Postnatal Insomnia: What Is It And How Can You Relieve It

Insomnia is a very common sleep disorder that affects between 10% and 30% of adults. It causes difficulty to fall asleep or stay asleep. It can also make you wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep. As a result, you wake up feeling exhausted, moody, and unfocused. If these symptoms occur several times a week in less than 3 months, it’s considered short-term insomnia. If they happen a few times a week for at least 3 months, it’s chronic insomnia.

As a new parent, it’s very common to experience insomnia. After all, newborns wake up multiple times during the day and night. Some parents may sleep less or struggle with getting high-quality rest. Besides, women need to physically recover after giving birth and are still dealing with postpartum hormonal changes. One of these changes is a lower production of progesterone, which has sleep-inducing qualities, and changes in melatonin, which promotes sleep and relaxation. Insomnia can also be either a catalyst or a symptom of postpartum depression. A study published in Journal of Research in Medical Science found that new mothers who don’t get high-quality sleep are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.

How to deal with postnatal insomnia

Postnatal insomnia can harm your health. It can also affect your partner and baby. Some studies even suggest that there is a link between a mother’s behavioral health and their kid’s psychosocial development. If you are struggling with insomnia, avoid taking sleep medications or anti-depressants without consulting your healthcare provider first. You should always discuss your health concerns with your doctor. New parents who struggle with getting enough sleep can try one of the following techniques (in addition to more traditional approaches) to get the rest they need:

1. Avoid alcohol and caffeine

Consuming alcohol or caffeine during the day can seriously affect sleep quality and quantity. Perhaps you drink two or three cups of coffee a day to keep awake and take care of your baby. But this does more harm than good. Try to limit your caffeine intake to one cup per day by two in the afternoon. When it comes to alcohol, you should abstain from it altogether, especially if you are breastfeeding. And, although alcohol’s sedative properties can induce faster sleep, it can cause sleep fragmentation throughout the night.

2. Set a sleeping schedule

Newborns sleep about 17 hours per day. However, they wake up several times during the day or night to be fed or changed. Experts recommend going to sleep when your baby sleeps regardless of the time. This can help parents acclimate to their baby’s schedule and get the amount of sleep they need.

3. Exercise

Exercising while feeling sleep-deprived? It may sound counterintuitive, but there’s actually a good reason behind it. If you aren’t too tired and have fully recovered from giving birth, try going for a walk or a jog in the morning. Exercise boosts your mood, helping you feel energized and more positive. What’s more, being exposed to sunlight and nature can realign your cardiac rhythm.

4. Split the duties

If you have a partner, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Splitting the duties can make your life so much easier and get you extra minutes of sleep. If you are nursing, for example, you can fill a few bottles with breastmilk and ask your partner to feed them to your baby while you are resting. They can also take care of other household and baby-related chores.

5. Relax

When you are stressed and anxious, sleep becomes elusive. After pregnancy, you may feel stressed by the lack of sleep and all those pending house chores, which makes things even more challenging. Experts believe that insomnia is a mental state of hyper-arousal. When we are stressed, anxious, or depressed, our brain stays hyperactive and that’s why we struggle so much to fall asleep. It makes sense then to dedicate a few minutes to relax and “switch off” our restless brains before bedtime.

Meditation is a great option as it promotes a state of serenity, awareness, and balance that reduces distress and facilitates emotional regulation. Researchers theorize that mindfulness meditation or mindfulness exercises can help us calm down the nervous system, allowing us to enjoy high-quality sleep. At a biological level, meditation slows the heart rate and breathing. It also decreases levels of cortisol, also known as “the stress hormone”. On a long-term basis, the deep relaxation elicited by meditation can reduce stress-related inflammation.

A study published in JAMA International Medicine included 49 adults who had trouble sleeping. Half of the group learned meditation and other exercises to become mindful. The other half took a sleep education class with useful tips to improve their sleep routine. By the end of the study, the meditation group had less insomnia and fatigue. Another study demonstrated that learning deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can significantly improve sleep at night. In more detail, those who applied such techniques reported better subjective sleep quality and sleep diary parameters.

Relieving stress and insomnia with sound meditations

The bottom line is that meditation and mindfulness can help you release stress and get better sleep after pregnancy. Beginning.com is determined to make meditation and relaxation much easier. You don’t need to be “good” or “experienced” at meditation to feel calm and refreshed. Just get comfortable, put your headphones on, and listen to the soothing sounds and vibrations of nature, instruments, and vocalizations wash over you. In just 25 minutes, your mind will be ready to manage stress and anxiety and experience deep sleep.