our body temperatures do not stay the same throughout the day. They follow a natural rhythm that changes over the course of activities. Body temperature is the lowest in the wee hours of the night and fluctuates throughout the day reaching its high around 6:00 p.m. The times we are most alert are in the late morning and early nighttime hours. In the evening as body temperature declines, we biologically become drowsier with the strongest innate push for sleep being about 3:30 in the morning. The key to working with your body’s circadian rhythm is to enable your body to have a low body temperature when you are trying to sleep. This can be done in various ways.

• With the risk of sounding like one of your parents, have a regular bed and wake up time. Sleeping in on the weekends completely destroys your circadian rhythm. Body temperature rises in the morning as soon as we start moving and see the sun. If this is delayed, your body temp will also be delayed at nighttime.
• Turn down the darn air conditioning. I get it. I live in Las Vegas, and my dad always had the air set at 85. If we were hot, his solution for everything was to jump in the pool. Sleeping weather is cold weather. We enjoy better sleep in the winter than in the summer. Why? The cold helps to lower your body temperature. Pay a few dollars extra as your mental health is worth it.
• Buy some room darkening shades-Do you wake up as soon as the morning sunlight hits your face? I did until I eliminated the sunlight hitting my face. Darkness helps lower the body temperature as well. Melatonin levels are increased when there is darkness, and this is what creates the feeling of drowsiness. Melatonin also regulates your circadian rhythm, so having a room dark as space is helpful for many reasons. There are very reasonable priced blackout shades that make it seem like it is pitch black outside at 2:00 in the afternoon.

• Take a hot bath with lavender two hours before bedtime. We need to prepare our brainwaves to relax. A hot bath for 15-20 minutes will also raise our body temperatures and cause it to fall in a few hours. Lavender has been shown to relax a person. Putting a few drops in a water bottle and spraying it on the pillow at night produces a calming effect that lasts throughout the night, helping you to get back to sleep if you wake up during the night.
• Kick your partner to the curb or maybe the couch. A National Sleep Survey found that one in four couples go to bed in separate rooms due to issues affecting sleep such as different work shifts, snoring, and restless movements. Because insomnia affects moods and behavior, this might actually improve your relationship instead of hurt it.

Exercise! This is a big deal. Exercise eliminates stress by kicking in endorphins, dopamine and serotonin. These are the chemicals that regulate mood and calm down brain waves enabling sleep to come easier, faster and longer. Antidepressants work on increasing the same chemical levels, enhancing a person’s overall sense of well-being and happiness. Exercise is invaluable to the sleep equation. It works to lower body temperature at night, relieve the anxiety and depressive feelings that contribute to insomnia and contribute to overall self-confidence. This doesn’t mean that you need to run five miles a day or take a Cardio Pump class although this would probably give you an incredibly restful night’s sleep. Try 20 minutes of walking quickly around your house while playing on your phone or listening to Journey’s Greatest Hits. That’s what I do anyway.

Get Rid of Negative Thoughts-  Greg Jacobs, in his book, Say Goodnight to Insomnia discusses in detail how negative thoughts are playing a role in keeping people awake. Fearing that you are not getting enough sleep actually contributes to the lack of it. Common negative sleep thoughts are:

If I don’t sleep tonight, my day tomorrow will be ruined.

I am never going to fall asleep.

I am never going to fall back asleep.

I really need to sleep tonight.

I’m awake!!!!!!!

I can’t stop thinking ridiculous thoughts.

I know these thoughts creep up on us. What do we do instead? We replace them with positive thoughts such as:

I will fall asleep soon.

I will be fine tomorrow.

I will exercise tomorrow and sleep better tomorrow night.

Sleep apps and breathing for relaxation

Another strategy that can be used when insomnia prevents peaceful slumber is to use a sleep app. My favorite is called Relax Melodies. This app has soothing sounds that calm active brain waves setting the stage for blissful sleep to occur. Sounds may be created by combining two or three together such as soft rain and ocean waves. The ambient sounds are amazing. The alarm can be set so there is no need to do anything when you are dozing off. The meditations are also good for calming those active thoughts. The reviews are incredible and it comes highly recommended for anxiety, depression and sleep issues.

I have had tremendous success with the breathing technique 4-7-8 which is recommended by Dr. Andrew Weil. I use the simple process of inhaling through my nose for 4 seconds, holding it for seven seconds and exhaling though my mouth for 8 seconds. Repeat the cycle three or four times to relax your mind and body. You can feel it working to achieve a greater sense of calm and peace that helps eradicate those interfering with irrational thoughts that seem to plague us, especially at night.

These strategies have helped me and millions of people to sleep better and lead happier and more productive lives. In my opinion sleep medications do not solve the underlying anxious conditions that lead to insomnia. The root causes need to be addressed and eliminated. These tips should make you feel more in control and confident about solving your sleep issues whether short term or long term. I bet you will sleep better tonight and every night.