I don’t know if it’s because Christmas is just around the corner or I’m sending out some sort of rested vibe, but I’ve got a lot of Insomnia patients at the moment who just want to sleep better and seeking the ever elusive insomnia cure!
So before we dive in, I’m just going to clarify, insomnia is when you have difficulty falling asleep and maintaining sleep at least three nights per weekwith the addition and resulting in sleep related daytime impairment.
Immediate Insomnia Cures
Without delving into where your specific insomnia stems from, these 6 insomnia cures have been proven to work time and time again for insomnia sufferers. I’ve seen it in clinic with my patients and have attached some studies below if you wanted to research them a little more.
You can apply one of them or all 6 if you want to super charge your ability to sleep better.
Avoid alcohol, drugs and caffeine in the afternoon, yep, we all know this one but it definitely is worth the mention as you’d be surprised at how much these 3 things can affect sleep patterns and rested sleep.
Make sure you don’t have Sleep Apnea. This is another big one that often gets unnoticed and is surprisingly common. Ask your spouse or partner (or a sleep cycle app) to listen out while you’re asleep for signs of breathing pauses. It sounds similar to when you hold your breath for a long time and then suddenly take a huge lung- full of air. For apnea sufferers, that lung-full of air is usually a big snoring lung-full.
If you do have sleep apnea, see your healthcare advisor and resolve the problem. It has been linked to daytime sleepiness, morning headaches and more seriously, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, loss of memory function, heart attacks and stroke.
Serotonin turns into Melatonin. Serotonin one of the main hormones to improve our mood, that’s why anti- depressants often focus either producing more of this hormone or increasing it’s receptors within the body.
But what you may not have known is that our sleep hormone Melatonin needs Serotonin to be produced, so if you aren’t producing enough Serotonin, chances are you aren’t producing enough Melatonin. This is one of the reasons that Depression and Insomnia are inextricably linked.
So what you need to do is ensure that you’re eating everything your gut needs to produce these hormones. There is a long path for how these hormones are produced ranging from Tryptophan to 5 HTP to Serotonin but I really want to keep this simple so you can easily apply all this.
In short ensure you eat enough of all your B vitamins and Vitamin D, and when I say enough, I mean regularly eating these foods because your body doesn’t store them.
Foods strong in Vitamin Bs and D are:
- Brewers Yeast
- Eggs
- WHOLE grains. *cough* not white flour *cough*
- Liver- Sounds gross I know but man oh man this one is a seriously under-rated superfood, especially for hormones and neurotransmitters.
- Brown Rice
- Fish, my personal favorite being salmon since it’s massively nutrient rich and gets a double thumbs up.
- Greens, greens and more greens! The greener the vegetable, the more of a kick it’s going to give you! I know you’re rolling your eyes right now and thinking ‘oh man” but seriously, there’s no way round this one.
Now, I’m against dairy for several reasons, but if you’re fine with it, go for gold and add in some cheese, milk and dairy products.
Don’t forget regular sunlight for an extra boost in Vitamin D production.
Mindfulness Programs and Habits have been shown to drastically improve insomnia and help many many sufferers to sleep better because, essentially, you’re training your mind to quieten down the endless mental chatter.
Don’t be turned off by this one, mindfullness and meditation doesn’t have to last hours on end each day.
Find on that works for you in a time frame that works for you, and stick with it. You’ll notice the difference within a week.
I’ve tested and played around with what works for me, and found that 10minutes of breath meditation as soon as I wake up sticks the most, I also quite like group settings as it keeps me accountable and helps me interact with people with the same needs and difficulties.
Here are some of the things you could try.
- Join a meditation group in your area.
- Join a Yoga class.
- Qi Gong or Tai Chi are excellent but not for everyone
- Listen to some visualisations and meditations on YouTube.
Valerian Officinalis is well known for its sedative qualities and its ability to relax the central nervous system and the smooth muscle groups. It has been used as a sleeping aid for hundreds of years especially when there is excitation or difficulty in falling to sleep due to nervousness.
Over 20 studies have been conducted and found participants to sleep better, improving the quality of sleep and relieve insomnia.
Acupuncture and acupressure work very well, after reading studies on the subject, I started to use it in clinic and found wonderful results with my clients (in conjunction with other tools), for those of you comfortable with acupressure; I’ve attached pictures of the point locations for you to use.
If you aren’t comfortable or don’t know how to hold points, see an acupuncturist orcome and see me for a personalized treatment plan.
The points are as follows: GV24, GV20, SP6, Ht7 and the Sishencong Points
Cure Insomnia Long-Term
Now, the above information to sleep better work wonders, but, we need to remember that Insomnia is actually a symptom of a deeper problem.
So honestly, if you have been battling with insomnia and poor sleep for a long time, you really do need to seek a health professional that will work with you find the source of the problem.
Obviously *grin*, I recommend a Holistic Kinesiologist, since, it’s one of the only modalities I know of that can tap into so many different internal systems, with such a wide array of tools and specifically adapted to you and what you need, without the information overload.
One of my earliest clients, when I was just starting out was a Japanese woman, suffering from a case of pretty bad insomnia that had never heard of Holistic Kinesiology. She was hooked after one session, cured her insomnia and ended up being a client for other reasons for over a year. In the end, she had to go back to Japan and I remember how panicked she was at the idea of not finding another Holistic Kinesiologist back home.
(if there are any Holistic Kinesiologists reading this that are in Japan- Give me a holler! I’ve got a really lovely client to send over your way!!)
Anyway, let me know how you go with your Insomnia! If you apply at least 3 of the above techniques, I guarantee you’ll sleep better!
Don’t forget to give me some feedback about how you’re going with it all!!
Love Alicia x
Contact Me Here or leave a comment below.
Thanks to the following sites for the use of their images.
http://www.acupuncturepointsatlas.com/
www.tcmfe.com
http://www.relaxspa.us/