Meghan Asha: You remember when you used to fall asleep in meetings?
Mary Rambin: I only thought I slept in one meeting.
Julia Allison: Oh my God! You did fall asleep. You totally fell asleep.
Mary Rambin: And look where we are, I fell asleep in our first next meeting.
Julia Allison: She did, she did actually fell asleep.
Meghan Asha: That's because you had insomnia.
Mary Rambin: Well, it was because I was on a Julia Allison work schedule.
Meghan Asha: We all suffer from a little, some of us a lot of insomnia.
Mary Rambin: Wait; wait, sorry, they might not even know us with our sleeping problems yet. I am Mary Rambin.
Meghan Asha: I am Meghan Asha.
Julia Allison: And I am Julia Allison and you are watching TMI Weekly.
Mary Rambin: This is a biweekly chat show where we talk about life, tech and style. Any issues you have, we have them too and we tell you all about it.
Meghan Asha: Today, we are talking about insomnia.
Julia Allison: I have had this problem for a long, long time, since college, but it has gotten even worse in the last year, and I am to the point where it is like, 2-3 nights a week, I can't fall asleep.
Meghan Asha: That's a big deal, because it makes you less efficient in life, and it makes you stressed, and it makes you unhappy. When you get a good amount of sleep, you just feel better.
Julia Allison: Yeah. And a 2007 study from the National Sleep Foundation found that women are more likely -- they are laughing at me, because I am actually using real statistics, but women are more likely than men, o have sleep disorders, and in fact, a lot of them have 1-3 nights of disturbed sleep every single week, which is a huge issue. And when I wrote about it on our website, a lot of people voted and said, I have this issue too, this issue, meaning I can't fall asleep. Usually it's caused by anxiety, or at least that's what causes mine.
Meghan Asha: Well, it is hyper-arousal, it's time changes.
Mary Rambin: What? Hyper-arousal?
Meghan Asha: Yeah, hyper-arousal, when you are over-stimulated, like I, okay, so once, when I was gambling, I won a lot of money and I could not sleep.
Julia Allison: It is like the Christmas.
Meghan Asha: It is like the Christmas, when you are Ms. Universe or you are in love with somebody, like when I am thinking of a guy.
Julia Allison: 20% more women are likely to suffer from it than men. Why do you think this is?
Meghan Asha: Boyfriend snoring.
Julia Allison: I have never taken any sleeping pills, but I had a roommate in college in my sophomore year, who was addicted to Tylenol PM, and I do mean addicted. If you are having problem sleeping, there are things that you should be doing in your everyday life that should address it, you shouldn't have to take a sleeping pill, you should be exercising.
Mary Rambin: I think a lot of people also try to watch TV because they feel like it is an escape route, to stop thinking about work and just letting their brain turn off. But at the same time, you are still engaged. Reading, forces your eyes to work and then make them tired.
[Commercial]
Meghan Asha: I had insomnia when I was living in Los Angeles. My boss gave me this advice, it said basically, run every morning. So every morning I was running, and then every night I was reading a book. And I actually slept through the nights that I would normally not have.
Julia Allison: Anytime you are dealing with an LCD screen like a television or like a laptop --
Meghan Asha: It emits.
Julia Allison: It emits light that actually shuts down production of melatonin which is the hormone that stimulates our desire to go to sleep. One of the reasons I think I have insomnia is because I am addicted to my laptop, and I don't put it away until literally I am in bed.
Meghan Asha: So Sarah, our reader, she says insomnia is -- whenever I can't sleep, it's because I am out of control. So if my house is clean, especially the bedroom that makes the things a whole lot easier; also, just having a schedule. I have friends that are bloggers, that are blogging all night, and they are never on schedule and it throws them off, it throws their eating off, it throws everything.
Julia Allison: Try separating your sleep and work environments. Don't bring work into the bedroom; don't bring your bedroom into work. I don't really know what I meant by that.
Mary Rambin: That could be fun though.
Julia Allison: That is a whole another TMI Weekly. It is a yoga move or something. You clench each part of your body for about 15 seconds, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 maybe 5 seconds and then you release, and you do it three times, and you go from your toes like your toes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 release, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 release and then each part of your body all the way up to your head and you do it again --
Meghan Asha: Are these Kegel-out exercises?
Julia Allison: No, no, no. Try it seriously, try a little love making right before bed. You didn't mention that. That's the tip we haven't mention because that does require some participation from another person.
Meghan Asha: What do you guys do though?
Mary Rambin: We know you have restless nights too. So if we missed something, we always ask, we always want you to answer. Please give us your tips below on how you battle insomnia, so that maybe --
Julia Allison: Maybe one day.
Meghan Asha: We will all get a full night sleep.
Mary Rambin: Hallelujah.
Julia Allison: Thank you so much for watching TMI Weekly, bye.
Meghan Asha: Bye.
Julia Allison: So reader Maria says that she has had a lot of luck hypnotizing herself.
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