Are you having trouble sleeping at night and just staring at the clock, waiting for the morning to come? Then you probably have insomnia. If left untreated this is going to take its toll on your body and mind, but fortunately there are insomnia cures that help you deal with this condition without resorting to sleeping pills.

Keep a Diary of Habits That Might Induce Insomnia

There are many possible causes for insomnia such as depression, stress, medications etc. Maybe the cause is a habit that you are into like drinking too much coffee. Or perhaps you’re spending too much time watching late night TV or talking on the phone that it’s affected your sleeping habits.

The best way to determine this is to start a diary and write down your activities from morning till night. Take note of any activities that might affect your sleep such as those mentioned above and put an end to it. Write down your sleep routine, habits as well as the insomnia symptoms you’re experiencing.

Use your diary to note when you go to sleep, when you get up, if there’s anything that wakes you up, where you often fall asleep, stuff you eat and drink and so on. Also write down the events of the day and if it had a negative or stressful effect.

Make Your Room Inviting for Sleep

Before going to bed, make sure your room is conducive for sleeping. Studies show that if insomnia is not cured, it will get worse and produce all kinds of health complications, so make your room as inviting for sleep as possible. Basically what you need to do is make it dark, quiet and cool, because heat, light and noise will make it even harder for you to sleep.

Here are some suggestions:

• If there’s noise coming from outside your room, wear ear plugs when you go to sleep
• If it’s hot, turn up the air-conditioning system or open the windows
• If you work the night shift, put black curtains on the windows so you can go to sleep

Here are other steps you can take:

• Watch a boring program on TV or read a book you’re really not interested in
• Don’t play computer games before you sleep. Some people do this thinking that it’s going to tire them out, but it rarely works that way and instead they just spend the night playing until the morning comes up.
• Tire yourself out during the day. Do some chores before going to bed or other tasks so that by the time you go to bed you’re already tired.
• Stick to a routine: go to bed at the same time every night even if you feel alert. Just lie down and read a book until you get sleepy.

Practice Meditation

Stress is one of the most common reasons for insomnia and it can extol a heavy toll in your body and mind. Yoga and deep breathing are just two types of meditative exercises you can try to minimize its effects. If it’s work related, you need to adjust your schedule so you’re able to cope with it better.

How to Prevent Insomnia from Getting Worse

You need to teach your brain that the bedroom is for sleeping, and the best way to do this is to not do anything else in bed but sleep. All too often what happens is this: an insomniac is unable to sleep so what he does is get the laptop and surf the Net and before you know it, it’s morning already.

It’s also recommended that you move the clock so you can’t see it when you’re lying down. If you see the minutes passing by, it only adds pressure on you to get more sleep, and this increases your stress level, ironically making sleep even harder to attain. It’s okay to use an alarm, but make sure the clock is out of sight when it’s time to go to sleep.

Dietary Supplements

If you’re still having trouble getting to sleep, try herbal supplements like chamomile tea or lemon balm as they can help, and compared to sleeping pills, are harmless. You might also want to try melatonin supplements, as it’s been proven to work. Melatonin is a hormone that naturally occurs in your body and can help you sleep. Aside from those, you might also want to consider valerian, an herb with sedative properties that can help you get enough sleep.

Tips for Dealing with Shift Work

Some suggestions:

• Turn on bright lights during the night to keep you awake, and when you get home, put on dark blinds in your room and turn off the TV so everything’s quiet.
• Reduce the number of times you work irregular shifts so you don’t get deprived of too much sleep. If that’s not possible, make sure the shifts don’t occur on several days in succession.
• Get home as soon as possible after working so you’re able to use the time to sleep.
• If these don’t help, take 4,000 to 8,000 mg of passion flower (dried) capsules.
• Dab a little bit of lavender oil in a handkerchief and apply it to your forehead. Relax and allow the scent to put you to sleep.
• A study conducted at the Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia revealed that people who have jasmine scented rooms are able to sleep better. You can achieve the same effect by applying a bit of this oil on your wrists to sleeping.
• Finally, consider taking an aromatic bath before sleeping. Just add 3 drops of ylang-ylang oil and 5 drops of lavender oil to bath water and you’re good to go.

While these treatments can be effective, they only work up to a certain point, and in severe cases probably won’t be able to help. If you have tried different kinds of insomnia cures and nothing worked, you should give Lunar Sleep a go. This is a 100% natural sleeping aid that comes with melatonin, a natural occurring hormone that  induces sleep without making you feel groggy.