Acupuncture, Acupressure, and Massage

How can acupuncture, acupressure, and massage help with insomnia?
Acupuncture, a 5,000 year-old medical treatment involving the insertion of very fine needles into the body at specific points, can have an extremely calming effect on your nervous system. Acupuncture stimulates the production of certain chemicals in the brain, including serotonin, which appear to help you sleep.
Acupressure, a technique involving finger pressure on the same body points as for acupuncture, also helps insomnia. The advantage of acupressure over acupuncture is that you can do acupressure on yourself!
Massage helps you to relax, and, thus, promotes sleep. You can massage your partner or learn self-massage. Foot massages and back massages are great insomnia-busters.
The University of Maryland Medical Center provides information on the benefits of acupuncture, acupressure, and massage treatments for insomnia.

Stress management techniques useflu for insomnia:

Some specific relaxation and stress management techniques helpful for insomnia include:
Relaxation or Stress Management Techniques
Technique
Description
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
First, you tense certain muscle groups, and then you totally relax them.
Abdominal breathing
Slow, deep breathing from your abdomen can be calming.
Autogenic training
Exercises can make your body feel warm, heavy, and relaxed.
Meditation
Focus on breathing, an object, or your body sensations to unwind.
Visual imagery relaxation or self-guided imagery
Close your eyes and imagine a place or activity that is calming and peaceful or one that is soothing in its repetitiveness.
Stress management
Manage your time effectively, take time to breathe deeply, spend time with other people, exercise, and have a positive outlook.
Anger management
Develop a method of releasing anger before you try to go to sleep. You might write in your journal or talk to a friend.
Mental games: word and imagination games
Engaging the mind in something unimportant like spelling or counting backwards can help you relax.

Relax and go to sleep

Learning to be physically and mentally relaxed before going to bed will help you to fall asleep more quickly. You can’t quiet your mind and body immediately, so start winding down at least an hour before bed. Some people find that reading a book, taking a bath, playing solitaire, or working a crossword puzzle slows them down from the activity of the day. Other people benefit most from structured relaxation or stress management techniques. In addition, many relaxation techniques can help you get back to sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night.

What sleep aids and treatments can help to cure insomnia?

Self-help and non-medicinal treatments that might cure insomnia include:
Improved sleep hygiene (sleep habits and sleep environment)
Stress management and relaxation techniques
Acupuncture and massage
Cognitive behavior therapy (cognitive restructuring)
Herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, and homeopathic remedies

Tips for getting back to sleep

Do visualization. Focus all your attention on your toes or visualize walking down an endless stairwell. Thinking about repetitive or mindless things will help your brain to shut down and adjust to sleep.
Get out of bed if unable to sleep. Don’t lie in bed awake. Go into another room and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy. Worrying about falling asleep actually keeps many people awake.
Don't do anything stimulating. Don't read anything job related or watch a stimulating TV program (commercials and news shows tend to be alerting). Don't expose yourself to bright light. The light gives cues to your brain that it is time to wake up.
Get up and eat some turkey. Turkey contains tryptophan, a major building block for making serotonin, a neurotransmitter, which sends messages between nerve cells and causes feelings of sleepiness. Note that L-tryptophan doesn't act on the brain unless you eat it on an empty stomach with no protein present, so keep some turkey in the refrigerator for 3am.
Consider changing your bedtime. If you are experiencing sleeplessness or insomnia consistently, think about going to bed later so that the time you spend in bed is spent sleeping. If you are only getting five hours of sleep at night, figure out what time you need to get up and subtract five hours (for example, if you want to get up at 6:00 am, go to bed at 1:00 am). This may seem counterproductive and, at first, you may be depriving yourself of some sleep, but it can help train your body to sleep consistently while in bed. When you are spending all of your time in bed sleeping, you can gradually sleep more, by adding 15 minutes at a time.

Tips for a better pre-sleep ritual

Keep a regular schedule. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time everyday, even on the weekends. Keeping a regular schedule will help your body expect sleep at the same time each day. Don’t oversleep to make up for a poor night’s sleep – doing that for even a couple of days can reset your body clock and make it hard for you to get to sleep at night.
Incorporate bedtime rituals. Listening to soft music, sipping a cup of herbal tea, etc., cues your body that it's time to slow down and begin to prepare for sleep.
Relax for a while before going to bed. Spending quiet time can make falling asleep easier. This may include meditation, relaxation and/or breathing exercises, or taking a warm bath. Try listening to recorded relaxation or guided imagery programs.
Don’t eat a large, heavy meal before bed. This can cause indigestion and interfere with your normal sleep cycle. Drinking too much fluid before bed can cause you to get up to urinate. Try to eat your dinner at least two hours before bedtime.
Bedtime snacks can help. An amino acid called tryptophan, found in milk, turkey, and peanuts, helps the brain produce serotonin, a chemical that helps you relax. Try drinking warm milk or eat a slice of toast with peanut butter or a bowl of cereal before bedtime. Plus, the warmth may temporarily increase your body temperature and the subsequent drop may hasten sleep.
Jot down all of your concerns and worries. Anxiety excites the nervous system, so your brain sends messages to the adrenal glands, making you more alert. Write down your worries and possible solutions before you go to bed, so you don't need to ruminate in the middle of the night. A journal or "to do" list may be very helpful in letting you put away these concerns until the next day when you are fresh.
Go to sleep when you are sleepy. When you feel tired, go to bed.
Avoid "over-the-counter" sleep aids, and make sure that your prescribed medications do not cause insomnia. There is little evidence that supplements and other over-the-counter "sleep aids" are effective. In some cases, there are safety concerns. Antihistamine sleep aids, in particular, have a long duration of action and can cause daytime drowsiness. Always talk to your doctor or healthcare practitioner about your concerns!

Tips for better daytime habits

Do not nap during the day. If you are having trouble sleeping at night, try not to nap during the day because you will throw off your body clock and make it even more difficult to sleep at night. If you are feeling especially tired, and feel as if you absolutely must nap, be sure to sleep for less than 30 minutes, early in the day.
Limit caffeine and alcohol. Avoid drinking caffeinated or alcoholic beverages for several hours before bedtime. Although alcohol may initially act as a sedative, it can interrupt normal sleep patterns.
Don't smoke. Nicotine is a stimulant and can make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Many over-the-counter and prescription drugs disrupt sleep.
Expose yourself to bright light/sunlight soon after awakening. This will help to regulate your body's natural biological clock. Likewise, try to keep your bedroom dark while you are sleeping so that the light will not interfere with your rest.
Exercise early in the day. Twenty to thirty minutes of exercise every day can help you sleep, but be sure to exercise in the morning or afternoon. Exercise stimulates the body and aerobic activity before bedtime may make falling asleep more difficult.
Check your iron level. Iron deficient women tend to have more problems sleeping so if your blood is iron poor, a supplement might help your health and your ability to sleep.

Youu are on of the ....

Do you have trouble falling asleep? Do you fall asleep easily, then wake up 5 hours later and can't fall back asleep? Do you wake up several times during the night and have trouble staying asleep? If so, you are one of over 100 million Americans who experience some form of insomnia and your sleep may be improved by better sleep habits.

Kids' motives for prescription drug abuse vary

While some teens abuse prescription drugs to get high, most use these medications to treat themselves for pain, anxiety and other conditions for which the drugs are actually indicated, a new study shows.

Teens who use the drugs for recreational purposes were more likely to smoke pot, drink alcohol and abuse other drugs, but non-medical use of prescription medications still constitutes abuse, Dr. Carol J. Boyd of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

"Parents should treat prescription drug abuse just like they would treat marijuana use -- as risky behavior," Boyd said.
Kids may see their parents treating themselves and sharing prescription drugs, while at the same time they are "bombarded" with advertising about these drugs, she added. "They are taking in this information that's ubiquitous; they believe they have enough information now to become their own doctors and pharmacists."

Boyd and her team conducted a confidential survey of 1,086 seventh- through twelfth-grade students on their non-medical use of prescription medication. Twelve percent reported using opioid drugs, 3 percent sleeping medications, 2 percent sedatives or anti-anxiety drugs, and 2 percent had used stimulants.

Three quarters of those who reported using sleep aids said they did so only to go to sleep; 69 percent said they used opioid drugs for pain control only; while 29 percent said they used stimulants only to concentrate better or stay alert.

The more motives a person listed for the use of a drug, the higher he or she scored on a test used to screen for drug abuse risk.
The findings suggest that there are two distinct groups of teens who abuse prescription drugs -- those who get high, and those who self-medicate, Boyd's group suggests.
Even though the kids who are self-medicating are less likely to have drug abuse problems, Boyd noted, they run many other risks, including mixing prescription drugs with alcohol or other drugs.

They may also have medical conditions that could make the use of unprescribed drugs deadly. For example, stimulants can be fatal in people with certain heart problems.