What can we do ourselves?
Do you lie and toss and turn for an hour or two before you can fall asleep, maybe even until – at 4 or 5 o'clock, before you feel like you're "properly" falling asleep, but you never feel rested?
Then you share the fate of 400-500,000 other Danes with sleep problems.
There can be many reasons for sleep problems, both physical and psychological. Sleep problems are often the first sign that something is out of balance. Sleep problems are often linked to worries, stress, but also mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and PTSD, i.a. because we produce too much cortisol.
The modern information society with many inputs and expectations that we are "on" around the clock also creates sleep problems for many.
DID YOU KNOW...
You sleep approx. a third of your life. A total of 20-30 years.
When you sleep, you recharge your body and your psyche for a new day's impressions.
Sleep prevents stress, anxiety and depression.
Sleep improves the immune system, strengthens memory and creativity.
Sleep causes the growth hormone melatonin to rise. When it rises, serotonin and cortisol levels fall.
1. Make sleep a pleasure, something you look forward to. See it as something positive.
2. Sleep strengthens both your body and your mind, because the formation of growth hormones increases during deep sleep and the amount of stress hormones decreases. It requires between 7-8 hours of sleep.
3. A good sleeping environment is important.
A good mattress, a nice duvet and pillow, even the bed linen should feel nice.
It must be dark - here you can, for example, use blackout curtains or ours sleeping mask to shut out the light.
It must be quiet - no disturbing elements, use ear plugs.
The scent of lavender is scientifically proven to have a calming effect. A small drop on the pillow is enough. You can also put a drop on an electric bulb so that the whole room smells or the sleeping mask can have a calming scent of lavender.
The bedroom must be approx. 20 degrees.
4. An hour before going to bed, try to lie down and relax. Relax with something comfortable and soothing, e.g. quiet music, reading, a warm bath or meditation. Dimming the lighting at the end of the evening can also help. Drop the television, tablet, mobile phone or computer. They emit blue light, which signals to the brain that you must be awake.
Please use 15 min. on yourself. Have a nice facial massage so that you can release the tension of the day. You can either use your hands or a nice one face roll with an estimate oil under.
5. Avoid caffeinated drinks after 16.00 (coffee, tea, cola or energy drinks). Avoid alcohol and smoking, as this can also disrupt sleep.
6. Maintain a regular circadian rhythm. Get up at a fixed time, go to bed at a fixed time. The most important thing is, if you cannot keep to the time, it is the length of the sleep itself. It should preferably be the same every day.
7. Remember to get exercise, preferably min. 30 minutes a day. It provides better sleep but also strengthens your physical and mental health. We should preferably burn some of our activity substances, so that the energy is gone in the evening.
8. During the day, you can practice "falling away". Try 3 times a day if you can sit in e.g. 5 minutes and disconnect completely. In this way, you can teach the body to "fall down" without panicking, but that it is turned into something positive.
9. Go to bed neither hungry nor overfull. A stable blood sugar helps to provide calm, undisturbed sleep.
10. The bedroom is only for sleep and sex, so don't bring worries to bed. Feel free to use time in the evening to write down concerns and suggestions for solutions. It can also be the next day's work. Often this in itself has a calming effect.
11. If ruminations and restlessness still appear and you can't sleep and are stressed by the thought, try teaching yourself a strip of a mantra that calms you down. Repeat it over and over until you feel calm.
It can, for example, be "I've written down everything I need to remember tomorrow, I'm lying nicely in this soft bed, it's ok I just lie here with my eyes closed, it's almost as good as if I was asleep". It must be something nice and positive.
12. If nothing helps and you can feel yourself becoming more and more awake and stressed, leave the bed and sit somewhere else in dim lighting or feel yourself calm down and then try again.