It is quite common for a pregnant woman to have trouble sleeping, and there may be many reasons for this. It's hard to get relaxed enough to drop off when your thoughts are racing, and this often occurs when you're excited about giving birth. As hormones change, they may affect the brain centers responsible for deep relaxation. Finally, it's hard to find a comfortable position in which to sleep when your belly is in the way and your child is very active.
Symptoms: either an inability to fall asleep, a propensity to wake in the middle of the night (usually triggered by a need to urinate or leg cramps), or early waking, with an inability to drop off again.
You may find that sleep is harder at night and easier during the day. Although may be a problem for some women as the pregnancy proceeds, extreme tiredness during the day may force you into napping. It's a good idea to try to get eight hours, no matter how they're divided up.
Treatment:
NUTRITION: Warm milk (which contains the amino acid tryptophan) before bed. Be sure you finish your final meal of the day by 7 P.M. so that your body won't be digesting while you sleep.
SUPPLEMENTATION: Take your prenatal vitamin or the following supplements daily:
Vitamin A: 5,000 IU Vitamin B6: 2.2 mg
Vitamin Bi: 1.5 mg
Vitamin B12: 2.2 mcg
Vitamin B2: 1.6 mg
Folic acid: 800 mcg
Vitamin B3: 17 mg
Vitamin C: 500-1,000 mg
Vitamin D: 400 IU
Vitamin E: 400 IU
Vitamin K: 65 mcg
Calcium: 1,200 mg
Magnesium: 500 mg
Iron: 30 mg
Phosphorus: 1,200 mg
Iodine: 175 mcg
Selenium: 65 mcg
In addition, take calcium, 500-1,000 mg, at bedtime.
HERBS: Chamomile tea, sleepy time tea, hops tea and also sleeping on a pillow stuffed with hops. (You can make your own by sewing two handkerchiefs together with a handful of hops inside them.)
HOMEOPATHY: You can try any one of the combination remedies available in health food stores, sold as "" preparations. You may also try one dose of a 6C or 30C potency that matches your symptom picture every 15 to 30 minutes three times, then one to four times daily, following the instructions on the bottle or tube. If you find no relief from your symptoms, this is not the appropriate remedy for your condition. Examine yourself carefully, check the list again, and select a different remedy. If you still find no relief, consult with a homeopathic practitioner for further direction.
Aconite: sleepless and restless, anxious dreams, startles in sleep.
Coffea: wakeful, sleeps until 3 A.M., then only dozes. Great flow of ideas, mental activity.
Nux vomica: can't sleep at all after 3 A.M., awakes feeling awful. Dreams full of hurry. Better after short sleep.
Pulsatilla: wide awake in evening, sleep restless at first, wakes feeling unrefreshed. Sleeps with hands over head.
Sulphur: talks and twitches in sleep, vivid dreams, frequent awakening. Can't sleep between 2 A.M. and 5 A.M..
LIFESTYLE: Make sure your bedroom is dark and quiet with good ventilation and fresh air. Use as many pillows as necessary for support around your belly.
If unable to sleep, get up and read.
MIND/BoDY: Meditation and breathing techniques such as three- stage breathing (yoga) and chi kung breathing (tai chi chuan) can relax mind and body even if you cannot actually fall asleep.
VISUALIZATION: Lie down in a darkened room on a flat surface. Cover yourself lightly in case you should fall asleep during the visualization. Begin by breathing slowly and gently, feeling the rhythm of the breath take over your body and mind. As you inhale and exhale, picture yourself in some surrounding where you have always felt secure and happy—a mountaintop at dusk or a sunny day by a lake or sitting by a fireplace on a snowy night. See yourself in this setting, looking out at the natural landscape, feeling at peace. You have nowhere to go, nothing to do.
Now think about your limbs and how heavy and relaxed they are. First focus on your right leg—it is warm, heavy and free of tension. Then your right arm—so heavy you could not lift it if you tried. Turn your attention to the left side of your body. Your left leg is heavy and relaxed, sinking deeply into the floor. Your left arm, like the rest of your body and mind, is totally comfortable just where it is.
Let the thoughts that come to you drift by like leaves on a pond. Let yourself sink and drift away. You are drowsy, ready for sleep. You are completely relaxed.
Cure to Posted byNatural Home Remediesat11:38 AM
Showing posts with label insomnia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insomnia. Show all posts
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Cures for Insomnia
The refreshing sleep performs important functions for our mind and body. However, there are people for whom bedtime is far from being a pleasant and refreshing experience it becomes a daily struggle with insomnia and other sleep problems. Millions of people can not enjoy a full day, alert and productive because they could not sleep last night.
In 1959, Peter Tripp, a New York broadcaster, decided to stay awake as long as he could. After four sleepless nights began to have trouble remembering the alphabet, then began to hallucinate. He saw their shoes full of cobwebs, bugs on their desk and even a rabbit non-existent in the corner. Your mental concentration is affected and became paranoid; believing that their co-workers like doctors and nurses who kept his health conspired to harm him. The most interesting is that despite everything, every night Tripp for three hours I could get rid of your paranoia, hallucinations and lack of concentration, to convey his radio program. Tripp During this time struck the hour, commercial read, conversed with the audience and gave the report of time in an apparently normal. Although, as we have seen, in their daily conduct Tripp showed signs of a serious mental disturbance, somehow managed to overcome at times just enough time to do their duty. Just before the transmission the last program did during that period Tripp suffered a panic attack. Thinking that the doctor came to bury him alive began to scream and attack anyone who find in between. But the hour of his program became calm and achievements do the same without any of those listening would suspect that the condition was. After that Tripp left her marathon program and eventually retired.
Although not as dramatic, many people who do not sleep enough are somehow acting as Tripp. When you need something we do not sleep in our mind is affected and continues to function even if it costs us more and more work. The American writer Vince Raus as he says about for years suffered from a problem of insomnia:
I wake up sore and tired to spend the day with the brain fog. It takes me at least three attempts on you can dial a long distance number. I forget the names of the people. Eat coffee trays. And I look like hell.
According to statistics from the National Center for Research on Sleep Disorders in the U.S. only about 40 million people suffer from sleep problems. These problems result in low productivity, cognitive problems, and increased chance of accidents, irritability, and increased risk of disease, premature death and decreased quality of life. Studies show that people who sleep well are not negatively affect the immune system that is responsible for fighting viruses and bacteria that cause our illnesses.
Some researchers have also concluded that sleep acts as an antioxidant by removing what is known as free radicals, ie atoms, usually oxygen, highly reactive and unstable to be released as a product of metabolism and have the ability to damage cells. It is estimated that chronic sleep deprivation may accelerate the aging brain.
The problem of lack of sleep is heightened as a result of technological changes and the world of work that cause many people to work until late at night or on rotating schedules. Our biological characteristics, the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have programmed us to need between nine and ten hours of sleep everyday. In our era of technological changes are occurring at a rate much faster than our biology so we end up doing to our body demands unprepared to assume.
Do you have Insomnia?
Of sleep problems insomnia is probably the most common. There are several types of insomnia. In some cases the person has difficulty falling asleep, in others the person may fall asleep easily but wake several times during the night, and in other cases the problem is that the person wakes up very early. Insomnia may be caused by a variety of factors, which include stress, excessive alcohol or caffeine, and several physiological disorders. Insomnia can be a real problem and often frustrating the efforts we make to sleep only aggravate the situation.
How many hours of sleep we need? The amount that allows us to feel alert during the day. This varies from person to person, but in most cases, between 7 and 9 hours. In a study conducted in the United States late 1997 and early 1998 found that nearly a third of people sleep six or fewer hours per day and over a third said that during the day feel so sleepy that his daily activities are affected.Posted byNatural Home Remediesat11:17 AM
In 1959, Peter Tripp, a New York broadcaster, decided to stay awake as long as he could. After four sleepless nights began to have trouble remembering the alphabet, then began to hallucinate. He saw their shoes full of cobwebs, bugs on their desk and even a rabbit non-existent in the corner. Your mental concentration is affected and became paranoid; believing that their co-workers like doctors and nurses who kept his health conspired to harm him. The most interesting is that despite everything, every night Tripp for three hours I could get rid of your paranoia, hallucinations and lack of concentration, to convey his radio program. Tripp During this time struck the hour, commercial read, conversed with the audience and gave the report of time in an apparently normal. Although, as we have seen, in their daily conduct Tripp showed signs of a serious mental disturbance, somehow managed to overcome at times just enough time to do their duty. Just before the transmission the last program did during that period Tripp suffered a panic attack. Thinking that the doctor came to bury him alive began to scream and attack anyone who find in between. But the hour of his program became calm and achievements do the same without any of those listening would suspect that the condition was. After that Tripp left her marathon program and eventually retired.
Although not as dramatic, many people who do not sleep enough are somehow acting as Tripp. When you need something we do not sleep in our mind is affected and continues to function even if it costs us more and more work. The American writer Vince Raus as he says about for years suffered from a problem of insomnia:
I wake up sore and tired to spend the day with the brain fog. It takes me at least three attempts on you can dial a long distance number. I forget the names of the people. Eat coffee trays. And I look like hell.
According to statistics from the National Center for Research on Sleep Disorders in the U.S. only about 40 million people suffer from sleep problems. These problems result in low productivity, cognitive problems, and increased chance of accidents, irritability, and increased risk of disease, premature death and decreased quality of life. Studies show that people who sleep well are not negatively affect the immune system that is responsible for fighting viruses and bacteria that cause our illnesses.
Some researchers have also concluded that sleep acts as an antioxidant by removing what is known as free radicals, ie atoms, usually oxygen, highly reactive and unstable to be released as a product of metabolism and have the ability to damage cells. It is estimated that chronic sleep deprivation may accelerate the aging brain.
The problem of lack of sleep is heightened as a result of technological changes and the world of work that cause many people to work until late at night or on rotating schedules. Our biological characteristics, the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have programmed us to need between nine and ten hours of sleep everyday. In our era of technological changes are occurring at a rate much faster than our biology so we end up doing to our body demands unprepared to assume.
Do you have Insomnia?
Of sleep problems insomnia is probably the most common. There are several types of insomnia. In some cases the person has difficulty falling asleep, in others the person may fall asleep easily but wake several times during the night, and in other cases the problem is that the person wakes up very early. Insomnia may be caused by a variety of factors, which include stress, excessive alcohol or caffeine, and several physiological disorders. Insomnia can be a real problem and often frustrating the efforts we make to sleep only aggravate the situation.
How many hours of sleep we need? The amount that allows us to feel alert during the day. This varies from person to person, but in most cases, between 7 and 9 hours. In a study conducted in the United States late 1997 and early 1998 found that nearly a third of people sleep six or fewer hours per day and over a third said that during the day feel so sleepy that his daily activities are affected.Posted byNatural Home Remediesat11:17 AM
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Remedies For Insomnia
The most common cause of insomnia is stress, anxiety and depression, environmental and lifestyle factors may also cause insomnia. Some post-menopausal women also experience sleep problems.
The food we eat may also effect how well we sleep. Protein-rich foods like milk, tuna, nuts, wholemeal bread, dates and potatoes are rich in an amino acid tryptophan (chemical messenger in the body), which on reaching to the brain approximately an hour later it releases serotonin (hormone) that helps you relax. Large meals should be avoided at least four hours prior to going to bed and avoid caffeine and nicotine. Drinking alcohol before bed may also lead to problems since once the alcohol is metabolises it disrupts the restorative levels of sleep.
There are some good suggestion of remedies for insomnia whenever you have a sleep problem.
1. Listen to music
Play some soft, soothing music that will lull you to sleep.
2. Get a massage before going to sleep
Get a strokes slow, gentle, yet firm massage to work the tension out of your
muscles and soothe you to sleep.
3. Taking a warm bath
Taking a warm bath is a great way to relax your body and reduce the whole day's
tiredness and after the bath to take a cup of warm milk will help to soothe your
nervous system.
A number of relaxation techniques will help to remedy for insomnia such as meditation, visualisation, autogenic training and gentle exercises such as yoga can be tried to help decrease stress and thus decrease the build up of these stress hormones. Physical exercise raises your core body temperature and increases your adrenaline levels. Exercise should take place in the afternoon or early evening since hormone levels lowers after five or six hours, thus promoting a deep sleep. Exercises right before you go to bed will prevent you from sleeping soundly.
If the above methods do not help to remedy for your insomnia problem, you may have to get doctor's advice.
The food we eat may also effect how well we sleep. Protein-rich foods like milk, tuna, nuts, wholemeal bread, dates and potatoes are rich in an amino acid tryptophan (chemical messenger in the body), which on reaching to the brain approximately an hour later it releases serotonin (hormone) that helps you relax. Large meals should be avoided at least four hours prior to going to bed and avoid caffeine and nicotine. Drinking alcohol before bed may also lead to problems since once the alcohol is metabolises it disrupts the restorative levels of sleep.
There are some good suggestion of remedies for insomnia whenever you have a sleep problem.
1. Listen to music
Play some soft, soothing music that will lull you to sleep.
2. Get a massage before going to sleep
Get a strokes slow, gentle, yet firm massage to work the tension out of your
muscles and soothe you to sleep.
3. Taking a warm bath
Taking a warm bath is a great way to relax your body and reduce the whole day's
tiredness and after the bath to take a cup of warm milk will help to soothe your
nervous system.
A number of relaxation techniques will help to remedy for insomnia such as meditation, visualisation, autogenic training and gentle exercises such as yoga can be tried to help decrease stress and thus decrease the build up of these stress hormones. Physical exercise raises your core body temperature and increases your adrenaline levels. Exercise should take place in the afternoon or early evening since hormone levels lowers after five or six hours, thus promoting a deep sleep. Exercises right before you go to bed will prevent you from sleeping soundly.
If the above methods do not help to remedy for your insomnia problem, you may have to get doctor's advice.
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