Sleep Easy

Here are tips about how to get to sleep easily and prevent insomnia from setting in.

1. Calm and clear your mind
Before sleeping, do not do any work that is mentally strenuous. Allow your brain to relax and to calm your nerves. If you are upset or agitated, it will be difficult for you to fall asleep.

2. Exercise regularly
If you exercise everyday, you will be able to fall into deep sleep easily at night. Before you sleep, you can do exercises such as strolling, meditation or yoga. The last 2, especially, have hypnotic effects to lull you to sleep. However, do not do vigorous exercises before sleep.

3. Sleep in a comfortable environment
You will sleep better in a quiet and peaceful room which has adequate air circulation.

4. Avoid access sugar
Taking in too much sugar will cause your glucose level to decrease, causing insomnia. Symptoms include quickening heart beat and mild depression. If you experience these symptoms on a regular basis, eat a bowl of cereal porridge at night. It will help to soothe your nerves.

5. Avoid excess alcohol intake
Although alcohol will cause you to fall asleep more quickly, too much alcohol disrupts the sleeping pattern, causing one's sleep in the later stages to be disturbed, resulting in tiredness the next day.

6. Take a warm bath
Taking a warm bath before sleeping helps to improve your blood circulation so you may fall asleep easily.

7. Avoid stimulants
Avoid stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine a few hours before sleeping. Other than tea and coffee, products containing stimulants also include cocoa, coca cola and chocolates. Eating food with MSG may also lead to problems of insomnia.

8. Drink milk
Drinking beverages containing milk or cereal will help to induce sleep. Trytophan in these products will be changed into a chemical which helps induce sleep.

9. Hygiene
Shake out your blankets/comfortables/bedsheets when you wake up, and change your bedsheets frequently to ensure a clean environment for sleeping.

10. Appropriate thickness of blankets
Choose blankets which have appropriate thickness such that they are neither too warm nor too ineffective against cold weather

Thanks for this.

Im going to try some of them out lol

Good tips! Going along with number 8, foods high in "good" starch like popcorn or potatoes are said to help too, and even turkey (haven't tried that one...) Also, I find that a cool temperature slows my body down and helps me fall asleep faster. It also helps to avoid bright lights and screen light from computers or television about an hour or so before going to sleep.

I've read taking caffeine right before sleeping will make you more refreshed, (http://lifehacker.com/software/sleep/reboot-your-brain-with-a-caffeine-nap-306029.php)
has anyone actually tried this? I've done so and felt no difference, but It might be different for other people, me having grown up on strong tea...

The Enlightened Misanthrope has some curiously unorthodox methods for passing out every night, more often than not involving copious quantities of distilled spirits and subversive (i.e. pro-liberty) reading material. Vertical activity of any sort before retiring is out of the question - with the exception of crawling over to the fridge or liquor cabinet to acquire another libation, that is. I prefer to wind down in a decidedly horizontal position on a comfortable recliner for a period of not less than twelve hours before at last ending the day's festivities. And keep the bedroom on the cool side, I say. Nothing worse than sweltering in a pool of sweat whilst trying to commune with your unconscious. While I avoid sugar like I avoid people (I get enough "sweet" in my liquor, thank you), I do enjoy my afternoon coffee and the manic musings it seems to produce. Some of you, I imagine, have fallen victim to some of my more illustrious caffeine-induced ranting and ravings.

Word has it the humble Pinto Bean inspires a restful state of repose punctuated by fragrant "music" of the night. As a side note, beans are also a low fat, high fiber source of quality protein. No wonder our caring government never touts the bean's benefits! After all, they're in the business of culling the useless eaters, not fostering our good health - physical or otherwise. If you're not fond of music that gives off odor, simply soak your beans before cooking. At any rate, the consensus is you'll sleep better after a nutritious, bean-filled Mexican meal than the typical meat and potatoes trash.

Milk? Oh my. I do hope the topic starter is referring to the raw, unadulterated variety and not the contaminated udder pus commonly sold in the supermarket. Poor moo-cows on factory farms live miserable lives, in abominable conditions, and suffer agonizing deaths at the hands of illegal labor. They are injected with an incredible number of pharmaceuticals, including the highly controversial BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone), which makes poor mama cow grow so fat her legs can't support her weight. Of course, BGH is also implicated in cancer in humans, not to mention obesity. So please, steer clear of cow's milk unless it's raw and you know the source. And really, how could you in good conscious sleep soundly knowing you had boughten milk from a cow that had been abused.

On those rare occasions I simply can't get to sleep, I reach for the herb Valerian. It's best taken an hour or so before retiring, but it doesn't take long to kick in either way. I suggest you buy some of this herb sooner than later. It's only a matter of time before the FDA bans this safe and time honored folk remedy. You see, big pharmaceutical companies - in collusion with the FDA - are working hard to make natural remedies like Valerian and Vitamin C illegal for consumers to purchase.

All you need is a kennel full of dogs and a herd of goats to take care of, especially during kidding season, and I guarantee you will sleep like a rock if you ever get the chance to!

I drink caffeine from the time I get up until I go to bed, ice tea, drink gallons of the stuff. Doesn't seem to keep me awake at night. I do so look forward to that first glass in the morning, it does seem to help the eylids stay propped open and the brain beging to function.


No doubt a common misconception among non dairy farmers. If anybody gets abused, it's the poor saps that have to get up at 3 am and put up with those contrary, cantankerous Holstiens, that kick, stomp and otherwise will make your life a living hell. They delight in smacking you in the face with their crapped up tails, or attempting to break your arm when you hook up or unhook the milking machine. When here all you are trying to do is make them more comfortable by relieving the pressure in their tight udders and giving them yummy grain to scarf down that they really love, just like a kid with candy. They get to spend the rest of their day hanging around in the pasture, munching grass or going for a soak in the pond (better the wet tail to slap you with) and otherwise just laying around enjoying life. I wish I had it so good! Cows have it made!

Speaking of, how was your ordeal with the goats the other day? I wish I lived closer to you so I could learn the finer arts of caring for goats and other critters of the farm. As international agra-business continues to take over small farms, it really becomes an act of personal protest for the little guy to farm his own land.

I generally avoid drinking caffeine in the morning as I usually hit the floor running, but by afternoon I'm ready for a siesta and a nice jolt of coffee. It never seems to bother my sleep either. I've been saving money by buying green coffee beans from Costco and roasting them. Ends up being around three dollars a pound that way, maybe a little less.


I only wish all farm critters had it as good as the ones cared for by you on your family farm. My mention of moo-cows was in reference to the documented abuses and horrid conditions suffered by animals reared in huge factory "farms," which unfortunately, comprise the bulk of the American milk supply. I've been meaning to ask my library to purchase the book, Slaughterhouse, which exposes the horrors of the US meat/dairy industry in gruesome detail. Looks like it's gotten excellent reviews from consumers.