Counting sheep not doing the trick anymore? If you find yourself watching the hours and minutes pass on the clock without a wink of sleep, you may be suffering from a sleep disorder. This common condition affects men and women across the globe, but women in particular bear the brunt of sleeplessness. If you're tired of being tired and walking around like a "mombie" each day, read on to learn how to deal with insomnia.
What is insomnia?
How to deal with insomnia
Dr. Rachel Salas, a sleep neurologist at Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep, prefers to rule out any simple solutions to insomnia before going the medication or therapy route for her patients.
"Insomnia is a complicated sleep disorder because there's always different factors for different individuals that are contributing to it," Salas explained in a Johns Hopkins video. "So the first thing we like to do is look at what behavioral issues may be feeding the insomnia. A lot of times there are some simple things that patients can change to help as part of the treatment."
Changing your diet and eliminating caffeine after 3 p.m. can often help you get to sleep faster, as can dropping the temperature in your bedroom, creating a nighttime routine, and getting off screens a few hours before bedtime.
If these remedies don't work, it may be time to reach out to your physician to see if sleep therapy would be a helpful avenue. Some insomnia treatments include Cognitive Behavioral Sleep Therapy (CBT-I) strategies which, along with changing how you think about your inability to sleep, may use the following therapies to aid in sleep:
5. Sleep restriction
By reducing the amount of time spent in bed, patients can work to eliminate daytime naps; over time the amount of time spent in bed is gradually increased.
6. Relaxation and meditation
Listening to calming sounds via noise machines or guided app meditations can help improve sleep quality. If you'd rather not rely on technology, body relaxation techniques — focusing on one relaxing one part of your body at a time — may help quiet your mind enough to induce sleep.
7. Stimulus control therapy
This technique encourages patients to allocate bedroom time for sleeping and sex only, rather than working and watching TV in the room. If unable to fall asleep within 20 minutes, the patient should leave the room and do something else until they begin to feel tired again.
8. Passive awakeness techniques
In some cases, rather than trying to get to sleep, the patient is encouraged to try to stay awake, thus tricking themselves into actually falling asleep.
9. Light therapy
Getting the proper amount of vitamin D through supplements, spending more time outdoors, or utilizing a light box is one insomnia treatment that has made a difference for some patients.
