Getting a Good Night"s Sleep
Some of us have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep all night.
We toss, turn, and flop around trying to get comfortable.
Our partners get annoyed with us because we can't seem to settle down.
We see commercials on TV that claim that the reason we are not getting a restful nights sleep is because of the bed we are sleeping on.
While that might be true in some cases, the majority of the time it is because of something else.
Stress is a excellent example of why some people can't fall asleep right away or stay asleep all night long.
They are worried about finances, their jobs, school, or any other number of problems in their life.
Sometimes when we are overly tired, our brain just refuses to shut down or shut up long enough for us to relax.
There have been times where I was so tired, due to strenuous activity throughout the day that my brain was moving on fast forward.
It was as if I had a pack of talking hamsters with ADHD running around in my head.
My husband would often throw an arm or leg over me to stop me from flopping around.
I also had a big problem with staying asleep all night.
There were nights where it seemed as though I would wake up every hour.
I would open my eyes, look at the clock, and then flop around because I would find myself wide-awake.
Once I finally drifted back off, my eyes would pop open again and I would start the flopping thing all over.
It was because of my husband that I knew I had to do something about this problem.
He works anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a day.
My tossing and turning was cutting down our six hour a night sleep to five hours or most nights even less.
He started losing energy, waking up more tired than usual.
Because he was so tired during the day, he started to stress over his job performance.
This stress caused him to be more susceptible to the colds and flu germs that would make their way around his work all year long.
I started to get sucked into the bed infomercials on TV because, aside from the flopping around at night, I would also have lower back pain in the morning.
I wasn't ready to spend the ridiculous amount of money these companies were asking for one of these advertized beds.
My husband and I both sleep in the middle of our bed, causing the bed to have a permanent dip after three to four years of use.
I was certain these advertized beds would do the same.
So instead of going to the expense of replacing the bed, I purchased a memory foam type top.
Unfortunately, although the memory foam top did prevent me from waking up with lower back pain, I still flopped back and forth at night.
I was at a loss of what to do next.
Then, I remembered that isochronic tone my husband downloaded for me for my migraine headaches.
After reading a little bit more about isochronic tones, I learned that these tones could cause my brain to reach theta (REM sleep) and delta (NREM sleep) much faster than I could do on my own.
I bought a tone for sleep, put it on my MP3 player, and looped it to play all night long.
I fell asleep pretty quick and stayed asleep all night long.
I was amazed with the results.
The only problem I experienced was the ear buds on my MP3 hurt my ears after being in all night.
I decided that I would go out the very next day and buy a more comfortable pair of ear buds.
I looked at all of the styles the stores had to offer and knew that I would have the same problem with these styles that I did with the ear buds that came with my MP3 player.
My husband suggested that we buy a set of speakers and an adapter to plug in my MP3 player.
We put the speakers on each side at the head of our bed and played the tones all night long.
Again, I fell asleep fast and stayed asleep.
My husband even commented the next morning about how much more rested he felt.
Now, I don't go to sleep without my tones.
It took me no time at all to get used to the fan-like sound.
I also love the fact that the tones are playing just loud enough to drown out the settling noises of our house and the nocturnal sounds of our teenage boys.
One last thing I would like to leave you, do you remember the foam mattress top I bought? Well, it lasted about four months before it, too, sagged in the middle.
If you wake up with lower back pain, try sleeping with a fluffy pillow under your knees.
I found sleeping with my knees bent, puts less pressure on the curve of my lower back.
We toss, turn, and flop around trying to get comfortable.
Our partners get annoyed with us because we can't seem to settle down.
We see commercials on TV that claim that the reason we are not getting a restful nights sleep is because of the bed we are sleeping on.
While that might be true in some cases, the majority of the time it is because of something else.
Stress is a excellent example of why some people can't fall asleep right away or stay asleep all night long.
They are worried about finances, their jobs, school, or any other number of problems in their life.
Sometimes when we are overly tired, our brain just refuses to shut down or shut up long enough for us to relax.
There have been times where I was so tired, due to strenuous activity throughout the day that my brain was moving on fast forward.
It was as if I had a pack of talking hamsters with ADHD running around in my head.
My husband would often throw an arm or leg over me to stop me from flopping around.
I also had a big problem with staying asleep all night.
There were nights where it seemed as though I would wake up every hour.
I would open my eyes, look at the clock, and then flop around because I would find myself wide-awake.
Once I finally drifted back off, my eyes would pop open again and I would start the flopping thing all over.
It was because of my husband that I knew I had to do something about this problem.
He works anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a day.
My tossing and turning was cutting down our six hour a night sleep to five hours or most nights even less.
He started losing energy, waking up more tired than usual.
Because he was so tired during the day, he started to stress over his job performance.
This stress caused him to be more susceptible to the colds and flu germs that would make their way around his work all year long.
I started to get sucked into the bed infomercials on TV because, aside from the flopping around at night, I would also have lower back pain in the morning.
I wasn't ready to spend the ridiculous amount of money these companies were asking for one of these advertized beds.
My husband and I both sleep in the middle of our bed, causing the bed to have a permanent dip after three to four years of use.
I was certain these advertized beds would do the same.
So instead of going to the expense of replacing the bed, I purchased a memory foam type top.
Unfortunately, although the memory foam top did prevent me from waking up with lower back pain, I still flopped back and forth at night.
I was at a loss of what to do next.
Then, I remembered that isochronic tone my husband downloaded for me for my migraine headaches.
After reading a little bit more about isochronic tones, I learned that these tones could cause my brain to reach theta (REM sleep) and delta (NREM sleep) much faster than I could do on my own.
I bought a tone for sleep, put it on my MP3 player, and looped it to play all night long.
I fell asleep pretty quick and stayed asleep all night long.
I was amazed with the results.
The only problem I experienced was the ear buds on my MP3 hurt my ears after being in all night.
I decided that I would go out the very next day and buy a more comfortable pair of ear buds.
I looked at all of the styles the stores had to offer and knew that I would have the same problem with these styles that I did with the ear buds that came with my MP3 player.
My husband suggested that we buy a set of speakers and an adapter to plug in my MP3 player.
We put the speakers on each side at the head of our bed and played the tones all night long.
Again, I fell asleep fast and stayed asleep.
My husband even commented the next morning about how much more rested he felt.
Now, I don't go to sleep without my tones.
It took me no time at all to get used to the fan-like sound.
I also love the fact that the tones are playing just loud enough to drown out the settling noises of our house and the nocturnal sounds of our teenage boys.
One last thing I would like to leave you, do you remember the foam mattress top I bought? Well, it lasted about four months before it, too, sagged in the middle.
If you wake up with lower back pain, try sleeping with a fluffy pillow under your knees.
I found sleeping with my knees bent, puts less pressure on the curve of my lower back.
