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Disclaimer: What I am providing is not qualified professional Medical Advice. But some personal tips from person who used to suffer from Insomnia for many years. This is my personal experience and may not work equally for everyone. For proper treatment and care please consult a Professional Medical expert.
Warning : Sleeping below 8 hrs at night is scientifically proven to have fatal consequences. This post of only for people who are committed to quality sleep for 8 hrs at least.
Insomnia is a really vexing medical condition that takes serious toll not just on our physical health but also mental health. Lack of sleep and ensuing health problems will confuse even the most intelligent person about what to do to fix it. Most of the time we end up being confused and irritated with everyone around us and life in general. Since we cannot think clearly ourselves, we need to take advice or need to take the support of family or friends. If your insomnia is so chronic that you cannot think properly and do what is going to make you better it is always good to take professional help.
Once you have some 10% improvement and is able to think slightly, we have to move forward to follow the tips to reduce your dependence on sleep aids like sleeping pills.
1) Iron clad Sleep Schedule:
Simplest and often ignored tip is sleep schedule(fixed timing for bed and getting up, also no daytime naps till you get fully cured). Take a commitment for health which is the most valuable asset you have in your life. Least you can do is fix the night time sleep timing. This is easier than fixing morning wake up timing as for people suffering from Insomnia there is no guarantee that you had a decent sleep quality last night. So forcing yourself out of bed after a bad sleep night is difficult than putting yourself to bed when you are not sleepy in the night. Also it creates a negative feedback in your mind. Keep a repeat alarm everyday at the same time which rings at least 1 minute before your sleep time. Urinate and brush and go to bed.
If you are person who takes a lot of time to fall asleep and keeps tossing around in bed for long time then you will certainly underestimate the importance of this tip. It took me almost 3 months to get even a weak grip on this timing. I used to get up multiple times even during this time and also used to take 2-3 hours to go into what can be even described as weak sleep. So 3 months to get into slot. 3 months to get a weak grip. 3 months of further effort to sleep without getting disturbed other than when I have engaged in some vigorous exercises as explained in Tip3.
So if you want permanent cure then you have to invest time and extreme patience. You have to be committed to health rather than your life goals. We have harmed our body for long time for our minds goals. Consider this as a punishment from mother nature for torturing the body she gave us for our greed for money and fame.
If you wish to keep track of your sleep using simple sleep diary. I have created one in the link below. It will help you track the sleep timings and sleep schedule. This was not developed by a professional so I advice your subjective discretion while using it. If you are a heavy insomniac you can make it less strict. This sleep measurement diary or tool is copyright free. So you can modify it as per your needs.
Sleep Quality measurement tool - Sleep Quality Score -1
Also this is only a subjective tool not objective tool. You need not fuss too much about accuracy and sticking to metric parameters all the time. You can cheat some times to motivate yourself😂. After all this is not some university examination.
2) Keeping bladder relatively empty during the night:
Try not to drink any liquid after 7PM and also urinate before going to bed. Since any pressure on bladder will wake up people with Insomnia easily. This will bring a break in your otherwise continuous sleep. How much water you require without feeling thirsty in the night is something that will come only from experience by managing the amount of water you drink throughout the day.
3) How phases of moon affects sleep quality:
This is a personal experience tip, not scientifically proven, so reader discretion is advised. Our sleep quality changes during the shift from new moon to full moon and full moon to new moon every month. If you are not familiar with the phases of moon you can research the same in Google or YouTube. Also there are phone apps that tell you the phase of moon each day of month.
Days near to full moon is high energy days and keep your metabolic system in high ramp. Reverse is true for New moon. So if you are following Tip1 and finding even after 3 months of following sleep timings that you are still finding it difficult to sleep on days nearer to full moon then you have to understand is that the problem will subside soon and like a disturbed water body coming to rest after a disturbance your sleep will also come back to normal and you will be able to achieve deeper sleep after few months. So keep calm follow tips and stay positive that things are going to improve with time.
4) Ambient temperature can make it easy to sleep:
Ambient temperature in this context means that which will allow us to sleep comfortably thorough the night. Temperature of the room in which you sleep can either aid your sleep or disturb the flow of your sleep based on your personal comfort zone. You have to learn from individual observation and experience. I can share my experience which should give you some food for thought on what you can do to improve this situation in your life. From my experience my body requires a medium temperature to sleep optimally. Too hot or too cold disturbs my sleep. During cold or rainy season I use thick blankets and switch off fans(No AC) and use thicker clothing based on the temperature of the room at the time of sleep. This is something you have to learn by trial and error. I make sure that there is plenty of air circulation in my house during the day. During summer I keep my fan at high speed and use no upper body cloth in case it is too hot. But even in summer sometimes the temperature drops near to morning. So it is based on trial and error only we can arrive on whether to use upper body clothing during hot summers. Also fans keeps out noises that can otherwise disturb people with weak sleep quality.
5) Exercising when your body if tired can be counter productive:
This may look unscientific and quite contrary to popular knowledge. This is only for heavy insomniacs who are constantly tired. Exercise can sometimes disturb your sleep quality. Exercise can do wonders to your body if you are healthy and have no illness. But insomnia is a illness which tires both your body and mind. So making a already tired body to do exercise is akin to torture. So taking a break from exercises till you are somewhat cured can improve sleep quality. Again this is from personal experience. If you are not able to find any direct link to sleep quality and exercise in your specific case, then certainly you can keep doing mild exercises.
6) Insomniacs requires support and care from others:
Like any injury or illness you need to slow down in life and this is when the understanding and care from family/friends make the job of curing the illness easier. Spent more time with supportive friends and family. This can make you forget your issue which can do wonders to your quality of sleep as sometimes stress created by worry will interfere with sleep quality. Avoid people who question your need to take a break in life and focus on health.
7) Avoiding coffee, alcohol, narcotic drugs and smoking:
Coffee and alcohol can give you a boost/kick if you are healthy. You have sleep problem because you are not healthy or we have spoiled our own health for our ambitions. So be kind to your body, rather have mercy on your body and take a break and avoid coffee, alcohol, narcotic drugs and smoking.
Below Video By Sleep Researcher Matt Walker will make it clear how coffee affects sleep quality.
Below video by Matt Walker shows how avoiding alcohol or narcotic drugs does not really help you in the improving sleep quality. It in fact spoils it for worse.
8) Avoid fasting or new diet regimens for sometime:
This is something which is surprising but has an evolutionary explanation for it. You will find it harder to sleep if you are fasting. This is perfectly normal. This is evolutionary force at work. Fasting has proven health benefits. But this is certainly not for people with sleep problems. Our genes are programmed to search constantly for food, sleep, shelter and sex. So if you are starving then the genes will keep us awake prodding us to search for food rather than sleep. So the time period(say one year) that you are planning to fix your sleep problems permanently and naturally it is best advised not to change your diet by experimenting with new diet regimens(like partial fasting and long term fasting).
9) A bit of sunlight exposure without overdoing it:
Sunlight exposure after you get up in the morning for few minutes or half hour(max). Try not to overdo it. No need for full spectrum bulb and all. There is lot of merchandise to buy in the market of sleep care. Also do not expose direct sunlight to eyes. This can damage your eyes as well as make the sleep problem even worse. Indirect sun exposure is good enough.
10) Understand what affects your circadian rhythm:
Here are few things that train your circadian rhythm regarding the timings of day - a) Regular Sleep schedule, b) Regular food timings, c) The time you wind up your screens. d) the time you switch off your mobile. Basically if you are dedicated to curing your insomnia, iron clad timings especially in the night(since it is simpler to follow than morning timings) is free of cost and has no long term side effects like medicines and other treatments. Fixing your sleep time, morning routines, exercise time, meal timings, night time winding up time, etc can train your body to release hormones and adjust the peaks and troughs in such a way that melatonin is released everyday at the same time.
11) Try one tip at a time starting with Tip1:
This is a physiological tip. Rather than play super human and try to apply all tips at once start with Tip1 alone and improvise as you get better. There is no concept of over achievement in this game. Mother nature will easily put in your place when you try to overdo it. Patience for a long time is the punishment that mother nature gives to us for harming our own body. The road to 100% cure of insomnia is a treacherous path. Learning from failures is most important than brooding over past mistakes.
12) Try only what works for you best:
You will find innumerable tips to sleep in this blog as well as all over the internet but where you really need to put effort is to find what works best for you for your situation in life. You cannot recreate another persons life situation. You don't need feather soft costly mattresses. Our human ancestors used to sleep on uneven tress branches. Trial and error with many tips will give you the best solution for your sleep problems. But Tip1 is the first baby step for all sleep disorders.
13) Fix your body pain issues:
There are chances that you have some pain due to some physical illness or injury so if this disturbs your sleep understand that it is perfectly normal. This is completely natural response. Try to get medical attention for you pain and you will see that it is easier to sleep without any pain in the body. Again don't overdo this. People with serious injuries also sleep after a few initial days of trouble. I am only suggesting it will make it easier to sleep.
14) Magnesium can help with soothing of nerves:
Magnesium can help soothe our nerves. Better to go for natural sources of magnesium like Epsom salt than supplements. It tells the body that today's struggle for survival is over. Now it is time to rest.
15) Other simple supplements available readily at home:
A glass of milk(before 7PM), banana and 2-3 almonds can help aid sleep. Also Fenugreek(Soaked for 8 hours in water) is an excellent dietary fiber and full of nutrients. Also it helps in controlling blood sugar.
16) Most underestimated Natural Nutritional supplement:
Beef liver is one of the most underestimated and unrated natural supplement that can meet the daily nutritional needs(protein, vitamins and minerals) of your body easily. Too much is also not good.
17) Fiber and carbohydrates:
Fiber from vegetable salad's(variety is important as well as organic source) can help solve many health issues which maybe creating sleep issues. Reduce carbohydrate daily intake to 40-50% of your daily food intake.
CRR Varma - Grand Master guru of Natural Living
18) Omega-3 fatty acids:
Maybe our sleep issues are due to minor nutritional deficiencies. One great nutrient for overall health is Omega - 3 fatty acids. Best sourced from smaller fatty fishes like sardines, mackerel, salmon, Cod liver oil etc.
19) Avoid Refined sugars and refined carbohydrates:
This will help improve health which will have a cumulative effect on sleep quality. If you cannot control eating junk food at least reduce it to once in a week or once in a month. Even this is progress. Each small progress can go a long way in motivating us. Also avoid hotel food to bare minimum or zero if possible.
20) Health is a natural right:
This is a social tip. Health is a fundamental right of every child of mother nature. So if society/boss tells you that your responsibilities are more important than your health, then it means that you are in unhealthy social relationship/career. Sleep/other health problems will recur even after curing if you continue listening to such bad advice. Before you show mercy to others you need to show mercy to your own body. Selfishness for basic survival needs is a natural right of every child of mother earth.
The question that you need to ask yourself is how can i execute my responsibilities to my job, society and family in a mutually beneficial manner if I am unhealthy always? Take time off to do things that you enjoy like music or travelling to natural places. Guilt is a old mind trick society uses to bring the donkey back to the shed.
Once you are somewhat able to think and observe, this book by Sleep Researcher and Neuroscientist Matthew Walker called "Why we sleep" can revolutionize your idea of sleep. I did not outright suggest his book initially as his book can scare the worst offenders of sleep damage back to sleep. This is like shock treatment for those who take their health and sleep carelessly. He only presents research results and it is kind of brutally honest to sleep offenders. Some of the Tips presented in this blog post is from his book.
He is genuine scientist who is in love with this natural phenomenon called sleep. He is that rare breed of scientists who genuinely beliefs that the welfare of humanity lies in reclaiming our original per-industrial sleep habits. He calls himself aptly a sleep diplomat. He has posted many videos in YouTube which can be searched with his name. He is not trying to sell anything to anyone other than sleep(which he insists he wants to sell you). Below is his link to his website -
Below is his twitter profile.
I would like to thank Matt Walker for his contribution to science and humanity as his book was like a wake up call for not just people with sleep problems but entire humanity.🙏. We wish we have more scientists like you on earth.
Here is a link to post on Sleep Quality Measurement Tool -
Sleep Quality measurement tool - Sleep Quality Score -1
Friends please do share your valuable comments🙏. Please share any new tips that worked for you in the comments section.
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