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Insomnia Coping and Support
Insomnia can cause you to be mentally slow and more irritable; these two factors can increase your stress experiences. Listed below are some of the ways you can try to deal with stress-related insomnia.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
One cause of sleeping difficulty is too much muscle tension in your body. When a person is stressed out, he may not be aware of the tightened muscles in his body caused by his stress. Progressive muscle relaxation is one sure way of relaxing the muscle tension in his body.
Journaling
Another effective way to help you get a good night’s sleep if you frequently wake up at night due to constant worrying is journaling. Journaling means jotting down whatever you wish, especially a pleasant experience that you remember or fantasizing about a new idea that makes you happy. Journaling is a therapeutic way to remove your mind of worries and negative thoughts and to keep thinking positive things that night and tomorrow when you wake up. You can also reflect on the day that ended, about the things that happened during the day and then letting them go. Journaling offers you a great way to let go of your stress and clear your mind so that you may be able to sleep well.
Work through Your Stress
A person who cannot sleep due to anxiety can be able to relax and fall asleep with a change of perspective. Anxiety is usually a natural reaction that entails some sort of action needed to be done to address the cause of the anxiety. Anxiety is about worrying and when you worry at night it keeps you awake. If you look at your situation as a challenge to you rather viewing it as a threat, you can more or less tackle this situation in a more proactive and decisive way instead of continuing in a passive and anxious frame of mind. If you can look at your situation in a different perspective, you may be able to see opportunities you may have initially overlooked.
Take the Pressure off Sleep
The problem when you begin to keep having frequent sleeping problems, bedtime itself can then become a not too pleasant experience as well. To prevent you from going into this kind of situation you can perform certain things to help take out the pressure caused by insomnia. One thing you can do is to arise from your bed (if you feel that you’re far from getting sleepy). This will help you avoid the pressure of monitoring the clock for several hours. You can then occupy yourself with an activity. This way you may feel that you’re managing your time well unlike being in bed and looking at the clock for hours which can cause stress. Another thing to do is to make your bedroom first and foremost your sleeping area. This means you should only associate your bedroom and bed with sleep rather than stress. Doing other not-too stimulating activities like reading a book or watching a rather unexciting movie can bring sleep into your mind and body. Try also not to take in caffeine during the afternoon and at night.
Seek Help
Unfortunately a lot of insomnia sufferers are unaware that joining a support group for their problem is a very effective way to help them deal with insomnia. A support group not only can assist you in getting sleep, it can also provide you with lots of information about your problem that can enable you to better handle and treat this condition.
Nawei Jiang is a licensed acupuncturist and the founder of Nawei’s Acupuncture Clinic in Colorado Springs, CO.
Influenza – Lifestyles and Home Remedies
The following are some home remedies and lifestyle and suggestions that can help in reducing and accelerating treatment of your influenza symptoms:
- Gargle with salt water – Doing this helps resolve your sore throat.
- Slippery elm – This herb has been reported to relieve sore throat and cough. You can take in slippery elm by eating candy that has slippery elm as one of its ingredients.
- Shower with warm water – The steam from the warm water can melt the mucus in the airways clearing them and the sinuses up.
- Garlic – This herb is widely known to possess anti-bacterial and even antiviral properties that help you get relief from your upper respiratory congestion. You can put raw garlic in your meals or eat them raw.
- Chicken soup – Put pepper in your hot chicken soup as well as garlic and hot curry powder to help loosen the mucus in your mouth and throat
- Heat compress – If your stuffy nose is aggravated by a severe headache, you can apply a moist and warm compress to the cheek and sinuses to lessen these symptoms
- Lemon – Chop the lemon and place the lemon together with its seeds and skin in boiling water. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes. You can inhale the steam to melt the mucus in your airways. Strain the mixture and allow it to cool down. To make it tasty add some honey and drink the mixture. Lemon has varied benefits for a person’s health including anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties that are important for treating flu symptoms.
- Honey – Honey can likewise help dilute mucus. You can drink a glass of warm water and mix it with a tablespoon of honey and drink it. Honey is widely believed to be a potent remedy for the symptoms of flu
- Ginger – This spice/herb has great anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory attributes that aid in battling viral infection in the body
- Turmeric – This herb can be taken two times a day by adding a teaspoonful to milk and drinking it. Turmeric has great antibacterial and antiviral properties that help bring relief in flu symptoms. It can also stimulate the liver which becomes weak when a person becomes sick
- Thyme – Boil water with a tablespoon of thyme for 5 minutes. Then inhale the steam and when the mixture cools down add honey. Strain the mixture and drink it. This helps loosen infected mucus enabling you to cough it out
- Mustard – This plant contains antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory attributes that can be inhaled (through steam) when boiled with water or by other means. You can also make a mustard paste by mixing lukewarm water with 4 tablespoons wheat flour and a tablespoon of dry mustard. Apply the paste on a clean dry cloth that can cover your chest area. Put a little olive oil on your chest and put the cloth with the paste in it on your chest. Leave the cloth there for a few minutes then remove it. Wash yourself to remove any traces of the paste
- Long Pepper – Mix half a tsp of ginger juice, 2 tbsp honey and half a tsp of long pepper powder. You can drink this mixture three times a day to protect yourself from throat complications. This mixture can greatly reduce the severity of your flu symptoms.
- Nasal irrigation – This is often done with a neti pot. Put a few salt in boiling water and put the solution into a sterilized bottle. Allow the water to cool down and afterwards apply two to three drops of this solution using a dropper in one of your nostril. The solution melts the mucus making it easier to blow it out. You can use a neti pot that is widely available in the market. This is an effective and very safe way to resolve nose blockages.
Lifestyle/ Diet Recommendation to Treat Flu Symptoms
- Maintain good hygiene – Keeping yourself and your surroundings clean is essential to prevent infecting yourself and others from the flu.
- Stay hydrated
- Abstain from taking in caffeine
- Avoid sugar
- Take in mega doses of vitamin C
- Stop drinking alcohol
- Humidify yourself
- Adequate rest
- Stop eating processed, highly seasoned and junk foods
- Drink boiled water
- Properly ventilate your room
DeJongh Acupuncture Clinic
2929 SW 3rd Ave #610
Miami, FL 33129
(305) 677-3214
http://www.miamiacupunctureclinic.com/
Sciatica – Preparing for Your Appointment
Your appointment with your doctor may be brief and since you may have a lot of questions and things you want to ask him about your sciatica, preparing then for your appointment is the best thing to do to make the most out of your appointment. To help you out, listed below are some tips to better prepare for your appointment and what you can expect from your physician.
How to Prepare
You should be cognizant of any pre-appointment restrictions. When you have just made your appointment, the next thing to do is to know what you need to do in advance. This can be preparing for loose clothing in case you need to undergo an imaging exam or start making diet restrictions for yourself.
Use a journal to list down all known symptoms you are experiencing. That can be anything that may not seem related to the problem that prompted you to make the appointment in the first place.
Also list down in the journal all the medications you are taking including any steroids, supplements or vitamins you regularly use.
Bring along a friend or family member to your appointment. Having someone to accompany you to your appointment can assist you in remembering all the information the doctor says regarding your condition and what you need to do and not do.
List down in your journal all questions to ask your doctor. Remember that your time with your doctor may only last 15 minutes so compiling a questions list will optimize your appointment time. For your sciatica problems, some good questions to ask your doctor can include:
- What most probably is the reason for my condition or symptoms?
- Besides the most probable cause, what are the other possible reasons for my condition or symptoms?
- What types of tests do I need required to undergo?
- Do I have a chronic or temporary condition?
- What course of treatment is the best for me?
- What alternative treatments besides the primary approach can you recommend?
- I have other health issues. What can I do to best manage my back problem along with my other conditions?
- What are the restrictions do I need to follow?
- Do I need to consult with a specialist? How much will that cost? Will my insurance plan include consulting with a specialist?
- Do you have informational brochures and any other printed materials that I can read at home? Are there any websites you can recommend that I can visit regarding my condition?
If you have other questions for your doctor outside this list of questions, be sure to ask them all if possible.
What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor will have questions of his own to ask you as well. Some of the questions may be like these:
- What symptoms have you experienced? Do you feel any weakness, pain, tingling or numbness?
- What part of your body do you specifically feel those symptoms?
- How long have you felt these symptoms?
- Have they been occasional or continuous?
- What makes your symptoms get worse?
- Is there anything that makes it better?
- Do you have a hobby or job that entails you to perform repetitive movements?