I’m not sure how it started, but sleeplessness had me in its claws. My insomnia symptoms were making my nights unbearable.

Not only would I have trouble falling, but staying asleep was a challenge as well. It’s a toxic cycle. At night, I’m wired so I don’t fall asleep until around midnight. By 3 in the morning, I’m up again. I was getting very little sleep and frankly, this isn’t healthy.

Unsure of the causes of my insomnia, after a couple of months, I decide I need to actively work towards fighting it. I’m getting older and maybe it’s the aging process, but ultimately I can no longer slip into bed and think that a restful night’s sleep will just come to me. My name is Beans and I need help falling asleep.

What Causes Insomnia?

If I am going to fight this head on, I need to understand what could be the cause of my insomnia. Wait, are my symptoms a even true reflection of insomnia? I had to dig a little deeper to find an answer to my sleepless nights.

First off, yes, my symptoms were consistent with someone suffering from insomnia. The Mayo Clinic defines it as: a common sleep disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, or cause you to wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep. A lack of sleep can seriously affect a person’s quality of life. I can speak for myself, it isn’t any fun when you’re crashing at noon behind your work computer because you got little sleep the night before.

Now as I look at some of the main causes of insomnia, I can definitely see some that may apply to me:

• Stress
• Travel or Work Schedule
• Poor Sleep Habits
• Eating Too Much Late in the Evening
• Lifestyle
• Caffeine, Nicotine or Alcohol

I realize my poor sleep habits may play a role in my insomnia. At the time, I didn’t have a set sleep schedule and I did a lot of snacking and wine drinking before bedtime. I also didn’t calm my surroundings before going to sleep.

Bean’s New Bedtime Routine

Well, it’s time do things differently. In order to get a better night’s sleep I had to make lifestyle changes and use a few supplements to move things along:

1. DIET: I made changes to my diet. The biggest change is cutting out the wine drinking directly before my bedtime. On the days I do drink (sorry folks, not giving up my wine) I limit it to one glass for the evening. I also started intermittent fasting. This type of fasting made it so that my last meal of the day is at 7 or at the latest, 8 in the evening.
2. LIFESTYLE: I had to establish establish a bedtime. Since I need a solid eight hours of sleep, I set a bedtime of 8. This gives me two full hours to fall asleep. Also, for my pre-bedtime shower, I use handmade soap infused with lavender. Lavender essential oil helps promote sleep. Finally and speaking of essential oils, I dilute a few drops of both lavender and cedarwood essential oils into a base of castor oil and rub it generously on my chest. The amazing scent is not only relaxing, but gives me a steady buzz that helps me drift away to sleep.
3. SUPPLEMENTS: I take a melatonin tablet with a cup of hot tea (no sugar) every night. On the flip side, those nights when I don’t want to take a supplement, I simply drink a warm cup of Sleep Melatonin Tea.

You know what? It’s been working for me. I went from barely three or four hours a night of sleep to a full eight; sometimes more. The fact is, as we get older, sleep doesn’t tend to come as easily. Insomnia is just another thing that reminds me that as I gracefully age, I need to take care of myself for my body to give back its best.

Until next post, sleep tight my friends.

Blissfully Single and Yours,