Question
Hi,
I am a 15 year old athletic female. I have a busy life and I am often stressed
with my sports.
I often have trouble getting to sleep and will stay awake to 4 in the morning. I
have tried many sleep inducers available on my Ipod which get great reviews
from other people. But these seen to make me even more restless. When I
do finally get to sleep I have no problems.
What would you suggest I do to get a better nights sleep.
P.S I go to bed at 11 every day and wake up at around 9-11
Answer
You must go to bed and awaken the same time each day regardless of little or 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. Go to sleepnet.com click on disorders
insomnia for more tips. Feel free to email again , Karel
