Monday, March 1, 2010

Losing sleep

Question
Hi!



My brother goes to sleep right away at night (typically around 10:00 pm) but every night he wakes up around 3:00 am, and stays awake for the rest of the night. This has been going on for at least a month. What is really puzzling for both of us is that he never seems to be tired during the day. He is 17 years old, and doesn't seem to have any stress going on in his life right now. He also drinks a LOT of coffee every morning. Do you have any suggestions?



Thanks!



Rebecca


Answer
Try these tips religiously for about 6-8 weeks but many have seen results

in as little as 2 weeks.lYou must go to bed and awaken the same time each day regardless

of how little or how  much sleep you got the night before.

This starts to reset your sleep clock.

3 hours before bedtime stay away from

tea, coffee, caffeine, caramel colored soda like, coke,pepsi, ginger ale,

or root beer, chocolate and exercise .All these make for restless sleep.Do the following religiously for 4-6 weeks although some have seen changes in as little as 2 weeks.

Make sure room is quiet and dark. When you go to bed if you start to

twist and turn or if you wake up in the middle of the night and cant

go back to sleep, twist and turn for only 20 minutes, then get up, go

into a different room and read a book or magazine only! No computer!

When you start to doze immediately go back into the bedroom.This retrains

the brain into thinking that the bedroom is for restful sleep only. Do

this as many times as you awaken thru the night, it will lesson.

30 minutes before bedtime take a hot bath and immerse hands under the

water.Latest research states that the palms of the hand when immersed

in hot water send signals to the brain to relax. 15 minutes before bedtime\

drink a glass of warm milk. Milk when heated contains tryptophan, a natural

amino acid sleep inducer should do the trick.  If this fails you should consider seeing a sleep center.

Your local hospital can refer you.   Also go to sleepnet.com click on disorders insomnia

for more tips. Feel free to email again karel