![]() If you find you are still struggling after another 15 minutes, then get up and repeat the process. Hopefully, you should soon be feeling sleepy and it will be time to go to bed again. (Don't overdo it so you end up having to get up to use the bathroom later in the night, either – here's when to stop drinking before bed, according to a doctor.) Having a warm drink can also help, but make sure it does not contain caffeine. For instance, you might want to read something relaxing or do a craft activity or jigsaw puzzle to unwind and help prepare your body for sleep. Once these conditions are met, then you should aim to keep your activity low-key. However, rather than staying in your bedroom, the advice is to do the following: If after 15 minutes you are still wide awake and staring at the ceiling, then you shouldn't stay in bed. (Image credit: Getty / Future) What should you do when you're out of bed? This disassociation from stress is where the power of the quarter-of-an-hour rule lies. But the trick is also about what you do when you get up as it could be key to helping you fall asleep. This is why the rule says if you are still awake after 15 minutes, then it's best to get up. The 15-minute sleep rule is based on the premise that it's best to associate your bed with sleep rather than stress. If you regularly suffer from insomnia, then you will be no stranger to the anxiety that comes with not being able to fall asleep. So, if getting to sleep easily is something that you only dream about, then read on to find out more. We also cover what you should and should not do once you get up. However, in order for this technique to be effective you will need to follow some simple rules.īelow we explain exactly what is the 15-minute sleep rule (also called the ‘quarter-of-an-hour rule' or QHR) and how it can help you sleep better. While this 15-minute sleep rule might sound a little counterintuitive, but research (opens in new tab) suggests it will ultimately help you get the rest you deserve. But, according to the experts, if you're still wide awake 15 minutes after you go to bed, then, in fact, it's best to get up. “Imagine your grandmother putting a cold washcloth on your forehead.” He hopes that the cap may also prove useful to patients with anxiety and mood disorders, which also involve the prefrontal cortex.If you frequently have trouble falling asleep it can leave you feeling anxious, restless and wondering what to do. Participants reported that wearing the cap was a “soothing, massagelike experience,” Nofzinger says. The cooling cap, which had a 75 percent success rate, may soon offer patients a safe, comfortable, nonpharmaceutical way to enjoy a good night’s sleep. The finding is significant because current treatments such as hypnosis and sleeping pills help only about one in four insomniacs. Using the cap to perform a cooling process on the brain called cerebral hypothermia, the researchers were able to reduce the brain’s activity and lull the subject to sleep. In insomniacs, however, it increases-corresponding with the incessant worrying or brain chatter that many insomniacs report experiencing. In adults with normal sleeping patterns, the metabolism of the prefrontal cortex decreases as they fall asleep. Nofzinger, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who worked on the study. “When you get into the neurobiology, insomnia is a disorder of hyperarousal,” says Eric A. The cap helps the insomniacs fall asleep about as fast-and stay asleep about as long-as adults without insomnia. In a study presented this summer at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s SLEEP 2011 conference, researchers fit 12 insomniacs with caps that use circulating water to cool the prefrontal cortex. Now a new study finds that simply cooling the brain area just behind the forehead can help. ![]() ![]() The pain and frustration of chronic insomnia affects one in 10 American adults, most of whom find no relief from current therapies.
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