Lying in bed late at night you can feel very alone when everyone else in the house is sound asleep. Take comfort in knowing that you are not alone and in fact insomnia is a very common sleep disorder. In fact, it is estimated in the United States that $2.5 billion is spent each year on prescribed anti-insomnia medications and that doesn't take into account how much is spent on natural medicines used for insomnia.



The amount of sleep you need will vary from person to person and most people will find that they tend to sleep less as they get older. For example, children are recommended to have 12 hours of sleep per night while for adults the recommended sleep is between six and eight hours per night. This is because as we get older our bodies produce less melatonin which is a hormone that helps control sleep.

However, if you are not receiving those six to eight hours of sleep at night and wake each day feeling like you haven't slept then you may be suffering from insomnia.

The main symptoms of insomnia are:

- Difficulty in falling asleep at night

- Waking up during the night and being unable to fall back to sleep

- Waking up extremely early in the morning

- Feeling tired all day and feeling like you haven't slept at all.

There are many things that can cause insomnia but generally it tends to be psychological and often becomes a habit.

Stress, anxiety and depression are the most common causes of insomnia as when you are anxious your body finds it hard to relax and settle into sleep mode. If you go to bed stressed you will be thinking about your stressful situations and your mind will be going over and over the situation trying to resolve it somehow. Your mind cannot relax and therefore you will find it very difficult to fall into a deep sleep.

Once you start having trouble falling off to sleep at night, then you will tend to go to bed with the thought in your mind that you are not going to be able to sleep. The mind has amazing powers over the body and if the mind is telling your body that you won't be able to sleep, then your body will believe it and stay awake. If you can break this habit your sleep patterns should return to normal.

Some tips for beating Insomnia are:

- The first thing to do is to have a physical and make sure there is no underlying medical condition that may be causing your sleeplessness.

- Get yourself into a good routine, and that may include making sure you don't have any caffeine within a few hours of going to bed and having some quiet time leading up to bed time.

- Try some relaxation techniques such as meditation, soft music or yoga. This will help to relax your body and your mind in preparation for sleep. These techniques are also extremely good for helping you with deal with stress.

- Try some herbal medication for a few days, just long enough to break the habit. Once the habit is broken and your mind stops thinking that you will be unable to sleep then your insomnia should stop.

In some cases insomnia may just stop on its own, but often it is a matter of trying some of these steps and developing a positive mental attitude. Then you can stop lying in bed listening to your family snoring and join them instead.