Sadly many Americans suffer from insomnia every single night. Many of us may be tempted to take over-the-counter sleep medications or prescribed sleep medications, but before resorting to them, I would like to caution you. Medications are not healthy for your body, so there are other non-medical insomnia treatment options available, along with behavioral therapies.
When treating insomnia non-medically, the first step is to find the cause. Insomnia is known as a symptom, not a disease. If the cause is found, the original problem, or disease, can be cured or controlled; therefore the symptom of insomnia will disappear. Finding and solving the cause is the most successful way to treat insomnia. Example causes of insomnia are: discomfort when sleeping, stress, anxiety, or changes in shift at work.
If the problem cannot be identified, or if it is untreatable, there are still many other non-medical insomnia treatments known as cognitive behavioral therapies. The first type of behavioral therapy is sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene focuses on developing a sleep schedule. You must awake and fall asleep at the same time every night, never force yourself to sleep and do not oversleep. During sleep hygiene a person must exercise daily for at least 20 minutes 4-5 hours before they go to sleep.
Another behavioral therapy treatment is relaxation therapy. A main cause of insomnia is stress, and we all know we sometimes have too much stress. To help reduce your stress and increase your relaxation and sleep, relaxation therapy is helpful. Relaxation therapy includes meditation, muscle relaxation techniques, and dimming the lights and playing soothing music right before you fall asleep.
Stimulus control is another form of behavioral therapy. Stimulus control is very hard for many people, but it is well worth it and it really works. 1. Go to bed when you are sleepy. 2. Do NOT watch TV, read, eat, or worry in bed. 3. After 30 minutes of trying to go to sleep, get up and try a relaxation technique. 4. Set your alarm clock at the same time every day, do not oversleep.
The last type of behavior therapy we are covering today is sleep restriction. Restrict the amount of time you sleep, no matter how tired you are. If you are so tired you can sleep 12 hours, do not do it! If you sleep 12 hours, your chances of sleeping well the next evening are very low. Sleep the same amount of time each night, and try to develop a schedule time to fall asleep and to wake up.
Behavioral therapy works best when you use all techniques together. Follow in the order stated here, and your chances of getting back to sleep regularly will be high. During behavior therapy you should also consider never going to bed hungry or angry. Also do not drink caffeinated beverages before you sleep and avoid smoking before you sleep. It is also very helpful to make your bedroom at the most comfortable for you in temperature, light, noise, etc. Best of luck to you, and go get a good night’s sleep!
If you’d like to know how to treat insomnia with medications, please click here.
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Tags: Insomnia, insomnia cure, insomnia treatment
