Q: Good morning, Dr. Please, Sir am suffering from Insomnia. How can I overcome this Sir? I don’t usually sleep in the night, and in the morning, I don’t usually feel comfortable. Thank you Sir.

A: Insomnia refers to a situation when one is unable to fall asleep or the person falls asleep but wakes up often during the night and is unable to continue sleeping once he wakes up. Usually this person wakes up extremely tired and feels sleepy during the day.

This can be due to events of sudden onset like work or emotional stress, jet lag after travelling across time zones, medications, late meals, taking a lot of caffeine, alcohol and smoking etc. It can also be of a longer duration when the person finds himself unable to sleep for about 3 nights per week. The causes of the latter include depression and stress that has been going on for some time.

Treating insomnia depends on the cause. Your doctor may provide some counseling in helping you or could give you some drugs to help you relax for a short period of time…so you don’t get dependent on them. He may also want to try some behavioural therapies with you.

Here are some tips that may help with insomnia:

Take a warm glass of milk before bed.

Remove all distractions from your room (like television) and make it a haven of peace and sleep

As much as you can, try sticking with a particular sleep schedule so that your body falls into that pattern

Limit day time napping. Save it all up for the night 😀

Limit your intake of fluids before bed to avoid waking up to urinate and being unable to get back to sleep.

Limit your intake of stimulating foods/drinks containing alcohol or caffeine.

So, try out one of these tips tonight. Good night y’all 😉