INSOMNIA

Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep or both. It affects persons of all ages and the occurrence increases with age.
Insomnia may be caused either due to physical conditions or because of psychological problems. Psychological problems include stress, anxiety, depression and the physical causes may be chronic pain, illness, or other health related problems .

Characteristics of insomnia:

1. Frequent problems in either falling asleep or staying asleep during night, are known as insomnia.
2. The most common causes of difficulty in sleeping are eating late and or heavy meal, or drinking lot of alcohol or tea, cola, coffee than usual.
3. A sedentary job or lack of adequate physical exercise on most days may also result in insomnia. Irregular working hours, working late at night or in shift duties, excess of tiredness usually result in insomnia.
4. A person suffering from anxiety and or depression may suffer from insomnia and find it difficult to fall asleep when he goes to bed at night or may wake during night or very early morning and find it difficult to fall asleep again.
5. Heart or lung disorders can make person breathless on lying down flat and may affect your sleep.
6. Suddenly reducing/quitting medicines like tranquillizers, sleeping pill may result in insomnia.
7. Common sign and symptoms of insomnia are body ache, feeling heaviness in head, yawning, dizziness, sense of heaviness in body and indigestion, feeling drowsy etc.
8. Many people find they sleep less as they grow older and are a universal problem.
9. Some sleeplessness is common during pregnancy especially during last few weeks before delivery.

Massage therapy

1. To help in relaxation of mind and body reducing undue stress over it as massage works on physical level as well as on psyche through sense of touch.
2. To reduce anxiety, depression etc by relieving mental stress.
3. To reduce overall sign and symptoms of insomnia like body ache etc.
4. Proper adequate head massage may help to increase neurotransmitters and hormone called serotinin, depletion of which to brain result in anxiety, depression, irritability etc and leads to disturbance of sleep.

 

Acupressure For Insomnia

Open your fingers and gently comb from the midline on the top of your head down to both cheeks for two minutes. Use the tips of your fingers together to gently tap the top of your head for two minutes. From the top center of the head slowly move to left, to right, to front, and to back. 

Gently press and knead the depression at the meeting point of the wrist crease of the palm side and the line from the little finger for one minute (H7). Change hands and do the other side.

Gently press and knead the point four finger-widths up from the inside anklebone, right behind the leg bone for one minute (Sp6).

Gently press and knead the point below the ball of the foot in the center, about a third of the distance between the toes and the heel for one minute (Kil).

Ayurvedic treatments include evaluating the imbalances in the normal functioning of the body and then recommend treatment to bring back the balance. This evaluation helps in diagnosing the fundamental cause of disorder in the individual, which is to be corrected.

According to Ayurveda, there are two main causes for insomnia: Unbalanced Vata and the interruption in the routine of an individual. The signs of aggravated Vata include restlessness, anxiety and worry. Mental stress, increased body activity, fasting, staying up late all can create disturbance in the normal body system and thus bringing a total imbalance in Vata. When an individual goes out off his routine habits, he is susceptible to insomnia. Working late at night, traveling long distances without rest are examples. 

Yoga Therapy

Regular practice of following yoga poses will help:

Tadasana

Salabhasana

Bhujangasana

Shavasana

 Dont practice above poses without expert's advice and guidance.