REMEDIES THAT HELP INSOMNIA
Baths:- Having a bath is extremely useful in the treatment of insomnia. A warm bath, lasting from ten to twenty-five minutes with the addition of some soothing aromatherapy oils such as pine needle extract - - which is useful in overcoming insomnia due to fatigue, exhaustion or worry.
Upon emerging from this bath, the individual should wrap themselves in a warm towel until all the moisture is absorbed, when ready put on their pajamas night sink peacefully into sleep.
Also something called tonic baths have been found of great remedial value. In hydro establishments they consist in the vigorous application of water, alternately hot and cold, from the shower hose.
Taken during the day, the tonic bath invigorates the patient, invites him to beneficial effort such as exercise, it induces the sensation of relaxation and improves the circulation and nutrition. Taken at the bedtime hour, it has a sedative effect.
At home this treatment can be done under the shower a blast of warm water followed by a blast of cold water.
Extremes of temperature should be avoided, as otherwise the end which is desired may be defeated and the patient becomes more excited than before.
Massage:- Insomniacs whose sleep disturbance can be traced to mental causes find great relief in massage. The best results are obtained by subjecting the patient to gentle massage and inducing physical reaction and mental appeasement by light surface contact.
Massage for insomnia must vary with the patient. A high-strung, nervous patient should be treated in the morning or early in the day - otherwise he or she will get wide-awake and excited.
Others will be soothed and fall into a quiet sleep after an evening treatment. The person doing the massage should not talk to the person.
In many instances, massage of the feet is of great service. I have also observed that in cases of sleeplessness springing from the continued occurrence of the same train of thought, the insomnia will yield to light massage of the head. Many nervous individuals go to sleep easily while their hair is being smoothed.
Bedtime Suppers:- Whether or not insomniacs should take food upon retiring is a question frequently asked. All that can be said is that it depends upon the individual and upon his habits and customs.
It is a fact that the average human being feels a physical drowsiness after taking food. This phenomenon occurs not only in human beings, but in all animals.
Those who are accustomed to taking only a light supper and that early in the evening find their sleeping greatly benefited by taking a glass of milk and a biscuit, a cup of hot malted milk or a cup of hot broth on retiring.
Overeating can cause indigestion which in turns gives insomnia.
DRUGS FOR INSOMNIA
Drugs are not a Cure:- Insomnia cannot be cured by drugs. To compel sleep by sedatives is not to cure sleeplessness. It is idle to attempt to cure insomnia by the taking of drugs whose most striking effect is to produce it. Not only is it bound to fail, but nearly always it leads to the formation of a habit.
When the brain has been overtaxed by engrossing work or when the nervous system has been shattered by severe shock, exhausted by terrible anxiety or worn by excitement or vigils. It’s with caution that a sedative may bring repose to the body and refreshment to the brain and so break the wakeful habit and restore the sufferer's confidence. But this is not a cure of insomnia nor is it a license to take narcotics whenever one is wakeful.
But no word of warning can be too loud against the general use of narcotics. Most of these drugs are injurious and health destroying and their repeated continuance and administration is both unscientific and dangerous.
In view of the fact that the truth of this statement is universally admitted, it is difficult to understand how some supposedly intelligent persons are willing to jeopardize their health and happiness by taking drugs on the slightest provocation. The administration of narcotics leaves the cause of the sleeplessness untouched. The system becomes accustomed to the drug and larger and larger doses are required to produce the desired effect.
Even when this effect is produced, it is at the expense of impaired digestion, disordered circulation and deterioration of the blood. On the morale of drug takers the effect is even more disastrous.
Why lie awake till dawn when the peace of oblivion may be had through the absorption of an allegedly harmless pill. Chiefly because each succeeding pill or potion diminishes the resistance and impairs the manhood of the individual who takes it. We constantly hear it said that modern narcotics are harmless. This is not true. These drugs often more difficult to break.
OTHER TREATMENTS HELPFULL TO INSOMNIACS
Training the Mind:- Since the chief source from which insomnia flows has to do with a troubled mind, it follows that the most effective remedy is the restoration of tranquility and the bringing of the mind under control.
Where there is fear of sleeplessness this fear must be banished. If the insomniac is in a state of mental irritability he must force from his mind the thoughts that cause such irritability. Just as he would force from his hearing the conversation that is all about him while he is being spoken to over the telephone.
If instead of allowing fear of approaching business disaster to fill his thoughts the insomniac will busy his brain observing and noting his breathing and bring all his mental attention to the task of aspiration and exhalation in slow measured tempo. Soon you'll find that your are sleeping peacefully.
Physical Aids:- "Assume an easy position, with the hands resting over the abdomen. Take a long, slow, but easy natural breath in such a way as gradually and gently to lift the hands outward by the action of the abdomen.
At the same time gradually and slowly open the eyes, so that at the end of the inhaling they are wide open and directed upward. Let the breath out easily and naturally, letting the hands fall inward as the outward pressure of the abdomen is withdrawn. At the same time let the eyes drop and the eyelids naturally fall by their own weight, so that they are closed at the end of the expiration. Do all this quietly and naturally. Do not make hard work of it.
"Repeat the inspiration and expiration with opening and lifting, dropping and closing of the eyes ten times. Then take ten breaths in the same way, allowing the eyes to remain closed. Alternate ten breaths with closed eyes.
"When the eyelids begin to feel heavy, and you feel tired and sleepy, as you will very soon, go through the motions more and more easily and lazily, until you merely will the motions without making any effort, or hardly any effort, to execute them. At this stage, or, more likely, in one of the intervals of breathing without any motion of the eyes, you will fall asleep.
"It induces the respiration that is characteristic of normal sleep. It tires the set of muscles the tiring of which is one of the favorite devices for producing hypnosis. It produces and calls attention to certain sensations in the eyelids which are the normal precursors of sleep."
Exercise:- This leads to the consideration of exercise as an add-on in the treatment of insomnia. Probably nothing that the insomniac can do will bring such gratifying returns as appropriate exercise. The best sort of exercise will be the kind that he likes to take and that will fatigue.
For the hunter, it is tramping with a gun on his shoulder and a dog at his heels; for the golfer it is going for a game of golf with opponent whom he can beat on the seventeenth green.
Most insomniacs, however, must content themselves with walking and bicycling, and such simple gymnastics as medicine ball and tennis, while for others boxing, fencing, swimming, rowing, tennis, squash, and riding may be possible. Or go for a walk this is the exercise that may be recommended.
Food and Drink Before Retiring:- "Exercise should precede meals, not immediately follow them; the first promotes, the latter, unless moderate, obstructs digestion. If, after exercise, we feed sparingly, the digestion will be easy and good, the body lightsome, the temper cheerful, and all the animal functions performed agreeably. Sleep, when it follows, will be natural and undisturbed.
Observe, however, that the quantities of food and exercise are relative things; those who move much, may and indeed ought to, eat more; those who use little exercise, should eat little. In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats about twice as much as nature requires. 'Suppers are not bad, if we have not dined; but restless nights naturally follow hearty suppers, after full dinners. Indeed, as there is a difference in constitutions, some rest well after these meals; it costs them only a frightful dream, and an apoplexy, after which they sleep until Doomsday.
Other Devices:- "A shock of cold water has always appeared to me, generally speaking, as too violent, and I have found it much more agreeable to my constitution to bathe in another element. I mean cold air. With this view, I rise almost every morning and sit in my room without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing.
"When you are waked by any uneasiness, and find you cannot easily sleep again, get out of bed, beat up and turn your pillow, shake the bedclothes well, with at least twenty shakes, then throw the bed open, and leave it to cool; in the meanwhile, continuing undressed, walk about your chamber, till your skin has had time to discharge its load, which it will do sooner, as the air may be drier and colder. When you begin to feel the cold air unpleasant, then return to your bed; you will soon fall asleep, and your sleep will be sweet and pleasant.
"Those who do not love trouble and can afford to have two beds, will find great luxury, in rising when they wake in a hot bed, and going into the cool one. Such shifting of beds would also be of great service to persons ill of a fever, as it refreshes, and frequently procures sleep."
