Insomnia affects many Americans today; one could say we even have an epidemic of sleep deprivation in this country.
Consider these statistics:
- People today sleep 20% less than they did 100 years ago.
- More than 30% of the population suffers from insomnia.
- One in three people suffer from some form of insomnia during their lifetime.
- More than half of Americans lose sleep due to stress and/or anxiety.
- Women are up to twice as likely to suffer from insomnia than men.
- People who suffer from sleep deprivation are 27% more likely to become overweight or obese.
Here are some ways you can beat insomnia and get a better night’s rest:
1) Have a nightly ritual. The human body likes routines. Therefore, one thing you can do to regulate sleep behaviors is pick a regular bedtime and stick with it.
In order to prime you body to accept this hour as it’s regular time to sleep, a couple of hours before your scheduled bedtime, begin to take these steps:
Do a digital sundown – this means turn off your computer and other digital appliances no less than 2 hours before you intend to turn in. Why do this? Well, consider that before electricity was used by virtually everyone, we only had candle light and lanterns and began to retire once the sun went down. One way you can help regulate your circadian rhythm is to shut off any apparatus that will register as sunlight to the human brain, which is anything with a digital screen. Two hours before bedtime is ideal, but even an hour before will help.
2) Do a mind dump and organize your to-do list – often what keeps us up are worries and concerns about the future. To remedy this, begin by dumping everything out you feel you need to do onto a piece of paper (if it’s past your digital sundown, do this in long hand). Then, schedule a time to do the most important, pressing tasks. Your mind will be able to relax easier knowing that a) you’ve recorded the important things somewhere OUTSIDE your head b) you’ve scheduled a time for the really important things. c) You are “off the hook” to do anything else right at that moment and are now free to relax.
3) Take time to relax your nervous system. The ideal time to do this is between when you have done you digital sundown and before hitting the hay. Most of us living in industrialized “civilized” societies have overstimulated nervous systems, from everything from overbooked schedules to noise pollution. Taking some time to relax your nervous system will go far to help you to actually be able to sleep once your scheduled bedtime comes.
Here are some ways you can encourage your nervous system to relax before bedtime, helping you to get sleep more easily:
- Avoid caffeine (even chocolate) or spicy food after 2 pm. These stimulate our nervous system and can keep you awake into the wee hours of the night especially if you re sensitive to them.
- Make yourself a cup of soothing, herbal, non-caffeinated tea. Personally, I love peppermint tea. You can also add powdered magnesium to the tea. That also helps with relaxation of the body.
- Avoid violent, action or horror films or books before bed. These can send the body into fight-or-flight response and send a flood of chemicals into your body that will keep you awake past when you want to. Try listening to soothing music or media of a spiritual and/or uplifting nature instead.
- Often a shower, a warm bath with Epsom or sea salts, jacuzzi, or a reflexology massage can do wonders for an overstressed system.
- If resources allow, reflexology and other types of massage that help you relax not only your external muscles but your internal organs can be wonderful sleep aids. I have a $20 reflexology place walking distance from my home and have become a regular. I am a bit embarrassed to say how much I go, but I also live a medication-free life and am in pretty good health so maybe I shouldn’t be.
- A regular meditation and yoga practice can do wonders to decrease the overall stress in you life, quite possibly contributing to better sleep.
- Play soothing music. I have a CD of 100 hours of sleep music I love and sometimes I play that. I ALWAYS travel with it on my smart phone and also bring my noise cancellation headphones in case I encounter a noisy hotel or airplane.
- Stress management tools, like EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) with Source Technique™, can help you deal with the root cause of the stress and anxiety in your life and eliminate them. EFT also encourages the release of endorphins (feel-good hormones) as well as calming down the amygdala, which is the part of the brain which controls worry. My clients usually report feeling “lighter” and more relaxed at the end of a session, since they have dealt with underlying emotions that can cause stress.
- Try a guided meditation recording to help you sleep. I make custom versions of these (set to appropriate sound healing music) for my clients all the time.
Hope this helps. Here’s to your restful, regular, restorative sleep! 
Jennifer Gaynor-Yaker, Cht, is a certified life and relationship coach living in Los Angeles, CA. She is also certified at the Mastery level in EFT, NLP, and Hypnosis.