PREGNANCY-RELATED INSOMNIA

      Difficulty falling or staying asleep is often related to the various symptoms, aches, pains and worries commonly experienced in pregnancy; please tell your provider if this becomes a chronic problem for you even before pregnancy, as you may suffer from clinical depression or anxiety or other health problems that should be evaluated; once more serious conditions have been ruled out, ask your provider for referrals to a classical homeopath, acupuncturist, hypnotherapist or holistic counselor, who can offer effective alternatives to dealing with this problem.  Please remember to consult with your provider before following any advice or using any treatments.

      While insomnia is extremely frustrating at night, if you are managing well during the day, you are probably getting enough sleep and should not worry; your negative moods, fatigue, poor energy, and overall absence of wellness will let you know that this lack of sleep is taking its toll.  There are many foods, drinks and drugs contain stimulating substances such as caffeine that disturb sleep (such as coffee, tea, chocolate, soda, certain cold, asthma, pain and psychiatric medications); avoid these whenever possible, especially after 4 pm, and ask us your provider about alternative prescriptions; avoid alcohol as well – aside from its harmful affect on your unborn baby, it may help you fall asleep initially, but can disrupt your sleep cycle, causing early or frequent waking during the night.

      It is helpful before bedtime, to avoid large meals, drink lots of fluids, and vigorous exercise, also avoid stimulating or upsetting books, movies, or news reports, work stress or arguments, as they rev up your nervous system, make you feel tense, agitated or excited and thus interfere with sleep. 

Here are some more suggestions:

-         shorten your daytime nap or awaken earlier if this is the culprit

-         ttreat the cause if known (heartburn, nasal congestion, leg cramps, backache, frequent urination, and so forth by reading our handout on the particular discomfort that is keeping you awake at night)

-         engage in moderate exercise 30 minutes 5 days per week during the morning or afternoon (such as brisk walking, dancing, swimming, cycling, low impact aerobics); regular aerobic activity has many health benefits, as well as helping you feel more energized during the day and sleep better at night

-         make sure you get plenty of fresh air and adequate exposure to sunlight; weather permitting, try to spend at least 20 minutes outside with nature in the early morning or late afternoon sun each day; at night make your bedroom as dark as possible

-         although life is always stressful, and eliminating all outside stress is not an option; you can learn to activate your own relaxation response and quiet your nervous system with breath awareness and relaxation techniques, thought control, and also by cutting down on the added burdens in your life; while easier said than done, this is an important time to be clear about your priorities; if you feel overstressed, which is interfering with your ability to sleep at night and then function during the day, your body is sending you a warning signal to rearrange your schedule to protect the health of you and your growing baby; don’t be afraid to ask family and friends to help with chores or child care, or even better, if possible, treat yourself to hired help and healthy take-out meals; try to stay away from things and people that agitate your mind and raise your internal tension, and instead surround your self as much as possible with calm centered persons, things, sounds and places that inspire, relax and restore you to inner peace and serenity; make a conscious effort to work on increasing your own positive feelings while letting go of negative ones; most importantly, make a conscious effort to be aware of anxiety provoking, tension causing thought patterns that are not serving you, and to stop them or shift your attention to something more positive and ultimately change your mental state; you have the ability to change your attitude and reaction to life experiences to more health enhancing responses (for example, you can surrender to and totally accept unpleasant events over which you have no power, and/or you can view them as a wake-up call, an opportunity for personal growth and redirection

-         reduce inner tension and increase feelings of calm by taking a “healing interval’ for a few minutes several times per day,  to sit quietly with your eyes closed and think and do absolutely nothing, practice slow deep breathing, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation; a popular relaxation technique is to tense your whole body and then relax each muscle one by one, starting at your head and face, then moving downward, ending up visualizing yourself completely calm, relaxed, heavy and limp like a rag doll or your napping dog or cat

-         develop a regular bedtime relaxation routine such as doing gentle stretching or yoga positions, meditation or gentle breathing exercises, taking a warm bath,

eating a plain baked potato, a slice of whole grain bread or a bowl of oatmeal and drinking warm milk or a soothing tea (like chamomile, raspberry leaf or Japanese twig) sweetened with a dash of honey as needed 30 minutes before bedtime, and then read a boring, technical, difficult or complicated book or magazine in bed

-         before going to bed at night, as well as before rising in the morning and whenever you feel stressed, practice the following breathing exercise: exhale slowly through your mouth with an audible sigh, then inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 4, hold for a count of 7, then exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of 8, and repeat this cycle a total of eight times – this is a natural tranquilizer, especially if you do it often; another great breathwork technique that disengages your conscious attention from thought and relaxes the nervous system, and can be done anytime (like when traveling, waiting in line, resting or before sleep, bathing, or on the toilet) is forced exhalation: after a normal breath, try squeezing as much air out as possible using your intercostal muscles in your chest, then allow breath to come in naturally and deeply, but automatically, and repeat the cycle for several minutes – these techniques are easy to do, totally safe, health enhancing and without side effects, and will help you to calm yourself both during the day and at night so you have a better more restful sleep  

-         add a few drops of  essential oils to your evening bath or onto your pillow

-         make sure your mattress is comfortable, you have enough pillows and blankets, the noise is minimum, and the light, temperature and ventilation are adjusted to your comfort level; many women have had much success with using a white noise generator, which creates soothing sound that helps promote sleep, while others find that earplugs and an eye mask helps to cut out noise and light they can not control; create a restful environment in your bedroom and keep all of the things that cause you stress (like unpaid bills, unfinished work or projects) in other rooms

-         when sleeplessness strikes, don’t worry or fight it; instead try forcing yourself to stay awake with your eyes open rather than fall asleep, and simply lie there and  rest – you may just wake up in the morning; if you are still up in a half an hour, put the light on and read, listen to soothing music or a radio talk show, iron or do some other repetitive chore, and then try again only when you start to feel sleepy

-         if you are having difficulty stopping all the worrisome and anxiety provoking thoughts, write them down with an action plan to deal with them in the morning; now is the time to get out of your mind and focus on your breathing, practice your muscle relaxation techniques, visualization exercises or meditation and use your skills of self mastery

-         set a time 1 – 2 hours after your usual bedtime and force yourself not to go to bed until then (you’ll probably worry more about how to stay awake that long than about your inability to fall asleep, and you’ll be tired the next day, which should help you fall asleep easier the following night; each night, move your “later bedtime” 15 minutes earlier until you’ve forgotten about your insomnia altogether

-         take 1000 mg. of  calcium and 1000 mg of magnesium before sleep (you can lower the magnesium dose if you get diarrhea)

-         if your insomnia is mild and occasional, ask your provider for a referral to a homeopath or acupuncturist

-         try one of the Bach Flower remedies that fits your particular situation, such as White Chestnut, if  persistent unwanted thoughts or mental arguments are preventing sleep

-         if you are interested in herbs, try Gaia’s or Eclectic Institute tincture of Motherwort (5 drops in water or juice and repeat no more than every 2 hours), and/or Skullcap (one dropperful ½ hour before bedtime); Valerian can be used occasionally (take 2 capsules of standardized extract or 10 – 25 drops of the tincture in juice); if you are not pregnant and muscle tension is causing sleeplessness, take 2 capsules of freeze dried extract of Hops at bedtime

-         ideally it is best to avoid sleeping pills on a regular basis, as some can have negative side effects for you and your baby, and they can lead to addiction; please let your provider know if none of the suggestions mentioned above help and you are suffering and at your wits end, as relatively safe medications can be prescribed for occasional use