Insomnia – is a common sleepless disorder that manifests itself as difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, an insufficient amount of required rest, and waking up for no reason in the middle of the night or early in the morning.
Insomnia significantly affects our quality of life, and physical and even mental health.
Sleep problems can be generally divided into two main types:
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short-term problems that are related to short-term stress and last from several days to a few weeks -
chronic problems that are persistent and often indicate a deeper underlying health problem
Insomnia is not a disease, but merely its symptom. However, serious disturbances in sleep quality can lead to disastrous consequences and the treatment of this sleepless disorder should never be postponed until the next day. The good news is that there is a list of simple and effective methods for preventing insomnia that will help restore proper sleep:
- dentifying the problem and changing your sleep patterns: there is a whole range of gadgets and smart apps that monitor sleep quality and will help determine the problem:
Smart Pillow helps to assess the quality of sleep, through an inbuilt sensor. It allows you to see the frequency of movements during sleep, heart rhythm irregularities and apnoea, thus detecting health problems at an early stage.
Sleepdot is a small gadget attached to the pillow that analyses sleep cycles and phases. It determines the quality of rest and the time spent sleeping, monitors temperature and humidity, and records the frequency of movements.
- Comfortable sleeping environment: often the wrong mattress or pillow causes sleep disorders. Make sure all sleeping accessories fulfil your comfort needs and change them if necessary.
- Avoiding caffeine, alcohol and heavy meals before bedtime: a few hours before going to sleep, you should avoid consuming caffeine and alcohol, which can disturb your rest. An overly heavy dinner makes you feel weighty and cause insomnia and problems falling asleep.
- Relaxation and meditation: relaxation and mind-altering techniques help you calm down and get in the mood for rest while also having a positive effect on the quality of your sleep.
- Medication and psychotherapy: insomnia treatment can be based on medications prescribed by a specialist, which should be taken precisely as instructed. Psychotherapy or cognitive therapy is also used to treat and prevent insomnia and chronic sleep problems.
