Not sleeping enough can trigger headaches, so can sleeping too long. Getting the right amount at the wrong time can also be a trigger. Headaches can also disrupt your sleep. You may simply not be able to sleep. If you can, you may be so restless — even though you may not realize it — that you don’t get a good night’s rest. Relying on sleep medication is tempting, but they can make you feel groggy throughout the day.
How to solve these dilemmas? The December issue of Healthy Women Take 10, a newsletter published by the National Women’s Health Resource Center, has an article about sleeping well without medication. You don’t even have to
be a woman to get benefit from the article. It’s got good suggestions and explains the “why” behind the recommendations.
The Headache and Migraine News blog has a great suggestion that I’ve never heard of — splash water on your skin if you are having trouble falling asleep. Cooling off your skin will help you settle down and relax enough to drift off to the land of nod.
Here’s my trick: When you’re lying in bed and the sheep aren’t putting you to sleep, take three deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly. After your third
inhalation, hold your breath for a count a three then slowly exhale. The magazine said to do it three times, but I usually do it until I fall asleep. This tip is the only useful information that I got from reading Teen magazine. (Contrary to what the editors and advertisers would like you to believe, it’s not helpful to learn that everyone else is prettier than you are or that you could be much more appealing, thus a better person, if you only wore these clothes or had the right length of hair or an acceptable thigh circumference).
To learn about insomnia or get more tips on getting to sleep, see what the American Insomnia Association has to say. The Michigan Head Pain and Neurological Institute explains more about headaches and sleep.
Here’s hoping that one of these suggestions will help you sleep better tonight.