Can’t sleep at night? Don’t take a sleeping pill. Rather use these five simple sleep aids.
by Dennis Fisher.
Most people who can’t sleep at night take what they think is the best solutions for sleeping problems. They take a sleeping pill. Of course sleeping pills work. But if you are in the habit of doing this, you don’t realize the harm you are doing to your health.
Next time you find that you can’t sleep, after trying for hours, why not try one of these five simple remedies? Or, even better, try all five.
(1) Don’t get out of bed and go and watch television. Don’t start reading an exciting or stimulating book. Rather pick up a magazine that deals with your favorite hobby. Page through the magazine until you find an article that find especially interesting. Examine the article carefully until you find some detail that you find particularly helpful.
After you have done this, switch off the light and think about what you have read. You will find that you are now very much more relaxed and quite soon you will fall asleep.
(2) Practice deep breathing exercises after you have switched off the light and are preparing to go to sleep. Use a regular system of deep breathing to a pre-determined count. Presume you decide to count up to thirty. Breathe in very deeply and slowly to the slow count of five, counting up to five as you breathe. Then breathe out slowly and rhythmically, counting from six to ten. Go on like this until you reach 30. You will find that you body is far more relaxed and sleep will come far more easily.
(3) Get a tape recorder and record a slow, gentle, melody that you remember as a child, preferably sung by a singer whose voice has special appeal for you. Set the tape so that it switches off at the end of the song. You’ll find that the song will trigger off pleasant memories to you and this will help you fall sleep far more easily.
(4) When you go to sleep make a habit of using comfortable eye pads, the type that are supplied to you on planes when you are on long-distance flights. This small gesture is a sign that will remind you that it is sleeping time.
(5) Make a point of getting one of the special pillows that automatically adjust to fit the contours of your neck. Here again the pillow acts as a signal that it is now sleeping time.
These simple aids to sleep will work very well indeed if you occasionally have problems sleeping at night. If however, you have suffered from insomnia for a long time you will need stronger methods to induce sleep.
For information about other methods you can use to help you sleep, without having to use sleeping pills, visit the following site:
