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can't sleep...

  • Thread starter butthead
  • Start date
hi. i am having trouble sleeping again. maybe has something to do with problems i'm having, but since i'm bored and can't concentrate on studying i though i'd post.

what do you folks do to help you when you can't sleep?
(besides the warm milk thing... uh... that just makes my stomach upset.)

any input/comments/suggestions?
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Try watching a nature channel. Reminds me of one of those narrator type voices when we watched films in school. Still puts me right out.
 
Yep, as a fellow insomniac, I can offer you some advice.

Regular exercise is the single biggest help for maintaining a regular sleep schedule.
Avoid caffeine of any kind, at any time. Some people say avoid it after six, or two, or noon, but regardless of when you take it, it will effect your sleep.
Avoid candy and high-sugar foods late at night. Try to make your schedule accomodate doing work in the late afternoon or early evening. Try to avoid staying up late cramming. If you're up, you better be bored!
Also, I haven't had much luck with those sleeping pills, so I wouldn't recommend those. They make you sleep, but it's not a rewarding sleep (you certainly don't feel refreshsed whenyou wake up, to put it mildly), and you will sleep TOO much. 13-15 hours is not uncommon at all, even on the over the counter sleeping pills. So I recommend you avoid those at all costs..

That's all I can think of right now.. I'll post more if I remember anything later.
 
thx, guys.
sleeping pills are effective, but ONLY if i have at least nine hours to dedicate to sleep. well, it's 2:13 am and my alarm is set for 6:50 so sleeping pills are out...

i do remain fairly active. have'nt been walking/jogging in a while but i walk REALLY far to class and take the stairs all the time instead of the elevators. i also do between 75 and 180 situps everyday. guilty of the caffiene thing, though (and i'm naturally hyper without any help usually...)

not really an insomniac usually. this divorce thing might have something to do with it. that's all i'll say. i guess i'll try to go to sleep again (for like the 4th time tonight)

good night... i hope
 
I have no regular sleep period.  It's 5:17 and I am up and ticking, not a living soul here on the Forums.  I find that it does no good to force the issue and use the time to do whatever I would normally do at a more sensible time.

If you are having worries that keep you awake, a good distraction is visual imagery.  It goes something like this:  Everyone has a good recollection of the house they grew up in as a child.  For some reason, early images are more deeply impressed on the consciousness.  Imagine you are walking up the steps to the front door.  Try to picture as many details as possible: the crack in the step, the way the door knob looked, etc.  Continue through the door, always eliciting as much detail as possible, and visit the other rooms of the house.

Other relaxation techniques include tightening and relaxing your muscles sequentially from your toes on up.  Tense them as much as possible and allow them to return to a relaxed state.

Another self hypnosis riff is to draw in a deep breath, and imagine as you let it slowly out that you are descending a set of stairs: count...one.....two....three....four, and have it in mind with each step you are becoming more relaxed, more relaxed, more relaxed.  Repeat this over and over and soon you will drop off.  This works every time for me, and it does because I have programmed myself that it will.  It is most useful!

A repeated phrase or mantra (e.g. Om Mani Pade Aum) chanted repeatedly in your mind will cut off internal dialouge and leave no room for worry.

These techniques used in tandem with Trashcans good advice will serve you well.  Also remember rest and sleep are two different qualities: you can rest without sleep if you don't tense up and fret about not being able to sleep.  If you find you can't stop thinking, then you can always get out a book and read.  This will distract the body and mind enough for the natural processes to take over, and if your body is tired sleep will follow.  One of the worst things is to lie awake worrying about the fact that you are not sleeping, looking at the alarm clock ever 5 mins. and sighing!  The body can't rest with such tension present.  Worry and stress are our enemies.  I suggest if you are a worrier, that you reserve a portion of time prior to sleeptime to indulge in worry, and do so only at this time.  Don't worry during the day, and if you find yourself doing so, tell yourself it can wait until the assigned time: between 8 and 9 PM.  Then go ahead and worry about every last flippin' thing you can imagine.  At 9 PM, stop worrying!

Hope this helps.  Yawn.
 
Man, I HATE nights when I can't sleep. I just stay up with the playstation, lol. 'Cource that just exacerbates the problem because the games get me pumped.

Avoid coffee? Are you MAD? Coffee is ambrosia! Gee...wonder where my sleep troubles come from?
 
im an insomniac. I take prescribed sleeping pills along w/ other stuff to help me sleep.
 
I go to bed when I am tired. More of a night person as I will stay up till 1 or so and wake up around 8.That is 7 hours of sleep. Although drinking Mountain Dew at 8 at night is not a good idear. Not sure if I am an insomniac, if I am I just get to enjoy more time awake then sleeping..If you think most people sleep 8 hours a day that is 1,400 hours of sleep a year! WoW!
 
Reading books - school books and William Faulkner's, "Intruder In the Dust." Gotta be the most boring book I have ever sunk my mind into.
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  • #10
I can't ever get to sleep. Every night it takes me about an hour and a half to fall asleep. Even when I'm completely exhausted and it still takes this long. I don't ever take a nap during the day because it only makes it worse when I try to go to sleep that night. I think the problem is the fact that I can't shut my brain off. I don't worry about anything, I just think about all kinds of stuff. My dad has the same problem with falling asleep and so I think I got it from him.

-buckeye
 
  • #11
i lay in bed at night sometimes, but i am ALWAYS up at dawn (no matter how long i sleep) Its sort of annoying, being a early bird. Early morning TV is the pitts. Speaking of early, my finches wake up at the same time i do, but their noise  desnt wake me up for some reason. We just wake up at the same time.

Is that weird or what?
 
  • #12
er... I agree read a boring book for like 15 minutes. I reccomend
1. To Kill a Mockinbird<only interesting if you read alot of it
2. The Red Badge of Courage (sorry spec
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3. 20000 leagues under the sea<MOST BORING BOOK I'VE EVER READ ALL THE DUDE TALKS ABOUT IS "PHOSPHORESCENT FUCUS" (and other boring marine life, no action until the very last chapter. and he doesn't even go 20,000 leagues down, he goes just below the surface and travels 20,000 leagues, pretty cheesy. I hope those of you who have read this book thought it was as boring as I did.
Or.... read a good book, puts you to sleep but just slower. READ THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES BY RAY BRADBURY BEST BOOK EVER
or Enders Game
or just don't sleep like tamlin
 
  • #13
Count sheep. Another thing is cross your legs and arms and concentrate on relaxing each body part. Starting with your toes. Works well.

Travis
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  • #14
Counting sheep never worked for me. I always start thinking about why people count sheep, and when I will get to the next digit increase (ie 99->100, 999->1000). And then I start debating with myself whether its a practical means of putting myself to sleep, and the argument gets all heated, and next thing you know I'm even more awake. Your mileage may vary, of course.
 
  • #15
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Finch @ April 08 2004,9:51)]i lay in bed at night sometimes, but i am ALWAYS up at dawn (no matter how long i sleep) Its sort of annoying, being a early bird. Early morning TV is the pitts. Speaking of early, my finches wake up at the same time i do, but their noise  desnt wake me up for some reason. We just wake up at the same time.

Is that weird or what?
dang! aren't you a little young to be up at the crack of dawn? i require a little more sleep than most people. i hate it. i'm not a morning person AT ALL and i don't function well for long with little sleep.
i've got PLENTY of boring books, but they just get me wired up out of irritation rather than make me sleepy most of the time.
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i want to go to bed now (early) but i'm not sleepy at all.. maybe i'll have another beer. too late for sleeping pills cuz it will still take like an hour to fall asleep and i like to get 9+ hours with sleeping pills and i gots class tomorrow.
 
  • #16
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 I'm always a non-morning person. School starts at 7:55 but I wake up at 7:25 or so and get ready really really really fast and then bike to school.
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  • #17
ARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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i guess i'll try the breathing thing. that does help but i have a short attention span so i haven't been doing it much. i think i might be hyper or something but that doesn't have much to do with the not sleeping lately thing.
 
  • #18
i can't sleep and i just took all my med. my stomach is hurting me. i'm having a bad allergic reaction to a dairy product i had today. darn the chesse and sour cream on the tacos i ate today!! but it was soo yummy.
 
  • #19
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  • #20
There are herbal remedies as well, some of which many governments frown upon and even delegitimize.
 
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