It's way past 3AM and you're still restless, trying to fall asleep with absolutely no success. "Oh well, it's one of those nights again.", you think to yourself and roll to the side, grab your phone and laptop to watch a movie or just check your notifications on social media preparing for a sleepless night, once again...
Insomnia is a very common sleep disorder, it is indeed so common that it, with an estimated 15% of our society, is almost a problem for us as a whole since it, quite obviously, implies that there's something wrong, right? Just as it is so common, I am fairly certain that most of you will have experienced a sleepless night at least once in their lives – if you are indeed one of the few who haven't yet had the honour, consider yourself lucky! A sleepless night does literally nothing but leaves you feeling incredibly lacklustre, tired and moody. If you are like me, a person who really values and needs their daily 8-9 hours of sleep, it can literally turn you into a short-term-walking-dead-like-zombie until you have recovered from that lack of relaxation. I really, REALLY love to sleep. It is actually my favourite activity, so favourite that it even beats art and writing for me, and that means something! The reason I love sleep so much is because I have actually come to understand how important a good sleep is and what it does for us. And the more I have come to appreciate this nightly holy grail of mine, the more I have started to become frustrated in those nights during which I just can't seem to fall asleep at all. It sometimes really seems like a curse to me, a curse wished upon me by some very angry spirit who my soul foolishly messed with in a previous life. So chance, or curse, brought it about that I have actually been in such an unfortunate situation just last night and simply not willing to suffer under the consequences of this recurring sleeplessness any longer, I decided to declare war to this evil spirit. If I was already going to not get any sleep this night, I thought, I could at least conduct some research on the matter online (on insomnia, not evil spirits, although that would have been my next attempt) and see what I could find...
What causes insomnia?
Insomnia can be caused by external factors. These are the rather obvious ones such as noises or lights that may be shining into your room at night or in the morning, the wrong room temperature or certain medications as well as too much caffeine.
But there are also internal factors, that may influence you without you actually being aware of it such as stress or excitement if there are any upcoming events (eg. journey, surgery or exams), conflicts in job or private life (eg. burnout), psychic illnesses (eg. depression), genetic predisposition and even age can play a role since, as we get older, the production of the sleeping hormone 'melatonin' is decreased which is why older people are generally more prone to experience insomnia.
If none of those factors come in question for you personally, you might wanna make sure your sleeping habits aren't the cause of you experiencing this annoying and more than inopportune wakefulness. May a jet lag, a night shift or a Saturday morning sleep-in after a long night out have messed up your sleeping pattern a little?
(There may as well be organic causes for your insomnia but these are very, very rare so I wouldn't wanna scare you with those. If you however don't find the cause to fit into any of the categories mentioned above in your case, you might wanna consider consulting a doctor about your sleeping problems!)
Now what can I do to find back to a normal sleep?
There are actually plenty of ways to improve the quality and also the quantity of your sleep! And trust me, you do not wanna go the lazy way to the doctor and get yourself sleeping pills since this is not coming to grips with the cause and might actually result in you developing a dependency on those little pills and not being able to sleep at all without them at some point.Do you want that? No, you don't. What you want is a natural solution to your problem that will actually permanently cure you from your sleeplessness.
If the cause is external, that should be quite easy to identify and monitor in order to regulate your sleeping pattern, if it's internal you might have to do some more self-reflection on all the things that have been going on lately and what could be the exact cause.
If you've found the cause to be internal, which it usually is for me, you can do the following:
- Have a tea that contains herbs known to be relaxing (eg. valerian, lime blossom or maybe even a special tea mix that you should be able to get in your local drug store or pharmacy)
- Take a bath before you go to bed since this this is relaxing for your muscles and your mind, for bath mixes you should rely on lavender or camomile.
- Try not to eat anything after 6 PM
- Once you've gotten into bed, try to stay away from any technology – yup, that's right – no netflix in bed, no late night texts with bae
- Try to keep a little notebook and a pen if you find your mind to be overly busy before falling asleep, once things are noted down we are more likely to let them go and worry about them less.
- Also, try not to avoid gruelling discussions and thrilling movies. Remember, you don't have to have nightmares for this to actually affect you subconsciously.
- Try listening to binaural sounds before bed since this is said to help in the breakdown of cortisol and has proven to work very well for many people suffering from insomnia.
If you don't experience any positive changes in your sleeping pattern after weeks of having tried these tips and this continues to have a negative impact on your life there might be a deeper, more severe reason for your sleeplessness and you might wanna consider seeing a doctor or doing a therapy to trigger the cause of your insomnia individually and most efficiently.
After having found out so much on this matter I felt victorious and very certain that, in little time, I would be able to live insomnia-free and would finally get to enjoy my beloved sleep again.
Now let's just hope that I was successful with my research and the advice I managed to find online actually turns out to work for us, who we struggle with insomniac nights every here and then. Let's kiss those evil spirits goodbye for once and for all and sent them back to where they came from because they have no power over us, not any longer.
Good luck & good night! :)
xx ♡ Jupiter
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