Do you have trouble getting to sleep at night?
If you do get to sleep, do you have trouble staying asleep?
Do you find it extremely difficult to get out of bed in the morning?
If this is you, unfortunately you are not alone. The stats on insomnia symptoms are growing at an alarming rate.
But, we can focus on the grim statistics, OR how about instead we focus on some of the reasons why insomnia symptoms may be an issue for you, and set about creating new behaviours to help you out.
Getting a good nights sleep is one of the single most important things that you can do for health and wellbeing.
HERE ARE 4 REASONS WHY INSOMNIA SYMPTOMS MAY BE TROUBLING YOU.
1. Your Cortisol Levels May Be Too High at Night
If you are feeling stressed, and have been feeling so for a prolonged period of time, there is a high likelihood that your cortisol levels are too high at night, and too low in the morning; when in actual fact they should be the other way around.
This can make it challenging to either fall asleep quickly or to stay asleep during the night.
If this is the case, it is time for an urgent look at what in your life is stressing you, and begin to make immediate changes. I also highly encourage you to understand what adrenal fatigue is.
One of the first key steps in balancing your cortisol levels is to engage in activities that are calming for you (that heighten your parasympathetic nervous system). This will help you to produce more of the “feel-good” hormones and less of the “stress” hormones, like cortisol.
2. You are overstimulating yourself with technology.
Look, we all know this one. Too much technology (especially before sleep) is not good for you. But are you really taking this on board?
Sleep experts appear to be fairly unanimous in their research that using technology before bedtime affects your sleep. The main reason is that the light exposure you get from using computer screens, and other electronic devices suppresses the hormone melatonin, which is the hormone that tells your brain it’s time to sleep.
Begin to create a new ritual in the hour before going to bed and stick with it for 66 days. Start with one thing that you feel you can permanently change, such as reading a relaxing book, engaging in sexual activities, doing some writing to release the day, listening to relaxing music.
It’s also important to look at the habits that you are creating all throughout the day with technology. Are you checking your email 54 times a day, facebook 27 times a day? Really, ask yourself how you can best use technology in a way that serves the quality of your entire life.
You do not have to be constantly available to everyone and everything.
You come first! What is important to you matters!
3. You may be eating too late at night.
Ok, so a heavy meal late at night is not great. When you should be unwinding for sleep, your body is busy digesting your evening meal. It can take practice however to change your eating habits, so start with changing one night time eating habit at a time.
For example,
- how about avoiding the biscuit (ok cookie for my American friends) with your evening cup of tea.
- how about adding more protein to a mid or late afternoon snack so you don’t need to eat as much at dinner time.
- or how about having a glass of water 30 mins before your evening meal so you are more full and less likely to overeat.
It is better to change one small thing PERMANENTLY than dabble in an out of many different things or try to change everything all at once. Small changes done on a daily basis can create profound differences. The latest research is showing that 66 days is necessary to create a new habit.
4. You are ruminating and worrying over all that is going on in your life.
One of the tools I have used for a long time is writing.
Every day I write down how I am feeling. This helps me to process things through in my mind. Getting your thoughts out onto paper is a powerful way to make more sense of the thoughts that are swimming around in your head.
Very often as I write, I also discover that what I thought was the cause of the worry is not actually true. As I write and get to a deeper place within myself, the real truth about what is going on begins to emerge, and the surface thoughts are often just a “cover up”.
Getting a good nights sleep is in your hands. Are you willing to change?
What evening practice do you engage in to help the quality and quantity of your sleep?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Take care.
Lisa.
P.S. Check out this recent post to find out other ways to increase your energy and improve the quality of your life.
