Without sleep our bodies aren't recharged and are running on empty. You may struggle to stay awake during the day and have no energy to complete the daily tasks that you need to do.



Everybody experiences tiredness on some days, whether it is due to a late night, an early morning rise, or perhaps due to insomnia.

Having the occasional sleepless night is completely normal and although you may be tired for a day, you will soon recover after a couple of good nights sleep.

But for someone who suffers from chronic insomnia this tiredness doesn't go away and can lead to extreme exhaustion.

Insomnia can be very frustrating and the stress of not being able to sleep can make the insomnia worse.

Nobody wants to spend their days walking around like a zombie, wanting nothing more than to lie down and sleep and could also be suffering from headaches. Imagine living life with a constant hangover, as that is what the effects of insomnia can be like.

Insomnia basically is the inability to fall asleep at night and also having difficulty in remaining asleep for long periods. It may be caused by a medical condition, stress and anxiety, depression, a major event happening in your life, or as a result of your lifestyle.

To overcome insomnia you first need to find out what is causing your insomnia. If you have a lot of stress in your life, you may need to consider using some stress management techniques to help manage your stress in a more effective way.

Stress is such a big contributing factor in having insomnia. When you are feeling stressed your mind will continue to think about and try to solve the particular stressful situation. This will usually continue into the evening and still keeps on thinking when you go to bed. If you're mind is racing it can be very hard to fall asleep.

When your mind is racing you won't be able to drift into a deep sleep, so even when you do finally manage to fall asleep, you are likely to sleep very lightly and not go into the deep sleep needed for your body to recharge. Sleeping in just a light sleep will cause you to wake during the night also and one you are awake your mind starts ticking again and you may find it hard to get back to sleep.

Try to avoid stressful situations in your life and for those situations that aren't avoidable then try to use some stress management techniques to deal with them. Teach yourself to switch off your mind at a certain time in the evening and tell yourself that you are no longer allowed to think about that situation again until the following day.

Situations are not going to change just because you are thinking about them while lying in bed. They can wait until tomorrow. So go to bed, forget any problems in your life and have a good, deep sleep.