S.O.S I cannot sleep!
In our previous blogs, we told you about some of our treatments that will help you relax, reduce stress and anxiety, and get rid of insomnia. These techniques are extremely useful to treat these conditions and also to improve your general well being. Today, we want to share with you some tips that will help you to improve your sleeping habits. They are simple, but important changes that you can do at home.
First, we would like to answer some questions you may have about how to diagnose insomnia.
If you think you may have insomnia (sleep loss), you can be diagnosed by a professional specialised in sleep medicine or sleep disorders.
How is insomnia diagnosed?
According to your case and in order to look for the cause of your insomnia the specialist may include these tests:
First approach (sleep habits test)
First, the sleep disorder specialist will check your clinical history. After that, the specialist will make a quali-quantitative evaluation of sleep disorders using questionnaires specifically designed for this purpose. It is a questionnaire to determine your sleep-wake pattern and your level of daytime sleepiness. Thank to sites like for helping us with the sleeping pattern and cause and effects.
Physical exam
When there is no apparent reason for your insomnia, the health professional may do a physical exam. It allows him to know if medical problems are the cause of your insomnia. For example, the specialist may ask for a blood test to check if you have thyroid problems or other conditions that could be the cause of your insomnia.
Study of your sleep-wake pattern
In order to perform these tests, you may need to spend a night at a sleep center or hospital which may have comfortable hospital beds. The most common studies are polysomnography and actigraphy.
- Polysomnography records your brain waves, the oxygen level in your blood, heart rate and breathing, and eye and leg movements during the study. In other words, it monitors your sleep stages and cycles to identify if or when your sleep patterns are disrupted and why.
- Actigraphy is a non intrusive method to monitor your sleep movement patterns. It measures your movements and activity while sleeping. That is to say, periods of movement suggest wakefulness while those of relative stillness would likely correspond to sleep or quiescence. It is performed at home using a device called an actigraph.
When your insomnia is already diagnosed and according to the cause, you may be advised to start some lifestyle changes that may help you sleep better. Some of them are:
9 Tips to get rid of insomnia at home
- Reduce the time you spend in bed (if you wake up and can’t go back to sleep, get up, don’t stay in bed).
- Avoid tobacco, alcohol, and coffee. They stimulate you to be awake or to wake up many times during night affecting your sleep pattern.
- Get up every day at the same hour including weekends. This will help you to create a sleep habit.
- Avoid naps. It may affect the quality of nighttime sleep.
- Exercise, it helps to improve sleep duration and quality. However, avoid strenuous exercise near bedtime, this may have a stimulant effect on your body. If you exercise at night, try finishing your routine at least three hour before going to bed.
- Avoid using screens at least two hours before bedtime (computer, tablet, cellphone). They stimulate your brain to be awake.
- If you can’t sleep, get up, do something different. Only go back to bed when you are sleepy.
- Don´t eat large meals at night. Slow digestion will make it difficult to fall sleep.
- Use your bed only to sleep, do not work, study, watch tv, etc. These kinds of activities keep you in a state of alert, so it makes it difficult to sleep.
Other measures to improve your sleep include: relaxation therapies (relaxing massage, aromatherapy, Indian head massage, etc.), sleep restriction therapies, medicines and psychotherapy.
We hope this information is useful for you. If you need advice or have any questions about our treatments, please contact us. You can find us in Mill Hill Broadway and Islington. We are always happy to help. If you like this blog, please share!
We are always happy to help!
References
https://www.webmd.com/women/guide/insomnia-tips
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355173
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3109647/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/polysomnography/about/pac-20394877
