insomnia
 

anybody else suffer from insomnia with any regularity? lately it seems like no matter what i do during the day i can't get to sleep at night, and it's starting to really tick me off. what do you do to help with this??? i seem to go in cycles where i keep staying up later and later, and sleep later into the day after i do finally fall asleep until finally i stay up for 24 or more consecutive hours and then sleep a lot, waking very early in the a.m.. from there i have a few weeks of normality, then it starts over again. :confused: i'm tired, but i just can't sleep.. any suggestions?

I think a lot of people suffer from it. I usually fall asleep immediately, but wake up several times during the night. It's then I have a hard time going back to sleep...I do stay up later, sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. I just accept it. It's been going on for years.

I know how you feel. I've had insomnia problems since I was a teenager and don't get to sleep until 2-3am most nights... then get up at 6 to get ready for work/school.

It's exhausting and does affect my grades. I used to be able to combat it by taking a nap in the afternoon when I got home, but working full time doesn't allow for it.

There are many nights where I don't sleep at all as well, but they tend to be a little more few and far between.

I used to combat it in high school by taking dramamine, but that only worked for so long. Nothing else has even worked a little bit. I've even completely cut caffeine out of my diet. The only time I drink something with caffeine is when I get a migraine.

buy 20 acres. get a couple of dogs. then, get 3 horses. in the summer, plant lots and lots of flowers. work 4 days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and don't take a lunch hour.

i can almost guarantee you, by 8 p.m., you won't have any trouble sleeping! :p

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11573604#post11573604 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nina51 [/i]
[B]buy 20 acres. get a couple of dogs. then, get 3 horses. in the summer, plant lots and lots of flowers. work 4 days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and don't take a lunch hour.

i can almost guarantee you, by 8 p.m., you won't have any trouble sleeping! :p [/B][/QUOTE]


hard work is the best sleep aid advice ever!

lol nina, that may be the solution!
my caffeine intake is nowhere near what it used to be, although completely removing it might be a good idea, and i did try sleeping pills for a while, but they didn't really help much. if anything they killed the next day for me. music used to help, and so did reading, but lately those things seem to stimulate my brain more than soothe it. in the past 5 days i've read into the wild, slaughterhouse five, and brave new world..reading hasn't helped like it used to. i dunno, i guess i'm up now and if i go to sleep i won't wake up until evening, and it will continue. i'm going to the aquarium. have a good day everybody!

I found the best thing is to try and have some down time before I go to bed it works most of the time. But there are weeks where it just does not help. I tried meds for it, but you have to be able to get 8 hours. With the few I tried. some of them made me too tired during the day so I stopped using them. Now when people say you look tired I just say....... Can't Sleep Clown's Will Eat Me It's better than a long explanation and you don't get advice.

I also suffer from insomnia, although I realized that it's less a function of not being able to sleep, as it is making sure I sleep when my body wants me to. I'm lucky enough to work in an environment where I can take a short nap in the staff lounge in the afternoon, or come into work early, or what ever. I tend to go to bed around 10, and I'm usually up and at work by 5 am.

There are a number of natural sleeping aids that may help. Try Valarium Root. It may also be posture related - new pillow? I find that lavender helps. I bought a bottle of lavender extract at my local health food store and put a couple of drops in a dish on my nightstand. Helps quite a bit.

i used to give valerian root to my old dog to calm him during storms.

seriously dwd, before my life became intense enough to tire me, i did have trouble sleeping. i have found that tylenol pm helps me. it doesn't necessarily make me sleepy but if i wake in the middle of the night, i have an easier time getting BACK to sleep. also, i don't have any residual effects from it, it doesn't keep me goofy. other things do but not that. ;)

something else i have is a white noise machine next to the bed. if i find i'm having trouble falling asleep, i turn it to "ocean" sounds and the waves slapping up on the beach put me right out. it's also an alarm clock. i wake up to songbirds instead of that infernal BEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP.

I have problems sleeping most of the time. If I keep a consistent bed time and alarm time it seems to help. Even on my days off I get myself up at about 8 or 8:30 and I try and keep busy all day. I also need to take time before bed to empty my mind. If I don't, I start thinking about random things and then I'm up for hours.

i tried tylenol pm before and it helped me relax a little bit and i guess that in turn helped me fall asleep. i kinda felt a little wierd when i woke up though. not really goofy, but that sorta morning where you know one cup of coffee just aint gonna do it for ya. once i'm out, i'm dead to the world. the problem i have is falling asleep in the first place. i think the mellowing out time is the next thing for me to try. i too start thinking about all sorts of random stuff if i don't fall asleep right away, so maybe a meditation/mind blanking period would do the trick. that and staying away from my room until it's time to sleep. i tend to read in there, or watch dvds on the laptop. i've heard that can be a bad idea.

alcohol

but alas I'm going the route mrferrit is and have gave up drinking, I'm not 100 yet but I only allow myself to have one or 2 out at bars and such and none at home. I noticed I was drinking to much after work at home.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11573604#post11573604 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nina51 [/i]
[B]buy 20 acres. get a couple of dogs. then, get 3 horses. in the summer, plant lots and lots of flowers. work 4 days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and don't take a lunch hour. [COLOR=red]Get really old.[/COLOR]

i can almost guarantee you, by 8 p.m., you won't have any trouble sleeping! :p [/B][/QUOTE]Fixed that for ya.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11576600#post11576600 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pnosko [/i]
[B]Fixed that for ya. [/B][/QUOTE]

aww, what'd i do to deserve you? :love1:

Oooh, I'll never wash my face again!

we were designed by nature for physical effort and little mental stress. Our modern life does the opposite to us.

There are two levels of seriousness to this malady, and in my profession, it's a professional hazard---alcohol is a very, very dangerous solution, because you don't get the healthy REM sleep you need to clear out the cobwebs. Not to mention what happens to your liver.

So if you AREN'T doing physical labor and have insomnia, take up something physical that you do at least once a day---be it skating, gardening, tennis, or going to the gym. That should do it.

If you don't find that works and especially if your inability to sleep is leading to depression, morbid thoughts, or circular thinking [endless rehearsal of problems without an outcome]---get to your doctor and tell him you have depression symptoms and want something done about your sleep pattern. This can take several tries before they get the right thing to fix it---and it does not mean sleeping pills. It means proper regulation of the melatonin/seratonin stuff in your brain.

What's wrong with having morbid thoughts? :D

There are lots of things that cause insomnia and I will agree that depression and anxiety are top causes. I think several insomniacs on here would agree that they would rather not sleep than take anti-depressants, though.

My sleep disturbances are neither caused by depression nor anxiety, but more from a hyper-active, overly-analytical mind that will not stop. Usually, the only way to get my brain to slow down and concentrate (or stop) is by shaking my foot/leg. Redirecting the excess energy gives my brain a rest long enough to sleep and I will do that the entire time I'm sleeping. I've also been yelled at multiple times for doing it through exams.

I'd rather not sleep than be on a bunch of pills. Through deep-breathing and mediation, I've learned how to be in a waking-sleep that usually gets me the rest I need. Cutting out caffeine has helped a lot as well, too.

i've always been really bad with insomnia, it mostly has to do with racing thoughts and an over active mind IMO. it was the worst during the later part of college and grad school. for me it required day and night meds that helped a ton to keep my mind focused.

insomnia is like never being able to sleep, but never really being awake during the day either b/c you are so exhausted.

IMO, the easiest cure aside from a psychotropic medication....is to get a really boring and mundane job. work 8-12hr days that doesn't require any work from home, and doesn't challenge your mind one bit but does require allot of "busy work". as soon as you get home from work you'll hit the bed hard and sleep like a rock until you have to get back up for work again.

I don't drink anymore,(maybe a couple beers once or twice over the summer). Since then I have to keep a regular cycle. I can't do naps or I won't be able to sleep at night. I go to bed between 11:30 and 12:00 every night. Wake up before 7:00. Sometimes when I go to bed, it takes an hour to fall asleep, but I'll just lay there till I do. A good hard day's work really does help also.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11573604#post11573604 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nina51 [/i]
[B]buy 20 acres. get a couple of dogs. then, get 3 horses. in the summer, plant lots and lots of flowers. work 4 days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and don't take a lunch hour.

i can almost guarantee you, by 8 p.m., you won't have any trouble sleeping! :p [/B][/QUOTE]

yes!! that do help some!!!

i have sleeping problems too .. cant sleep much at night.. i wake up a few times each night.. ( i wake soo much that i dont go into REM sleep much..it's been a GOOD long time since i had a dream that i could remember ) i usually will it out all week between school and work but after a few weeks i crash... i end up comming home from work or school and hit the sac dead tired... and sleep for a dozen hours or so..


YzGyz

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11573604#post11573604 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nina51 [/i]
[B]buy 20 acres. get a couple of dogs. then, get 3 horses. in the summer, plant lots and lots of flowers. work 4 days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and don't take a lunch hour.

i can almost guarantee you, by 8 p.m., you won't have any trouble sleeping! :p [/B][/QUOTE]

yes!! that do help some!!!

i have sleeping problems too .. cant sleep much at night.. i wake up a few times each night.. ( i wake soo much that i dont go into REM sleep much..it's been a GOOD long time since i had a dream that i could remember ) i usually will it out all week between school and work but after a few weeks i crash... i end up comming home from work or school and hit the sac dead tired... and sleep for a dozen hours or so..


YzGyz

What in the world are you folks doing up at this hour? My goodness! Go to bed and get some sleep! I certainly am.




































Yup.








Any minute now.....