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by Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW
I yawn, stretch my
arms behind my head and stare at the ceiling. I've been in bed
for a few minutes. Ahhh, the peaceful quiet all around. The room is
dark. The kids are asleep. It's an expansive moment for my mind. My
mind seems to fill the entire room.
Okay,
it's been 20 minutes now. The novel meditative moment has
passed. Now my mind seems to be filling up like a bowl
that's
been left outside in a torrential downpour. I can't seem to
slow
down or empty out my mind. So many things to think about,
not
the least of which is why in tarnation can't I fall asleep?
I am tired, but cannot sleep. I begin to feel agitated and
become physically restless. I turn this way... I turn that
way.
I cross and uncross my legs. I lay on my stomach, side and
back.
Each passing moment lends itself to increased anger and
frustration. Now my mind has jumped ahead to tomorrow,
lining up
all those things I have to accomplish knowing that I'll only
do
so by dragging this haggard, exhausted and fatigued body
around
for the entire day. This process goes deeply into the night.
Any of that sound familiar?
Recent estimates indicate that approximately 25 million
Americans suffer from chronic insomnia. Some reasons for
insomnia include:
1. Restless Leg Syndrome 2. Circadian Rhythm Disorders 3.
Depression 4. Alcohol and other drug abuse 5. Life changes
and/or accumulation of life stressors 6. Anxiety 7. Sleep
Apnea
You should consult with your physician in order to determine
the
exact cause of your sleep problems. He/she may order a sleep
study, give you a depression screen, check social stressors,
order a blood panel to check for vitamin and mineral
deficiencies, suggest you stop drinking, give an anxiety
scale
or any number of interventions to identify a cause and get
you
focused on appropriate solutions.
In the meantime here are a few "Do's and Don'ts" on how to
reclaim your beauty sleep.
1. When you lay down to sleep, deepen and lengthen your
breathing patterns -- shoot for five second inhales and five
second exhales. You'll be taking 6 breathes per minute. This
takes some practice but works nicely.
2. Take a deep breath and hold it. While holding your
breathe,
tense up the muscles throughout your entire body and hold
both
for 30 seconds. Exhale completely and relax. Take several
relaxed breathes and repeat three times.
3. Choose any relaxing color (blue, green, yellow, etc).
Place
your hands on your stomach and imagine that you are
expanding a
colored balloon in your stomach. Exhale an insomnia/anxiety
color (red, black, etc) through your mouth. Continue this
for
5-10-50 times, whatever it takes. It is impossible to focus
on
your body/breath while entertaining thoughts.
4. Take a hot shower or bath before bed, or get up and do so
if
you are unable to fall asleep within 15 minutes.
5. Take some sleep food for the brain. Before going to bed
eat 1
ounce of protein, 1 ounce of cheese and 5 grapes or the
equivalent.
6. Get out of bed if you have not fallen asleep within 15
minutes. The brain is quite easily programmed. I don't want
your
brain to associate "bed" with "awake."
7. Once you're out of bed do not watch TV, get on the
computer,
listen to stimulating music, turn on a bunch of lights or do
anything else that stimulates your brain into high gear.
8. Once out of bed do sit quietly, meditate on emptying the
mind, listen to quiet, soothing music or do some "light"
reading. The research shows that deep meditation is as
restorative as sleep and takes less time than sleeping for 8
hours.
9. Purchase a Brain Entrainment CD and some ear buds (they
are
the most comfortable to sleep on). Make sure the CD is
designed
for sleep. I won't go into all the scientific details here.
Just
know that the brain needs to be in delta wave state 60
minutes
for you to wake up feeling fresh. My favorite is "Sleeping
Through The Rain" by a company you can find at
www.hemi-sync.com . Don't try this on just a boom box.
The ear
buds are very important to make this work.
10. Make sure your bedroom is dark. Lights out!
11. Exercise regularly. Exercise does a fantastic job of
regulating sleep cycles. The only catch here is do not
exercise
within two hours of bedtime, as this can activate mind and
body
systems that will keep you awake.
12. Drink Chamomile Tea an hour before bedtime and take
Valerian
root with it. If you open up your first bottle of Valerian
root
and it smells like rotten socks, don't throw it away, it's
supposed to smell like that! Can you believe it!? ;-)
13. If worse comes to worst, consult a doctor. There are
many
effective medications used for sleep which can be prescribed
by
your doctor. Some of these include Ambien, Temazepam,
Sonata,
Remeron, Benadryl (non- prescription), Melatonin (Don't take
this if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder) Trazadone and
others.
14. Stay away from alcohol as a sleep aid. Many will argue
that
alcohol gets them to sleep, but brain wave studies show that
once asleep, an individual does not reach the restorative
level
of sleep that results in feeling well rested in the morning.
Too many sleepless nights can lead to what feels like a
psychotic break, so don't push yourself over the edge. Good
self
care is so important. After just 2 nights without sleep,
intervention is necessary! Please take care of yourself. A
great
night's sleep after not sleeping well for a long time can be
an
absolutely wonderful gift to give yourself.
I welcome you to more restful nights!
About the Author
Dave
Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW is an author, university faculty
member, success coach and veteran psychotherapist whose
passion is guiding others to their own success in life. For
weekly doses of the webs HOTTEST success tips, sign up for
Dave’s powerful “Feeling Great!” ezine at
http://www.Overcoming-Depression.com
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