For a few months I suffered from insomnia, seasoned with headaches, tiredness and everything there can be after several nights spent looking at the ceiling of a bedroom. It must have been the pandemic, the change of rhythms and some projects to deliver, but I couldn’t turn a blind eye.
I’ll explain to you what I’ve been careful about to increase sleep hours and overcome insomnia.
DON’T DINE TOO LATE
Dining after nine o’clock in the evening or a snack after dinner could make you sleep badly or not make you fall asleep at all, as the food literally stays on your stomach. Better leave time for our body to digest. What’s more, there are studies that show that eating late in the evening creates more risks of diabetes and even hormonal changes. In fact, dining early helps to feel more satiated thanks to the production of leptin and therefore post-dinner cues are avoided.
DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL
Who has never had a glass of wine in the evening? Paradoxically, alcohol gives us an apparent calmness that allows us to fall asleep more easily, but it does not promise us a quiet sleep. Disposing of an alcohol for our body is a process that involves stress: increased urine, dehydration and even increased sleep apnea. If I had trouble sleeping, I’d avoid alcohol.
FOR FIGHTING INSOMNIA AT THE TABLE, WHAT TO EAT?
Potatoes are complex carbohydrates that are the best nutrients to reconcile sleep. In addition, potatoes do not burden digestion like fats and do not stretch it like proteins. They give a good supply of potassium, useful to relax the muscles and ultimately, eat potatoes, especially sweet ones, amplifies the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and reminds us when it’s time to sleep.
Bananas are also rich in potassium and also magnesium, two molecules that promote relaxation of muscles. In addition, they have a high glycemic index, which stimulates insulin production: a hormone that helps the absorption of tryptophan, which ensures restful sleep.
Pumpkin seeds are also rich in magnesium andrice also promotes the absorption of tryptophan, a protein that regulates serotonin levels by stimulating sleep. Let us not forget carrots that contain alpha-carotene, a substance that facilitates the synthesis of melatonin.
CHAMOMILE AND RELAXING HERBAL TEAS
Chamomile is known to promote sleep, as it has sedative properties. I prefer the infusion one and not the soluble one that usually has added sugars. However, care must be taken to how long you leave it in infusion, in fact if you exceed 2 minutes, chamomile would have an opposite effect or become an exciting one.
On the market chamomile can be found in some relaxing herbal teas combined with lavender or valerian or lemon balm that have calming properties.
MELATONIN
As already mentioned, melatonin is a hormone produced by our body that helps to maintain and restore the balance between sleep and wakefulness. Inaddition, melatonin also has positive properties on the immune system and in the regularization of the circadian rhythm. Melatonin is considered an antagonist of cortisol, the stress hormone, with immunosuppressive function. In our body the prodigation of melatonin binds to our exposure or not to a light source, so it decreases when the light is more intense, for example during the day, and increases with darkness, reaching its peak at night.
Sometimes insomnia or sleep disorders can lead us to take melatonin. I, in particular, tried the Zzzquil gummy and I have to say that within ten minutes it stretched out, but I was forced to sleep at least six hours, because if I unfortunately tried to get up first I feel like after a hangover.
EXERCISE HOW AND WHEN
Doing sports is certainly good and helps to manage stress and have a positive attitude. However, it would be better to avoid exercising in the evening, in fact, physical exertion stimulates the production of adrenaline that could induce insomnia. Better to train in the morning or at most late afternoon. I prefer outdoor sports and I have become a supporter of fast walking.
MAKE SURE THE BEDROOM IS NOT A FURNACE NOR SIBERIA
The temperature of the room where you sleep is very important. I often found out and covered myself all night, because the room temperature was too high when I went to sleep due to the heating and I would add too dry and then decrease at night. Better, as recent studies have shown, to have a temperature of around 19°C.
CAPS AND EYE MASK
To achieve the right serenity it would be optimal to have silence and darkness in the room, but sometimes this is not possible. The neighbor goes to bed later or your partner or companion prefers the light on late, so go eye mask and the best are silk ones. For caps I feel very good with foarm ones, but I try to take breaks, because excessive use irritates my skin.
RELAXING BATH
To relax your muscles why not treat yourself to a nice hot bath? The bathroom not only improves circulation but allows you to have a deeper sleep. In fact, studies have shown that both sleep and thermoregulation are managed by a circadian clock located in the hypothalamus of the brain and body temperature is also affected in the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle: it is higher in the late afternoon and decreases before the usual time whenwe go tosleep, reaches the lowest level in thenight and then goes up, acting as a kind of biological alarm clock, just before the usual awakening.
Therefore, the bagnor hot, resulting in a marked increase in blood circulation ,causesa consequent decrease in body temperature.
TURN OFF YOUR PHONE TWO HOURS BEFORE BED
As I have already mentioned, melatonin is influenced by the presence of light. Tv and digital screens with their blue light can act as inhibitors towards the production of melatonin causing sleep disturbances. I would propose to set the blue light filter on your smartphone and computer as early as late afternoon and use eyeglasses with the blue light filter and finally propose turning off digital devices first, preferring a good book.
