Insomnia is a common problem for modern people, and most people will experience insomnia at one time or another in their lives. For those who suffer from insomnia, it is not a long night and no mind to sleep, but a good sleep is hard to buy with a thousand dollars. There are two general solutions to insomnia, medication and non-medication, both of which are more effective, but non-medication methods are generally preferred due to concerns about side effects and other reasons. However, there is a wide variety of non-drug adjustment methods, which are difficult for ordinary people to choose and often difficult to improve sleep effectively, so here I will mainly introduce some non-drug methods that have been widely proven to be effective in improving sleep. Definition of insomnia Insomnia is a subjective experience, mainly dissatisfaction with sleep quality and sleep duration, often manifested as difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking and early awakening. Poor quality of sleep at night is manifested by the absence of wakefulness in the morning and discomfort during the day and affects social functions, such as going to class and work. Simply put, you don’t sleep well, and you don’t have energy during the day. From this, we can see that there is no fixed time standard for getting enough sleep, and we should not stick to the need to get 8 hours of sleep every day. There are big differences between people, the same young people, some people need to sleep longer, some people need a shorter time, and sleep needs will change with age and seasonal changes. For example, Edison slept 3 or 4 hours at night, while Einstein had to sleep 10 hours at night, and it is impossible to say who is better or worse. But in the long run most people sleep about 8 hours a day is good for the body, such as the National Sleep Foundation in the United States in 2015 recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep for adults (6 to 10 hours can also be), 8 to 10 hours for teenagers, and 7 to 8 hours for the elderly. The diagnosis of insomnia is more complex and more demanding in terms of time and frequency. There are also slight differences between the diagnostic criteria, with the more authoritative U.S. diagnostic criteria requiring at least three or more sleep problems per week for more than one month as acute insomnia, and more than three months as chronic insomnia. What should I do if I have insomnia? A common trigger for insomnia is stressful stressful events in life, such as exams, deadline, etc. Some people are prone to insomnia under such stressful events, while others are not. Facing it calmly, developing good sleep habits and reducing anxiety levels are all measures that can reduce insomnia. The following talk describes some common and effective methods. 1, develop good sleep hygiene Bad sleep habits can lead to insomnia, while good sleep hygiene is the basis for improving sleep. Sleep hygiene generally includes: (1) several hours before bedtime should not ingest substances that can lead to excitement (such as coffee, strong tea and cigarettes, etc.). (2) Do not eat too much before bedtime, so as not to upset the stomach affect sleep. (3) before bedtime should not be too do exciting things, such as playing games, watching horror movies, etc. (4) The bedroom environment should be arranged to fit sleep, such as quieter, darker light, etc. (5) to maintain a regular rest and rest time. Also pay special attention to: (1) reduce the use of electronic products before bedtime, such as cell phones and iPads, because the latest research shows that the light of electronic screens may reduce the secretion of melatonin, and strong light affects the biological clock, thus disrupting the sleep rhythm. (2) Do not rely on alcohol consumption to improve sleep. Alcohol consumption may improve sleep in the first stage, but disrupt sleep rhythms in the second stage, such as increased awakenings. Chronic alcohol consumption may lead to poor sleep at night and sleepiness during the day, in addition to a range of other problems, such as alcohol abuse. 2, relaxation Mental tension and physical tension are common triggers of insomnia, and relaxation can speed up sleep and reduce the number of wakings. There is a good saying: sleep first sleep the mind. Many people’s nighttime thinking turns quickly before going to bed, and their moods are difficult to calm, thus leading to insomnia. Common relaxation methods include progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery and abdominal breathing exercises. These three relaxation methods can be found on the Internet to find some recordings to practice, breathing training has a simple and easy method, that is, when inhaling using abdominal breathing, and mentally slowly count 1, 2, 3, 4, and then hold your breath to count 1, 2, 3, 4, and finally exhale to count 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, and when exhaling can also count to 5 or 6. this method is through deep breathing to improve the parasympathetic nerve action, so that This method is to improve the parasympathetic action through deep breathing, so that the brain and body calm down to help sleep. After practicing the above method, you can practice it on your own without guidance before going to bed. In addition, you can also try other ways to relax, such as taking a warm bath, soaking your feet, listening to soothing music, etc. 3, adjust the wrong perception of insomnia people are often afraid of insomnia, overestimating the consequences of insomnia, so they try very hard to keep themselves from insomnia, but precisely this leads to tension and anxiety before going to sleep, making insomnia worse, so that a vicious circle. Therefore, we need to examine our own misconceptions about insomnia to break this vicious circle: (1) Long-term insomnia does have a lot of bad effects, but short-term insomnia is nothing to worry too much about. Even if you have insomnia, the sky won’t fall (don’t worry, you won’t go crazy), and it won’t make you fail in your studies or career. (2) There is no need to be too demanding about sleep, such as environment, sleep time and quality. Try your best to improve your sleep environment, and if you can’t change it you can try to make yourself coexist with these bad environments in harmony to develop tolerance for bad environments and also develop the ability to tolerate insomnia. (3) Don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself by blaming all your problems on insomnia. (4) Do not feel defeated by not sleeping well again, and need to have tolerance for fluctuations in insomnia symptoms. (4) Restore the original function of the bed The function of the bed is mainly to sleep and room, and other things are best not done in bed, such as reading books, watching TV, etc. Lying in bed and wanting to sleep is a good signal for the body to induce sleep, while lying in bed and feeling excited and nervous and worried is a bad signal. To establish such a beneficial reflex, you need to follow the following things: (1) Go to bed only when you feel like sleeping. (2) Do not consider things that cause mood swings before going to bed, such as thinking about things that bother you, planning things, etc. (3) If you do not feel sleepy after 20 minutes of going to bed, get up and leave the room, do something simple (such as drifting off), and come back to bed when you feel sleepy. (4) Wake up regularly every day, regardless of how well you slept the night before. (5) Avoid taking naps during the day. Be careful not to go to make up for sleep during the day, although it is generally believed that a nap at noon has certain benefits, but this may reduce the sleepiness at night for people in insomnia and affect sleep. About bedtime control can not think about things, you can consider arranging a fixed time for yourself to consider arranging repeated thoughts, such as thinking about twenty minutes at six o’clock in the afternoon every day, and then stop thinking about it again and again in sleep. 5, sleep restriction Sleep restriction is not to limit the time to sleep, but to limit the time to go to bed to sleep this period of time to improve sleep efficiency. Many people with insomnia want to increase their sleep time, so they go to bed early and end up in bed for a long time, reducing the efficiency and quality of sleep. Sleep is regulated by biorhythms and sleep homeostasis. Sleep homeostasis is the sleep drive, which increases gradually with wakefulness when awake, and sleep relieves the sleep drive. The biological rhythm of sleep is the biological clock, and it is generally believed that the human biological clock is about 25 hours in a cycle, and it needs to be adjusted by adopting a more fixed sleep routine. Therefore, it is possible to increase the drive for steady-state control of sleep by reducing the time spent awake in bed, and to enhance the regulation of biorhythms by keeping a fixed time to wake up in the morning. This can be achieved by (1) reducing the time spent in bed, starting with an average of 15 to 30 minutes of sleep. (2) Wake up at a regular time each day, regardless of how well you slept the day before. (3) If, after about 10 days, sleep efficiency is below 85% (i.e., the time spent asleep divided by the total time spent in bed), you can further reduce the time spent in bed by 15 to 30 minutes. (4) If the sleep efficiency is above 85%, the bedtime can be increased by 15 to 30 minutes until a satisfactory level is reached. This method may reduce the time of sleep in the early stage, while feeling more serious insomnia. However, if you can stick to it for a few weeks, the effect is still very good. The above non-drug methods, except for the first one which is not applied alone, are comparable to the effect of drugs when applied alone (best with professional guidance) and should be preferred over drugs as the first choice for improving sleep if possible. Some people with insomnia have deviations from the actual estimation of their sleep situation, such as too low estimation of their sleep time. I once saw an old lady who complained that she had not slept for 5 days and watched TV at night, but in fact her family had seen her snoring. Therefore, you can use a sleep diary to record detailed information related to sleep, and also have family members or people who sleep with you to help record whether you snore, talk in your sleep, and other problems. This can be used to clarify the insomnia situation, and also to correct any bad sleep habits that are found. In addition, aerobic exercise (such as jogging) can have a moderate effect on sleep, but it is best not to do it a few hours before bedtime, as it takes time to improve sleep and does not work in a day or two. It is not recommended that people with insomnia try to improve their sleep with so-called natural green herbs; there is no evidence to support the effectiveness of these alternative therapies (in fact, there is still a placebo effect), and they may also lead to unnecessary trouble, such as liver function damage. Finally, if you think you cannot adjust your sleep or if you still cannot improve your sleep after the above methods, you should promptly seek help from a medical professional (sleep center or psychiatry). The above discussion is only for patients with relatively simple insomnia. If there are obvious emotional-psychological problems or other physical problems that affect sleep (such as severe snoring, restless legs syndrome, etc.), you should seek help directly and promptly from medical personnel.