Why we lie awake at night – and how we can fall asleep

To at night and not fall asleep to Wake up, is distressing and tears at the nerves. Sleep expert Michael explains the causes of and says, what are the Tricks and herbal supplements can help.

Maybe you know the feeling: you could still fall asleep quite well, but then, sometime between 2 and 4 PM, layer Sleeping. You lie awake and don’t know why. And don’t know. Rum roll. During the Partner of the soul is snoring quietly, it is crazy. Thoughts begin to circle, always the same crap. Ensure the giant appear large and intractable. To fall Asleep is not to think.

Very often it is the personal and professional pressures, Stress and Fears, not to fall asleep or in the middle of the night. The thoughts start to rotate. Everything during the day ran poorly and tomorrow ill might run, what you would have tomorrow to do it all, but probably not to create Worry about the money, because of the work of the children, the relationship …

Fears and Worries leave us awake at night are

All these Fears lead to the brain running at full speed. At night in the dark there is nothing to distract us from them, we can’t displace it as well, and dubbing as during the day. At night, the (Ver)clothes of the day falls away, the provides us with perhaps the (deceptive) security of Status and Image, at night, we are emotionally naked, we feel small and helpless like children, afraid of the big bad man.

To The Person

Michael feld is a specialist in General medicine, Somnologe (DGSM), a Sleep doctor, medical journalist (e.g. FAZ) and television doctor (WDR, ZDF). Since 2009, he has been with his practice for holistic General and sleep medicine private physician settled down in Cologne, Germany. He has already written several books.

And because we tense up in fear, unconsciously the muscles, and hold this, in turn, the brain is active. And this is just what it may think best: to(t), brooding, all the dissect, what we don’t want to look at actually. No wonder, when we, even though we’re fallen to bed exhausted by the inner turmoil in the mind and in the body wide awake again.

Anxiety and Stress can make it very strong physically noticeable. Typical symptoms of inner tension or restlessness, palpitations, irregular heartbeat, feeling of pressure in the chest, sweating, Nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. These complaints are often not recognized as signs of mental health problems. Especially since you want to know of his Fears are actually nothing.

However, it would be wise to you are aware of to look at (instead of at night again and again overwhelm). You lose alone, to force, when we turn to them consciously, if we recognize the true reasons, if we are able to assess how bad the Situation really is, and what might help. Everything is repressed into the unconscious, remains stubborn and won’t give up until it may come to light.

Finally come true and taken seriously, can dissolve feelings. Because the alone can be difficult and, in turn, fear is sometimes a psycho-therapeutic assistance.

What makes us in the night Wake up

Our inner demons are at night particularly Intrusive, also has solid physiological reasons. In the middle of the night, our organism has reached its biological low point. The body’s core temperature drops by up to 1.5 degrees, is thin-skinned, tired, irritable and in a bad mood. The brain biochemically the hormones Cortisol and Melatonin between 2 and 4 PM (if we’re awake now) for a bad mood and a negative view of the world, and feel-Good messengers are now rare. Perhaps because the danger to be eaten, used to be so great, and because we have often cravings, called Ingmar Bergman this time, “The hour of the wolf”.

In Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the Phase between 1 and 3 PM as the “liver time”. In fact, the liver is working then in full swing, so too late gefutterte sweets and nightly geschluckter alcohol such as liver fat to be stored. Mythologically, the-psycho-somatic is the liver for the topics of grief and anger (“You had a bug on the liver!”), and if our largest Organ is the most nocturnal hour on the active, then the “Melancholia,” black bile of the tribulation can spread out, get messy in the us.

This is a situation we don’t like, of course, and to lean against him, and the insomnia violently. With the inner resistance we have to feed the Negative with attention to energy and amplify it. This dynamic dissolve, invented the behavior therapy and the “paradox of Intervention”: For example, the therapist instructs the patient to sleep, or “allowed” awake and Pondering Express. Because the internal resistance then runs into the Void, can relax the Situation significantly.

Or one interprets the guard even be aware of the positive: “it Is really cool that I don’t have to sleep. Now that it is so quiet and no one bothers, I can do it to me nice and something for me to do.“

So this sleepless time as pleasant as possible, so that the Whole is not to bear so hard. And the next Morning, during the day is, will be your Worries a lot easier.

Tips to fall Asleep

This can help, if you don’t or can’t fall asleep after 30 minutes:

  • It’s subdued light, soft relaxing music, a beautiful scent , a pleasant book or audiobook can help in (Re-)Sleep – if you sleep alone, or headphones.
  • You listen to the guided inner journeys, meditations or soothing nature sounds Are all as CDs and Downloads.
  • You practice autogenic Training or other relaxation form.
  • Write down all the thoughts you move, so you can let go for the night
  • Not see how much time it is. The stress only.
  • Sometimes it is better to leave the bed and actually do this for a while something like the Ironing or tidying up – something that enabled you to very, but rather simple, slow, monotonous.

Everything is monotonous, can make you tired. Therefore, counting Sheep works for some people. The effect has nothing to do with the sheep – you could also include beer bottles, bar stools, or flower leaves. As long as it is uniform and boring. The more boring, the better. The previous evening Rosary had exactly this effect. (…)

There are also quite recommended herbal and homeopathic preparations, as well as proven home remedies for self-help. Only the “rule of Three” applies: Take your sleep disorder for more than three weeks, occurs more often than three times per week and no longer than three hours per night, you should go to the doctor. Different plants have Long been considered as a sleep-inducing:

  • Valerian preparations are known and proven and will help especially in the case of lighter sleep disorders.
  • Alternatively, or in combination with passion flower, hops, lemon balm and lavender are helpful, all well-known sleep aid and to buy over-the-counter as a Medicine or tea in pharmacies and drugstores. Combination products often work better than the individual substances.
  • Effective combination preparations from the herbal substance s and L-Tryptophan or Melatonin plus Vitamin B6 .
  • Magnesium also helps you to sleep.
  • It is important to know that even over-the-counter remedies (especially antihistamines) can have side effects, especially when taken in unreasonably large quantities. In recommended doses herbal sleep AIDS are mostly well tolerated and have a mild hypnotic and sleep-promoting effect.
  • To prepare tea as a nightcap with a little water, as a kind of extract, so you don’t need to at night, therefore, out.
  • The homeopathy offers a number of complex remedy against sleep disorders as well as individual drugs or combinations, but which should be from a qualified homeopath individually prescribed.

    Book tip

    The Text is excerpted from: Michael field: “Dr. field, large sleep school. Finally back to sleep and Wake up refreshed”. The book is published by Gräfe and Unzer.