If you have trouble sleeping, you are not alone.  Statistics indicate that in the USA, about 25% of adults have problems falling asleep at least a part of the time. Many have identified or diagnosed sleep disorders.

Up to 20 million prescriptions are written annually to help people sleep. Other people try a glass of wine or other alcohol.  Taking any non-natural remedy for sleeplessness (pills or alcohol) may have adverse consequences, such as addiction or other side-effects – however, there are alternative holistic methods to help you sleep, and on these pages we discuss the various approaches.

There are also specific issues that are related to insomnia such as restless leg syndrome (RLS), night sweats, and narcolepsy, and we discuss these issues elsewhere on the site.

What we all strive for is to get into a pattern where we sleep well and soundly and awaken the next day refreshed and alert. There are five stages of sleep including Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep which is the type that we need the most, and we need sufficient time with this kind of sleep.  And herein lie some issues.

Sleeping patterns

Many of us are in the wrong sleeping patterns.  We try to sleep when our bodies are not ready to nod off.  People who suffer from jet lag know all about this.  We are awoken by the alarm clock, when our bodies still want to sleep.  Or, we wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.  Therefore, looking at our sleep patterns is an important step, and this opens up the whole area of sleep restriction as a remedy for sleeplessness.  You won’t hear much about sleep restriction on other sites, as it’s something that you can do on your own, but you can read about it here on our page about sleeplessness.

Sleep Apnea

Sleeplessness can also be related to health issues, and in particular sleep apnea. If you snore or have trouble sleeping and especially if you wake up still feeling tired or exhausted, you should talk to your doctor and maybe have a sleep study.  People who have sleep apnea actually stop breathing for a few seconds many times during the night.  This can obviously be quite dangerous.  Although the incidence of people actually dying from sleep apnea is low, there’s a more serious side effect, which is decreased oxygen in the bloodstream.  The safe oxygen level level is 97-100%.  If you hold your breath intentionally, your blood oxygen level can drop as low as 93%.  However, people who suffer from sleep apnea can in extreme cases drop to as low as 40%.  So sleep apnea is a serious issue and you should certainly get it checked out.  Read more specifics about sleep apnea here.

Snoring

Snoring can be an issue not only for you, but for your sleeping partner, others in the house, and sometimes the neighbors!  There are all sorts of remedies, fixes, gadgets, and even surgery for snoring.  However, before you do anything you really should talk to your doctor about sleep apnea, of which snoring is a major symptom.  Read more on this website about snoring.

Stress/Anxiety

Next, there is the whole issue of people who just have trouble falling asleep, or who wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep again. Oftentimes this is caused by anxiety or stress – everyday concerns that manifest themselves in the body in particular ways, and in particular as trouble sleeping.  There are many stress management techniques and methods for setting the body up for relaxation and a good night’s sleep.  read more on this website about stress and insomnia.