Try this simple technique the next time you struggle to get off to sleep.

Lay on your back, in bed or somewhere you can safely drop off to sleep.

Take a deep breath in, hold it for a second then slowly let it go.
Do the same thing again – counting down from 10 to 1 – Focusing your attention on your breath.
After each breath feel your body getting more and more relaxed.
Notice how your muscles get softer

Just by doing this you should already be in a very peaceful state.

Now, without forcing it, just imagine yourself waking up after a GREAT nights sleep.
You feel refreshed and ready for the day.
Imagine that you slept through the night.

This is just like day-dreaming only now it’s you directing the action!

At first it may seem a bit weird, but rest ashured it will get easier with practicw.

When you start out with this exercise just aim for about 1 minute then stretch it out to 5 or 10 minutes.
Last thing at night is best for this – but it will also help if you do it first thing in the morning too.

Aim to do this for 2 -3 days before you notice any difference.
What you are doing is re-programming your mind, so it may take some time!

But stick with it and you should notice a change. Hopefuly you will start to expect to sleep well, then it will all start to flow naturally.

Give it a try – it’s free after all and no-one needs to know that you are doing it!
It certainly works for me.

There are several herbs that are also recommended as natural remedies for insomnia, Valerian root is a common choice or similarly catnip root or dried chamomile flowers are all good options and are taken as an infusion (i.e. pour boiling water over the ingredients and leave for 5 – 10 minutes before drinking.

Although commonly used there is a widespread mistrust of the drugs promoted by huge drugs companies. There is no doubt that they work but there are questions as to the possible side effects or addictive nature.

A more recent popular cure is insomnia hypnosis. Therapists who use hypnosis for insomnia will generally coach people into developing healthy sleeping routines. Clients learn the skills of self-hypnosis to help them sleep better. This approach is a form of insomnia hypnosis that is quite successful in treating open mined clients.

For those that are more analytical in nature a different approach may be necessary. A method similar to hypnosis, called Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, is much more effective for people more identified with a logical though.

As explored in other articles there are different types of insomnia – so it seems reasonable to expect there to a range of cures – one which needs to be chosen as the most suitable for your particular situation.

It has been widely documented that hypnosis for insomnia does work and is a safe option to explore These individually helpful techniques, in contrast to medicines or other alternative cures, have little or no nasty side effects and can be used by anyone wishing to use a natural remedy for insomnia rather than any drug based option.

Although it has been around for a long time there is still an air of mystery and skepticism that surrounds hypnosis. This is a great shame because used correctly hypnosis is a great tool. Aside from all of the other possible benefits you can use Hypnosis to sleep better

As with lots of other possible remedies, hypnosis can be good, bad or somewhere in the middle. There are still a large number of the old-school types that use phrases like “You are getting sleepy, you are feeling more confident”. Unsurprisingly, this sort of hypnosis doesn’t work well with many people. Good hypnosis uses subtle psychological principles and advanced communication patterns.

Just compare the old fashioned military basic training where they relied on lots of shouting with the more productive system used by great managers They understand that to get the best from their staff they need to understand motivation and have coaching skills.

Hypnosis is a way of using the natural dream state of consciousness to achieve the persoal results you want. When hypnotized you are relaxed and focused nothing more – you can choose to end the experience at any time. So it would make sense then to use Hypnosis for Insomnia – as you learn how to control your own sleep patterns and altering them to be more natural. You can either visit a qualified hypnotherapist or use a range of  packages specially designed to provide Self Hypnpsis for Insomnia.

If you have been put off of hypnosis in the past, hopefully this article has convinced you to at least consider it  You could visit Hypnosis to Sleep Betterl for more info.

The authors of the study, Mathias Basner, MD, MS, MSc, and David F. Dinges, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, were shocked to find that the television schedule was more of a timing factor than more natural hours past sunset or other more biological factors (like feeling tired!). So it seems that TV may be making people stay up late. That coupled with the alarm clocks making them get up earlier that they would like reduces the time spent sleeping to less than what is physiologically needed.

Routinely sleeping less than 7-8 hours daily impairs alertness and is linked with increased obesity, diseases and early deaths. Despite this fact, up to 40 percent of Americans will sleep for less than the recommended time per night.

“Given the relationship of short sleep duration to health risks, there is concern that many Americans are chronically under-sleeping due to lifestyle choices,” said Dinges. Dr. Basner added that “According to our results, watching less television in the evening and postponing work start time in the morning appear to be the candidate behavioral changes for achieving additional sleep and reducing chronic sleep debt. While the timing of work may not be flexible, giving up some TV viewing in the evening should be possible to promote adequate sleep.”

It would make sense then to just watch less TV, certainly if it means you don’t get enough sleep. There will clearly be times when you need to enjoy life and a late night now and again wouldn’t cause a problem. But to systematically limit your sleep is just plain crazy.

If it gets towards your ‘normal’ time for bed and you don’t feel sleepy then it would be far better to read or listen to gentle music than to switch on the television. Either that to try to shift your start time for work so you can catch that late night show!

• Try harder to fall asleep? No, we saw already what a bad idea this is.

• Stay in bed and hope for the best? No, no.

• Here’s what you do instead:
  you use what has been called the “Sleep Reduction Technique”. In summary to get to sleep more easily and stay asleep through the night, you need to temporarily reduce the time you spend in bed.

Yes, this is totally counter intuitive but has been scientifically proven to work.

It cuts down the time spent awake in bed and time spent in poor quality sleep.
Her’s how it works

• Have trouble falling asleep?

There is a phenomenon called “sleep pressure”. For every hour you stay awake, this pressure builds.
So to use this the rule is simple: don’t go to bed until you feel REALLY sleepy.

• Still awake? Get up!

If you’re still awake 30 minutes after trying to go to sleep, don’t just stay there — get up!
Don’t worry about the fact that this might ruin your following day. Trust that this is training
you to sleep on command. For that to happen your body needs to associate your bed with irresistible
sleep…
So don’t stay in bed if you can’t sleep!

Go downstairs and listen to some relaxing music or do something boring that won’t arouse you too much.

Doing some light yoga poses or stretches is also a good idea.

Try some meditation if you’re into that OR, better yet… if you have the SleepTracks Sleep Optimization Program
Sit up straight in a chair in your living room, close your eyes and listen to the Insomnia Buster track or the Fall
Asleep track (both included with the program), or even the Healing track that you get 7 days after your
purchase… and resist falling asleep!

That’s right. Resist falling asleep. Just put your awareness on the pulses and let your body relax.
This “mind trick” will make it harder and harder for you to not sleep. You’ll soon feel so drowsy you’ll really
long for your bed. Then — and only then! — is it a good idea to give in to the urge and go back to bed.