Avoid These Mistakes if You Have Insomnia

If you have insomnia, you may be trying a treatment plan to reduce the occurrences. This may be a natural treatment plan or it may be one that you have developed with your doctor. Either way, there are some things you may be doing to derail your progress. Here are a few of the mistakes that you may be making on your journey to a restful sleeping pattern and how you should avoid them. These may be just the tip of the iceberg for your mistakes, but they can get you started down a better and more long lasting treatment path to your sleep goals.

Mental Over Stimulation Before Bed

One of the biggest mistakes you may be making if you have insomnia is becoming mentally over stimulated before bed. This can mean a number of things, but ideally it refers to watching movies or television that keeps you thinking or overly interested in that will keep you awake. It also refers to getting involved in things on social media, like political arguments, that can mentally stimulate you and keep you awake through either interest or stress. Ideally, you want to avoid this by having about an hour before sleep that is devoted to quiet and cycling your whole body down from a stimulated state to a restful state in order to help your sleep patterns. 

Eating Before Bed

You may have heard that eating before bed can cause weight gain. Another issue with eating before bed is that it can cause you to feel uncomfortable and full. It can also lead to digestion issues at night that lead to indigestion, heartburn, and other digestive issues that can keep you awake. You may even find that if you are eating before bed, you are having to go to the bathroom more at night, which wakes you up and disrupts your sleep. Instead, try not to eat at least an hour before bed to allow your body to settle and your digestive tract to settle down before sleep.

Medication for Sleep

Medication to help you sleep can be a huge mistake for some people. Even if you take a natural option like melatonin, you can find that your body is becoming addicted to it. Eventually you may want to distance yourself from the medication and you may find that you can't. Your body doesn't know how to sleep without the medication, even natural options, and you can't step away. Now you not only have the issue of sleep problems, you have a medication addiction. Avoid this by trying foods and exercise to help your sleep pattern first. 

These are just a few of the mistakes you may be making. The ideal way to deal with them is to work through them and start noticing other aspects of your life that may be causing issues with your sleep pattern and sleeping well. As you start discovering more factors that contribute to your insomnia, you can begin removing them and work towards a better sleep pattern and routine. 
