The good sleep guide!

The good sleep guide

We all of us have good nights and bad nights dont we .. tossing and turning all night long and waking up feeling more tiered in the morning that when you went to bed the night before is one of the most anoying feelings! Then you get the nights where when you wake up it feels like you only just shut your eyes, you feel awake and refreshed and full of energy for the day!!

There seems to be no ryme or reason to sleep patterns specialy when affected with ME/CFS as sleep patterns are often reversed (just to proove my point, its 3am ;-)

Ok, i have been asking around to see if people follow and Do's and Dont's when it comes to going to bed to either sleep or rest. One of the main things i got from the feed back was that even if you dont get to sleep its great to feel like you have had a good rest. So i have desided to write my own Do's and Dont's to aid you in either sleeping or enough rest to stop you from feeling too ill.

One thing before i get started though! THe BEST thing to do if you have problems sleeping, is try everything! Try all the Do's and all the Dont's untill you find a rutine or aid that helps you sleep better. It might be reading for an extra half an hour or listning to mucis... but its best to find a persnal do and dont list to help your self. If you have have serious problems, or are getting less than two hours sleep a night, its best to go and see you GP.

Herbel remidys can also be helpful if you have regula sleeplessness!

Now, just one quick thing! Some people have sugested a hot or warm bath, personally i find that quite relaxing and therefore it helps me sleep. But doctors often recoment that you dont have a bath before you sleep as it get's all your blood flowing and your organs pumping wich would then stop you from sleeping so well. Have a try, with a hot or warm bath and see if it helps you. If you do have a nice bath try popping some lavender oil in there. (make sure you know how to mix it and dont start pooring the whole bottle in there .. also ask some one in the know if your expecting or breast feding) Lavender has lots of healing powers so is great for achy muscles and also helps you sleep!!

Do's:

Go to bed an hour or so before you want to sleep.

have some quiet music that will help you relax playing in the back ground.

Read a few pages of a book to help clear your head of the days stress's and strains.

Have the lights low so you can rest your eyes.

Burn a little Lavender oil to help aid sleep and with added healing propties.

Keep a window open to let fresh air in, as you fall asleep your warming up, so try and lower your body temp before you try to sleep.

Have the room as clutter free as possible.

Try and clear your mind before trying to sleep. Try not to consentrate one on thing, just relax and let the days events float away. You could try meditation or breathing techniques. This also means no stimulation for a few hours before you intend to go to bed.

Keep some lavender massage oil handy for twitchy achy muscles.

Turn mobile and land line phones off so you wont be interupted.

Keep a glass of water by your bed.

If you havent slept in twenty mins get up, go down stairs and do twenty mins of house work.

Getting up seems to be a very important part of a good sleep pattern. Try and get up at the same time every day. No matter how late you went to bed or how tiered you are... choose a time (say 9am) and stick to it!

Have a dessert spoon of hunny before going to bed, apparently it can take a few nights to kick in, but it really works!

Dont's:

No caffine after 2pm, thats no coffee, no tea and no hot chocolate. If you would miss them, try a caffinee free vertion.

Keep the room as free of electrics as possible, thats no telly's, PC's, phones, sterios. They can interfear with your body.

Try not to read anything challenging or go on the computer after 6pm

dont worry about not being able to sleep, if you cant just get up, go into another room. Do your house work or what ever then go back to bed when your sleepy.

If your affected by dairy products try not to have any from about two hours before you want to sleep. Cheese and dairy products can cause night mears and genrely poor sleep.

Dont try and sleep after an argument or somthing stressfull happening, either write it down and think about it the next day or sort it out before you go to bed! (just say sorry... nick off to bed and fight again in the morning ;-) .. )