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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Short Term Insomnia - 5 Practical Ways to Defeat It

Millions of people today are in serious sleep debt! An estimated 40% of general population are affected by insomnia, and about seventy million of that population comes from United States. Today, sleeplessness or insomnia affects children, teenager, and the rest of adults. Among adults, women have more difficulty sleeping than do men.

The short term insomnia usually last for 1-3 weeks, and many of the causes are: common stimulant such as coffee or cola drink, use of alcohol, stressful situations in life, negative emotions, poorly ventilated room, unpleasant noise, changes in shift work, and jet lag.

1. Control your eating and drinking
Avoid large meal and stimulants such as coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, and cola-based drinks especially late in the day. If you feel hungry close to bedtime, you may eat some things that are easily digested.

2. Control your sleep schedule
Also helpful is to have a regular sleep schedule by setting a regular bedtime and wake-up time. This will help to set your bodyвs clock more consistent.

3. Control your physical exercise
Proper exercise can help to overcome insomnia. A walk or some stretching exercise near bedtime is the best choice. However, avoid tiring exercise close to bedtime that may increase alertness.

4. Control your bedroom environment
Create a bedroom environment that is well ventilated, quite, and peaceful. Select a good mattress is important to sleep comfortably especially for people with back pain, so make sure your mattress is neither too hard nor to soft for you. Avoid light and noises, eye covers and earplugs might help for you. Avoid using bed for studying, eating, working, playing video games and watching TV, use it only to sleep.

5. Control your body tense
Body tense can cause nervousness so the body can not relax and get the sleep. A warm bath or a light massage near bedtime may help you to relax.

Sound sleep is essential for our mental and physical health. It restores energy to the body, especially to the brain. A third of our life is spent sleeping, so having a good sleep should not be neglected. In many respects sound sleep might be said to be the reward for right living.