2. CHANGE YOUR DIET AND EXERCISE ROUTINE
While it would be nice to blame insomnia on things we can't control, stress is the leading cause of insomnia. Many cases of insomnia also stem from lifestyle habits:
Caffeine
Alcohol
Eating
Smoking
Exercise
Caffeine
This is the most widely known cause of insomnia; if you are tossing and turning at night, start by tossing out the caffeine. An ingredient in coffee, tea, colas, chocolate, and some medications, caffeine is a stimulant and a nightmare for the sleep-deprived. For the especially sensitive, its effects can last for as long as 20 hours. You know who you are.
Alcohol
Alcohol is tricky. You may argue that liquor acts as a sedative and initially helps to induce sleep. However, alcohol actually lightens and fragments sleep, causing you to wake up as your body metabolizes it. You may think you're out cold, but you're not getting the full-rested sleep that you need. While you're at it, try to limit your intake of any liquids close to bedtime (this time, consider the princess and the pee). The moral of the story: less nightcap, more Happy Hour. Besides, read some alcohol facts. Turns out it's not so great for your brain, either.
Eating
Yes, you tend to feel sleepy after a heavy meal, but the trick's on you: heavy meals actually keep you awake as your digestive system puts in some overtime. Keep track of what you're eating before bed. Also, avoid spicy and fatty foods that cause heartburn, MSG (found most commonly in Chinese food), and foods that cause gas. However, the right kind of eating can improve the quality of sleep as much as undermine it. No matter how much it pains you to admit it, your mother was right about the milk thing. Milk has an amino acid that the body converts to a sleep-enhancing compound in the brain. Calcium is a natural relaxing agent along with several other vitamins such as the B vitamins and magnesium.
If hunger bothers you at night, have a light snack before bedtime. Some foods in particular promote production of melatonin, a hormone associated with the onset of sleep. Among these desirable snacks are cottage cheese, soy nuts, chicken, pumpkinseeds, and turkey. That's why you're such a slug after your Thanksgiving meal. Finally, high-carbohydrate foods such as bread act upon another essential hormone, serotonin, which reduces anxiety and contributes to refreshing sleep.
Smoking
If you won't listen to the American Lung Association, at least pay attention to the bags under your eyes. For the light sleeper, nicotine has to go. It's a stimulant that increases blood pressure, speeds up the heart rate, and stimulates brain activity. Of course, there's also the whole cancer thing. There's plenty of online "quit smoking" support groups, so join one and kick the habit.
Exercise
Regular exercise is a sleep promoter. But if you work out too close to bedtime, the increase in your heart rate and metabolism will make your body too excitable to sleep. So exercise in the late afternoon is ideal, because you then have time in the evening to settle down. In this way, exercise has the same sleep-enhancing effect as a warm bath. Both activities help to raise body temperature, and the body reacts by producing melatonin to take the body temperature back down.
