How To Get a Better Sleep When You Have Insomnia

So you’re trying to find ways to fall asleep? Adding some healthy de-stress activities is the easiest

Falling asleep after a busy day was a dream. I spent at least 3-4 hours trying to sleep, lying on a bed, changing sides, counting sheep. Even if I fell asleep quickly, I would wake up in the middle of the night and spent rest of the night awake sweaty.

When Google wasn’t a thing, I thought smoking before bed would be a good thing. I wasn’t aware of nicotine and its role. On the 1st day, I fell asleep after smoking. But after a few days, it didn’t work anymore. Nicotine works against sleep. The first few days of sleep were the result of hallucinations. I tried alcohol and marijuana too. Those gives very good sleep (at least what I thought then). But I felt so dull in the morning. I lack energy to carry myself through out the day,

For the next 6–7 years, I tried many sleep hacks, from taking a bath to having sex. Nothing works properly for me. I’ve visited therapists, but I didn’t want to take pills. But I came to know a lot about human sleep patterns, stress, and anxiety. I’ve to focus on routine and healthy habits rather than hacks.

After reading a few books, blogs, trying ‘hacks’, I finally found my way out of insomnia without pills.

Now I fall asleep within15 minutes.

Yes, sleeping pills may work well, but it has many side effects. Instead, I recommend my remedies to try. I’ve suffered from chronic insomnia for over seven years, and all of those sufferings have come to an end until recently.

I mainly focus on two things, de-stress myself and include some sleep-friendly healthy activities.

To fall asleep you want to have a quality evening routine to help organize life and manage stress.

1. Yoga?Nidra

When you need to sleep in the daytime, practice?Yoga Nidra. It saves time, gives you proper rest and doesn’t ruin the night-time sleep.

If I return home at 8 am after a night shift and 2:00 pm after a morning shift. Sometimes I used to sleep as my life depended on it. It ruined my night’s sleep. I had no idea how to get out of this loop. After searching, I found a yoga organization that teaches Yoga Nidra — an actual power nap session of half an hour where you have to follow directions lying on the bed. I am amazed by how fast half an hour passed, and I feel very refreshed.

Luckily it is available on YouTube, and I highly recommend it to practice if you need to sleep during the daytime.

2. Introduce yellow?lights

Blue lights?have a dark side, especially LED lights. Blue lights create an illusion of the body clock — our body senses time through light. Blue light keeps us awake, and yellow light signals the body to produce melatonin, the sleep hormone. After knowing this, I started to use the yellow bulb and portable solar lamp in the evening. Apart from creating sleep hormones, it’s very peaceful and relaxes the eyes. Yellow-ish light can be a game-changer. Your home atmosphere will become different. If you don’t have your light, use dim white light.

3. Cooking dinner?asap

Cooking faster is a race against the clock. And it is followed by cleaning, washing. Which drains down lots of energy. I felt heartbroken when I had to spend two hours in the kitchen after a stressful shift. And I’m pretty sure you feel the same way too.

But, What about 15-minute recipes? Weaving some quick meal prep recipes will add some leisure to your daily routine.

I follow blogs that teach cooking faster without compromising quality.

When I have the evening shift, I make dinner around 7 pm. I made a habit of cooking quick recipes thanks to bloggers (especially marisamoore.com) and YouTubers. I feel happy when my dinner is ready in just 15 minutes. As a result, cooking is no longer a prolonged pain. And I get plenty of time for my family and relaxation.

When I feel lazy, I eat fruits and milk.

That’s how I get a lot of time to relax and practice stress removal activities.

4. Create a buffer?zone

In her book “Goodnight Mind: Turn Off Your Noisy Thoughts and Get a Good Night’s Sleep”, Rachel Manber wrote about buffer zone:

“The Buffer Zone is a simple concept: it is a quiet time before bedtime. Every night, set aside time to do activities that promote rest and allow you to disengage from your busy life.

….To create a Buffer Zone, set aside an hour or so before bedtime, during which you can do some calming, pleasurable activities. This provides a transition between the goal-focused activities of the day and the quiet, more peaceful time of sleep. The activities you select for the Buffer Zone should be enjoyable in themselves and are not taken as a means to an end. Stay away from any actions that might be stimulating or that have the potential to upset you or cause you to worry.”

Stress and anxiety can cause?insomnia. To be relaxed, I fell into the trap of stimulants like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol. Unfortunately, it makes sleep worse. Many years ago, I started to drink black coffee to stay awake late at night. Later it became one of the causes of insomnia.

Now, I started to practice healthy stress removal techniques. I got very positive results within 15 days. My evening routine removes stress and also helps to have a good night’s sleep.

Today’s competitive lifestyle creates stress. To de-stress and relax before sleep, I’ve kept a one-hour time. That helps me to calm down healthily. Without this, I still feel anxious, lying in bed.

I include the following activities to find some relaxing time after a busy day.

4.1 No electronics

I avoid electronic devices after 8 pm. Communication, TV series, and YouTube aren’t part of my evening routine. Sometimes, I watch fascinating live games on my laptop. Keeping it 5 feet away from me when I watch games on my computer. Plus, at the same time, I read storybooks, so I don’t have to look at the screen continuously. Blue light is a natural sleep taker. After avoiding the screen for a few days, I found my eyes and brain very soothing. Experts recommend not to use screen devices before 2–3 hours to sleep. It helps to relax the eyes as well as the brain.

Pro tip:?don’t just switch off your phone or use a reminder app. Switch to an old school phone, pretending your smartphone isn’t working. You’ll have no way but to read a book at bedtime.

Getting rid of electronics is very challenging; also, it’s not practical. Considering important conversations on WhatsApp, meeting etc.

But doing this for a few weeks or days helps to avoid smartphones before bed.

4.2 Books with some soothing?music

If you are reading this, you must be a reader and fond of books. Replacing electronics with books is a charm. I start yawning just after finishing 2–3 pages, and playing light acoustic music while reading is like eating chicken nuggets with chilled beer. Reading your eyes helps to fall asleep.

A?study?shows reading is the best stress removal activity that reduces stress by 68%, better than listening to music, drinking tea or coffee and taking a walk. It also expands your vocabulary for debate. I prefer to read previously than fiction books, outstanding spiritual books.

4.3 Walk

After dinner, walking is necessary to create a buffer zone between your stressful day and sleep, plus it helps to digest food. On most days, I walk 20 to 30 minutes. It allows me to feel tension-free.?Study?shows that walking improves total shifted duration in a working person without exercise habits. Also, it improves digestion.

4.4 Breathing Exercise

Breathing exercise helps me to distress in a healthy manner. I quit alcohol and smoking. That’s why I started breathing exercises to give extra support to my mental stability to feel that void, and the results are surprisingly good.

I practice many breathing techniques, the visuals to remove stress and anxiety from them Sudarshan kriya, a set of breathing techniques that affects the most. Practicing this every morning takes about 30 minutes to improve mental health and sleep. However, when I have a hectic schedule, I’m still stressed before bed. I do long inhale and exhale exercises.

If you are a busy person,?practice this, just before lying down. It takes only 10 minutes.

Sit Comfortably with erect spine.

Inhale and count 4 in your mind.

Hold your breath (up to Count 7).

and exhale slowly (Again count 8).

4.5 Ashwagandha

It is a?herb?recommended to treat insomnia, stress, and various other medical conditions. I mixed it with lukewarm water and drink half a liter of water afterward. I realized that it reduces my stress and anxiety helps to get a good night’s sleep.

4.6 Brahmi Pranayama

Bhramri?is a very effective pranayama that takes only 5 minutes, and everyone can do it. The calming effect of the pranayama reduces stress, anxiety, hypertension, and drug dependency.

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably with your spine erect.
2. Close the ears with the index fingers by pressing the ear ligament into the ear hole.
3. Keep the ears closed, and exhale, making a deep soft humming sound.
4. Repeat this for three full breaths and relax.

In a?nutshell

1. Practice Yoga Nidra when you feel sleepy during the day or in the evening.
2. Use yellow light instead of white.
3. Complete your cooking as soon as you can.
4. Create a buffer zone of 1 hour to practice some relaxation techniques.

4.1 Try to avoid electronic devices.

4.2 Books with some soothing music (15 mins).

4.3 Walk(20 mins).

4.4 Breathing Exercise(10 Mins).

4.5 Consume Ashwagandha(2 mins).

4.6 Practice Brahmi Pranayama (5 mins).