I have to admit that for most of my life, I have been really luck and have been a good sleeper.
I sleep quite lightly, so am very sensitive to noise and light, but generally, I slept very well.
Until a few years ago that is, when my sleep went haywire, and I found myself tossing and turning, waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep.
This led me to start looking more into sleep and insomnia.
Although as a homeopath, I had treated many people with insomnia I didn't really understand the impact of it until I experienced it for myself.
Over the years of treating people, I had seen homeopathic remedies help many people, but not everyone.
When I tried homeopathic remedies for myself, they didn't work at first.
I found that I needed to change a few things to get my sleep back into a natural rhythm - in my case I think it was the menopause that through things out of balance for me, but it can be stress, grief, worry or any number of things that contribute to the misery of insomnia.
DIET I really looked at what I was eating, and when.
I cut out anything with any stimulants - tea, coffee, chocolate, spicy foods after 6pm.
I increased the amount of fruit and vegetables I was eating and decreased sugar and wheat.
ROUTINE I established a good sleep routine for myself.
I stopped watching the TV an hour before I wanted to go to sleep.
Had a cup of chamomile tea.
Had a hot bath with lavender oils.
Listened to relaxing music.
Read a restful book.
I kept a book by the side of my bed to write down things that were worrying me, and to get them out of my mind.
EXERCISE I started to take more regular, gentle exercise.
I walked the dogs further and more consistently everyday.
I kept a mini-trampoline by my desk and bounced up and down on it for 5 minutes a couple of times during the day.
These are a few of the things that helped me gradually re-establish my sleeping rhythm.
I can now thankfully say that I am sleeping the night through again, and waking up refreshed