Mslil Peta Mattschoss

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.

~Irish Proverb

Welcome to a new and hopefully helpful post for those of you who suffer from not being able to sleep.  Whether that be just general insomnia or just can’t seem to get to sleep.  There are many, many of us out there and apart from being annoying, frustrating and of course tiring, not getting enough sleep is also not the best for your health and well being.

That being said I hope to share with you some of my tips for helping you with this very common problem.  Not being able to sleep or get to sleep can be caused from a huge array of reasons.  Stress is a huge factor as is anxiety, pain,

Can't Sleep...!

interrupted circadian rhythms (shift working/jet lag) and various other medical conditions.  Circadian rhythms are, in a nutshell, your body clock.  They tell us when we need to be awake and asleep.  Shift working and other factors like jet lag can put these rhythms out of whack making it difficult to sleep at usual times.

I suffer from insomnia, especially getting to sleep, I am a bit of a stress head to say the least.  Of course, not being able to go to sleep can be treated medically, and I do liaise with my Doctor, but I am not a huge pill taker if I can get away with it.  But there are others or so many people who just persevere with the problem.  Of course that in time will take its toll on you your mental state and body.  Having this problem and at times with quite a severitiy I stumbled upon something that has helped ease and some nights totally help me get to sleep reasonably and restfully.  I have found Binaural Beats.

Binaural beats have been around for some time, but it is the last few decades where they have been seen to help with relaxation/sleeping amoungst other things.  Very basically Binaural Beats are 2 beats played in stereo 1 beat at slightly higher or lower frequency than the other.  These beats act upon the brain, near the brainstem, specifically in the superior Olivary Nucleus.  Hearing these beats in stereo with speakers or headphones you can detect these beats, but the brain uses these and also can detect between the beats which is what helps with relaxation, getting to sleep and at some higher frequencies being more awake, refreshed or more active.  There  is much reading online that you certainly get get more indepth information about Binaural Beats and how they really work.  And I will share some links below, but this post is about what I have found useful for me and you may like to give these options a try for yourself.

I have always liked listening to the radio or music before trying to go to sleep, and with Binaural Beats you don’t really have to change this habit too much.  You may or may not have heard of White Noise, which is baically what your TV or radio sounds like between channels.  Well there is a colour spectrum of noise.  Mixing Binaural Beats with Green Noise is what seems to work and quite possibly a little easier on the ears.  Well for me anyway!  Green Noise is defined as normal noise or outdoor noise.  We have all heard these noises and of course there are many relaxation audio tracks around and you would have heard 1 in your time.  By mixing the 2 noises/sounds together you can combat or reduce insomnia.  I have a iPhone App which has Green noise looping tracks on it and you can add Binaural Beats to these tracks for added effect.  In this App you can also make up your own Green noise from the many audio tracks and set your own Binaural Beats as well.   For sleep or getting to sleep it is best to have low frequency beats.  You can also download Binaural Beats directly from the net as well.

I would have to say that since using the iPhone App – ER Ultimate Relax available at the App store – on occasions I have

Aaaahhh...ZZzzz...

found that I have moved into sleep quicker than the norm.  Now I am no expert and certainly everyone reacts differently to different things.  And I do recommend that you do your own research or reading on the subject and even speak to your own health professional,  but I am glad that I found out more about Binaural Beats and how they can help reduce the effects of insomnia and help get me off to Dreamland a little more often.

Sleeping is no mean art:  for its sake one must stay awake all day.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Wikipedia – Binaural Beats

The Science – Web Us

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