Self Help

1. Curtail your time in bed. The longer you stay in bed, the more fragmented your sleep becomes. The less time you stay in bed, the more consolidated your sleep. Therefore 8 hours of sleep out of 8.5 hours in bed is more efficient than 8 hours of sleep out of 10 hours in bed.

2. Get up at the same time each day. Our bodies are controlled by circadian rhythms. The circadian rhythm needs one stable point around which it can stabilize. Since you cannot control what time you fall asleep, the only time you can control is what time you woke up. Therefore it is extremely important for insomniacs to get up at the same time each day (including weekends) and to avoid “sleeping in.”

3. Avoid the bedroom clock. The first thing you do when you wake up in the middle of the night is look at your clock. The time pressure contributes to poor sleep. In addition, the acts of opening your eyes to see the clock and lifting your head to read the time wake you up even more. What difference does it make if it is 1:00 am or 3:00 am? Turn your clock around or move it to the other side of the room where you won’t be tempted to look. If you wake up in the middle of the night, keep your eyes closed, and you will be more likely to go right back to sleep.

4. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. Caffeine has been shown to disrupt sleep, even in individuals who don’t think it affects them. The effect of caffeine remains in the body on average from 3 to 5 hours. Remember that caffeine is not just in coffee but in tea, chocolate, and many sodas (note that a soda does not have to be brown to be full of caffeine - read the labels). For individuals with insomnia, it is best to avoid all caffeine after lunchtime. And if you need one more reason to stop smoking, tobacco (nicotine) also has been shown to disturb sleep. Nicotine can have an arousing effect and therefore make it more difficult to sleep.

Alcohol often is used by insomniacs to help them fall asleep. One old wives’ tale suggests having a glass of sherry before bed to promote sleep. In fact this is just an old wives’ tale. Alcohol makes you sleepy initially but several hours later when the alcohol wears off, it can cause you to wake up (insomnia). Therefore if you drink alcohol with dinner, you may be sleepy right after dinner, but several hours later, when it is time for bed, you may be wide awake.