My wife is 42 years old. She was having problem of depression for more than 4 years and now she is out of depression and not taking any medicine, but the problem is that she cannot sleep more than maximum 4 hours. Pl advise us what to do. What will be solution for better sleeping.

Dr. Saul PereiraPsychologist47yrs exp

91% (40637 ratings)

Ask Free Question

The depression may have disturbed her sleep patterns considerably and the medication may have had some impact too. Sometimes, apart from the depression, she may not be aware of stress because it has not yet manifest itself in any obvious or disturbing way. Her disturbed sleep itself can be a cause, or concern for stress because she has grossly disturbed her biorhythm. Whatever the situation, she may still follow some good habits that will help induce sleep, even if it takes care of the symptom only. There are 86 diseases that are directly affected by lack of sleep i.e. less than 6 hours per night. She must talk to a professional and deal with the stress. Yoga, meditation, and stress management exercises with definitely help. She must also do vigorous exercise every day, whether she gets sleep or not. She should wake up at a uniform time every day, even if she doesn?t get sleep. She could sleep in the afternoon but try not to exceed 20 minutes to catch up with lost sleep, and that too only if necessary. Ideally, it is better not to sleep during the day at all. Even if she does not get sleep let her get to bed at a uniform time like 10.30 and just lie down and read some non-stimulating material. In the lying down position the body tends to regress to a childlike state and will induce sleep. Do not get up to switch off the light, and so you need to arrange for a bed lamp that can be put off at a stretch of a hand. She should not take alcohol, tea, coffee, soft drinks etc. before going to bed. A warm glass of milk before bedtime improves sleep for various reasons. Have dinner early and always make it a pure carbohydrate meal that can be had with any vegetables. Make the room as dark as possible but warm and cozy. Block out all forms of light entering the room through windows. The room must have reasonable cross-ventilation. There must not be any LED lights nearby your bed. Reduce all kinds of sounds around her: light music may be put on if it induces sleep for her with the ?sleep? function on. In rare cases she could watch TV in a lying position and switch off when she feels drowsy. There are some odors that could stimulate prevent sleep from happening; kindly examine that ? this includes perfumes, soap scents, and even laundry detergents. Check out if a warm or cold bath induces sleep for her, and do that before retiring. If she has exhausted herself through exercise, she will find it easier to relax into a stupor. Contemplate on calm and relaxing thoughts while in bed: decontaminate her mind from all the stresses of the day before going to bed. She could acquire a recording of gradual relaxation and guided relaxation routines. Sleep with her head facing North, and do not sleep directly under an overhead fan. Sleep as far as possible on her left ear. Try these for now and if these fail she must meet with a counselor and work out other matters that may be causing the insomnia. 

1 person found this helpful