How to get deep sleep, even if you have insomnia

An old Irish proverb stated, “The beginning of health is sleep.” Sleep requirements vary widely. For example, Thomas Edison required only four hours per night while Albert Einstein preferred ten or more. Most people need about eight hours. Identify how much sleep you need to feel your best and regularly get that amount.

Rest is one of the most underestimated and powerful healing tools at your disposal. Extra sleep and downtime allow the body to make adaptations and work internal miracles. Early physicians often prescribed complete bed rest because it helped so many maladies. When ill, animals often ‘hole up’ and rest completely, reappearing only when they have recovered.

Listen to your inner wisdom and take time for extra renewal when you just don’t feel right. Lighten your schedule, go to bed earlier, cancel social engagements, and get a nap. Extra rest can mean the difference between just feeling under the weather for a day versus getting a full-blown illness.

Sleeping deeply throughout the night is a major key to radiant wellness. If you suffer with insomnia, try these natural approaches to help you sleep long and deeply:

1. Avoid eating a heavy dinner — especially later in the evening — so you don’t experience indigestion that interrupts sleep. However, if hunger pangs keep you awake, have a light healthy snack before bedtime. By the way, eating a lighter dinner requires less energy for digestion so you may need less sleep to feel just as or more rested. It’s also easier to arise early when you’re slightly hungry after consuming a lighter dinner the previous evening.

2. Minimize your caffeine intake (coffee or tea) to only one or two servings per day with none after mid-afternoon to avoid excess stimulation. Avoid soda of any type and sugary snacks because of the stimulation and for many other reasons.

3. Quit smoking since nicotine is a potent stimulant of the nervous system and disrupts sleep with coughing.

4. Go to bed and arise at about the same time each day so your body gets on schedule.

5. Use your bedroom only for sleeping and amorous activities.

6. Obtain corrective chiropractic care to ensure optimal alignment of your spine, especially the neck. If vertebrae are out of alignment, sleep positions can worsen nerve pressure and make it difficult to sleep soundly.

7. Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool.

8. Unless you are elderly, avoid naps since that might throw off your sleep schedule. Stay awake through the day so you’ll be tired and better able to sleep at night.

9. If your mind races when you try to sleep, touch forehead relaxation points for five minutes while thinking of any worries. Rest your middle three finger pads on the frontal protuberances, those bumps a few inches above your eyebrows. Breathe slowly and deeply and process your worries until your mind becomes quieter.

10. Regularly exercise, but not in the evening.

11. Relieve stress of the adrenal glands, brain, cardiovascular system and thyroid. Each of these organs, when imbalanced, can cause insomnia. A holistically trained physician can recommend a natural program to balance these. We use Nutrition Response Testing to evaluate which organs are contributing to insomnia and how best to balance them safely, affordably, naturally, and effectively.

12. Consider whole food nutritional supplements to help calm the body and mind.

13. Get a great medical and natural health care check-up to rule-out any significant problems that may be causing insomnia. Consider natural remedies such as hypnosis therapy or acupuncture that may help.

14. Use relaxation techniques such as massage, hot baths, relaxation audios, soothing music or nature sounds.

15. Regular meditation creates a relaxed state of mind and promotes deep sleep.

16. Try light therapy with bulbs that emphasize the blue color spectrum if your insomnia is worse during months with less sunlight,

17. Pray and intend to become aware of how you can sleep well.

18. Open your bedroom window, just a crack during cold weather, to ensure adequate oxygen and fresh air while sleeping. This is especially important if your heating and cooling system recirculates inside air instead of drawing in fresh air.

19. Be asleep by 10:30 pm, even earlier when needing extra rest. Midnight was so named because it was the middle of the night for our ancestors. The saying “early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise” is good counsel. Natural health experts say the hours of sleep before midnight are the most beneficial. Staying up late is also counter-productive because it often results in excessive TV viewing, computer or video game use, and late night eating.

20. Listen to your body about how much sleep you need, and realize that amount may change as you age or experience more or less stress. You should awaken just before your alarm if you’re sufficiently rested.

Dr. Mark Pitstick writes the natural health column each month in the Chillicothe Gazette. Send your toughest health questions to him at center@radiant101.com.

Editor’s note

This information is not designed to diagnose or treat any disease or replace medical care. The natural health care recommendations are based on Dr. Mark Pitstick’s 43 years of professional training/experience and that of other naturally-oriented physicians. His recommendations are not supported by large medical studies, especially those funded by the pharmaceutical or disease care industries.