- If you have a problem falling asleep or lie awake for longer periods during the night, get up after about 20 or 30 minutes and leave the bedroom. Occupy yourself with something that gives you pleasure but doesn’t stimulate you very much: Reading, listening to music, ironing, washing up. By no means should you work or do something exciting or invigorating. Go back to bed again when you feel tired enough. If it is necessary, repeat this.
- Try to complete everything in the evening that could possibly occupy you during the night. Always sit down at the same place in the evening, outside the realm of your bedroom and take note as to what things have caused you to worry today, what kind of difficult situations could come up tomorrow. These should be those that you may not, by any means, forget. This makes your head free for more pleasant and relaxing thoughts.
- Avoid looking at the clock at night. The concentration on the time complicates falling asleep.
- In order to be tired enough in the evening, avoid taking an afternoon nap. If you are very exhausted, you can rest and doze a little. Set an alarm clock if you have the inclination to fall asleep.
- Fall asleep, by no means, in the evening watching television. Whoever falls asleep for a couple of hours between the news and bedtime, naturally lacks the necessary fatigue to go to bed and sleep.
- Use the bed exclusively for sleeping. You should not watch TV, read or eat there. The exception would be sexual activities. Remember: you should spend as little time awake in the bed as possible.
- Relaxation procedures can serve to promote rest and relaxation. If you already do autogenous training, you can try this for falling asleep. However, this technique requires a longer learning process and can sometimes stimulate rather than relax because of the necessary concentration required. The so-called progressive muscle relaxation (Jacobson) is easy to learn and has proved itself well. With this method, certain muscle groups are tightened for a short time and then loosened again. As a result of the physical relaxation taking place, a spiritual relaxation can also arise. Enquire about courses at your continuing education programme or other educational institutions. If you like, you can also learn the muscle relaxation in a do it yourself environment for which there is a slew of good books and CDs. Another relaxation procedure is the so-called rest image. You imagine an especially pleasant situation, for example, a nice summer day on the beach. You let the appropriate images of the sun, warmth, gulls etc arise before your eyes. Be aware of what you perceive with your senses: hear, see, smell, feel, taste. In this way you can "slip away" into a relaxing image and switch off.
- Negative thoughts about the sleep often hinder a healthy relation to ones own sleep behaviour. Sometimes one might suppose that health or mental problems during the day correlate to the disturbed sleep. Think about how many nights per week you really sleep badly. Is it really every night, or do you also have good nights? Can it be that you might already be overrating modest sleep disorders? Many people are of the opinion a certain amount of sleep, e.g., eight hours, would have to be, otherwise one usually becomes ill. Possibly you also have unrealistic expectations of your sleep duration and sleep quality. Particularly with older people it is normal that they are briefly awake several times per night. If you feel fine during the day, you should not look at the occasional problem to fall asleep or to sleep through the night as a health danger. If you feel affected by your disturbed sleep, you should speak with your family doctor. He will probably do some examinations or transfer you to an experienced sleep physician.
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