Guaranteed Tips: How To Sleep Without Sleeping Pills

Our body goes in the repair mode when we sleep. Sleeping is absolutely essential not just for physical health, but also for mental wellbeing.

I personally prefer to sleep early and get up early. Whether you are a night owl or a morning person, certain hours of guaranteed sleep without pills is absolutely essential every night.

Yes, night! Our body is designed to sleep at night. This implies that, not just the number of hours of guaranteed sleep, but also the timing of sleep influences the quality of sleep. This is why shift workers often feel tired during a night shift, despite sleeping for eight hours in the day. When I used to work in shifts, I used to find it very difficult to sleep well during the day. The graveyard shift not only disrupted my sleeping pattern, it also played havoc with my eating habits and digestion. Also, I avoided driving back from work after a graveyard shift.

If you are looking for tips about how to not be tired without sleeping, then you will be disappointed, because you will be tired if you don't sleep. If you are considering sleeping pills for graveyard shift, then I would strongly discourage you to take sleeping pills for graveyard shifts. 

While each person has a differing need for sleep, an adult needs about six to eight hours' sleep every day. An infant sleeps the most, with an average of 18 hours a day. As we grow older, our need for sleep decreases. A person in their 70s can do with about three to five hours' sleep.

During sleep, our body is resting. But more importantly, our brain recuperates. It gets time to process the information received through the busy day. Our mind needs this time to re-arrange and re-organise not only information but also emotions.

Many factors cause sleeping disorder or insomnia.

Lack of physical activity: Our body is designed to do physical work. In fact, it is designed to do more physical work, and less mental work. Our modern lifestyle encourages just the opposite. If we are not sufficiently tired physically, it becomes difficult to sleep, especially if we are mentally stimulated.

Excessive caffeine or alcohol: Caffeine in any form - Coke, Pepsi, tea or coffee, disrupts our sleeping pattern. It confuses our body and incorrectly influences our bio-rhythms (our body clock). Alcohol also changes the pattern of rest. 

Stress: Stress makes our mind hyperactive. It gets busy trying to find a solution. Nothing can be more counterproductive than this. We are stressed when we are consciously thinking about a problem, and trying to find a solution. On the other hand, when we sleep, we hand over our problem to our subconscious mind which is better equipped to find a workable solution. Sleep pills are not very effective for relieving stress.

Too much physical activity: This might contradict with my first point. If our body has done extensive physical work, especially during the two hours before retiring to bed, it can interfere with our sleeping. Physical hyperactivity before going to bed is a no-no.

Bad sleeping environment: Mattresses are the singlemost important factor in the sleeping disorders. A firm mattress is good. The mattress must provide good support to our back. Other factors that impact our sleep are: light, noise and temperature. An unfamiliar environment, or presence/absence of a sleeping partner can also have an adverse impact. Did I mention snoring?

Bad habits: If television and laptops are used in the bedroom, that can interfere with our sleep.

1. Discipline: Sleep at around the same time every day. Our bodies are designed to sleep at night, especially soon after the sunset. The more awake you remain after the sunset, the lower the quality of sleep you get.
2. Improve sleeping environment: Don't use laptops, books or television in the bedroom. Our body should associate the bedroom with sleep, and sleep alone. If we begin to associate the bed with books, television or internet surfing, then it becomes difficult to sleep. Also, with the use of television or internet, out mind becomes stimulated.
3. Avoid caffeine or alcohol: Caffeine artificially creates a state of alert. We feel good while the effect lasts - usually for four to six hours. Once the effect subsides, we feel as if all energy has been sucked out of us. Alcohol has a slightly different yet adverse effect. During the first few hours of consumption, alcohol creates a relaxing effect. However, after about six to eight hours, our body begins to produce serotonin, a chemical that's responsible for alertness. This disrupts a healthy sleeping pattern. 
4. Get active: Even moderate exercise can help stimulate good sleep. All we need is a 20-minute brisk walk, swim, run or even a favourite dance form.
5. Listen to music: Listen to soothing music. Music can relax your mind. However, choose your music carefully. Listen to meditative songs. Avoid heavy metal or dance music.
6. Meditate: Meditation removes stress, or at least reduces it.
7. Do yoga: Yoga can not only lower physical stress, it can also create a healthy pressure in your body that is conducive to sleep.
8. Avoid sleeping pills: Sleeping pills only address the symptoms - insomnia. It is the root cause that you need to fix. Ask yourself - what is bothering you? Are you thinking too much about a problem just before sleeping into bed? If you really have to take medicines, then use herbal medicines.
9. Chant: I have found that religious chanting helps me forget the worries that keep me awake at night.
10. Count: If none of the above works, here's a quick fix. This technique works well with me. Here it is. Count backwards, beginning with 500. So, your counting goes like this: 500, 499, 498 and so on. Believe me, it takes a lot of effort to count backwards. Make sure that you don't skip a number or default back to ascending count. If that happens, go back to 500 and start again. If you reach number 1 and are still staring at the ceiling, start again from 500. I have been using this technique for years, and I have never reached 1. Most of the times, I have fallen asleep before reaching even 400.