If we are consistently waking up too many times in the middle of the night and are experiencing extreme sleep deprivation, then often times our first solution to turn to is a sleeping pill prescribed to us by our doctor.
But believe it or not, a prescribed sleeping pill is actually not the best answer to turn to if you truly want to sleep better at night and completely end your sleep deprivation.
The Bedroom is Not an Office Space
Often times we struggle to fall asleep because also use our bedroom as an office space. We may have computers, phones, or other electronic equipment in there where we work.
When we try to sleep, we are instead reminded of the work environment. If you work from home, you should have a separate room in the house to serve as an office space.
Watch a Movie or Show Before You Bed
This certainly won’t work with many people, but for some, lying down in bed while watching a TV show or movie will put them to sleep.
This will be more effective for people if it’s a boring movie or show; if it’s one of your favorites or one that’s exciting, you’ll probably stay up all night!
Relax
Just try to relax before bed. Many scientific studies have shown that calming down and relaxing before bed will lead to a more peaceful sleep.
You can try taking a hot bath or drinking something warm. Anything you can do to relax yourself will aid greatly in how well you sleep that night.
Be Wary of Medication
You should definitely be wary of all the medication out there that’s supposedly designed to help you get better sleep at night.
A lot of the medication out there won’t help you at all, and make in fact only make you worse with unwarranted side effects.
Even though some of the medication will work, a lot of it will only help get you by rather than actually improving your sleep deprivation.
Another problem with these medications that do work is that they won’t just make you feel sleepy at night…they could make you feel sleepy during the day too!
If you do want to try taking medication, you should always consult with your doctor or medical professional first. You doctor should be able to know which medications are good and which ones aren’t.
Avoid Drinking Before Going to Bed
This doesn’t just go for not drinking alcohol. It does for caffeine too. Drinking alcohol or caffeine before bed will not only make it more difficult to actually fall asleep, but it could cause you to wake up numerous more times throughout the night as well.
The next day, you’ll feel much more tired as well. This is especially true for alcohol; many people believe that drinking an alcoholic beverage before bed will cause them to get better sleep, but in reality, the reverse is true.
Don’t Feel Stressed Out From Work
In other words, you shouldn’t work all day and then go to bed right after work is finished. You need to put some time in between the end of work and going to bed; otherwise, you’ll go to sleep feeling stressed out about work.
Sometimes, this time difference only needs to be as little as thirty minutes, but just as long as you do have some time in between, you’ll find that you’ll get much more sleep, and you’ll wake up the next morning feeling much more rested and ready for the day.
Don’t Feel Stressed Out From Anything
This may feel pretty general, and almost like a no-brainer. The truth is that people with higher levels of stress aren’t able to sleep as well, and on the other hand, people who aren’t able to sleep very well become stressed out, sometimes over the simplest things.
You should do whatever you can to calm down and get as much of the stress out of your body.
You will find that it is hard, and you may need to do some more research to find out other techniques and strategies for getting the stress out of your body, but if you can become relieved of stress then you’ll be able to get much more (and better) sleep.
If you still find that you wake up repeatedly in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep for long periods of time, you can try getting up and relaxing, such as taking a warm bath or drinking a warm beverage, before returning back to bed.
Get Plenty of Exercise
You should try to dedicate anywhere from thirty minutes to one hour of your time each day to exercise.
If you dedicate this time either to the morning when you wake up, or to the evening around dinner time (or maybe you want to divide the time in half), then you will find that it greatly promotes more sleep each night.
Consult Your Doctor
You should absolutely stay in touch with your doctor throughout your quest to ending sleep deprivation. Your doctor will provide you with much needed advice and instructions, and also provide medication that will actually work.
There are also sleep specialists that you can talk with as well. The truth is that a minority of Americans discusses sleeping problems with their doctor, and as a result they may not receive proper guidance.
These are just a few of the many different treatments and methods you can use to get more sleep in your life.
Too many Americans are impacted negatively in their daily lives simply from not enough sleep at night, and if you are one of those people, then following these methods should definitely help you see improvements greatly.