Only 6% of people suffer from various sleep disorders, and you, most likely, are not among them. Our psychologists help to understand why it is sometimes so difficult to fall asleep.
In the evening, you toss and turn in bed for a long time, expecting that the dream is about to come. You wake up several times in the middle of the night, or you jump up because a nightmare has happened again. Bad thoughts wake the light and the dawn – and in the end all day you feel frustrated. You hardly get up in the morning … All these are various options for sleep disorders – insomnia or, as doctors call it, insomnia. In most cases, it can be eliminated if you observe the daily regimen and learn relaxation techniques. “Only you yourself can understand whether it’s time to complain about problems with sleep to the doctor,” said the somnologist, associate professor at the Moscow Medical Academy. I. M. Sechenov, Mikhail Poluektov. – Sleep norms do not exist. One is enough for six or seven hours, the other – eight or nine. The main thing is how you feel. ” Let’s try to understand whether
You have real trouble sleeping.
VICTIMS OF EMOTIONS
It happens, on the eve of an important meeting at which it is planned to resolve issues related to your career, you cannot fall asleep and go over possible scenarios. Or maybe she quarreled with an important person for you and now you are trying to figure out who is right and who is wrong. Or after meeting with your beloved overwhelmed with emotions – what a dream here! “Oddly enough, positive emotions, especially those associated with the expectation of something, often prevent us from falling asleep even more than negative ones,” says psychologist Boris Labkovsky. – And if a pleasant event has already happened, the person unwittingly tries to extend the excitement of joy. And, instead of enjoying life in the present, goes through
in memory of the events of the past.
This type of insomnia is called adaptive, and its appearance is associated with stress, both positive and negative. It rarely lasts more than a few days and does not require the unfolding of hostilities — it retreats itself as soon as the source of disturbances disappears.
OTHER RULES
If you often say with annoyance: “There are so few hours in a day!” – most likely, you do not get enough sleep regularly. Anyone who seeks to embrace the immense, everything has time, often suffers from insomnia caused by a violation of sleep hygiene. Playing sports at night looking, finding out the relationship with someone, computer games, not always positive news on TV – the factors that reduce the likelihood of falling asleep on time are more than enough.
To cope with the problem, get ready for bed for an hour or two. Decide in advance how much you finish everything – at home or at work. Turn off your computer and TV, avoid coffee and alcohol, do not drink milk (contrary to popular belief, it only interferes with sleep, because it is a strong diuretic). Before you go to bed, you can take a foam bath. “Our body and mind are directly connected,” recalls Boris Labkovsky, “so muscle relaxation in warm water is very useful. And if anxious thoughts begin to creep into your head, tell yourself, like the heroine of “Gone With the Wind”: “I will think about it tomorrow!”
SLEEP, MY JOY
Do you remember how in the episode of the series “Friends” one of the heroes needed to get up early for an important meeting, and what came of it? He, as expected, lay down early, but the more he tried to sleep, the more it did not work. As a result, I became so nervous that I only forgot about sleep in the morning.
This type of insomnia is called psychophysiological: a person is so afraid not to fall asleep that he cannot relax. It is those who suffer from this sleep disorder who diligently count sheep, look at their watches all night and, sweating with cold sweat, mentally go through all the possible consequences of lack of sleep – from a car accident to the failure of a new project presentation.
“To count sheep is a harmless way, but not very effective,” said Mikhail Poluektov. – Much better relaxation, the ability to throw out of your head all the daily problems before you go to bed. No need to concentrate on falling asleep, on the contrary, you have to say to yourself: “I’m not going to sleep at all. Just lie down and rest. ”
Take your watch out of sight – at night there’s no need to know the exact time. In addition, there are simple and effective techniques – for example, cover the windows with thick curtains, lay fresh linen, make sure that the room does not have bright LED lamps. Very helpful pads filled with dry herbs: mint, oregano. They evoke pleasant memories of summer, and the inhalation of aroma itself becomes an evening ritual conducive to falling asleep. Sometimes moving to another room or just rearranging furniture helps a lot.
WHEN IT SEEMS
At night, the perception of reality is changing. You can sleep for six or seven hours, but at the same time you feel as if you have not closed your eyes, have woken up many times and are now completely exhausted. In this case, we are talking about paradoxical, or pseudo-insomnia. A classic example: a person complains that under his window a dog barked all night and did not allow him to fall asleep. In fact, the dog yelled only a few times.
Determine whether you really suffer from insomnia, help in one of the specialized clinics that deal with somnology (the so-called science of sleep). The survey is like an adventure: you need to sleep in a hospital all night with sensors fixed on your head. Doctors will remove the encephalogram, analyze eye movements and muscle tension – and on the basis of this they will be able to understand how many hours you have overslept, if there are no breathing problems in your sleep and if you need medical help. The “music of the brain” technique is very popular: an electronic melody is created on the basis of the patient’s encephalogram that promotes healthy sleep. According to Boris Labkovsky, an important means of dealing with insomnia is a smile. “Go to bed smiling,” he advises. “Most likely, you will wake up in a good mood in the morning, because a person programs himself in many ways.”
Since the beginning of the last century, it has become fashionable to complain of insomnia – it is believed that it suffers from refined and successful people who simply have to write poetry at night, create paintings or business projects. In fact, successful people, as a rule, get enough sleep – therefore they are able to work actively during the day as long as necessary to achieve success. Many famous artists and musicians admitted: they succeed in night-time creativity much worse than daytime. A slept person is full of energy and desire to act, his work is much more productive. It is not necessary to consider the time spent on sleep, lost – our subconscious mind copes with many problems at night. No wonder they say: “Morning is wiser than the evening.”
On prescription
Insomnia is an indispensable companion of neurosis and depression, so you should not treat it yourself. So you can even more harm to health.
Consult with your doctor, and if he prescribes a sleeping pill or sedative, specify whether it is possible to drive a car or do work requiring attention the next morning after taking the drug.
On bird rights
It turns out that for most people, well-being needs a daily regimen without early ups and late falling asleep. This type – the most common, called “dove”. And notorious larks and owls in real life are extremely rare.