1.  Eat pumpkin seeds.  Many clinical trials in both men and women have shown that pumpkin seeds is a great herbal remedy for an overactive bladder. For centuries, Native Americans have been using pumpkin seeds to improve bladder health.   Pumpkin seeds are rich in essential fatty acids and phytoesterol, which have positive effects on bladder control.

2.  Do Kegel exercises every day.  Kegel exercises strengthen the muscles that help control the urethra.  When these muscles are weak, your bladder must release.  Doing kegels is easy even when you are in bed trying to fall asleep.  Pretend you are trying to stop the flow of urine.  Pull in and squeeze those muscles.  Hold for 10 seconds.  Release for 10 seconds.  Try to build up to 10 kegels, 3 times a day.

3.  Cut back on caffeine drinks, which are diuretics.  Caffeine doesn’t just stimulate the brain, it makes you go to the bathroom.

4.  Significantly reduce fluids after 4 p.m. This seems obvious, but if you are feel the need to urinate while trying to fall asleep then minimize fluids late in the day and evening.

See our comprehensive list of foods and recipes to help you sleep.

Many medical experts say that you should track your sleep for two weeks. Download our sleep diary today.

Note: The diary is provided in Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® format (PDF). To view or print it, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 3.0 or higher) installed on your computer. If you do not have the Reader, you can obtain it free from Adobe Systems Incorporated. Click on the icon below to download the program from their Web site.

1. Keep your home cool during the day by keeping blinds down and curtains drawn. Your bedroom should be dark as a cave during the day.

2. Open windows at nighttime if you don’t have or want to use air conditioning. A ceiling fan can really help insomnia sufferers because of the swooshing sound and cool breeze.

3. Avoid heat build up in the body by reducing activities and drinking plenty of water from late afternoon through dinner.

4. Avoid hot and heavy meals, especially at dinner. Instead, eat cool, refreshing foods like fruits and vegetables.

5. Take a cool shower or bath just before bedtime.

Bonus Tip: When it’s really hot, we sometimes camp out in the coolest room in our house: the basement! Remember, heat rises so 2nd floor bedrooms are always going to be warmer than the main floor and basement. I know it sounds crazy, but the kids love it! And, we all sleep really great because it’s much cooler.

10 to 20 minutes of low impact exercise is all you need to gain energy for the rest of the day and to help put you to sleep at night. While it may seem that moving about when you are exhausted is the quickest route to feeling more exhausted, the opposite is true according to experts.

Here are 3 insomnia reducing exercise tips to gain energy during the day:

1. Walk instead of waiting in the car for kids.  In experiments conducted at California State University, a brisk 10-minute walk not only increased energy, but the effects lasted up to two hours.  And, when the daily 10-minute walks continued for 3 weeks, overall energy levels and mood were lifted.

2.  Squeeze your shoulder when sitting in a car pick-up line.  Relax your shoulder and neck muscles and squeeze your shoulder blades together 30 times.  Next do 30 shoulder raises but remember to keep your neck muscles relaxed.

3.  Tone your Thighs.  Another great car exercise.  Squeeze your thighs and ankles together as hard as you can.  Hold for 15 seconds (eventually working up to 30 seconds) and release.  Repeat 10-20 times. If you find this too easy then you can increase the toning effect by squeezing a ball between your legs.

Before you know it, you will be using your car and parking lot time as exercise opportunities. Your shoulders, thighs, abs, and butt will all benefit and you will sleep better from these seratonin inducing exercises.

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen blueberries, thaw in refrigerator)
1/3 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of water
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

• In a small saucepan, mix together the sugar and water on medium heat until the sugar dissolves (about 1-3 minutes). Make sure you carefully watch this because you don’t want it to burn. Remove from heat and cool completely (this will take about 1-2 hours).
• In a food processor or blender, puree blueberries, lemon juice and cooled sugar water mixture.
• Pour combined liquid into the ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacture’s instructions. Sorbet is particularly soft after churning but firms up after freezing. After the sorbet is finished in the ice cream maker, transfer to an air tight container. Cover tightly and freeze until ready to serve.

Search our comprehensive list of foods high in tryptophan.

Notes: Don’t have an ice cream maker?  Pour your sorbet mixture into a freezer-safe covered container and “still freeze” it.  However, you have to stir the mixture every half-hour or so to keep it from freezing into a solid block.

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down. – Lily Tomlin

Stress is poison. – Agavé Powers

There is more to life than increasing its speed. – Mohandas K. Gandhi

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are. -Chinese Proverb

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it. – Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris

Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you. -John De Paola

Give your stress wings and let it fly away. – Carin Hartness

Smile, breathe and go slowly. – Thich Nhat Hanh

No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it. – Harry Emerson Fosdick

Is everything as urgent as your stress would imply? – Carrie Latet

For other intersting quotes, be sure to visit our famous quotes on sleep.

Or, visit our quotes on caffiene anc coffee.

Ingredients:

1 cup berries (strawberries or blueberries are most popular)

1 banana – cut into pieces

1 packet of instant oatmeal

1 cup of low-fat milk

2 cups of ice cubes

Directions:

Mix all ingredients (except ice cubes) to blender.  Blend until smooth, then add ice cubes and blend for about 30 seconds.

Search our comprehensive list of foods high in tryptophan.

Mushroom Salad Recipe

Ingredients
1 pound fresh white mushrooms (also known as button mushrooms or crimini mushrooms)
1 cup sliced celery thinly sliced on an angle
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup shaved Parmiginao-Reggiano
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon-style mustard
Salt to taste

Directions
1. Whisk together the oil, vinegar and mustard in a medium bowl (salt to taste).
2. In a separate bowl, mix together mushrooms, celery and parsley.
3. Liberally drizzle the salad with the salad dressing from step 1 until evenly coated.
4. Divide the salad onto plates and scatter shaved Parmiginao-Reggiano cheese on top of the mushroom salad. Serve immediately. Yields 6 servings.

Search our comprehensive list of foods high in tryptophan.

Coffee is the best thing to douse the sunrise with.  (Drew Sirtors)

Way too much coffee.  But if it weren’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever.  (David Letterman)

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.  (Unknown)

I orchestrate my mornings to the tune of coffee.  (Harry Mahtar)

I could smell myself awake with that coffee.  (Jaesse Tyler)

I like my coffee like my women:  hot, strong, steamy.  (Author Unknown)

Coffee makes us severe, and grave, and philosophical.  (Jonathan Swift)

For other intersting quotes, be sure to visit our famous quotes on sleep.

Ingredients

1 tbsp almond butter

1 cup low fat or soy milk

1 banana

1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Almond butter is high in protein and will stop midnight munchies.

Bananas have a high magnesium content to help muscles relax after a hard day’s work.

Skimmed milk helps the brain use sleep-inducing tryptophan to produce melatonin, which regulates your sleep cycle.

Sesame seeds are rich in tryptophan too.