Getting adequate and restful sleep is essential to our health. Sometimes when our sleep patterns are disrupted over a long time it can be necessary to seek support to address the imbalances that can create problems with sleep . There are several nutritional deficiencies and other health imbalances that can contribute to problems with sleep. There are also many herbal medicines that can help to support the re-establishment of a healthy sleeping pattern. If you are struggling to get enough sleep, it is important to seek the support you need.
While resolving problems with sleep will often require specific plans and medicines, there are several ways to help support quality and restful sleep day-to-day:
- have a routine that you aim to stick to as much as possible: aim for the same bed time and waking time each day. Aim to ensure that this allows for between 8-10 hours each night.
- for half and hour before you go to bed, stay off social media and phones as these have an disruptive effect on your brain chemistry and can both make it difficult to get to sleep as well as disrupting the quality of your sleep.
- avoid caffeine after 2pm in the afternoon as this can be a major contributor to problem with getting to sleep and sleep quality.
- aim to get around ten minutes of sunshine in the first half hour of waking as this helps your body to produce the hormones it needs to support a healthy sleep-wake cycle.
- make sure that you are sleeping in a darkened room – use dark curtains or blankets to block out as much light as possible.
- if you live in a noisy area, consider using ear plugs to block out noise.
- avoid drinking large quantities of fluids in the couple of hours before bed so you are not being woken often to use the toilet.