Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
Hello!!!
Saw many of yr posts. There is a lot of things u can do when u can't sleep. I do not know how to fall asleep for many years due to stress. Bn seeing lots of doctors/experts/therapists.
I get back to sleep recently. It is easy. I hope this can help.
- MEDICINE: I tried quite a few types of medicines (western) & quite a few Chinese doc.
Only Amitriptylene & Stilnox (or called Ziplicone) work & Chinese herbal tea from only ONE of the Chinese doc I met.
Now good traditional diet / Chi Gong / basic breathing exercise bring me back to sleep like a baby - NO MEDICINE NEEDED.
Our illness has increased rapidly is because the 'new diet' has replaced the traditional good one. On top of that, we have a stressful life with all these hi-technology making us work quicker without rest in our mind.
Example, read meat is bad for u (but in fact too much chicken is bad for u); Drink more water (but u do not need so much); Sugarfree is better (infact you cannot function without good sugar) etc etc.
Do not eat/drink : Chicken; egg; chocolate; honey; coffee; dragon-eye (fruit); Lychee; Fibre part of fruit.
- If u eat a lot of CHICKEN, then don't. Balance with beef, lamb, pork, duck etc. I started losing my sleep was when I had chicken 6 times a week. I didn't know until I met a doc who told me my diet was wrong. Less junk food, try to hv food with no preservatives. So no E number stuff (killer E202).
Do not eat dinner too late. At least 3 hrs before bed.
If u like rice, eat it during lunch. No rice at dinner time. Just eat meat & veg.
When u marinate meat, use salt (instead of soy sauce) + sugar.
- FRUIT, u can eat fruit early of the day but not later of the day or at night. but if u do want to hv fruit, then take the juice but not the fibre part/pulp. Fibre is too much for us to digest late in the evening.
Do not eat apple later of the day. Eat apples in the morning only.
Mango, it is yummy but do not eat too much.
Kiwi / dragon fruit are good.
- Amazingly, we can take SUGAR before bed. But drop ALL the bad sugar fm drinks like coke or any fake sugar/sweetener. Only take raw cane sugar. U can take a spoonful before u brush your teeth.
OR you can take 4-5 spoonful of raw cane sugar in 1/2 cup of hot water and drink with lemon juice (again no pulp).
- There is ROCK SUGAR (huge piece - not the tiny one processed with sodium dioxide) probably fm Chinese supermkt. If u drop all the bad sugar, u can take this good sugar. Good sugar can help your body function properly, especially when u r so exhausted, your sugar level is low. When u do not hv enuf sleep & if u r depressed due to lack of sleep, yr body burn sugar rapidly so the rest of yr body feel really tired & not wanting to work. U will hv headache as well. So good sugar will help yr body function.
You smash the rock sugar down to small pieces and suck it like sweet. It tastes really good.
- WATER, do not drink too much water. Only drink it when u r thirsty. We only need 4-5 glasses a day. The more you drink, the more yr bladder has to work (for nothing). Urinating is for getting rid of waste from yr body. If you drink a lot of water, your bladder & kidney keep working and just urinating water - that is not what they are there for. Unless the relative humidity is really low in yr country or you do a huge amount of exercise, you only need 4-5 glasses a day. Let your body filter the bad stuff out. The more water you drink, the more thirsty you are. When u r thirsty, you can try rock sugar.
NO fluid 2 hours before bed. If u r very thirsty before bed, take raw cane sugar or rock sugar.
- EXERCISE, if you have a bad night sleep, try to rest and not to do exercise. People like us having long term sleepless night are exhausted already. Should not do exercise. You can do very light exercise like Chi Gong or Tai Chi to energise yourself but not running, aerobics, difficult yoga, lifting weights....LET YOUR BODY REST. You cannot sleep is because your body is talking to you - showing you sign that you have overworked yourself.
- BREATHING EXERCISE
Practise breathing in bed. This might take a few weeks before you start feeling the effect. But it works - it is kind of similar to yoga breathing. I learnt this when I learnt Chi Gong and it helped me a lot.
- Tighten your pelvet floor muscle the whole time (the muscle between your pee pee & poo poo holes)
- Inhale with tummy sticking out lightly; having the thought of the air flowing from 'dan tin' (4 width of fingers below bellybutton, approx 2-3inches below belly button) up to fill up your lungs.
- Exhale: releasing air from lungs back down to 'dan tin'. Gently tucking yr tummy back in
- Everytime there is a thought (any thought) in your head, try to clear it and not think about it. Concentrate on your breathing/only think of the air flowing direction when you breathe, listen to your breathing. The first few times, you might have difficulties of getting rid of thoughts in your head. After a couple of weeks, you can then control your thoughts and just concentrate on your breathing. You should then be able to sleep without you knowing.
Remember it takes time to practise. No need to push or feel desperate. Just relax, the time will come.
* When you feel tight/tensed on your body, you can do the above breathing exercise to trap air inside your lungs to energise yourself. Remember thought of air is from tummy up to lungs when u breathe in (ignore the actual movement fm nose to lungs).
- WHEN YOU CANNOT SLEEP, tell yourself it is ok and it is normal - let your body relax with no anger, no frustration. Think of nice things - people you love, nice things which happened, even childhood event that you fond of. Carry on with breathing exercise.
- TV : try not to watch TV 15-30mins before bed.
- Computer : same as TV. If u hv to sit in front of computer for a long time, try to move around every 15mins - like *stretch your neck, roll your shoulders, twist your back, wiggle your bum, stand up for a moment, move your fingers (tightening as fist & release stretch), roll your wrists, stretch your legs/toes, roll your eyes, stretch your jaw (open yr mouth wide). You can blend in the breathing method above to these little movements. You can feel that the real energy inside your body will be healing you.
*stretch your neck: do not roll yr neck round cos it is not good for the joints in the neck part becos the way the joints are connected. You can stretch yr neck by moving to the right/left/up/down.
Good Luck everyone. Hope you have lovely sleep again. I know how you feel because I had insomnia since many moons ago.
Love to hear from you if this work for you. It works for many of my friends.
Lots of love,
Z
Saw many of yr posts. There is a lot of things u can do when u can't sleep. I do not know how to fall asleep for many years due to stress. Bn seeing lots of doctors/experts/therapists.
I get back to sleep recently. It is easy. I hope this can help.
- MEDICINE: I tried quite a few types of medicines (western) & quite a few Chinese doc.
Only Amitriptylene & Stilnox (or called Ziplicone) work & Chinese herbal tea from only ONE of the Chinese doc I met.
Now good traditional diet / Chi Gong / basic breathing exercise bring me back to sleep like a baby - NO MEDICINE NEEDED.
Our illness has increased rapidly is because the 'new diet' has replaced the traditional good one. On top of that, we have a stressful life with all these hi-technology making us work quicker without rest in our mind.
Example, read meat is bad for u (but in fact too much chicken is bad for u); Drink more water (but u do not need so much); Sugarfree is better (infact you cannot function without good sugar) etc etc.
Do not eat/drink : Chicken; egg; chocolate; honey; coffee; dragon-eye (fruit); Lychee; Fibre part of fruit.
- If u eat a lot of CHICKEN, then don't. Balance with beef, lamb, pork, duck etc. I started losing my sleep was when I had chicken 6 times a week. I didn't know until I met a doc who told me my diet was wrong. Less junk food, try to hv food with no preservatives. So no E number stuff (killer E202).
Do not eat dinner too late. At least 3 hrs before bed.
If u like rice, eat it during lunch. No rice at dinner time. Just eat meat & veg.
When u marinate meat, use salt (instead of soy sauce) + sugar.
- FRUIT, u can eat fruit early of the day but not later of the day or at night. but if u do want to hv fruit, then take the juice but not the fibre part/pulp. Fibre is too much for us to digest late in the evening.
Do not eat apple later of the day. Eat apples in the morning only.
Mango, it is yummy but do not eat too much.
Kiwi / dragon fruit are good.
- Amazingly, we can take SUGAR before bed. But drop ALL the bad sugar fm drinks like coke or any fake sugar/sweetener. Only take raw cane sugar. U can take a spoonful before u brush your teeth.
OR you can take 4-5 spoonful of raw cane sugar in 1/2 cup of hot water and drink with lemon juice (again no pulp).
- There is ROCK SUGAR (huge piece - not the tiny one processed with sodium dioxide) probably fm Chinese supermkt. If u drop all the bad sugar, u can take this good sugar. Good sugar can help your body function properly, especially when u r so exhausted, your sugar level is low. When u do not hv enuf sleep & if u r depressed due to lack of sleep, yr body burn sugar rapidly so the rest of yr body feel really tired & not wanting to work. U will hv headache as well. So good sugar will help yr body function.
You smash the rock sugar down to small pieces and suck it like sweet. It tastes really good.
- WATER, do not drink too much water. Only drink it when u r thirsty. We only need 4-5 glasses a day. The more you drink, the more yr bladder has to work (for nothing). Urinating is for getting rid of waste from yr body. If you drink a lot of water, your bladder & kidney keep working and just urinating water - that is not what they are there for. Unless the relative humidity is really low in yr country or you do a huge amount of exercise, you only need 4-5 glasses a day. Let your body filter the bad stuff out. The more water you drink, the more thirsty you are. When u r thirsty, you can try rock sugar.
NO fluid 2 hours before bed. If u r very thirsty before bed, take raw cane sugar or rock sugar.
- EXERCISE, if you have a bad night sleep, try to rest and not to do exercise. People like us having long term sleepless night are exhausted already. Should not do exercise. You can do very light exercise like Chi Gong or Tai Chi to energise yourself but not running, aerobics, difficult yoga, lifting weights....LET YOUR BODY REST. You cannot sleep is because your body is talking to you - showing you sign that you have overworked yourself.
- BREATHING EXERCISE
Practise breathing in bed. This might take a few weeks before you start feeling the effect. But it works - it is kind of similar to yoga breathing. I learnt this when I learnt Chi Gong and it helped me a lot.
- Tighten your pelvet floor muscle the whole time (the muscle between your pee pee & poo poo holes)
- Inhale with tummy sticking out lightly; having the thought of the air flowing from 'dan tin' (4 width of fingers below bellybutton, approx 2-3inches below belly button) up to fill up your lungs.
- Exhale: releasing air from lungs back down to 'dan tin'. Gently tucking yr tummy back in
- Everytime there is a thought (any thought) in your head, try to clear it and not think about it. Concentrate on your breathing/only think of the air flowing direction when you breathe, listen to your breathing. The first few times, you might have difficulties of getting rid of thoughts in your head. After a couple of weeks, you can then control your thoughts and just concentrate on your breathing. You should then be able to sleep without you knowing.
Remember it takes time to practise. No need to push or feel desperate. Just relax, the time will come.
* When you feel tight/tensed on your body, you can do the above breathing exercise to trap air inside your lungs to energise yourself. Remember thought of air is from tummy up to lungs when u breathe in (ignore the actual movement fm nose to lungs).
- WHEN YOU CANNOT SLEEP, tell yourself it is ok and it is normal - let your body relax with no anger, no frustration. Think of nice things - people you love, nice things which happened, even childhood event that you fond of. Carry on with breathing exercise.
- TV : try not to watch TV 15-30mins before bed.
- Computer : same as TV. If u hv to sit in front of computer for a long time, try to move around every 15mins - like *stretch your neck, roll your shoulders, twist your back, wiggle your bum, stand up for a moment, move your fingers (tightening as fist & release stretch), roll your wrists, stretch your legs/toes, roll your eyes, stretch your jaw (open yr mouth wide). You can blend in the breathing method above to these little movements. You can feel that the real energy inside your body will be healing you.
*stretch your neck: do not roll yr neck round cos it is not good for the joints in the neck part becos the way the joints are connected. You can stretch yr neck by moving to the right/left/up/down.
Good Luck everyone. Hope you have lovely sleep again. I know how you feel because I had insomnia since many moons ago.
Love to hear from you if this work for you. It works for many of my friends.
Lots of love,
Z
NO ALCOHOL, we are alcohol intolerance. Alcohol used to send me to sleep like a baby until I started this illness.
I can guarantee this info works cos a lot of my friends try it.