by Lauren Schwartz

Created on: February 06, 2009

Ask any adult insomniac and they will tell you that if you want to sleep there is an actually list of things not to do before going to bed, while in bed, after bed and even thinking about going to be. In college, the health center had printed "not to-do" lists for helping insomnia. Trying to tell someone that a cup of warm milk has a lot to fight against 20 plus years of insomnia; but the lists are far to amusing to pass up on.

The usual suspects are all present on the Techniques to Beat Insomnia: Avoid caffeine before bed, wind down 15 minutes before bed, eat a "sleepy snack" like warm milk and adopt a firm schedule. These are common sense and can tend to annoy a person seeking valuable advice.

But, keep reading the list because there are some really entertaining and useful tips on what you shouldn't do before you go to bed. For example, JohnPalaceonline.com : Life Lessons in the Real World, has proven methods maintaining a healthy routine and falling asleep fast. Of course, there is always some variation on meditation/hypnosis: use dynamic visualizations. But, one amazing trick is to lay perfectly still; if you move a centimeter you must begin again. With your eyes closed, imagine your entire body relaxing from the toes up. The can be done by imagining a masseuse is massaging every muscle in your body to achieve complete relaxation. Or, you can visualize the actually muscle completely relaxed. Do this very slowly and don't stop until you get to the top of your head. Only, if you do it right - without cheating - you wont make it that far. After a while of this ritual, you may start to notice tingling in your toes when you perform this technique. Believe it or not, that is your actual muscles relaxing because your brain has convinced them to, night after night.

As productive as that activity is, deep relaxation is the only thing - besides sleeping, of course - that is allowed before bed, in bed. Now, this is the part of the list that has been know to cause bewilderment, laughter and curiosity. When they advise no "awake" activities, they mean all activities. This has caused resourcefulness for insomniacs living in college dorms, where the bed is the room's couch, desk, and the only real option for social activities. The thinking behind this is logical, however. If you do, say, your homework in bed you will begin to associate a place for sleep with one for work and brain activity. Like the meditation technique, your body reacts to what is used to telling it.

Aside from the few things one shouldn't do before bed, in order to sleep, the things one should while trying to fall asleep give you more control over your internal clock and sleep mode. Two other, visualization techniques involve imagining someplace peaceful and serene, like laying the sun at the beach, improving your tan. Literally allow yourself to hear the ocean; the white noise is remarkable relaxing. Finally, there are Eye Flutters. In this technique, fix your eyes on a single point on your ceiling ( whichever you prefer). Close your eyes for 5 seconds, then very softly and slowly open your eyes ofr just a short moment. Repeat, keeping eyes closed 5 seconds longer each time. Eventually your eyes will get fatigued and you will fall asleep; many people swear by this. In addition to avoiding things you shouldn't do before you go to bed, working to improve your state of mind and body things you should do when you go to bed as well.

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