Our body is designed in such a way that it needs sleep every day. Scientists and doctors have long come to the conclusion that a middle-aged adult needs at least 7 hours of sleep. In fact, this figure is individual and there are people for whom 5-6 hours of sleep is enough. But there are few of them. And sleep disorders are gaining increasing momentum in our world. How to improve an adult's sleep? After all, from chronic lack of sleep, your general condition begins to deteriorate. Loss of strength, apathy, decreased concentration, and cognitive abilities deteriorate.
Today, despite the high pace of life, more and more people from big cities suffer from insomnia.
You may feel very tired before bed. But as soon as your head hits the pillow, sleep disappears. You lie down, toss and turn, and can stop thinking. It's painful.
Of course, the cause of insomnia is different for each person. In most cases, these are worries, fears, worries, and anxiety. Psychologists give some useful recommendations on how to improve falling asleep and sleep sounder. They do not apply to severe forms of sleep disorder, when a person cannot sleep for several days. In such situations, consultation with a specialist is necessary. The tips will be useful for those who from time to time suffer from long periods of falling asleep and often wake up at night.
What affects the quality and structure of sleep
Sleep quality is a relative indicator and depends on various factors:
- ambient temperature;
- emotional condition;
- evening classes;
- light;
- noise;
- diseases progressing in the body.
Not so long ago, certain phases of the moon, and especially the full moon, began to be added to the causes of insomnia. Recent studies have proven that at this time, due to the large amount of moonlight entering the room, a person cannot fall asleep.
The described influencing factors largely depend on lifestyle. To improve the dreams of adults and children, it is recommended to combat emerging insomnia, which causes:
- overwork;
- increase in blood pressure;
- exacerbation of diseases.
At night, you need to make every effort to have a fruitful rest, which allows you to strengthen your physical and mental health.
Causes of insomnia
The natural process of falling asleep is disrupted by chronic diseases in the body, manifested by physical pain, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune disorders (there is a sense of causeless fear and anxiety that prevents you from falling asleep). People who have been given a terminal diagnosis often suffer from insomnia. Constant depression prevents the body from relaxing.
Other causes of insomnia:
- change in the usual environment (bright light, loud sound, vibration);
- change in the general daily routine (the appearance of night shifts);
- increased excitability of the nervous system (the night before an exam, unforeseen circumstances);
- excessive use of psychotropic substances, alcohol;
- the phenomenon of apnea (breath holding during sleep).
Sleep disturbance in newborn babies is explained by abdominal pain, colic, nervous tension, teething, and psycho-emotional disorder. These phenomena are temporary. Children do not suffer from insomnia. They may not sleep for several nights in a row due to internal discomfort. But they get enough sleep during the day.
How to improve sleep with folk remedies
To improve sleep, back in ancient times, healers developed a large number of methods:
Viburnum decoction
To get rid of daytime fatigue, pour 5 grams of viburnum berries into 150 ml of boiling water and leave in a dark place for at least half an hour. After this, boil everything for 30 minutes and take a quarter of a glass at least three times a day.
Honey with milk
In an adult, a glass of warm milk with a teaspoon of honey dissolved in it helps restore sleep.
Dill broth
In order to increase morning performance, it is recommended to drink dill decoction. Add a tablespoon of chopped dill to a glass of boiling water and leave for an hour. Take half a glass at least three times a day.
Such simple methods can improve the quality of sleep and increase its duration, even in older people.
Nature of Dream
Night sleep occurs in two alternating phases. One of them is the phase of rapid eye movement or REM (from English Rapid Eye Movement - rapid eye movement), this is active sleep, where most dreams occur. The other phase is slow sleep or non-REM , when the body enters a very deep sleep, and at this stage the body recovers. During the night, the phases alternate in a cycle individual to each person. There is a misconception that for normal sleep it is necessary to improve the quality of the deep phase. This is not true: high-quality sleep is complete sleep, with all successively changing phases .
Adviсe
To improve your sleep, there are tips and some tricks that will help you get a full night's sleep.
Keep a specific time to wake up and go to bed
Adults, like children, are recommended to go to bed and get up at the same time. This allows you to balance the course of the body’s biological clock, thanks to which a person can quickly wake up at the appointed time in the morning and easily fall asleep in the evening.
Normalize your emotional state before falling asleep
Psychologists attribute the influence of daytime anxiety conditions on the body, including stress and depression, as causes of poor sleep. Before going to bed, it is recommended to mentally move away from any worries and think about something good. Positive thoughts will help calm excited nerve cells and set you up for a healthy night's rest.
Monitor the amount of magnesium in the body
To speed up the speed of falling asleep, it is recommended to periodically take medications with magnesium and foods rich in this element. These medications can be purchased at the pharmacy, and products with a high content of magnesium ions are pumpkin seeds and spinach leaves.
Normalize your own sleep
The quality of sleep directly depends on its daily duration. It is individual for each person. However, it is not recommended for an adult to sleep more than ten and less than seven hours during the day. Otherwise, the amount of cortisol in the body begins to increase, which leads to the progression of many dangerous pathologies.
Keep some relaxations in your daily routine
If you went to bed late for several days and did not get enough sleep, you should encourage your body with mandatory additional sleep (during the daytime). This will help restore the necessary level of strength and return the biological clock to the accepted daily routine.
Take your cat to bed
The energy of domestic cats has a positive effect on the general condition of the body. If you take this animal to bed with you, its purring will help you fall asleep faster. By the way, for headaches you can also use the “help” of a cat.
Make your sleeping area comfortable
To fall asleep as quickly as possible, fluff up your favorite pillow more thoroughly and cover yourself with a blanket suitable for the temperature. If the mattress shrinks over time and becomes uncomfortable, you need to replace it with a more comfortable option.
Following these tips will help you set yourself up for healthy and sound sleep.
Poor sleep in children and adults
Having found out what normal rest is, you should understand the causes of sleep disturbance. In some cases, coping with the problem is not difficult, but in others you will need the help of a specialist.
Advice! If a person cannot sleep without sleeping pills within 3-5 days after finishing the course of treatment, this is a signal to contact a specialist. The problem lies deeper than ordinary stress neurosis.
Also, you should not brush off your child’s complaints if he does not fall asleep for a long time. Both infants who are beginning to explore the world and teenagers experience emotional overload. The period of growing up brings many tests of strength.
Possible sleep disorders at different ages
In an infant, sleep disturbance may be associated with nervous overload, tummy pain, or indigestion. In older children, psycho-emotional agitation is also observed; the baby often does not sleep due to teething, and he may have nightmares. As a teenager gets older, he or she enters a period of hormonal changes, which is also accompanied by stress from studying and parental care.
Causes of insomnia:
- Psychosomatics. Insomnia can be temporary, situation-induced, or permanent.
- Taking alcohol, medications.
- Disorders and diseases of the respiratory system. This includes apnea, snoring, and other diseases.
- Disturbance in sleep and wakefulness. Occurs when work schedule changes or time zones change.
- Narcolepsy. The reason is taking strong medications and drugs.
- Enuresis, epilepsy with nocturnal attacks, parasomnia, nightmares.
Factors, with the exception of alcoholism, appear at any age. Even an infant can suffer from seizures, apnea, or become dependent on medications.
Manifestations of violations
Symptoms and signs depend on the cause of the sleep disorder. However, if sleep is not restored, in the shortest possible time, insomnia will lead to a change in a person’s emotional state, a decrease in attentiveness, and performance. It can all end in a nervous breakdown and long-term treatment by specialists.
Often, a patient turns to a doctor with complaints about his health, without assuming that it is caused precisely by disturbances in night rest. Psychosomatic insomnia is a “vicious circle”. A person worries that he cannot sleep and rest, which causes him to experience stress, which aggravates the condition: chronic fatigue, lability of emotions, and aggressiveness appear.
It is important to know! Situational insomnia is always caused by emotional arousal/depression. As soon as the psychological factor disappears, the process of natural normalization of sleep occurs. But there is a threat that prolonged stress will provoke a new fear - not falling asleep. And night awakenings will become habitual. Only a specialist will help you get rid of the phenomenon.
If insomnia is caused by alcohol, medications, sleep disturbances cause further changes:
- causeless aggression in the absence of medicine or drink;
- changes in psychological, mental state;
- memory and speech disorders;
- decreased hearing and vision acuity;
- phobias;
- seizures;
- hallucinations.
If you do not stop in time, the stage of dementia sets in, then schizophrenia and complete degeneration.
Attention! Sleeping pills aimed at restoring sleep should be taken only on the recommendation of a specialist.
If normalization of the process has not occurred, it is strictly forbidden to take medications outside the course. Apart from daytime sleepiness and constant fatigue, the patient will receive nothing. The body gets used to sleeping pills, and more drugs are needed to fall asleep quickly. That is, the effect is similar to a binge alcoholic - you need more and more. The best way out is to make an appointment with a doctor.
As a rule, after stopping taking drugs or alcohol, the disrupted processes are restored within 14-21 days. And a little more about the characteristic consequences:
- If insomnia is caused by mental illness, the patient will have a constant feeling of anxiety.
- Patients with restless legs syndrome typically experience muscle cramps.
- Sleep apnea syndrome causes severe snoring.
- Narcolepsy is characterized by attacks of sudden daytime sleep and cataplexy - the so-called attacks of a sharp loss of muscle tone. The patient may even fall.
- When changing the regime, making temporary changes, restoring sleep is possible after 3-4 days. This is a period of adaptation, it should not be scary.
List of reasons for poor sleep
Before looking for a way to regain a full night's rest, you should understand the reasons for its loss. As a rule, having found the source of the problem, a person copes with the consequences himself. So, what can interfere with normal falling asleep:
- Smoking. Nicotine is a stimulant, so the last cigarette should be smoked no later than 40 minutes before bedtime.
- Alcohol. Alcohol is not a sleeping pill, it is a disease. Even if one glass of wine helped you fall asleep today, tomorrow it will not be enough, and increasing the dose means binge drinking.
- Stress, anxiety. You cannot “turn off” your consciousness, but you can “push aside” problems. You won’t be able to solve anything at night anyway, so extra psychosis will only hurt.
- Low mobility during the day. The body is not tired, it does not want to rest. The syndrome is known not only to couch potatoes, but also to people of mental work. The head is “boiling”, and a sedentary lifestyle makes it difficult to fall asleep. A walk will be a good way out.
- Hormonal changes. This applies to both adolescence and old age. During the period of female/male menopause, pregnancy, if there is a monthly cycle, the body “rages”. The solution is to take medications.
- Coffee, fatty foods before bed. All this makes the body work. Coffee excites, food should be digested.
- Gadgets. A TV, computer, and other devices tune the brain to work - it must “sort out” information. And games also evoke strong emotions.
- Bright light, noise.
Drugs that improve sleep
In medicine, there are a large number of medications that can be used to improve sleep. The most popular medications for insomnia are:
- Methaqualone;
- Barboval;
- Carvalol;
- Donormil;
- Chloral hydrate.
How sleep can be prolonged with their help can be found in the instructions included with the medications.
The home medicine cabinet always contains Corvalol, which is also allowed to be taken for insomnia. By the way, this particular medication is freely available, which means that you do not need a prescription to purchase it.
Do exercises during the day
Physical activity is good for sleep. Exercise increases its duration and quality by increasing the production of serotonin in the brain and reducing the level of cortisol, the stress hormone.
It is important to maintain a moderate intensity training regimen and not overdo it. Overexertion leads to poor sleep. The time you practice also matters. To improve your sleep, work out in the morning.
Bedtime
To fall asleep quickly, it is recommended to stick to a specific bedtime. This effective advice helps the body's biological rhythms timely adjust to falling asleep at certain hours, similar to the phases of solar movement. For example, when midnight approaches, the Sun enters its lowest phase. At the same time, maximum rest is recommended for people.
The best time to go to bed is no later than 22:00 at night. It is considered the most successful for relaxation. When people go to bed later, they gradually begin to experience bouts of chronic fatigue. At the same time, the supply of vitality dries up and a depressive state may develop.
Before going to bed, it is not recommended to look at the screen of a mobile phone or gadget for a long time.
It is recommended to turn off the bright lights in the room no earlier than 2 hours before falling asleep, and turn on the night light. This will avoid additional strain on the eyes and will not cause irritation to the nervous system.
Lifestyle
Nothing affects sleep more than lifestyle. With proper organization, a person quickly falls asleep and rests peacefully throughout the night. But if you do not take this important factor into account, then first you will begin to have disturbing dreams that no dream book can correctly interpret. And there it is not far from more serious sleep disorders and all the problems associated with chronic insomnia.
Here's what you need to pay special attention to to improve your sleep:
- Physical activity. Especially important for those who work sitting or spend a lot of time at the computer. But intense training and physical activity should end at least 2-3 hours before bedtime.
- Daily regime. Helps adjust the internal biological clock and produce the sleep hormone melatonin, which speeds up falling asleep and promotes deeper and more restful sleep.
- Fresh air. With a lack of oxygen, the entire body suffers. It is important to train yourself to always ventilate your bedroom before going to bed and to walk for at least an hour a day (preferably in the evening).
- Bad habits. If you don’t have the strength to completely give up alcohol and cigarettes, at least eliminate their use 2-3 hours before bedtime. The result will not be long in coming.
- Alarm. A sharp alarm that jolts you out of deep sleep creates additional stress. It is better to learn to wake up on your own or purchase a “smart alarm clock” that gives a signal during the REM phase of sleep and promotes easy awakening.
- Stress. There is no escape from them in the modern world. But we have the power to learn how to respond to them correctly and master methods of psychological relief that help us effectively cope with problematic situations.
- Environment. Lifestyle depends very much on our environment. Try to communicate with those who care about their health and exercise regularly. Gradually, you will also acquire healthy habits and improve the quality of your sleep.
Many people do not believe that such simple means can significantly improve sleep. But those who change their lifestyle to a healthier one unanimously say that the results appear very quickly.
Instead of the usual 20-30 minutes, 10-15 will be enough to fall into a sound sleep, and after 7-8 hours of sleep a person will wake up on his own with a feeling of vigor and a surge of vitality.
Energy shower
For a night's rest, an energetic (conscious) shower is useful, helping in the fight against insomnia. While under a warm shower, a person is charged with the energy of water. It restores mental strength and helps cleanse the body of mental debris. Against this background, relaxation and calm appear in the body.
An energy shower will be beneficial for the body when taken consciously and with a positive attitude. Only then does an internal balance of physical and mental strength arise. It doesn’t matter when you use this technique: after or before a meal, it is only important to tune in to the flow of positive energy into the body.
The main thing is to focus on receiving the positive energy of the water, feeling with your skin how each drop flows down your body. Such a shower, among other things, cleanses the body of negative energy, which has a positive effect on the emotional background.
Bags and sachets
Those who have used it cannot explain the effect of horse chestnut, but they claim that it helps a lot. 40-60 pcs. Chestnut seeds, peeled from thick skins, are divided into three parts and placed in fabric bags, tied tightly with a cord. Distribute under the bed: at the head, in the middle and at the feet. Sleep improves within a few days. Chestnuts are believed to neutralize negative energy; It is recommended to replace the seeds with fresh ones annually.
A more familiar remedy seems to be a sachet with dry herbs: hops (2 parts), mint (thyme) and wormwood - 1 part each. Grind the raw materials, compact them into a small tight bag, carefully sew them up and keep them next to the pillow.
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Tags: how to improve sleep
Activity before bed
It is recommended to spend time in a calm environment before going to bed. In this case you can:
- chat with friends;
- take up a hobby;
- take a walk in the fresh air;
- listen to calm music.
A peaceful environment has a positive effect on a person’s condition, thanks to which he is more likely to forget about the daily worries and tune in to healthy sleep. You can take a bath with sea salt or herbs, which also helps you fall asleep faster. It is not recommended to engage in active sports for a long time at night, sit at the computer for a long time or read the news. Such activities have a detrimental effect on overall health.
Physical exercise
Let's look at what you need to do to get rid of any sleep problems forever and eliminate the root cause of insomnia. You need to do two things: calm your mind before falling asleep and give your body some kind of stress during the day.
Let's start with physical activity.
But the main thing you must understand: in order to fall asleep well and quickly, you need to be tired and physically tired. If you have been fussing all day at work, not sitting still, running errands or shopping, doing a lot of homework, that is, spinning like a squirrel in a wheel, your body will be so tired during the whole day that as soon as you go to bed, it will will do anything to switch off. Here our task will be to help him, not to dwell on the past day in his head, but more on that a little later.
All this will be an ideal condition for falling asleep quickly.
If your job is more sedentary, you think a lot, move little, spend the whole day at the computer and at home watching TV, you will need to give your body a load. Many people don’t even need to do a lot of sports; they can just take a walk in the fresh air before going to bed.
But I still recommend light sports, which are very beneficial for the body. Try Nordic walking, ride a bike, swim in the pool, or go skiing in winter. See what you like and what you like. You can do some exercises at home, such as gymnastics for the spine.
By exercising during the day, you have created good conditions for falling asleep quickly.
Just don’t overexert yourself before bed, this will give the opposite result and, on the contrary, lead to insomnia.
Now your task will be to pacify the psyche, that is, to calm down mentally and psychically, to relax.
Nutrition
To fall asleep as quickly as possible, the body requires a certain diet so that the digestive system is also at rest at night. Before going to bed, you are allowed to eat or drink the following:
- a glass of kefir;
- apple, banana or pear;
- yogurt;
- boiled vegetables.
Such food is quickly digested, easily absorbed and can satisfy the feeling of hunger that arises in the evening.
You should not fill your stomach with the following foods before bed:
- smoked meats;
- fried food;
- salinity;
- sweets;
- hot and spicy dishes.
This food not only takes a long time to digest, but also has an irritating effect on the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, which can cause an exacerbation of existing sores.
Focus on being awake
It is believed that if you go to bed and try to force yourself to sleep, then your chances of success drop sharply. Instead, try “paradoxical intention.” This technique encourages staying awake instead of telling yourself to switch off. The method is based on the idea that stress and anxiety caused by the pressure on yourself due to taking a long time to fall asleep prevents you from relaxing.
Meditation
Meditation always has a positive effect on the body's ability to fall asleep, calming the nervous system. In this case, dreams in most cases become light and positive. Learning this art is very simple - you just need to attend a few classes from an experienced master.
Evening meditation should not be filled with power asanas (exercises) that help fill the body with energy. Such actions lead to excitement of the nervous system, and you can no longer dream of a night's rest. It is better to meditate to calm music, using incense (lavender oil is the best relaxing oil).
Beginners should not engage in the described activity for a long time, as this can tire the body. In the early stages, short five-minute sessions are sufficient.
Use light and darkness at the right times
Light affects the body's internal clock, which regulates sleep and wakefulness. Inappropriate light exposure leads to rhythm disturbances. Lack of light stimulates the production of melatonin, an important hormone for sleep. That is why in the dark a person experiences a feeling of drowsiness. For example, with the arrival of winter, the days become shorter, it is dark in the morning and it is harder for us to get up.
During the day, be sure to be exposed to sunlight or an artificial light source. And at night, use thick curtains, turn off the nightlight and electronic devices so that the room is dark. This way, the body will not confuse when it needs to sleep and when to stay awake.
How to improve your child's sleep
The quality of sleep in children does not always remain normal, and due to various circumstances it noticeably decreases. The following rules can improve it:
- Before going to bed, soak your baby's feet in warm water for at least five minutes.
- At night you need to eat light food and not watch “horrifying” TV shows.
- Herbal tea (mint, lemon balm) will help calm the baby's excited nervous system. Just remember that drinking a lot of liquid at night can lead to frequent urination.
- Before bed, read any light book to your child or talk to him about how his day went.
Following these rules will help set your baby up for sound and long sleep.
Lower the temperature
A person's body temperature changes when he falls asleep. At the torso it decreases, and at the arms and legs it increases. If the room is hot, it is difficult to sleep. Make sure that the temperature in the house in the evening is from +15 to +23°C. Everyone has personal preferences, so choose the ideal indicators for yourself.
A warm shower will also change your body temperature. Your body will relax and suddenly begin to cool down when you leave the bathroom, and your brain will receive a signal that it’s time to fall asleep.
How easy it is to wake up early in the morning
Effective tips will help you not only fall asleep quickly, but also wake up easily in the morning:
- The morning will be easy if you meet it with positive thoughts.
- Exercise will help “wake up” all the cells of the body and fill the body with energy.
- It is better to wash your face with slightly cool water, which improves blood supply to skin cells.
- In the morning, it is advisable to positively greet all family members, including pets.
- Turning on soft, invigorating music helps you wake up quickly.
The recommendations given must be followed at all times. This will allow you to set up the habit of falling asleep quickly at night and waking up easily in the morning.
Don't look at your watch
Many people, when unexpectedly waking up at night, often watch the time and worry that they cannot fall back to sleep quickly. This kind of “watching” of the clock is typical for those suffering from insomnia or predisposed to it. Take the clock off the bedroom wall, and don't check your phone every 10 minutes. Try to relax and not think about time.
Danger and cause of sleep problems
The more we sleep, the healthier our body is. The quality of sleep is closely related to a person’s well-being, the good functioning of most organs and his mood for the whole day. Research has shown that, unfortunately, 51% of all people on the planet suffer from insomnia. Some scientists even call this problem a “sleep epidemic.” Insomnia contributes to an increase in problems of both physical and psychological nature.
Stress is considered to be the main cause of insomnia. Any stress: at work, at home. And here a vicious circle begins: stress generates insomnia, and insomnia generates new stress. There are other causes of insomnia, but stress is the most common.
In order for you to be convinced that restful sleep is not a luxury, but a guarantee of the normal functioning of the body, we have compiled a list of useful tips that will significantly improve your sleep and completely forget about the “insomnia epidemic.”
Features of aromatherapy for insomnia
For a long time, people have used the pleasant smells of plants to normalize sleep. Various herbs were used to stuff pillows, aromatic decoctions were added to baths, aromatic oils were included in massage incense, and so on. Today, ancient recipes have not lost their relevance.
Nowadays pillows based on various healing and aromatic plants can be found on sale. However, it is easy to make them yourself. At the same time, you will certainly know what herbs that improve sleep are included in their composition.
To make a herbal pillow for insomnia, you need to stock up on male fern, laurel, hazel, mint, geranium, oregano, rose petals, lavender, thyme, juniper.
Here are examples of some fragrant mixtures for pillows:
- Mix laurel leaves in a 1:1 ratio with male fern. We grind the raw materials and stuff the pillow.
- Mix the crushed raw materials of laurel, fern and hops in a ratio of 1:2:3. Fill the pillowcase with the mixture.
- We prepare the herbal mixture: fern, hops, laurel and mint. The ratio of raw materials is 3:2:2:1, respectively. Fill the pillow with grass.
You can make small herbal pads and place them under the regular one. Also, several bags with fragrant plants are placed at the head of the bed.
In winter, pillows with herbs can be placed on radiators, so they will spread their aroma throughout the bedroom.
As an option, you can place several sprigs of bay laurel or a dry root of valerian at the head of the bed. These plants have excellent hypnotic and relaxing effects.
Essential oils can have powerful relaxing effects when used and chosen correctly. They can be used by applying to specific points on the body (usually where the pulse beats) and spreading the product throughout the bedroom.
Before improving an adult’s sleep with the help of aromatic oils, pay attention to those that have a pronounced relaxing and hypnotic effect:
- For general calming of the nervous system, lavender, sandalwood, rose, geranium, jasmine, chamomile, and bergamot oils are used. Aromatic oil extracts from hops, lemon balm, neroli, marjoram, passionflower, and benzoin also relieve nervous tension.
- If you have trouble falling asleep, use fir oils: juniper, cypress, cedar. You can also use myrrh, tangerine and orange aroma oils.
- If you find it difficult to relax before bed, try filling your bedroom with the scents of incense, vanilla, sage, nutmeg, and ylang-ylang.
Almost all of the above oils combine well with each other and can complement each other. Feel free to experiment with these mixtures:
- Mix a couple of drops of jasmine oil with six drops of lime oil and the same amount of frankincense. You can refill your aroma lamp with this mixture before going to bed.
- Prepare a mixture of lavender, lemon balm, and chamomile oils in a ratio of 4:1:3.
- Take two drops each of rose, ylang-ylang and lavender aroma oils.
A bath has a relaxing effect if the water temperature is about 37 degrees. This procedure is especially soothing before bed if you stir a few drops of aromatic oil in water.
It is recommended to first dilute essential oils with an emulsifier. As the latter, you can use sea salt, honey, cream, red wine. Research which herbs improve sleep and add oils from them to your bath in a certain dosage:
- Sandalwood and neroli can be added four drops per full container of water for an adult.
- Melissa oil can be added in an amount of no more than three drops per bath.
- Clary sage oil has a strong relaxing effect. Therefore, this substance must be added to water in a minimal amount - no more than one or two drops.
If you are thinking about how to improve your child's sleep with a bath, then remember that the dosage of aromatic oils should be minimal. In addition, some substances are allergens, so consider this fact when choosing an essential oil.
Correct use of sleeping pills
Many people avoid sleeping pills because the drugs can be highly addictive or cause adverse reactions. Others take them for years due to chronic illnesses. It should be noted that alcohol does not improve sleep quality. A hangover caused by ethanol can disrupt not only your sleep, but also your mood.
Many substances are useful in treating insomnia. Short-term drug therapy is preferred to restore normal sleep. As a rule, hypnotic drugs can be used for no more than 2 weeks. Barbiturates and chloral hydrates are rarely used due to their unsafe side effect profile and risk of overdose.
Sleeping pills of herbal origin
Zolpidem and zaleplon are the safest medications that have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Zolpidem tablets are also available in a long-acting form. In addition, the FDA has approved zopiclone as the first drug to be used for the long-term treatment of chronic insomnia.
Tasimelteon was approved by the FDA in January 2014 for the treatment of non-circadian sleep-wake disorder. The approval was based on the results of two studies: the safety and effectiveness of the drug. Suvorexant (Belsomra) was approved by the FDA in August 2014 and is the first orexin receptor antagonist. It is indicated for the treatment of insomnia, characterized by difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.
What to eat to fall asleep
Food affects the functioning of the body by stimulating the production of enzymes and hormones. Some foods can cause overstimulation of the nervous system and prevent you from falling asleep quickly, while others help improve sleep quality. It is important not only to introduce sleep-friendly foods into your diet, but also to normalize your diet in general.
Dinner is especially important; it should consist of foods that have a beneficial effect on sleep. You should not have dinner later than two hours before bedtime. Overeating is the enemy of proper sleep, however, it is not recommended to go to bed on an empty stomach. A light dinner is necessary.
You can have dairy products for dinner, only choose hard cheese
Scientists have concluded that foods with a high glycemic index help you fall asleep faster. This is primarily white bread, pasta and rice. They will, of course, help you fall asleep, but sleep after such a dinner cannot be called effective, in addition, with constant use they contribute to weight gain.
It is better to choose products that improve night sleep. First of all, these are products containing orexin, tryptophan, magnesium and serotonin. Orexin reduces activity. Tryptophan stimulates the production of melatonin, while melanin helps you fall asleep quickly and lifts your mood.
- Herbal decoctions
. The most effective are mint, chamomile and oregano. Mint is a natural sedative. A cup of mint infusion with honey at night has a relaxing effect on the body and calms the psyche. - Almond.
Almonds have a high magnesium content, thanks to which the nuts strengthen the nervous system and regulate sugar levels, this helps both make the psyche more stress-resistant and strengthen sleep itself. - Dairy
. They contain a large amount of tryptophan. For dinner, it is better to choose milk, yogurt, or kefir. - Banana.
Just like dairy products, banana contains tryptophan. - Protein products
. For dinner, boiled eggs, low-fat fish and hard cheese are suitable.
It is better to abstain from tea and coffee in the afternoon; in any case, do not drink them later than five o’clock in the evening, since the time for caffeine to be removed from the body is 6 hours. In the case of evening tea drinking, milk should be added to tea or coffee; it will somewhat deactivate the caffeine.
Drinking alcohol at dinner can be beneficial only in small doses and also no later than three hours before bedtime. You can fall asleep faster after a glass of wine, but your sleep will become superficial and will not give you complete rest.