Insomnia: Symptoms and treatment – Part 4

Insomnia is a lot more common than you may think. It is estimated that some 50 million Americans do not regularly get a good night’s rest. Losing even one hour a night can have repercussions on your day from lack of energy or concentration. There are scientific studies that have proven if a person does not get the optimal levels of sleep each night they can have serious health repercussions over time.

If you have trouble sleeping through the night more often than twice a week, talk to your health care provider. There are a number of options for testing for sleep disorders. it may be a more serious medical condition than you believe. Insomnia can cause emotional stress not only for the suffer but for the entire family as lack of energy and unable to participate fully in family activities or job situations can cause serious emotional problems. Before turning to sleep aids as an insomnia cure or treatment such as diazepam that can leave you groggy in the morning, or that become addictive and you need the drug to sleep, try some of these natural remedies.

Valerian – Nature’s answer to tranquilizers. This supplement is recommended by the medical profession as a safe and effective alternative to tranquilizers and sedatives. Research has proven that Valerian has the same effect on brain receptors as tranquilizers. Although it does not have any aroma therapy, herbalists highly recommend that you take up to 800 milligrams capsules of Valerian one half hour before bed.

Another safe sedative herb is lemon balm. It not only will soothe your stomach but will provide a sedative reaction allowing you to easily drift off to sleep. It is recommended as a tea with up to three teaspoons of the herb per cup.

Ajurveda practitioners recommend Jatamansi rhizome.

A few other teas that reportedly have a calming and relaxing effect that induce sleep are Fo Ti root, hop, kava kava, chamomile, catnip, rosemary, or spearmint.

Aromatherapy should never be forgotten when speaking of relaxing and calming the body to induce sleep.

Placing a few drops of lavender essential oil on the outside of your sleep mask may send you into a drifting sleep. After a particularly stressful day, rub the lavender essential oil directly on the shoulders, neck and temples for a lingering relaxation effect all night.

Sandalwood essential oil placed on the pillow case also works well.

It is important to remember a few other lifestyle tips. Avoiding caffeine after one in the afternoon, exercising earlier in the day, meditation, and low lighting for an hour prior to sleep are beneficial. It is important to remember that your bed is for sleeping and those other night time activities, but not for reading, watching tv, eating, or doing work. Your mind remembers the activities and routines. Making a habit of working in bed can cause your mind to look at bed time as a natural time to let your mind “run back to the office”.

What Exactly is Insomnia Hypnosis?

Insomnia hypnosis can cure even the worst insomnia. There are many causes of insomnia, ranging from stress to poor brain wave functioning. You see, we go to sleep when the brain goes from BETA brain waves to ALPHA waves, this is when your in that dreamy state, where your sort of half asleep. Then from there you go into DELTA and THETA brain waves, which is when your fully asleep.

People with insomnia struggle to get to any stage other than BETA (Awake). Insomnia hypnosis can help with this. Hypnosis will help your mind relax and drown out those repeating sentences in your head, or the never ending song that doesn’t let you sleep.Insomnia hypnosis is a highly effective cure for chronic insomnia, and it doesn’t involve drugs or anything harmful to health. Most sleeping pills are just sugar pills, yes, that’s right, they are just pills made from sugar, also known as a placebo. They would by making your subconscious mind think that its brain waves should become regular, so that’s exactly what happens, and you fall asleep.

Hypnosis can have the same effect, except it works all the time, not just when you think you’ve taken a miracle cure. Insomnia hypnosis can regulate the brain waves so that falling asleep becomes natural, just like it should be. How long since you’ve had a good nights sleep?

So… hypnosis… how do you take advantage of it?

Well, hypnosis is available on many cd programs and there specially trained practitioners that can help you cure your insomnia with insomnia hypnosis. I have personally seen insomnia hypnosis work wonders for me and for several other family members and close friends. Insomnia hypnosis has not failed yet in my experience, so I’m certain it can help you.

Imagine how Hypnosis could change your life! You could instantly snap yourself out of unproductive states with the click of your fingers. Insomnia Hypnosis can give you the edge in all area’s of your life, with the ability to be able to persuade people and lead them much more easily, without them knowing your doing it.

Insomnia is a horrible thing, but thankfully with the help of insomnia hypnosis you can be rid of it for good!

Give insomnia hypnosis a go. Your body and mind will thank you for it! Don’t take the chance with pills that can be harmful to your body. It all else has failed, what do you have to lose?

Insomnia: Symptoms and treatment

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia can be defined in many ways. The simplest definition given on wikipedia is as follows: Insomnia is a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity.

There are several different types of insomnia. Following is the list of most common types of insomnia

1. Adjustment insomnia or acute insomnia

2. Behavioral insomnia of childhood

3. Idiopathic insomnia

4. Chronic Insomnia

5. Paradoxical insomnia

6. Psycho physiological insomnia

Identification Of Insomnia Symptoms:

The first thing to do is to identify symptoms of insomnia. Here are the most common insomnia symptoms that can be very easily identified. To identify it, you just need to ask following questions to yourself

1. How many hours do I sleep in the night? Do I sleep less than 5 hours?

2. Do I always struggle to maintain sleep and wake up frequently during the night?

3. Do my sleep is of poor quality?

4. Do I feel sleepy even after having a sleep of 5-6 hours?

5. Do I feel weakness, anxiety and irritability during the day?

6. Do I feel tired, fatigued and stressed during the day?

If your all answers are yes’ then it means your sleep is non-restorative and you are living your life with insomnia. These symptoms of insomnia can be caused by a variety of biological, psychological and social factors. To prevent this disorder from becoming chronic, it is very necessary to take insomnia treatment as soon as you identify the symptoms.

Insomnia Treatment:

Self-care is the best insomnia cure so take care of yourself and try to cure insomnia without prescription drugs. You can follow following steps for insomnia cure

1. Exercise helps increase the depth of your sleep so try and get plenty of exercise. Go for an evening walk, jogging or swimming.

2. If you use tobacco products then avoid them, and reduce or eliminate caffeine intake.

3.Eliminate or drastically reduce the intake of alcohol because alcohol contributes to sleep disorders.

4. Try to remove unnecessary stress and try to avoid stressful situations, particularly in the evening.

5. Make the area that you sleep in dark, quiet, cooler. If your sleep area is noisy, you may try playing relaxing music.

6. Improve your daily routine. Don’t sleep during the day. Try to make a regular time each day for when you go to sleep and wake up.

7.You can discuss and share your problems with other people and get some useful information about treatment and symptoms of insomnia. Here are some common resources available for those touched by insomnia

http://www.sleepnet.com/insomn ia/insomniainf.html

http://www.topix.com/forum/hea lth/insomnia

http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/ message-boards/viewforum.php?f =5

http://ehealthforum.com

8. If all above steps don’t help then you should see a physician. Your primary care physician may be able to help you; if not, you can probably find a sleep specialist at a major hospital near you. He can prescribe you a diazepam for insomnia (also known as Valium) that is a benzodiazepine derivative drug, mainly used for short-term treatment of insomnia.

Cure Insomnia – Relaxation

Insomnia cures by relaxation have been popular since before man invented fire. We can trace them back, certainly in the case of China, for many thousands of years. It has only been in the last few years that we have been able to confirm the efficiency or otherwise of the Insomnia cure by relaxation.

Insomnia itself is a pernicious affliction bringing with it misery and despondancy. Many sufferers of Insomnia and other sleep disorders lay there night after night staring into the dark checking the alarm clock every five minutes and worring about the effects of sleep loss on their performance during the coming day. Getting more and more tense and finding relaxation ever more difficult.

How can we use relaxation to help to cure insomnia? One of the first stops for the sufferer looking to cure Insomnia by relaxation or any other way is the doctors surgery. This is an excellent idea as a physical checkup will reveal wether or not there is a physical reason for the Insomnia or just the need to relax. The drawback is that if the doctor finds no physical reason for the Insomnia he is likely to reach for his prescription pad.

The drawbacks here are well known. Unbeliveably simply to cure insomnia you could also suffer addiction, morning headaches, daytime fatigue, personality changes, memory impairment, impaired concentration, poor judgment, mood disturbances, and in extreme cases irregular heartbeat, and high blood pressure. The list goes on and on. A safer insomnia cure may well lie in the direction of lerning relaxation, a more natural remedy.
This is the reason why drug companies can afford large scale advertising such as TV ads and big internet ad campaigns. They know if they can get a hold of you once, they will trap you and continue to make money off of you for years to come. Their mission is to program you. Whenever you have sleep problems, they want you to think about their products.
Used to cure insomnia and many other ailments for thousands of years relaxation rechniques are becoming more and more popular with main stream health care professionals to cure insomnia. As a cure for insomnia you need to practice relaxation regularly , notice the experience of the sounds of the simple things in life.

Look into what causes your need for relaxation. When you discover the ways you create stress, you can look for ways you to relax and avoid these stress creators.

Plan to cure your insomnia – You need to consider the timing of your relaxation. It should be daily. Perhaps a weekend is better suited to a night out so that you don’t have to wake early the next morning for work or during the night for the bathroom.

Try relaxing music. Keep your favorite relaxation CD at the office, in the car, or wherever you’ll need it most. Certainly by the bedside.

Walk a while. If you have at least ten minutes to spare, walking is one of the best relaxation techniques. I have a dog and we walk as often as we can. Pounding the streets or woodland paths is an excellent way of getting rid of frustrations, relaxing, and ultimately, when gently tired, I can can think much more productively.

Exercise – Find a form of exercise you will enjoy – yoga and tai chi are great for relaxation. Schedule in relaxation time every day – This could be for as little as 30 minutes a day or one hour away from the office during lunch time.

Get into yoga. This type of exercise puts an emphasis on relaxation and breath control. Could have been designed to cure insomnia by relaxation. Practise this at least twice a day, perhaps on waking and when you go to bed. This will train your unconscious mind to be able to quickly take you into abdominal breathing and hence relaxation.

A massage is also a great way to relieve stress from the body and ease insomnia. Its great fun and as long as its not your partner doing it :) It’s very conducive to relaxation.

I will make a bold promise to you right off the bat: I will change the way you think about sleep forever.

Curing Insomnia Through Meditation

One important fact about insomnia is that insomnia isn’t the same for everyone. Some people have a few insomnia symptoms while others have many. Insomnia may cause difficulty falling asleep. It can take what feels like hours of tossing and turning as well as hoping and praying that you will fall asleep soon. Once you fall asleep, you wake back up and then you have to go through the whole tossing and turning scenario again. In the morning when you get up, you wonder if you felt this tired when you went to bed the night before. During the day you are tired, you feel like you are dragging behind everyone else mentally and physically. Then, when it is time to go to bed again the whole scenario plays again.

Going without sleep, or not getting enough sleep to feel rested when you get up, wears down your health and can cause you to become irritable and even depressed. Frustration sets in when you realize that every time you sit down your eyes want to close but when you lay down at night your mind just can’t seem to shut down long enough to get you a good night’s sleep.

In many cases, insomnia treatment can be as simple as treating the underlying cause. Insomnia can be a side-effect of another condition. When you get the other condition under control your insomnia goes away. This is often the case with people who have problems with anxiety, stress or even pain issues. Taking sleep meds won’t get to the core problem, the cause of insomnia. In these cases the cure for insomnia is to treat the underlying condition.

Getting pain under control for some people is all that is needed to treat insomnia. Once the body no longer has to use all of its strength to mask pain symptoms, relaxation will start and restful sleep can be achieved. When your body is stressed by other factors, such as pain, you don’t have the ability to get a full, restful night’s sleep.

If all other factors have been taken care of and you are still having to deal with insomnia, you can cure insomnia through meditation. This technique has been used for hundreds of years and is still a very effective treatment for insomnia. Start meditating by relaxing. You can do this by thinking soothing thoughts or you may choose to start with a long hot bath. Either way, you have to relax, think relaxing thoughts, and tell yourself you are letting the tension leave your body. Attempt to bring your mind to a blank state where nothing else exists except you. Leave the outside world behind with a big sigh.

If you have had difficulty with sleep for more than two weeks, you most likely have insomnia and you should discuss the cause of insomnia as well as treatment options with your doctor or another health care professional. Relaxation and meditation are just a few of many available treatment options for insomniacs.

Cure Insomnia – Herbal Remedies

Cure Insomnia – Herbal Remedies

Insomnia is one of the more miserable of complaints suffered on a regular basis by mankind. Many sufferers of Insomnia and other sleep disorders lay there night after night staring into the dark becoming more and more despondant.

What to do? One of the first stops for the sufferer looking to cure Insomnia is the doctors surgery. This is a good idea as a physical checkup will reveal wether or not there is a phisical reason for the Insomnia or sleep disorder. The drawback is that if the doctor finds no real reason for the Insomnia he is likely to reccomend a period of pill taking.

The drawbacks here are well documented. Addiction, morning headaches, daytime fatigue, personality changes, memory impairment, impaired concentration, poor judgment, mood disturbances, and in extream cases irregular heartbeat, and high blood pressure. The list goes on and on. A safer option for an insomnia cure may well lie in the direction of a herbal remedy. Used to cure insomnia and many other ailments for thousands of years these natural remedies are becoming more and more popular with main stream health care professionals.

They are not a quick fix. They will not put you to sleep in minutes or keep you in an artificial coma for hours. Herbal remedies are, in the main, more gentle and as a cure for insomnia offer an ideal alternative to main stream medicine. It is certainly a very large and complex subject, for more detailed advice than we go into here sign up for our article list at the address shown below.

A herbal insomnia cure may well include one or a blend of the following;

PASSION FLOWER eases anxiety-induced insomnia. Calming and can ease muscle spasms that can be very painful and keep you awake.
PEPPERMINT Used as a tea it may ease digestion
RED CLOVER Used for years as a tonic. Very relaxing
REISHI MUSHROOM Eases anxiety and calms the nervous system. A help for those with insomnia.
ST. JOHN’S WORT Good for mild depression and anxiety. It improves the quality of sleep
SIBERIAN GINSENG Gives you a lift. Good for the treatment of depression, lethargy and chronic fatigue syndrome
SPEARMINT A few drops on your pillow can be very soothing
THYME Try it as a tea or put a bit into your pillow
VALERIAN Valerian tea is a natural sedative
WOOD BETONY Use it as a substitute for tea
CATNIP Often used in insomnia formulas and as a sleep promoting tea
FLEECE FLOWER ROOT Treatment for deficient blood syndrome
GOTU KOLA Has a calming effect and also improves the circulation
HOELEN Noted for it’s calming, soothing effect
HOPS Relaxing and calming. It also digestion
JASMINE Used as a tea, it’s a mild nerve sedative
JUJUBE (DA T’SAO) Relieves nervous tension and apprehension
KAVA KAVA Very relaxing
LAVENDER Use it in your nightly bath
LEMON BALM Relieves nervous tension
MARSHMALLOW ROOT A calming herb
OAT FIBER Soothing to the digestion and to the nervous system
PASSION FLOWER Eases anxiety-induced insomnia
SAGE Eases depression and is good for the nerves

A longer list, doses preparation and further details are shown in our leading EBook available at getofftosleep.com.

Whilst this list is incomplete and almost all lists will be its noticiable that a large number of the “Cure Insomnia” remedies point to relaxation and digestion. These will be the subject of our next articles “Cure Insomnia – Relaxation” and “Cure Insomnia – digestion”.

As with all things medical please consult a QUALIFIED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL before any attempts at medication wether self medication or otherwise.

Philip Jubb

Insomnia – Hypnosis And Other Cures

Insomnia is one of the more common symptoms of stress and depression. Whether you have a hard time falling asleep, or you fall asleep promptly and then awaken later and are unable to fall back to sleep, you have insomnia.

THERE ARE FOUR TYPES OF INSOMNIA

PSYCHO-REACTIVE INSOMNIA: This is caused by tension. The person’s mind is keeping them awake with worry. In addition, they may begin to worry about getting to sleep because they have to waken in the morning. The person may worry that they may become ill or die from lack of sleep.

ENDOGENOUS INSOMNIA: This is caused by a discomfort within the body ranging from indigestion to pain.

EXOGENOUS INSOMNIA: This is caused by external disturbances such as noise or a partner’s snoring. This is the easiest type of insomnia to cure.

FUNCTIONAL INSOMNIA: This is caused by a functional problem in the subject’s sleep-wakefulness center in the brain.

Many insomniacs develop an irrational fear of getting into bed because they expect to lie awake. This negative expectancy will bring about insomnia all by itself

HERE ARE THE FACTS

1. No one has ever died from or become ill from lack of sleep. The body and mind will get at least the minimum amount of sleep that it needs, no matter what. If you lose some sleep one night, the next night you will get some additional sleep to make up the loss.

2. Our internal clock brings about a valley of fatigue in cycles. Every four to six hours you will experience your maximum fatigue, and this is when its easiest to fall asleep. After the that you will experience a renewed feeling of energy and it will become difficult to fall asleep.

3. Even if you think you haven’t slept a wink all night, it has been proven that we all sleep during the night. Sometimes you feel that you’ve been lying awake thinking, but actually you have been sleeping lightly and dreaming.

4. Trying to fall asleep: There is a law of nature called The Law of Reversed Effect. It says that if you try to do something, you will get the opposite. and the harder you try, the more you will get the opposite. So, trying to fall asleep will insure that you will remain awake.

5. Alcohol will put you to sleep: This may be true; as alcohol is a depressant. However, as soon as it wears off, you will awaken abruptly and it will be harder than ever to fall asleep.

6. Sleeping pills can help: During sleep it is the dream phase of sleep in which you get your rest. Sleeping pills suppress the dream phase of sleep (REM sleep). That is why one generally awakens more tired than before going to sleep after using pills.

EFFECTING A CURE

1. See what time you feel most fatigued in the evening. From then on, every evening at least an hour before that time, take a bath that is slightly warmer than body temperature for 20 minutes. A shower won’t have the intended effect.

2. Have a warm beverage, preferably not coffee or tea because of the caffeine which will wake you up. Warm milk is the best if you can tolerate it.

3. Discontinue thoughts of problems that you have, or what needs to be done tomorrow. If you are worried about forgetting what you have to do tomorrow, write it down.

4. Stay away from stimulating thoughts and television shows. If you must read, then read something that is boring.

5. Reserve your bed for sleep. Read and watch television only from a chair or couch.

6. Get into bed at least 20 minutes before your valley of fatigue. Once in bed, if worries begin to pop into your mind, repeat several times to yourself, “I’ll think about it tomorrow.” This will help to eliminate excessive thinking. Do not try to make your mind blank and don’t try to fall asleep. Just allow yourself to rest.

7. For Endogenous Insomnia, you should eliminate the discomfort to the best of your ability.

8. For Exogenous Insomnia, make the room as quiet as possible. If your partner snores, you can move to another room. Running a fan motor can also help induce sleep, as it will tend to cover up outside noises. The monotonous drone of the fan generally proves to be very relaxing.

HYPNOSIS FOR INSOMNIA – PSYCHO-REACTIVE AND FUNCTIONAL INSOMNIA

Practice self hypnosis every day. Stress exacerbates and can even cause a sleep disorder. Self-hypnosis can help you to quickly dissipate stress. Post-hypnotic suggestions for coping, and to instill the expectation of sleep can help. “I fall asleep promptly, and sleep soundly and restfully all through the night.”

© 2006 By Alan B. Densky. This document may be re-printed as long as it is not altered and the author’s name and web address are retained.