Can't sleep What can you do besides taking medicine

The quilt is the last gentle township of everyone's day, and one-third of people spend their lives in sleep, and "whether they can sleep well" has become more and more a modern social issue that people pay attention to. When many people talk about coping with insomnia, they directly think of various sleeping pills. In fact, if you want to get yourself a good night's sleep, in addition to taking medicine, doctors have many other good ways.

Are you insomnia?

Insomnia disorder is the most important part of sleep-wake disorder, more than half of the population in China has sleep problems, of which about 20% of adults suffer from severe insomnia disorders, 10% of insomnia will gradually transform into chronic diseases.

Staying up late and insomnia is a frequent topic in the circle of friends, and it seems that everyone has had the experience of insomnia. But from a medical point of view, there are clear criteria for diagnosing insomnia. According to the definition of the World Health Organization, at least 3 nights in a week there are difficulties in falling asleep and /or difficulty maintaining sleep, or there is sleep that cannot restore energy, accompanied by daytime distress or affecting social functioning, and the above symptoms last for more than 3 months before it is considered insomnia disorder.

How to prevent insomnia

Insomnia is very painful, but it can also be prevented through the adjustment of life rules and sleep environment. Therefore, people who always sleep badly should see if the following aspects need to be adjusted.

The first thing to do is to have a regular work and rest and maintain a good biological clock. Adults sleep normally for 7 to 8 hours a day, and 11 to 12 o'clock every night is the most ideal time to fall asleep, because the secreted sleep-related hormones in the body can make people sleepy during this period.

Second, creating a comfortable and warm sleep environment can help improve the quality of sleep. The bed can't be too small or too big. The width of the bed is 2.5 times to 3 times the width of the shoulders, and the height of the bed is 45 cm to 50 cm, and the length should be longer than the height of the sleeping person of more than 20 cm. The thickness of the pillow is usually no more than 10 cm, or it is appropriate to match the height of your own fist. The temperature in the bedroom is 20 to 23 degrees Celsius, avoid sleeping with the lights on.

Finally, self-regulation before bedtime is very important. Nocturnal snorers recommend sleeping optimally in the right recumbent position, which reduces airway obstruction. Meditation and meditation before going to bed are effective methods of mindfulness psychotherapy, sitting cross-legged for 30 minutes before going to bed, concentrating on breathing and maintaining inner peace. There are also some relaxed and beautiful scenes before going to bed, etc., which can help people prevent insomnia to a certain extent.

Insomnia can also be treated without medication

In hospitals, there are also some effective non-drug treatments for insomnia, such as psychotherapy for insomnia, exercise therapy and TCM massage therapy, and insomnia patients may wish to try.

Psychotherapy for insomnia is most effective in the two types of stimulation control methods and sleep time limiting therapy. The stimulation control method is mainly by reducing the stimulation in the sleep environment that is incompatible with sleep, and only doing sleep-related things in bed. For example, insomniacs do not watch TV, play mobile phones, read, etc. in bed; only go to bed when they feel drowsy and sleepy (not tired). For example, after a few hours of exercise, the body feels tired, which is not sleepy, not suitable for sleep, at this time do not go to bed to rest. For example, if you still can't sleep after lying in bed for 15 to 20 minutes, you should get up decisively to do something relaxing, and then go to bed after feeling sleepy.

Sleep time restriction therapy is mainly to use the method of sleep diary to record and adjust the sleep time of insomnia patients, reduce the time of patients waking in bed, and make their time in bed as close as possible to the actual sleep time, so that sleep efficiency (sleep efficiency = actual sleep time / total bed rest time * 100%) to meet the standard, improve sleep quality. The implementation steps of this method are as follows: first fill in the sleep diary every day for 1 week to 2 weeks before the start of insomnia treatment, write down the sleep time, wake up time, total sleep time and total wake time, and calculate the average sleep time in the last 1 week to 2 weeks; then set the actual sleep time (wake up time - average sleep time = bed time), and rest according to the planned sleep time. After a week, the sleep efficiency is calculated according to the new sleep time in the sleep diary, if the average sleep efficiency is higher than 90%, the bed rest time of 15 minutes can be increased, if it is less than 85%, the bed rest time of 15 minutes can be shortened, and if the average sleep efficiency is between 85% and 90%, the original bed rest time can be maintained without adjustment.

Exercise is one of the effective non-drug interventions and treatment methods for insomnia, and it is highly respected at home and abroad. Exercise therapy is mainly based on medium-to-high-intensity aerobic exercise and moderate-intensity resistance exercise to treat insomnia. According to the 2010 World Health Organization exercise guidelines, adults exercise at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (usually brisk walking, jogging) at least 5 times a week. It should be noted that exercise intensity is critical, and low-intensity exercise such as walking does not improve sleep. The elderly are suitable for recommending simple, easy-to-learn baduanjin and so on for exercise.

In Chinese medicine, sleeplessness is a condition in which you cannot sleep normally at night. Some simple TCM massage treatments can be done by insomnia patients themselves to alleviate insomnia. On weekdays, insomnia patients can massage some common acupuncture points on their own, such as Baihui Acupoint and Hegu Acupoint. Baihui Acupoint is located at the intersection of the midline of the head and the connection between the two ear tips, massage the Baihui Acupoint in the center of the head with the palm of the hand, and press 50 times each time in the clockwise direction and counterclockwise direction, 2 to 3 times a day. Hegu Cave, also known as Tiger Mouth, is located between the 1st and 2th metacarpal bones of the palm of the hand, and insomniacs often massage or rub it to have a good calming effect. (Arranged by Gu Yuebing)

Tang Xiangdong, director of the Neurobiological Detection Center of West China Hospital of Sichuan University