Rehabilitation of a drug-abused person is a long process demanding lots of effort from the patient. Recovering during the drug withdrawal goes painfully, might get really frustrating and can result into decline of patient’s emotional (and hence physical) condition. The addicted people very often experience:
- stress and depression;
- anxiety;
- panic attacks;
- insomnia.
As the night comes it brings back all the negatives thoughts, strengthens painful feelings and exaggerates the fears. Moreover it is usually accompanied by such symptoms as mood disturbances, fatigue, muscle and bone pain and even diarrhea.
Very often loss of sleep and nightmares may become a serious psychological obstacle on the way to recovery. How can a person cope with it without taking extra medicine or using medical assistance (in the most acute cases)? Below are easy-to-use tips suggested by therapists and psychologists.
Easy-to-follow Tips for Coping with Insomnia
- Pay attention at what you eat and drink. Reduce the products and drinks that cause anxiety. Avoid caffeine. Stop drinking coffee for a while and replace black tea with herbal ones. Green tea might be helpful as it also contains L-theanine aminoacid, which has a calming effect on our brain and reduces irritation.
- Try eating lettuce. It may help to reduce restless legs syndrome and generally calm down.
- Get relaxed before you go to sleep and try to bring back some very important positive reminiscence of yours. Listen to your favorite relaxing music, chat with some close reliable friends.
- Start a diary. Many psychologists agree that getting rid of disturbing thoughts by writing them down without even later reading contributes to your positive thinking.
- Physical activities during the daytime involving a lot of motion and contact with nature and animals will be really useful. Try jogging in a forest on a daily basis, horse riding in the countryside or swimming. Contact with animals like dogs and horses has a strongly positive calming effect on people in general.
- Yoga and meditation are really helpful calming strategies. It also helps to concentrate better, clear your mind before sleep and get rid of panic. While falling asleep concentrate on a large and conceptually simple image like sparkling sea, blue sky or sunset in the mountains.
- Nontoxic aromatherapy might be quite effective in the case of insomnia. A lavender-filled pillow has a sleepy effect.
- Last but not least, loneliness isn’t a good idea in the case of insomnia, whether it is acute or chronic. If you feel that you can’t go it alone find people who you can stay together with from time to time. These may be good friends or family.
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