Hub Health Tips- Prevent Insomnia

Is there any more painful experience than watching the numbers on your digital clock tick slowly by, as the Earth continues to rotate and you remain hopelessly, horribly awake?
While some of us boast of being able to pull all-nighters, or even function regularly on three or four hours of sleep, others desperately need our daily ZZZs.
With reason: People who are regularly sleep-deprived can suffer physical and emotional damage, maybe even culminating in mental disorders like anxiety and depression. Sound awful enough to you? Try a few of these tips to prevent the descent into clock-watching hell.



Examine your routine Try this exercise: Write down everything that you do and consume for a single day. Everything, including vitamin supplements, medications, when you went to the gym and if you had a coffee break around 5. You could be unwittingly sabotaging yourself. Did you have a piece of cheese toast for a bedtime snack? Cheese contains tyramine, which has been shown to increase brain-stimulant activity. Did you write some last-minute e-mails while you were already tucked in, that you kept thinking about even after you turned off the lights? Next time, leave the laptop downstairs. A lot of the time, a little tinkering with your sleeping routines can have a huge effect.
Finally, monitor your workouts. Exercise early in the day can greatly help with sleep (see the Mayo Clinic web site for more information). However, late exercise can keep you up - since exercise causes stress, stimulating hormones that may keep you awake if they're still in your system at bedtime. And for you late-night action game enthusiasts, any game that causes a stress reaction will keep you up, too. (Tip: Turn down the volume - loud noises in video games - especially well designed ones like Batman Arkham Asylum - are specifically designed to cause stress reactions, and are the worst offenders when it comes to sleeplessness after gaming.)

Reprogram your rhythm

Sleep occurs in patterns. These patterns are dictated by what we call Circadian rhythm, the internal clock that tracks the 24-hour daily cycle of night and day. Our body tells us when it's natural to be awake and alert, and when we should sleep.
If you work a late shift or travel frequently, your sleep cycles could be off. Many people in higher latitudes use light boxes or sun lamps to help with seasonal depression and reset their internal clocks. Shine a light box on your face every morning for 30 minutes while you drink your coffee or brush your teeth. For the desperate in search of a quick fix, try partial sleep restriction, in which you restrict the number of hours of sleep that you get the night before. Sleep restriction makes you more tired, so that falling asleep at night will be easier. Avoid taking naps during the day and don't lounge in bed if you're not sleeping -- no matter how soft your sheets are.

Harness technology

Don't have the spare time or change for a Buddhist retreat or a weekend at a hot springs? No worries. There are plenty of relaxation and meditation podcasts and sleeper-helper apps like Pzizz, which creates a randomized "ambient noise" soundtrack to help your brain switch off before going to bed. For people who can't handle listening to Welsh waterfalls or Tuvan throat singing for hours every night, try a simpler app like Long Deep Breathing or Blood Pressure Reducer, both of which help you become more calm. Remember, though: Neither of these apps are a substitute for a medical professional! Speaking of which...

See a doctor

If you have one, ask your bedtime partner if you make any noises in your sleep, or, set up a camera, a la Paranormal Activity. If you cough or roll over frequently, you could have undiagnosed sleep apnea, a condition wherein the muscles around your respiratory system relax and disturb your slumber.
While we're at it, undiagnosed depression, anxiety or any number of other mental disorders could also be interfering with your sleeping habits. So could obesity or menopause.

Be patient

This is really the most important tip. Sometimes your sleeping problem is temporary, revolving around the stress that comes with major life changes. But more often, diagnosing and then treating a sleeping disorder will require a number of small changes over the course of time. Keep at it!