SLEEPIG PROBLEMS CAN BE AVOIDED
Many people wonder why sleep is even talked about, because for them sleeping is not a problem and there is no such thing as a sleep disturbance. But for many other people of whom there is an astonishingly large and constantly increasing number in our civilized world, sleep is a problem. These people are always conscious of difficulty in sleeping. They wake up with an almost masochistic satisfaction in saying to themselves, ’I know I could’ t sleep’. And they go to bed with the same certainty of, ‘ Again I won’t be able to sleep.’ Everyone who has trouble sleeping has a strong need for dialogue, for exchanging opinions or sharing experiences with others having similar problem, just as many sick persons after talking to a doctor, then reflect on their problem. This can often be more helpful than medication. People who have difficulty sleeping are also preoccupied with the problem during the day. Consciously or unconsciously they consider new regiments, precautions and medications for the night.
Sleeplessness is not a permanent condition. The ability to sleep can be regained through a continuous learning process. This mean that the ability to sleep can be learned, exactly as remaining awake can be learned. Any person who works as a night nurse, train engineer, doctor, soldier, as an air traffic controller, or as a participant in an expedition learns how to stay awake. This learning process can, however be reversed and can be applied to the ability to sleep. There is extensive biological proof that it can be done. The most precise formulation about sleep is the statement that among humans sleep is an instinct-related, periodically changing even that, like most other instincts and drives, can to some extent be changed through a learning process.
COUNTDOWN TO SLEEP-
1- Go to sleep when you are tired not when it is time for bed. If you feel wide-awake, stay up. Capitalize on having a little extra time. Write letters, read a book or take a short walk. Fresh air and gentle exercise are two of the best sleep inducers, particularly if taken an hour or so before going to bed.
2- Get up earlier. One of the most effective ways of counteracting difficulties in getting off to sleep at night is to get up an hour earlier in the morning. It takes a certain amount of discipline, but persevere and you will soon find that you start feeling sleepy at bedtime.
3- Avoid over-loading the stomach just before going to bed. Meals are best eaten early in the evening and proteins, despite their unearned reputation for causing bad dreams, make much better bedtime foods than carbohydrates.
4- Make sure that your system is not running on overdrive by the time you go to bed. Question your intake of all stimulants, including alcohol, sugar, salt, coffee, tea and cola drinks. The caffeine present in the last three speeds up the metabolism and it’s ;buzz’ may last for up to seven hours. |
