Sleeping problems

When worrying and stress are keeping you up at night, you need help. Your body needs to sleep and rest from the worries of your day - both for your health and for your sanity. But when you simply can't close your eyes and go to sleep, you need help and some relaxation methods that will make sleep come more easily. Here are a few that really work.

• Create a routine - Too often, we simply just go to bed when we feel we are tired instead of training our bodies to go to bed at a particular time. Choose a time when you want to go to bed and start going to bed at that time every night. This will help to change your body's responses and allow it to expect to sleep at this time. By changing your rhythm, you will increase your ability to fall asleep. But this also means that you need to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day for the best results.
  
  
• Try a small snack before bed - While so many diet plans will admonish any eating after dark, it can sometimes help to calm your body down and make it sleepy. Of course, you don't want to eat a four course meal, but a small 100 to 200 calorie snack that has protein and carbohydrates in it will be sufficient. Try having a few crackers and a nonfat yogurt before bed, for example.
  
  
• Get out of bed if you can't sleep - We also seem to think that if we stay in bed long enough, we will fall asleep. While this is true to a certain extent, you are also creating a negative association between your bed and falling asleep. If you find that you can not fall asleep, get up and get out of bed. Try reading in another room until you are sleepy again and then come back to bed. You are teaching your body that bed is for sleeping and this will make bedtime much easier.
  
  
• Try calming herbs - Under your doctor's supervision, you might want to try some calming herbs like chamomile. These can be made into a tea or taken as a supplement before bed.