One of the cornerstones of good health is that of adequate and restful sleep. Many people are fortunate, not to have problems sleeping but for others who regularly toss and turn at night, insomnia is a huge recurring problem. It need not be so.

There are many things that you can do to aid sleep, here are just a few:

Ensure the basics are covered, is the bed comfortable, make sure you are not too hot or cold and especially make sure your feet are warm. Feet usually get cold first and can then wake you up.

Embrace the dark, with thick blinds or curtains or even cheaper an eye mask. Sudden changes of light can wake a light sleeper, so if your bedroom windows are near a road and prone to traffic get your eye mask ready and ear plugs if noise is a problem.

Make sure you have a regular bedroom routine, which promotes relaxation, so out goes the strenuous exercise and cups of coffee just before bed. If you must have a hot drink, think hot milk or herbal tea, caffeine is a well known stimulant as the body takes a while to process it, near bedtime is not advised.

A bath and relaxing music can get you in the mood for a deep refreshing sleep. The body likes routine, so regular bedtimes can help promote sleep if you can arrange your schedule.

Finally, worry is one of the major reasons for disturbed sleep; coping with stress can leave the body tense and your brain fretting over your problems while you are desperate for sleep.

To help with this, talk over your problems with someone else, if you don’t wish to with a friend or family member; try a helpline which is anonymous. Sometimes talking about your fears out loud can help you sort through things and get it in perspective. A quick solution is to write down your problem/worry and burn the paper, symbolizing a quick solution, it also is a great visual aid to go to sleep on.

Since I don’t want to rely on prescription medication, I started out seeking tips on how I could cure insomnia sleep disorder naturally. Everywhere I looked for answers it was the same solutions I received, and I found that they weren’t that useful to me. Before I tell you what I did, here are the some usual tips, and why they didn’t work for me:

• Don’t consume caffeine rich substances 12 hours before you sleep
  I don’t like coffee and I can’t drink coca cola or eat chocolate, since too much sugar affect my allergy.

• Put a blindfold on to prevent light from interfering with your sleep
  that is quite useful in bright places, I know I can’t sleep in bright places, but it’s not really that comfortable and where I sleep is quite dark anyways

• Buy a new bed and get a more comfortable environment
  I feel very comfortable, I just need a pillow between my legs, because I always sleep on the side

• Drink hot milk with honey
  I’m allergic to milk

• Create a cool temperature in you room
  I did move to another country, where it is very hot, I bought a electric fan that cools me down, but still I had trouble sleeping

• Don’t eat 3 hours before going to bed, cause digesting will increase your body activity
  I was already doing it that way

• Change your daily rhythm
  that is not really an easy thing to do, I prefer to keep my current rhythm and find another solution

• Learn how to meditate to rid your self of any thoughts and anxious or stressed feelings before sleeping
  an interesting advice, but it takes a good 2 years to get enough experience to control your mental states through meditation.

It was depressing not to find what I was looking for and my hope was starting to fade, “was it impossible to cure insomnia sleep disorder naturally?” I kept researching until the answer to my prayers were finally heard. I found something that would seem like magic.

The magic solution to my frustrations, would lie in something mysterious called “binaural beats?”.

The cool thing about magic is that you don’t have to know anything about it, for it to work. Still it’s great to gain more knowledge, so I give you.

The science and magic behind binaural beats:

What are binaural beats and why are they so powerful?

Since the brain is the key to activate all our emotional energy and chemistry within body and mind.

It was crucial to find a way to control my mind if I were to sleep well.

Binaural beats is an old science, it was used to determine different mental illnesses over 100 years ago. Continued research discovered that it was possible to alter our state of consciousness, by sending harmonic sound waves with different frequencies into each ear. The difference between the two sounds waves would result in what we call a binaural beat. The are 5 frequencies (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, theta), but for the sake of this article I will only tell you about two I needed to understand to cure insomnia sleep disorder naturally.

Theta and Delta waves:

Theta waves occur in our REM sleep (also known as Rapid Eye Movement sleep). REM sleep is also where we experience vivid dreams and deep meditation, in this stage our muscles are paralyzed so we will relax and avoid moving and acting out our dreams. Some people have a sleeping disorder where they’re not paralyzed when they dream, which makes them act out their dreams.

Delta waves occur in our NREM sleep (also known as Non Rapid Eye Movement sleep) which is the deep sleep where we regenerate and recover energy, dreaming is rare in this stage and the body and muscles are not paralyzed. If we don’t get the delta sleep we will be tired and fatigued during the hours we are awake.

The power of binaural beats

These harmonic sound waves are proven to alter the state of consciousness, which means if you can’t sleep they harmonic sounds will “force” you to sleep. That is what saved me from going crazy. The more I used binaural beats as a sleeping aid, the more relaxed I was able to be on my own. Now I’m full of energy and rarely use these harmonics and this was the solution for me.

Are you sick of being labeled a lumberjack in the morning Is “sawing logs” during the night causing you grief Well, if you’re like me and have a problem with snoring, read on for some tips to help you out.

To make the most of your efforts to com” target=”_blank” title=”Memory Foam Mattresses”>stop snoring, it’s helpful to understand what exactly causes you to snore.  Simply put, snoring is a result of the narrowing of your air passages. When the air passage is constricted, the soft, floppy tissue in your throat vibrates and creates the snoring sound.  The narrowing of the air passage can be accredited to several different reasons, but the two that are most frequently associated with snoring are poor sleep posture and abnormalities of the soft tissues in your throat[1].

Abnormalities, you say   Well, yes ” but don’t worry.  I promise you’re not weird or anything, and you’re certainly not alone. Chances are that if you’re a middle aged man, these irregularities will apply to you. Men naturally have narrower air passages than women, and that explains why it’s mostly men who are condemned to the couch at night. Another reason for such irregularities can be attributed to heredity: if your mom or dad snored, chances are they passed it along to you.  Other factors that can cause your throat to relax more and create that unpleasant snoring sound include smoking, a history of asthma or allergies, alcohol, certain medications, and just being middle aged.

Now that we’ve pinpointed some of the reasons you snore, let’s take a look at what you can do to stop the problem. The first step is to make some small changes to your bedtime routine, and the following are a few tips to help keep the sawmill quiet when you get between the covers:

• Sleep on your side ” If you snore while laying on your back, turn on your side. If you can’t seem to help lying on your back, try the tennis ball trick: simply sew a tennis ball on the back of your sleep shirt. The ball will create an uncomfortable feeling when you start to roll onto your back that will help keep you on your side.
• Elevate your head ” Elevating your head will help you breathe easier. To do this, you could either sleep on a thicker, firmer pillow, or even try raising the head of your entire bed some four to five inches, and thereby sleep without a pillow.
• Avoid eating before bedtime ” This is recommended because certain foods and beverages can increase mucus in your air passages.  Specifically, you should avoid high-fat, milky products [or even soy milk products, for that matter].
• Avoid alcohol and certain medications before bedtime ” These items can increase relaxation of both the throat muscles and the tongue, which will narrow your air passages and restrict breathing.
• Lose weight ” One of the most effective ways to end snoring is by simply losing weight, even a little bit. The reason: your throat contains fatty tissues too, and the fewer you have, the more open your air passage becomes.
• Clear your nasal passages ” That “stuffed-up” sensation means that inhalation is being blocked.  Such a blockage of the air passages though the nose will create a one-way vacuum through your mouth and consequently increase snoring.  Be sure to blow your nose and apply a nasal strip before you go to sleep.
• Stop smoking ” This is probably the most obvious tip to end snoring because just about everyone knows that smoking is one of the unhealthiest things you can do. If you cannot give up smoking, however, try to not smoke at least before you go to bed, as it will increase relaxation of the throat muscles and significantly restrict your breathing.
• Purchase a memory foam mattress “  Memory foam is known to enhance blood circulation that will nourish your lungs, and thereby improve your breathing.  This particular type of mattress also helps sleepers avoid having to shift positions [which can help you remain on your side at night instead of lying on your back2].

If your snoring persists in spite of taking these steps, you may need to seek professional medical help.  Observation by a either a dentist or an ear, nose, and throat specialist may reveal specific problems that are beyond your own control, and in these instances, you may be prescribed the use of particular devices such as a CPAP [Continuous Positive Airway Pressure] machine, or a mouthpiece which will keep your air passages open throughout the night. Some extreme cases may even require surgery.

Whether you’re a mild snorer or someone at risk of having a chronic snoring disorder that requires medical attention, one thing is certain: you need to monitor the problem and get some help if your own efforts to control it don’t work.  Snoring, believe it or not, can be both an indicator and a cause of serious health risks that can take a toll on your body.  A lack of air through those passages at night will create pressure on your heart, which is often linked to high-blood pressure.  Just a simple case of snoring is often not the problem, and sleep apnea may instead be the proper diagnosis.  This disorder occurs when the air passage is so constricted during the night that breathing completely stops, and the sufferer will often wake up for a second to gasp for the next breath ” thus interrupting their REM cycle.  When REM sleep is interrupted, a fatigued feeling is prevalent throughout the next day.  In the worst cases, the sleeper may not wake up at all, and the problem can be fatal.

My best advice for all you lumberjacks out there: try to get some relief from the tips I’ve listed, but above all, don’t ignore the problem.  It could be more serious than you think.