These Six Tips Might Help With Your Insomnia Issue

Do you get plagued with insomnia from time-to-time? I know I do, which was why I looked it up and decided to share it with you. In this blog post I take the best tips from seven well-known sleep doctors for insomnia and mash them unceremoniously into one article. If you are a periodic insomniac zombie like me, some of these tips won’t be a surprise. But hey, I still have to include them for completeness and because it’s what the experts say.

One: Make a task list

I’m aware that this is the Granite Fitness health blog, not the Listverse website. But this tip comes in really handy. I find that a lot of my insomniac episodes are due to anxiety about what I’m going to do the next day. The sleep doctors have suggested having a to-do list to put your mind at ease. I’m inclined to agree with this. In fact, I take it a step further and have my list beside my bed, so that any good ideas do not disappear.

Two: Distract your mind.

Yes I’m aware that this is Granite Fitness, not BoredPanda or Distractify, but this is a good tip. We have heard that the bed should only be used for sleeping and “snu-snu” with your partner, but one sleep expert says that reading at bedtime is also acceptable. This does make sense because it takes away some of the stress associated with tossing and turning in bed.

Three: Listen to music.

I’m aware that this is not Spotify or Pandora… okay I’ll stop being annoying now lol. Audiologists and sleep experts have said that listening to calming music or the sound of waves and rain can help you fall asleep as well as prolonging your sleep as well. It works by lowering your heart rate and blood pressure. I assume that this does not include anything loud and grungy.

Four: An evening workout

Yes, that’s more like it; you are indeed tuned in to the Granite Fitness show. One sleep doctor suggests that exercising after work can help relax your body enough to help you fall asleep by way of reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol. However, for this to work, you have to exercise a few hours before bedtime. The Granite Fitness Solution and Granite Fitness Masterclass will help you with this one, and zap your excess flab along the way. Bonus!

Five: Avoid finding out the time

Once its lights out, let it remain lights out. As long as you have your alarm set for the next day, everything should go according to plan. The president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine says that checking out the time in the middle of the night can cause anxiety, which keeps you up longer. I fail to follow the logic, but hey, he’s the expert, right?

Six: Blow bubbles

Okay, you might think that this is ridiculous, but it is advice coming from a professor of Neurology. Apparently, blowing bubbles is a deep breathing exercise that can calm your mind and body. So in a sense it is a distraction in its own right. I haven’t tried it myself, but I won’t be quick to doubt its effectiveness.

Alright, here’s the list of things to do to get a better night’s sleep. Note that I can’t guarantee they will work. After all, your nerves will get into overdrive if you really have something major the next day, like an exam or job interview. What I usually do in such cases is to intentionally try and go to bed early the night before while distracting my mind from wandering using prayer or affirmations.

All the best, and I hope you have a good rest

Mark

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