How to Sleep After a Severe Head Injury

Many severe head injury sufferers have a commonly-shared sleep disorder problem, which can make the symptoms from the injury even more apparent. Since there are restrictions on certain sleep aid medicines being prescribed to head injury patients, you will need to know which ones have been known to help. You should also familiarize yourself with other methods for combating insomnia and fatigue on your own. With the right instruction, you will be able to start getting the rest that you need to recover as quickly as possible.

Instructions

• 1

  Visit your physician to discuss which medicine is appropriate for your particular situation. If your doctor feels that traditional prescription sleep aids are not advised, then discuss whether a small dose of an antidepressant may be considered. Small doses of some antidepressant medicines have been shown to be effective for sleep disorders, when taken thirty minutes before bedtime.

• 2

  Begin a routine of going to bed at the same time every night. Let your body adapt to the sleep patterns you are setting.

• 3

  Cut drinks that contain caffeine from your daily diet, especially at night. Caffeine has been known to promote the possibility of seizure activity in head injury sufferers.

• 4

  Avoid performing exercise late in the day.

• 5

  Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and at a moderate temperature. Darkness and silence both play important roles in your mind being able to enter its sleeping state correctly. A room that is too cold or too hot will effect the natural progression of sleep throughout the night as well.

• 6

  Avoid taking naps in the middle of the day. It is best to merely rest without actually falling asleep, as to not disrupt the newly developing sleep patterns you are forming.