Insomnia

[Cassandra]

I have been awake for hours. I have had a hot drink and put lavender on my pillow. It has made no difference and I feel very lonely. What do you do if you find yourself in this situation?

 

[9006]

If I can't sleep I get up until I feel tired, if I HAVE to sleep due to work or whatever, then I simply toss & turn and have the worst nights sleep ever.

If you're after some possible solutions then you could try:

• Not watching TV or experience any over stimulation before bed
• Make sure you're in complete darkness
• Turn anything that emits light off (especially blue light)
• Wear ear plugs if there's any noise
• Allow time before bed to "wind down"
• Try listening to some relaxing sounds or music before sleep
• Try not to over-think (Difficult under stress or anxiety)
• Make sure sheets or any PJ's are clean, soft, and comfortable
• By having the room cool (Or even cold) helps towards comfort in bed
• Try and maintain a regular bed time

Hope that helps, if not see doctor.

 

[zibafu]

Alone and awake in the bedroom at night... you probably don't wanna know what I would consider


Sorry, a statement in jest, sort of... maybe.

But really, try reading a book, one of the ironies of sleep is that when you try to sleep youll stay awake, so do the opposite, try to stay awake.

 

[PeteBerger]

I would assume many of us have some sort of experience with insomnia. I
could not agree more with 9006: "If I can't sleep I get up until I feel tired, if I
HAVE to sleep due to work or whatever, then I simply toss & turn and have
the worst nights sleep ever." - I am pretty much the same. And once I
am asleep I can sleep a lot, like between 8-12 hours easily. Although during
the past two weeks I have had trouble sleeping, don't really know why.

 

[beautiful loser]

This works for me but it's going to sound completely ridiculous. As I'm lying in bed, I start to think of items I own and sort them in my mind. For example, I have a ton of fishing reels. So, I start to sort them by company brands and I always fall asleep before I complete my list.

I know, I know, it sounds so useless to even mention but it has helped me many times. I'm sure if you collect something you can sort them by size or color or various groupings. Then again, everyone is different and may not work, but by doing my sorting thing it does get my mind off of trying to get some sleep and not think about it at all.

 

[Cassandra]

Thanks for the good suggestions.

 

[PeteBerger]

This works for me but it's going to sound completely ridiculous. As I'm lying in bed, I start to think of items I own and sort them in my mind. For example, I have a ton of fishing reels. So, I start to sort them by company brands and I always fall asleep before I complete my list.

I know, I know, it sounds so useless to even mention but it has helped me many times. I'm sure if you collect something you can sort them by size or color or various groupings. Then again, everyone is different and may not work, but by doing my sorting thing it does get my mind off of trying to get some sleep and not think about it at all.

It doesn't sound that bad. The problem is I don't think I collect anything I
could sort in mind, but I might try to come up with something. There is also
advices like counting sheep, but it didn't really work for me. What might
also sounds stupid, but I do try sometimes when I find myself over-thinking
before sleep, is like telling my mind "I'm not seeing a big Coca-Cola polar
bear in the Arctic - no I do not see it - playing it in the snow" etc. and
thus my brain will only show me images about something I told to it I do
not want to see or the other picture I am trying to "sell" my brain is being
in the outer space, seeing other planets and seeing the Earth from like a
spaceship. So the harder you trying to tell your brain you don't want to see
something, the harder it will try to show you it. Sometimes it does work to
calm myself down a bit and get to sleep.

 

[beautiful loser]

This works for me but it's going to sound completely ridiculous. As I'm lying in bed, I start to think of items I own and sort them in my mind. For example, I have a ton of fishing reels. So, I start to sort them by company brands and I always fall asleep before I complete my list.

I know, I know, it sounds so useless to even mention but it has helped me many times. I'm sure if you collect something you can sort them by size or color or various groupings. Then again, everyone is different and may not work, but by doing my sorting thing it does get my mind off of trying to get some sleep and not think about it at all.

It doesn't sound that bad. The problem is I don't think I collect anything I
could sort in mind, but I might try to come up with something. There is also
advices like counting sheep, but it didn't really work for me. What might
also sounds stupid, but I do try sometimes when I find myself over-thinking
before sleep, is like telling my mind "I'm not seeing a big Coca-Cola polar
bear in the Arctic - no I do not see it - playing it in the snow" etc. and
thus my brain will only show me images about something I told to it I do
not want to see or the other picture I am trying to "sell" my brain is being
in the outer space, seeing other planets and seeing the Earth from like a
spaceship. So the harder you trying to tell your brain you don't want to see
something, the harder it will try to show you it. Sometimes it does work to
calm myself down a bit and get to sleep.

Hi Pete, I actually mentioned insomnia at work today. A co-worker told me she has a way to fall asleep and it usually helps and it's similar to my way.

She will think of an actor/actress and try to remember all of their movies, especially in chronological order. That way it makes her think of the movie titles even more so than the lack of sleep. She falls asleep quite quickly after starting her little game. Maybe that will help?

 

[Cassandra]

Thanks for your suggestions.:rolleyes2:

 

[Outcast]

I'm a terrible sleeper myself, I rarely get more than a few hours. Most of the time I have really weird dreams and wake up with a cold sweat, so I dread going to sleep any more. Must be a mental thing :/, the only times I sleep really well is when I work all day and end up exhausted or if I go out drinking with friends (which is rare).

 

[WallflowerGirl83]

I get insomnia sometimes too which I know isn't good. Like as of right now it's 1:30 AM and I'm still awake and I should probably go to sleep already, haha.

I'm probably going to do this if I can't get to sleep soon: try drinking sleepytime tea and see if this helps you out at all.

 

[sk66rc]

I usually watch tv till I doze off... Putting a timer on tv is a genius idea, at least for me...

 

[Cassandra]

You have made some good suggestions.

 

[painter's radio]

One thing I sometimes do is see how fast I can count. I do it in sets of 100 so I'm not saying "four hundred and eighty one, four hundred and eighty two" etc, rather I will get to 100 and remember it on my thumb, then get to 200 and remember it on my index finger, and so on. I just count as fast as I can and after a while I'll start forgetting how many hundreds I've done or whether I'm in the 60's and if I skipped the 50's, things like that. When I start to forget these things it usually means I'm getting sleepy.
I also set myself a goal within the numbers. "I'm not allowed to move any part of my body until I hit 200". Then when I get to 200 I can move if I wasn't comfortable. Movement pauses the counting. Resets it if I'm feeling masochistic.

 

[ardour]

Sometimes sleep less than 4 hours on work nights... Like other's have said, avoid tv or computer screens before going to bed. Lavender scent helps (put it on your pillow). Also, if you're really desperate to sleep then a shot of whiskey, although you can't really do that every night.