Insomnia in Adults and Children

“Sleep, that knits up the ravell’d care of day,” is sometimes too elusive for many of us. At one time or another, everyone has a sleepless night; stress during the day or anxiety about tomorrow can keep us awake and restless all through the night. When this occurs only once in a while, there is nothing much wrong. However, it can become a recurring problem, in which the whole body will sicken since it is during sleep that most healing and revitalising takes place.

 A warm bath at bedtime - to which, say, five drops of Lavender Essential Oil have been added - will create a pleasant, relaxed drowsiness that usually leads to sleep. Insomnia due to worries and anxieties will often be helped by taking Valerian, Passionflower and Scullcap during the day and especially before bedtime.

 A traditional cure for insomnia is a glass of milk with a little honey. We now know that it’s the calcium in the milk that helps you get to sleep. Calcium helps the nerves, since stress can deplete the nerves of vital calcium. A Calcium tablet (300 mg) taken two to three times daily will remedy this.

 For those of us who are able, a brisk walk or short bout of reasonably vigorous exercise, sufficient to bring about a natural tiredness, taken shortly before retiring to bed may be the answer to insomnia.

  Certain Herbal Teas are often useful to aiding sleep; Camomile and Lime blossom teas are great for mild insomnia, especially in children. Also adding a fistful of Lime blossom or Camomile to a warm bath is often a great help in aiding children to get to sleep.

 Women going through the menopause often experience insomnia due to the changes in their hormonal levels; certain herbs can be very helpful for many of the symptoms of the menopause, including insomnia. Black Cohosh, Wild Yam, Red Clover and Liquorice are very useful for menopausal symptoms. And Valerian is especially useful when insomnia is part of the picture of the menopause.

 In certain cases of insomnia, usually when a person is very run down, it may be necessary to use tonics as well as sedatives to ease the body into a restful sleep. In these people, herbs such as Ginseng may be necessary along with sedatives like Valerian or Passionflower.

 Of course, there are many other reasons why people get insomnia - chronic pain, skin problems (e.g. eczema) or chronic lung problems, to name just a few. These will have to be eased before the insomnia can be helped.

 Food and drink can also affect one’s sleep or lack of it. Eating heavy-to-digest foods late in the evening will not help sleep. Likewise drinking too much coffee or strong tea late in the evening won’t help you relax long enough to get a good night’s sleep. Certain foods like cheese can help sleep while red meats don’t. Stimulating drinks like Cola and fizzy minerals should be avoided. Also chocolate will stimulate the brain, often leading to numerous dreams and loss of deep sleep.

 Children especially can be very sensitive to images on television before bedtime. This can lead to nightmares and disturbed sleep. Adults, too, can be affected by watching television programmes. A little relaxing music and time spent looking into a warm fire can put one in the correct mood for the wonder of sleep.

Insomnia in Children

Insomnia in children can be very difficult for the unfortunate parents and has nothing to do with parents’ ability to be “good.”

On the whole, children need more sleep than adults and they tend to sleep at least 12 hours a night. However, many parents of young children have never had a full night’s sleep since the child was born. In this case, it is not only the child who needs treatment, but the exhausted parents!

There are many different causes of sleep disturbance:

·      The hyperactive child will have great difficulty getting off to sleep and will sleep for only a few hours at a time.

·      The allergic child, with food intolerances, may have difficulty getting off to sleep or suffer a disturbed night, possibly with bad dreams.

·      Nutritional deficiencies of, for example, zinc, manganese and vitamins C and B.

·      Stresses within the family or a school and insecurity from major changes (such as the arrival of a new baby or a house or school move).

·      Watching too much television or a frightening bedtime story may excite or worry the child, who can be scared of the dark or of being alone in his or her bedroom. Nightmares related to this may wake a child.

·      Getting overtired: one needs energy to sleep and relax.

·      Lack of fresh air and exercise.

·      Chronic problems, such as skin rashes, digestive problems, asthma or catarrh causing difficulty breathing, may disturb sleep.

·      Acute infections, coughs, colds, fevers, headaches will disturb nights.

First, it is important to ascertain the cause of your child’s sleep problems. If there are signs of hyperactivity or food intolerances, then you need to treat these problems in order to aid the child’s sleep.

Omit junk foods, especially sugar from the diet and any stimulating or sugary drinks such as cocoa, chocolate, cola drinks, fizzy pops and tea or coffee because these affect the brain leading to poor sleep and nightmares.

Foods containing plenty of calcium, such as parsley, dried figs, sesame seeds and tahini or milk (if there are no catarrh or food intolerance problems), will help a child to relax before bed.

A vitamin C and zinc lozenge sucked every day until a proper pattern is established is often useful.

A warm bath at night before bed will help relax the child. Make sure you don’t allow the child to get too excited at bath-time with games. A few drops of dilute oils of chamomile or lavender can be added to the bath water.

Massage, using dilute oils of chamomile, lavender or rose just before sleep, can be wonderfully soothing and reassuring for the child and induces sleep.

A cup of warm tea can be given before bed and again in the night if the child wakes. Choose from chamomile, lemon balm or lime flowers and sweeten with honey.

If your child wakes distressed, for example, from a nightmare, always go straight to him or her and put the light on and hold them until the child is relaxed enough to go back to sleep.

Never use bed as a punishment as sleep could be associated with punishment.

The Bach Flower Remedies are also very useful - choose the appropriate one for your child’s needs.