Insomnia undoubtedly causes a disturbance in our rest and is an issue that affects hundreds of thousands of people.
Every March 15 is celebrated as World Sleep Day, a call to action that aims to reduce the burden of sleep problems in society through better prevention and control of sleep disorders.
Here are eight tips to help you overcome it:
1. Normalize the problem
This is the first step in finding a solution to the problem. For most of us, a sleepless night does not produce a significant decrease in our performance. However, between 10 and 28% say that it is very frequent or qualify it as serious and only 6% of the population has been diagnosed with insomnia.
2. Increasing resilience
It is important to change the mentality to develop a certain tolerance to the effects of a sleepless night. Tiredness will appear throughout the day, but it will not be the only cause of the difficulties we may encounter during the day.
Remember that sleep is a physiological process and we should never force ourselves to sleep if our body does not want to.
3. Listen to our body
Insomnia is an important alarm signal from our body. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to it. When we fall asleep, sleep is conceived as an escape, which allows us to forget about problems and, therefore, not to face them.
In addition, insomnia is also an important symptom of the presence of a psychological disorder. To obtain a good quality and quantity of sleep, it is essential that our habits are healthy and asking for professional help can be key when dealing with insomnia as well as other psychological problems.
4. Making an accurate diagnosis
Insomnia is a primary sleep disorder within the diagnostic category of dyssomnias. Knowing and locating the type of disorder that afflicts us is essential to establish a proper medical assessment and deal effectively with our problems.
5. Improving our sleep hygiene
The most effective technique is stimulus control, restriction of time in bed and, finally, cognitive techniques.
6. Create a pleasant and peaceful environment
Taking care of the sleeping space is essential. It is also important to avoid or minimize access to television or electronic devices a few hours before bedtime. In this regard, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding its use in children at least 30-60 minutes before that time.
7. How many hours should we sleep?
It is advisable to establish a regular sleep schedule, as this will ensure that we sleep more or less the recommended hours. Each age group has its own set sleeping hours:
- Up to one year: the newborn sleeps 16 to 17 hours and when they turn one year old they sleep about 13- 14 hours a day.
- From 1 to 3 years old: it is recommended to sleep between 10 and 13 hours a day.
- Between 4 and 6 years old: sleep between 10 and 12 hours. Adolescents: from 16 years of age onwards, between 8 and 9 hours of sleep are needed.
- Adults: sleep between 7 and 8 hours a day.
- Elderly: the average is about seven hours of sleep, but at these ages sleep becomes less deep.
8. Watch out for drugs
Be careful with the abusive use of drugs, as this will only provide a temporary restful sleep but will not solve the insomnia.