Insomnia cures without drugs
Drug (drug) n.
1. any substance used in the treatment, prevention,
or diagnosis of disease. Related adj.: pharmaceutical.
2. a chemical substance, esp. a narcotic, taken for the
effects it produces
That's the new Collins English dictionary definition of a drug. Not very reassuring , is it? More and more people these days are deciding to do without drugs in their lives, preferring modern or ancient alternatives. Finding a cure for their insomnia is no exception. But before you go out and begin looking for miracle cures without the use of modern medicine you have to find the cause of your insomnia.
Insomnia takes a lot of different forms. Usually it is impossible to go to sleep at night and you are lying in bed looking up at the ceiling wondering what the hell you are doing wrong. Or you could fall asleep without any problems but wake up any couple of hours for no apparent reason. Another kind of insomnia is when you wake earlier than you want to and are totally awake and ready for the new day. Only the day hasn't actually arrived yet. Do any of these sound familiar?
Sleep is one of the only things that unites all people on the planet and animals too. Every living being needs to sleep and recharge batteries. Scientists have found that normal sleep is a cycle divided into five different stages and together they last around an hour and forty minutes. This cycle is rather like the gears in a car; you start off in first, which is a light sleep and the muscles begin to relax. Then you change into second gear which is the total relaxation part. After that comes what is known as the delta stages. In the fourth things begin happening. The brain starts producing hormones and chemicals to restore our body. If you are waking up before this happens you have to go back and start off again from the first, and this is the problem. If we could all fall asleep and go straight into the fourth stage there wouldn't be a problem but.. The last stage of sleep is the famous 'rem' stage. This is when we dream and our brain starts putting the day's events into some kind of order it understands. This restores us mentally.
So now you know why you feel so bad in the mornings, what can we do about it without resorting to drugs? The answer is plenty. First you need to stand back from yourself and take a good, long (honest) look at your life. Identify the bits you don't like or would like to change. Identify the areas that cause you most problems and the most stress. Then write them down. By doing that you are sending a clear message to your brain that 'things are gonna change around here'. Physical exercise is a fantastic way of getting our bodies to sleep at night. Then you can use all kinds of relaxation tricks such as hot baths, scents and music to aid you.
By keeping a diary of everything you do, you will start seeing what works and what doesn't. If you try one particular method and after a couple of weeks you haven't seen an improvement, try another. Then another. Unfortunately we humans are extremely individual animals, so if something works for one person it does not mean it will work for another. But anything is better than having to resort to sleeping pills.
