Saturday 12 May 2007

HOW INSOMNIAC ARE YOU?

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This post is dedicated to gracieq aka piggy as promised to her earlier today :)

Insomnia is a prolonged and usually abnormal inability to obtain an adequate sleep. What really causes insomnia? Insomnia is caused by many factors such as anxiety, stress, depression, too much of caffeine, alcohol or even smoking (nicotine). An insomniac usually has his/her mind preoccupied with trying to get more sleep, but the more he/she tries the more frustrated he/she gets. Thus, he/she gets into more depression.

There are not many proven natural treatments for insomnia available in the market but here are some tips given by “Healthline” which may help to improve sleeping hygiene. With a little bit of humour which I have added in, they are:

• Use the bed only for sleep and sex (errr…I love this one :P)

• Go to bed at the same time every night . Make it a routine. (wei…American Idol on Astro now lar :P)

• No daytime napping (try blogging more.. hehe)

• No caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine (there goes my Nescafe tarik :P)

• Eliminate the conditioned anxiety that comes with trying to sleep by reassuring yourself that you will sleep ( one sheep…two sheep…three sheep….ZZzzzzZZZZzZ)

• Maintain comfortable sleeping conditions with lots of pillows, bolsters or even toys for hugging (hey…I have my toy dog and cat with me always :P)

• Eat at regular times daily and avoiding large meals or supper near bedtime (aiya…no more roti canai for supper :P)

• Exercise early in the day. Jogging within your housing area will be fine. (good also…I have gained a lot since CNY :P)

• Get out of bed if you are not asleep after 5-10 minutes and doing something else useful (errr…blog until you drop?? hehe)

• Practice evening relaxation routines such as muscle relaxation, meditation or even yoga (I listen to nature’s music…errr…sei cicak…stop chak chak chak leh…noisy lar :P)

• If the above still does not help, seek for a proper medical advice. You may need to go on some medical prescriptions. (Doctor Who?? :P)



In Malaysia, more and more insomniacs are sprouting out daily due to the excessive pressures from either the working or studying environment. Why don’t you do the test I have created and see how insomniac you are?

Question: You are about to go into a sleep and suddenly you heard a distracting noise. What do you think causes that noise?
A. the ringing of your handset
B. the ticking of your alarm clock
C. thunder and lightning
D. someone quarrelling outside your house

Scenario A: The ringing of your handset indicates how insecure you are feeling now. Probably you have some tasks which you have yet to complete. It could be some plans or even a report (blogs too :P) which you are afraid you might not finish before the deadline (scared “kena tembak” by the boss/lecturer or cursed by other bloggers? hehe). Thus, with this worries it’s rather hard for you to sleep well. My advice is to go for an evening stroll or dip yourself in your bathtub and relax. (Optional: 2 slices of cucumber on your eyes might help :P)

Scenario B: This sound is most feared by most students who are taking an exam or someone who is going to give a presentation or attending an interview the next day. If you think you have prepared yourselves well enough, why worry further about how perfect you are going to be? You have tried your best. The more you think, the more mentally tired you are, the world results you will get. Cool down guys & gals…

Scenario C: You may already have lots of worries inside you. It could be some finance, love, parents, relationship, husband / wife or even boyfriend / girlfriend problems. In your mind, you can vividly see those finding faults with you all the time. Their voices or shouts kept on appearing wherever you go. You are not crazy. All you need to do is to get away for awhile from all those distractions. Go for a holiday to one of those remote islands where you see lots of beaches, less people, more nature, and a place where you see lots of blue and green. Be calm, take a deep breath and relax for as long as you could.

Scenario D: You have lost some of your relationship touches. Maybe you had an argument with someone close to you or your attitude and behaviour could not be accepted by majority of your superior, subordinates or even friends surrounding you. You felt like a castaway having the phobia of people gossiping or spreading rumours about you. Do not look down upon yourself. Do not feel so inferior complex. Stay calm and study deep within your inner self the reason that causes you to be who you are today. Get some help from someone you trust and find out the ideal solution to this problem. Change for the better and life would not be the same anymore.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

After I read your posting and listened to your embedded music, Man, I am sleepy already :P

*Miracle cure for insomnia

cc said...

I used to suffer from insomnia for a year due to stress. Found lavender oil to be very helpful.

cc said...

p/s: Love the graphics you posted here. :)

CRIZ LAI said...

kuanhoong: I embedded that song on purpose for those suffering from imsomnia...have a nice sleep then :P

cc: yea I know...feel so lazy to wake up for work too. So far so good, I have never been late before :)

CRIZ LAI said...

cc: Thank you...I always try to blend the graphics to the theme :)

Anonymous said...

Hehe..am really touched that you kept your word. :) And thank you for linking me up in your blog too.

Frankly, I've tried all methods known to man to try to solve this insomnia problem of mine. Nothing works so far. I don't like taking sleeping pills either cause it just causes my body to be super lethargic and even though it allows me to sleep for 12 hours at a time, it's just medicated sleep which can be quite addictive at the end of the day. I've managed to sleep a little bit more these days, but I still end up waking up many times between those few hours of sleep. Nevertheless, a little extra sleep is better than nothing no?

Ehon said...

Heya!

I did Psychology for a year last year, and I did a bit of study in sleep too.

Well, what can I say? :P Adequate sleep is vital. So vital it's inevitable! :)

Piggy, sometimes it might be due to hormone imbalance, or there's something wrong with your circadian rhythm (biological clock) , and some treatment does not require you to take sleeping pills. :)

conan_cat said...

ooo... criz are you a psychologist? or anywhere near that? :D cool thing there haha...

personally once i get on bed i'm a pig already that can sleep 12 hours or more... so i guess sleep is not a problem to me lol.

CRIZ LAI said...

piggy: I'm a man of words. I never break promises :)

ehon: Thanks for your advice to piggy. She ready need that :)

conan cat: Whoaa... I only psycho people but most of the time I "sakai" them more lor...hehe. Well, how would you feel if you are a "piggy" but you just can't sleep?? :P

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