Insomnia! Where's the Sandman?

www.dictionary.com Describes insomnia as the inability to obtain sleep, esp. when chronic; difficulty in falling asleep, sleeplessness.

What do you do when you can't fall asleep or when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. Before you answer that, remember this lens has a "G" rating.

If you're like me you switch positions about 20 times trying to see if you can get more comfortable. When that doesn't work or when my wife kicks me out of bed for moving around to much I get up and watch television (infomercials) or browse through a magazine.

Information from www.emedicehealth.com states that insomnia can be classified by the duration of the symptoms into transient, short-term, or chronic. Transient insomnia generally lasts less than seven days; short-term insomnia usually last for about one to three weeks, and chronic insomnia lasts for more than three weeks.

Many of the causes of transient and short-term insomnia are similar and can include:

* Jet Lag

* Changes in shift work

* Excessive or unpleasant noise

* Uncomfortable room temperature (too hot or too
cold)

* Stressful situations in life

* Presence of an acute medical or surgical
illness or hospitalization

* Withdrawal from drug, alcohol, sedative, or
stimulant medications

* Insomnia related to high altitude (mountains)

Chronic or long-term insomnia
The majority of causes of chronic or long-term insomnia are usually linked to an underlying psychiatric or physiologic (medical) condition.

Other causes of insomnia:

* Common stimulants associated with poor sleep that include caffeine and nicotine. You should consider not only restricting caffeine and nicotine use in the hours immediately before bedtime but also limiting your total daily intake.

* People often use alcohol to help induce sleep, as a nightcap. However it is a poor choice. Alcohol is associated with sleep disruption and creates a sense of non refreshed sleep in the morning.

* A disruptive bed partner with loud snoring or periodic leg movements also may impair your ability to get a good night's sleep.

The 5 Dos and Don't s When You Can't Sleep.

1. Sleeping Pills; Don't take them they have been known to loose their effectiveness after a few weeks. Some have been known to interrupt sleep patterns and expose you to further health risks.



2. Down Time; Do get some before bedtime. Read the newspaper, look at a magazine, read a book or watch television. People do not allow any time to wind down before bed.




3. Catch up on Sleep; Don't attempt to do it. If you don't get enough sleep, don't try and go to sleep the next night earlier. It doesn't work, you'll more than likely just wake up earlier or in the middle of the night. All you accomplish is interrupting your built in sleep clock.



4. Watch TV or Read in Bed; Don't lay in bed watching television or reading. You should associate your bed with sleeping and not TV watching or reading.





5. Bedtime and Get-Up Time; Don't go to bed and get up at different times everyday. The idea is to go to bed and get up at the same times everyday. That way your internal clock does not get interrupted.

Keep going your almost asleep. But if you want to keep staying awake at night don't take a look at SleepTracks. It is a very interesting product that will probably help you sleep.