A good night sleep is multi-faceted. What works for some, doesn't work for others. Having sold beds in retail I was fortunate to do some training explaining sleep patterns and maximizing sleep effectiveness. I too used to have terrible sleep, but using a few pointers from below sleep quite well. Sleeping pilles don't really work, as they mask the problem. Here are some points:
This website explains sleep very well, and I'll add some points below:
http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm* Routine is #1. Try and go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.
Food/Drink:
* While our body is digesting, or metabolizing food/drink our body cannot rest to it's full potential.
* Coffee has a 6 hour half-life, so a coffee before bed will keep you awake as your body tries to metabolize it. Any coffee after 12 noon will still be in your system 12 hours later. So at midnight, your body is still working when you want to be sleeping.
* Alcohol is the same, the main component of a hang-over is the fact you got bugger all sleep. You may have passed out, but your body isn't resting in a deep sleep, it is cleansing the alcohol from your body. Even 1 or 2 glasses of red wine will keep your body working as it tries to purge the alcohol.
* Food, we all love a big meal for dinner, but the harder this is to digest, the harder your body works, and the less deep sleep you get.
* Other drugs have a similar effect.
2. Environmental factors
* Noise: Our bodies are designed to wake up to sound, this goes back to the cave-man days where survival meant hearing that sabre-toothed tiger. So a quiet room helps, but it's not always possible. Our brain however can cope with white noise which drowns out other bumps in the night. A fan, air-conditioner, or static on the radio will help you get a better deeper sleep. Music is no good, and whales are annoying.
* Light will wake us it. darken your room so ambient or direct light doesn't wake you until you are ready. Your body produces adrenalin that will wake you after the correct sleep stages.
* Temperature, our bodies like to sleep in a controlled 18 degrees c
3. Your mattress may not suit you.
* As our bodies change, so do our mattress requirements. If our bodies are fighting to be comfortable (tossing and turning) we cannot reach deep delta sleep.
* Partner disturbance, if Teela is having a bad night sleep, so will you (and vice versa). Having a mattress where you cannot feel your partner moving makes a massive difference. They do exist.
* King size mattress gives both people more room to sleep naturally
4. Medical conditions
* Sleep apnea is more common than people realize
* snoring stops you and your partner from a good sleep. You by not reaching deep sleeping stages, and partner because the has to keep hitting you to shut you up.
* see a doctor for a sleep study
There is no one answer, but by creating the right environment and eliminating all the "wrong" things gives you the best chance at a good nights sleep.
If you have a nap through the day, 20 minutes is ok, up to 40 can sometimes be, but any longer is not good as you start to get into a deeper cycle, and that will prevent you sleeping later that night. Better off plugging through the day and sleeping better that night.
If your mind is racing, jot down notes. This technique tricks the brain. By writing something down, it tells your brain that you are "finished" with this train of thought.
Hot Shower before bed. By raising your body temp during the shower, it will fall quickly when you lay down tricking your body into the initial sleep stage. Hot milk can do a similar thing but doesnt work for me.
Try not to read, as this keeps your mind active. Reading can sometimes send people to sleep, but studies show that person would have fallen asleep faster without reading. The only thing reading can do is sometimes take your mind of issues that are keeping you awake. The above point about jotting down things will work better
TV in bed or just before can keep you awake, as the bright light of the TV is just as effective as the Sun at tricking your body into thinking it's daytime.
I used an iPhone app called "Sleep Cycle" which helped me train myself to wake up properly. By not waking to an alarm, but within a 30 minute window of a time I had to be awake by, meant I woke up fresh. If an alarm wakes you from a deep sleep, you will be fuzzy and tired, but amazingly if you woke up gently just 10 minutes earlier, before that deeper cycle you will wake up fresh. The app explains the concept.
Anyway, enough rambling, gives these things a go over the next 4 weeks and see if things improve. Good luck.
