Sharing a bed with an insomniac or snorer

Are you sharing a bed with an insomniac or snorer? Both of these sleep problems can cause you and your partner nights filled with tension and of course, lack of needed rest. When a person suffers from insomnia, it is hard for him or her to fall asleep. Sometimes they can lay awake for hours before falling asleep, or worse, may stay awake all night.
If this sleeplessness is disrupting your ability to rest peacefully as well, there are some helpful tips your partner can try that might provide a good night’s sleep for both of you.
Taking a warm bath before bedtime may help reduce insomnia. Add some calming bubble bath to soothe away all of his or her stress from the day.
Your partner needs to avoid caffeine, alcohol and tobacco a couple of hours before going to bed. These all can prolong wakefulness.
Keeping a regular bedtime schedule can also promote sleep. Going to bed around the same time each night will be a routine your partner’s body will get used to over time and should help induce a sleep filled night.
A bed that is firm can also help with sleep. If it is too soft, it could cause restlessness in a person and keep them from finding a comfortable position, thus preventing sleep.
Eating a light bedtime snack or drinking herbal tea could also work to induce sleep. And your partner should never go to bed hungry. An empty stomach will always demand attention, which will take away from focusing on sleep.
Try keeping the bedroom dark and completely free of noise to help your partner fall asleep easier. This will help you sleep better, too.
The bed should also be used only for sleeping. Don’t let your partner spread out paperwork from his or her office and set up the laptop on the bed to catch up on work. The same goes for watching television. Both of these things will cause the bed to be viewed as a place of activity or stress, not sleep.
If the person you share a bed with has a problem with snoring, he or she may be getting sleep but you are the one suffering from a less than restful night. Of course, even though the snorer seems to be sleeping, he or she may not be getting the appropriate rest they need either. Twenty-five percent of adults snore every night. It is a very common sleep problem that the snorer can’t control. Some even deny they snore at all.
Snoring is caused when the flow of air through the mouth and nose passages becomes blocked, resulting in the noisy sound coming from your partner’s mouth. Try rolling your partner onto his or her side to eliminate or at least lessen the snoring. Sleeping on the back seems to make snoring worse.
Sometimes it can help if you go to bed before your partner. If you can fall asleep before he or she climbs into bed and starts snoring, there is a chance you won’t even hear anything because you are deeply asleep. Now, if you are a very light sleeper this may not work, especially if the snoring is very loud.
There are a lot of self proclaimed cures for snoring but most of them prevent snoring by keeping a person awake. This would not be helpful since it could promote insomnia.
Fortunately, your partner can’t suffer from insomnia and snoring at the same time unless each sleep problem happens at different intervals of the night. If so, seeing a doctor may be the next step to take. A doctor may have advice on both sleep problems that could help you and your insomniac or snorer get some much needed rest.