I'm sorry, I am not connected at all
I'm sure you have done tons of research on this for you mother
but I'll link you anyway [actually I'm not a great sleeper myself]
No reading or watching TV in bed. These are waking activities. If your insomnia is chronic, it is not a good thing to do, says Dr. Alex Clerk, head of Stanford Sleep Disorder Clinic in Palo Alto.
Go to bed when you're sleepy-tired, not when it's time to go to bed by habit.
Wind down during the second half of the evening before bedtime. 90 minutes before bed, don't get involved in any kind of anxiety provoking activities or thoughts.
Do some breathing exercises or try to relax major muscle groups, starting with the toes and ending with your forehead.
Your bed is for sleeping, if you can't sleep after 15-20 minutes, get up and do something relaxing.
Have your room cool rather than warm.
Don't count sheep, counting is stimulating.
Exercise in the afternoon or early evening, but no later than 3 hours before bedtime.
Don't over-eat, and eat 2-3 hours before bedtime.
Don't nap during the day.
If you awake in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep within 30 minutes, get up and do something else.
Have No coffee, alcohol or cigarettes two to three hours before bedtime.
If you have disturbing dreams or nightmares add an ending that you want.
Schedule a half-hour writing about your concerns and hopes in a journal every night to free up your sleep from processing your dilemmas as much.
Listen to calming music or a self-hypnosis tape for sleep.
If sleep problems persist, contact your physician or mental health professional. Let them know what is happening in your life. Your problem may have either organic or psychological contributors. Sleep disorders are classified as chronic if they persist more than one month. There are of two major categories of sleep disorders. They are Dyssomnias -- when there are problems with the amount, quality or timing of sleep and Parasomnias -- when there are abnormal events occurring during sleep stages.
Sleep difficulties can mean that their is an underlying problem that needs treatment. J. Christain Gillin, M.D. states that most patients that have a sleep disorder have an underlying psychiatric disorder. The different kind of sleep disorders include insomnia, hypersonmia-excessive daytime sleeping, Nightmare Disorder, Narcolepsy-irresistible attacks of sleep, Sleep-apnea and Sleepwalking. |
