How to sleep well: Insomnia and other sleeping problems

Sleep is a necessary activity for all kinds of reasons. Sleep helps the body recover from the day's stresses and strains, both physically and mentally and helps maintain the body's natural defenses. It's not just necessary it is Vital.

Sleep - A Traditional Cure for Insomnia
The first thing to do is to try and make going to sleep a pleasant experience - some soothing music, a comfortable bed and pillow, darkening the room and an attempt to stop thinking about the stresses of the day. Soaking in a warm bath for 20 minutes to aid relaxation before bedtime helps some people. A few drops of essential oils that are known to calm, like lavender, passion flower or chamomile can be put into the bath water, the age-old remedy of eating a light snack with a cup of hot milk can switch your systems down to a relaxing state. Having a set routine at bedtime is also good as it is a signal to the brain to switch off at a particular time. If noise is a problem, earplugs could do the trick. Counting sheep, while it may sound old fashioned, may be just the thing to bore a sufferer to sleep.

Causes for insomnia
Tossing and turning for a couple of nights does not constitute insomnia. It can be just a transient result of stress, travel, change of scene, weather or altitude changes, etc. However, if proper care is not taken, this could grow into short-term insomnia, which after a while could become chronic. Insomnia is not in itself a disease but a symptom. It could be caused by a variety of factors - anxiety, medication, stress, too much caffeine, pain, etc. The causes could be biological, psychological or social. Insomnia is the body's way of signaling that all is not well. It could mean that the sufferer is not able to fall asleep when he goes to bed - this is called early insomnia. Or, he could wake up and not be able to go back to sleep, which is termed as middle insomnia. Late insomnia is when he wakes up early and cannot sleep after that.

Aiding Insomnia by natural herbs There are a few herbs that could help to alleviate insomnia. Catnip tea and valerian tea have been used for years to induce sound sleep. People of the earlier generations swore by the efficacy of chamomile tea, sweetened with a bit of honey. However, this is not recommended for people prone to allergies. Tryptophan, available at pharmacies, has been found to be effective, but it would be advisable to check with a physician about the dosage before using it. Acupuncture has been known to produce satisfactory results in dealing with insomnia. However for a closer look at a bad case of insomnia, it would be advisable to consult a physician to discuss solutions.

Sleep is like Swimming
Finally, sleep is very much like swimming. The more you fight it and get tense about it, the harder it is. It would be best to just relax and give oneself up to the pleasure of sleep. This means not getting stressed about staying awake which is obviously counterproductive. Once all other causes such as illness are ruled out, the challenge is down to your mental control to get rid of the day's tensions and give in to sleep.