How-To Sleep Guide, Tips and Remedies

Too many people know what it is like to toss and turn in bed or simply spend hours staring at the wall or ceiling. It can be hard to get a good night sleep and it is even worse when you have to get up early because there is an urgency to get to sleep and your body just will not respond. The reason you are having trouble sleeping can be a myriad of different things from what you wear, to noise, what you ate and even what you see on the TV screen. Here are a few tips that can hopefully help you sleep better at night.

What to Do Before You Crawl Into Bed

How-To Sleep Guide, Tips and Remedies #1.
You want to be comfortable when you are sleeping and improper sleepwear can keep you up or even wake you from an otherwise sound sleep if it begins to twist around your body. Pick clothing that you feel comfortable in, something that won't disturb your sleep.

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Try to make sure that your last meal is a few hours before bedtime. If it's a big meal it should be three to four hours or more. If you get hungry later on, try something light like popcorn, fruit, yogurt or warm milk or decaffeinated tea.

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You should try to cut back on your caffeine intake. One big reason that many people have trouble sleeping is that they consume a lot of caffeine throughout the day. Be aware of more than just your coffee because other foods that you eat may also contain caffeine. Foods such as coffee, candy bars, some types of tea, energy drinks and bars and of course soda are the most quick foods that are eaten on the go. Millions of Americans drink a lot of soda a day, more than they realize and most of them are pure sugar and caffeine.

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You should be very careful about what you watch on TV right before going to bed. News stories, horror movies and other disturbing images can keep you awake at night and sometimes you might not even realize it. It can also lead to terrible nightmares which will wake you up later on.

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Try to relax your muscles before bedtime because staying tense due to a bad day at work or having problems that are weighing you down can also keep you awake. Take a nice warm bubble bath, read a book or magazine, stretch your muscles, do some meditation or yoga, or even use some of the bath products like Dove's Calming Nights body wash and lotion which can relax you and help you feel nice and mellow. You can also try to drink some of the herbal teas like chamomile and passionflower which are supposed to be natural sleeping aids.

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Do not drink water or other liquids right before bed, which can wake you up multiple times to go use the bathroom. For some people this is no problem but for others, once they wake up, they have another battle trying to fall asleep again.

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Hard exercise like aerobics and weightlifting is not good to do right before bedtime, but stretching, yoga, or taking a short walk before a nice shower or bath, is a great way to burn extra energy and help you to fall asleep faster.

How-To Sleep Guide, Tips and Remedies #8.
Older movies especially liked to show stars having one last drink of alcohol before bedtime and I think that made people think that it is a great way to help you get to sleep. While it can indeed help you to sleep, it can also give you trouble while you are sleeping, making it harder for you to get out of bed in the morning.

Set the Mood

Now that you know what to do before bedtime, it's time for you to fix your sleeping area and adjust it to the proper mood and do whatever needs to be done, so that you can have a good nights rest.

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Too much noise keeping you awake? Get a comfortable pair of earplugs to block the unwanted sounds.

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Noise isn't the only thing that can keep you awake. In my case the lack of noise is what keeps me up. Before moving to Florida, I lived in New York for ten years and was used to loud parties, trains, and just plain noisy neighbors, so some crickets outside of my window wasn't enough to help me sleep, it was actually very annoying. To help with the lack of noise, try to play some soft jazz or other music that you find very soothing. Sometimes talking might be what you need, in which case you can tune your radio to talk radio or even put in a CD of your favorite comedian. There are also special radios that play sounds of nature and they are very soothing and might be just what you need.

How-To Sleep Guide, Tips and Remedies #11.
The temperature of your bedroom can also keep you from sleeping if it's not set just the way you like it. If it is too hot and stifling you will wake up and the same goes for the cold. Turn on a fan to help circulate the air in your room or close the windows if it's too cold.

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Light that comes through your window is easily blocked by blinds or curtains and you should adjust them before you get into bed for the night. Keep a nightlight in the bathroom or hallway so that you can easily see if you or someone else does have to get up for any reason.

How-To Sleep Guide, Tips and Remedies #13.
Think good thoughts. This one sounds silly but thinking about things that stress you out or disturb you can also lead to a long sleepless nights. Keep a notepad or voice recorder close by and list the things that you need to remember. After that do your best to forget about everything. Think of that vacation you might be taking soon. Count sheep or numbers or like I mentioned above, listen to soothing music or sounds to get your mind off of work or other stressful thinking.

How-To Sleep Guide, Tips and Remedies #14.
If that bed is too lumpy, too hard or soft, it can interrupt your sleep by making you toss and turn all night, and it can wreak havoc on your back, shoulders and neck. Get a bed that feels just right for you and remember that the market is filled with beds that you can easily adjust to the right feel for you and your partner. A bad bed can keep you seriously exhausted making it hard for you to wake up in the morning, make you feel tired and sluggish all day, and eventually hurt your career or schoolwork if you cannot concentrate on what you have to do.

Insomnia and Other Sleeping Disorders

You can try everything and still not get to sleep. In that case you should speak to your doctor and try to find out what else you can do to get some much needed sleep. Speak to your doctor if you have any and all of the following issues:

You are tired all day long
You wake up after being asleep for a short time and then you cannot get back to slee
It can take you more than an hour before you finally drift off
Frequent memory lose
You snore extremely loud when you do fall asleep
You snap awake for no reason and have an extreme headache
As soon as you fall asleep you have bad nightmares
You are so tired you cannot even keep your mind on small tasks

List of Sleep Disorders

There could be a lot of regular things that keep you awake but it can also be sleeping disorders. There are many of them and they include:

Insomnia - Tired in the day and can't sleep at night
Periodic Limb Movement - Your twitching limps keep you awake
Restless Leg Syndrome - You feel the need to move your legs even if it's a small twitch
Bruxism - You grind your teeth while you're asleep which leads to a stiff jaw and headaches
Narcolepsy - You hallucinate, you're tired and can collapse in sleep at any moment
Fibromyalgia - You have trouble sleeping because of muscle and tendon pain
Night Sweats - You sweat profusely during sleep
REM Sleep Disorder - You become extremely violent while asleep and you kick, punch and hit anything near you
Sleep Apnea - Extremely loud snoring, your tired during the day, have headaches and it becomes difficult for you to breath normally
Nightmares - Falling asleep only to wake up repeatedly because of intense and scary dreams. In young children they tend to experience Night Terrors which causes them to wake up screaming, have horrifying dreams which cause them to scream while still asleep
Somnambulism - A very dangerous sleep disorder that makes a person sleepwalk. The sleepwalker will sometimes do normal things such as cooking while they are still asleep, putting themselves and everyone at home in danger of a house fire

Quick Tips

Smoking can keep you from sleeping, nicotine has stimulants in it
Cut back on caffeine
Don't exercise right before you go to bed
Try to learn yoga and meditation exercises to relax you
Drink some herbal tea
Make your bedroom comfortable, turn off the lights and noise and try not to look at the time