How to defeat insomnia

Every fourth adult suffers from insomnia. We'll figure out how it comes about, why medicines do not save, how to get habits that are useful for sleeping, and finally relax.

In one form or another, most of us experienced insomnia. Often, it appears due to stress or changes in routine matters - such as a new job or the appearance of a child. Sometimes the cause of insomnia can become medications. This side effect has some antidepressants, drugs that regulate blood pressure, antihistamines, corticosteroids.

Insomnia is temporary or permanent. But no matter how long it may be, there is nothing good in it.

Sometimes insomnia becomes a constant companion. The reasons may be hiding in health problems (depression, anxiety, bouts of stopping breathing during sleep). Bad habits also lead to a lack of sleep: for example, if you overeat before going to bed and do not follow the microclimate in the bedroom, stick in your smartphone or tablet until the alarm goes off.

Lack of sleep always leads to irritability, nervousness, reduced efficiency. And in the long run, the risk increases for obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and even diabetes. However, the experience of insomnia does not affect the principles of treatment. It is necessary to cut the root of the problem and begin to sleep. Fortunately, this is quite possible.

Usually, if you find the reason and the way to neutralize it, the sleep and rest regime is normalized.

Why not take sleeping pills

Sleeping pills do not heal. It has the effect of a fast diet. It helps for a few days, but if you do not stop in time, then there will be more problems than good.

Sleeping and all kinds of pharmacology give a short-term effect if insomnia started suddenly. And some people start using tablets. But often medication is accompanied by side effects: headache, dizziness, dry mouth, fatigue throughout the day, difficulty concentrating, muscle pain. So it is not yet known, after which you will feel worse: after the pills or after a sleepless night.

And even if you are on the list of lucky ones who do not feel the side effects of medications, they will not be of use in the long run. Most people quickly develop resistance to the sedative effect of sleeping pills, it is necessary to increase the dose, but even this does not always help.

It is better to lead a lifestyle that will help to sleep normally. It's not as scary as you might think. Life changes, large and small, can turn the situation in your favor.

Take time to excercise

If you suddenly forget, we remind: physical activity is extremely important for normal sleep. Practice shows that lovers of training fall asleep better and easier than people who grew to a sofa.

Does not convince? Compare yourself. One study showed that five hours of exercise a week help to sleep better and rather to plunge into the stage of fast sleep. Do not need to spend the night in the simulator to feel the positive effect. Other studies show that patients with insomnia could sleep for an hour more and not wake up in the middle of the night if they included a 30-minute training session three or four times a week.

Training in the morning is more useful if you are able to force yourself to go in for sports after waking up. Experts do not explain why. Perhaps this is due to the regulation of the production of hormones that affect blood pressure.

Why is physical education so useful? The experts of the American National Fund for Sleep Problems say that exercises lead to a reduction in anxiety, stress and depression, and also help to relax. Physical activity (especially in the open air) maintains a normal rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.

The explanation can be simpler. Remember the days when you were on your feet from dawn to dusk or when the physical load was high. Did not you want to lie down and disconnect, unlike the days when you were not so tired?

Use sunlight to produce melatonin

The sun helps to wake up in the morning, it also needs to be properly rest at night. The body reacts to natural light and determines which hour, and then gives the command to release hormones that must fill the body with energy or, conversely, soothe. The hormone melatonin is responsible for the latter.

In other words, sunlight adjusts the internal clock and tells the body at what time of day it is necessary to wake up, and when - to relax. When the hypothalamus - the area of ​​the brain that regulates the circadian rhythm - feels changes in lighting, it gives the command to increase or decrease the production of melatonin. During the day the body is filled with energy, because there is almost no melatonin in the blood. And at night, when its amount increases, fatigue appears.

The only way to stay in a normal rhythm is to give the receptors light as soon as you get out of bed. So you send a clear signal to the brain: it's time to wake up! Spread the curtains, do exercises in the fresh air or at least do not hide from the sun on the way to work.

During the day, try to fill all rooms with natural light. At work, take a seat by the window, go out for a walk during the break.

This will give approximately one hour of extra sleep. On the weekend, plan a picnic or just go out of town, instead of sitting on the couch watching the series.

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