What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is a sleep problem. Delay in falling asleep, difficulty falling asleep, and waking up early or during sleep. There are several stages of sleep and it can also be called not reaching those stages in an orderly manner. Before talking about insomnia or about remedies for insomnia, let’s know about the stages of sleep.

5 Stages of Sleep

Stage 1
Stage 1 sleep doesn’t need much explanation. The nature of falling asleep during boring lectures is this Stage 1 sleep. You may also experience fragmented thoughts or a sensation similar to daydreaming.

Stage 2
Stage 2 sleep is a slightly deeper sleep than stage 1 sleep. A few minutes of stage 1 sleep leads to stage 2 sleep. Here, the body is much more relaxed than in stage 1 sleep and the connections with the external environment are much less.

Stage 3 & 4
After about thirty to forty-five minutes of Stage 2, you enter Stages 3 and 4, the deepest stages of sleep. These stages are distinguished by very slow brain wave patterns called delta, which are collectively known as slow-wave sleep or deep sleep.

REM Sleep
REM stands for ‘Rapid Eye Movement’. After about 45 minutes in deep-sleep, you are taken back to stage 2 for a few minutes. Then we drift off to visual, emotional world of dream sleep. Dreams often have a detailed, continuous quality, and are vivid, whimsical, or sometimes frightening. A good sleeper usually moves through this cycle several times during the night.

2 Types of Insomnia

01. Transient Insomnia

Transient insomnia refers to what most people experience at some point and lasts for a few days or weeks. If you can’t sleep on Sunday night, or before an important event, or if you experience a ‘bad spot’, perhaps because you are particularly stressed, you have transient insomnia.

02. Chronic Insomnia

Years of poor sleep may have even hindered many activities in your life. Getting too little sleep at night over a long period of time is called chronic insomnia.

Causes of Insomnia

01. Spending Too Long in Bed

Often the young, unemployed, self-employed or some businessmen sleep until late in the morning. Also, going to sleep is often when there is no sleepiness at all. When you go to bed like that, you tend to think about certain things for a long time. Then you usually fall asleep around 2 or 3 a.m. in the morning. So you have to wake up late in the morning. Perhaps if you get up early, you will be very sleepy and lethargic throughout the day.

02. Napping in the Day

Some people are used to sleeping in the afternoon while traveling by bus or train. Also, some people have a habit of sleeping after lunch. Maybe if we sleep for a long time during the day like this, we will feel drunk. However, sleeping in this way during the afternoon can be a reason for delaying sleep at night. It’s okay to take a nap for half an hour but not too long during the day.

03. Reading, Using Your Laptop or Watching Television in Bed

While lying in bed reading a book, the eyes may fall asleep. But using the phone or laptop, or sitting in bed and watching TV is not good for the eyes, on the other hand, it delays sleep a lot. Also, after using the phone in bed before going to sleep, the eyes feel very uncomfortable when getting up in the morning. So get out of that habit.

04. Problems in Your Bed

Sometimes if your mattress is too hard, not comfortable, and the environment is too hot or too cold when you sleep, it also affects your sleep badly. It can also be a reason for lack of healthy sleep. So pay attention to that.

05. Too Much or Too Little Food at Night

This can also be caused by eating too much food before going to bed, too little food or going to bed without eating. Even if we are very full, it is difficult for us to get a healthy sleep. Similarly, when the stomach is empty, it is difficult for us to get a healthy sleep.

8 Natural Home Remedies for Insomnia

These are actually habits that you can incorporate into your life. Various activities that we sometimes do without thinking have a negative effect on our overall body health.

01. Don’t Spend Too Much Time in the Bed

Decide what time you want to get up in the morning. Also, decide what time you go to bed at night. Until the time comes, read something like a book before going to bed. Better not to use something like a phone. Many people fall asleep quickly when reading books at night. However, do not go to bed until you feel sleepy. When your eyes feel sleepy, go to bed and sleep. But don’t think about other things after going to bed.

02. Dinner is Important

Maybe you skip eating at night to lose weight. But we have written an article about easy ways to lose weight naturally. You can read it if you want. So don’t go to sleep without eating at night. Even then, hunger may keep you awake for a long time.

And don’t eat too much. Because eating a lot of food that is difficult to digest is also very difficult for our body. Also, it is difficult to breathe when lying down in bed. This reason can also delay your sleep.

Avoid eating foods high in sugar and carbohydrates, foods that increase gas and heartburn, very spicy foods, and foods high in monosodium glutamate (MSG) before bed.

Although we do not understand the seriousness of these things when we talk about these things simply, many physical and even mental problems can arise due to such bad lifestyle habits.

03. Take a Hot Bath Before Going to Bed

Bathing in nice hot water before going to sleep brings great relief to the body. It will help you sleep well as soon as you fall into bed.

04. Reduce Caffeine Intake

Caffeine is mainly found in coffee and tea, black tea and some energy drinks. Caffeine has the unique ability to stimulate brain waves, increase heart rate, increase alertness and reduce fatigue. It usually takes about 15 minutes to work and its effects can last for several hours.

This can cause your sleep to be delayed. If you drink a coffee before going to bed and think about many things after going to bed, you will not feel sleepy anyway. You don’t have to stop drinking coffee completely. But if you are a heavy coffee drinker, moderate it.

05. Avoid Smoking

Smoking is not good for the body in any way. Although there are many drugs around the world, cigarettes are very easy to obtain and consume. The nicotine in cigarettes affects our body functions just like the caffeine mentioned earlier.

Not only cigarettes, marijuana is also bad for the body. Even though various people try to point out that these contain various benefits, in the long run, these only cause harm to the body. It can also cause psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety and thought of suicide. Avoid smoking.

06. Make Your Room Suitable for Healthy Sleep

Even if you turn off the lights in your room, if the lights from outside the house come into the room, it is a big disturbance to your sleep. And if the place where you sleep is very hot, it also disturbs your sleep. An air conditioner or at least a fan can be used to control the temperature. Or open the windows of the room to let the air in.

Also, if you hear various noises that disturb your sleep, they should also be addressed. Sometimes if there is someone else in your room and that person is snoring very loudly, it also disturbs your sleep.

Your bed also plays a big role in getting a good night’s sleep. If your bed’s mattress and pillows are too hard, it also hinders your sleep.

07. Relax Your Mind

Don’t remind yourself of your worries before going to sleep. Don’t remember the events that happened throughout the day. Thinking about such things will make your mind very anxious and stressed. It naturally contributes to delaying your sleep.

We have written an article on 12 scientifically proven ways to reduce stress. If you have any stress, read that article and get relief from your stress first.

08. Get Up and Do Something When You can’t Sleep

When talking about insomnia, it is usually said that if you do not fall asleep within 20 minutes, get out of bed and do something else. What kind of thing do you really want to do? Do something you hate. Do something annoying. Do something boring. Do some work that is left at home, for example, if there are used dishes, wash them. Otherwise, get up and take a nice hot shower.