Insomnia

Insomnia (sleeplessness) is a common com­plaint. Many people who utter this complaint are getting more sleep than they think; they remember the hours they were tossing about and forget the time they were asleep.

Everyone has occasional sleepless nights, usually after a particularly worrisome day. But persistent insomnia deserves a careful medical check-up and not frantic self-medication.

Excessive fatigue is sometimes a cause of insomnia; a person may be just too tired to sleep. On the other hand mild exercise, like a short walk before going to bed, may induce sleep.

Eating habits may be a factor in insomnia. One person may be kept awake because he has had too heavy an evening meal, another because he is really hungry. Coffee, tea, and other cerebral stimulants taken late in the day have different effects on different people. Some will not be bothered by them; others will be kept awake. Personal experience is the only test.

You may not be sleeping because your room is too hot or too cold, too noisy or too light. These factors can usually be corrected. A change to a more comfortable bed and mat­tress may also help. If the failure to sleep has deep psychological origins, improvement in the physical factors of the sleeping quarters will not help much

Relaxation of mind and muscles is the key to falling asleep. That is why many of the time-honored techniques of getting to sleep often work. These include leisurely retiring, reading or listening to music before retiring, taking a warm (not hot) bath, counting sheep (or anything else), breathing deeply and rhythmically, consciously attempting to relax the muscles.

The greatest single cause of sleeplessness is simply the fear that one is not getting enough sleep. Sleep needs differ. When you go to bed. feel confident that you will get enough rest, whether you sleep or not.