Not sleeping Options

[Paulie]

Have a serious problem at the moment where I can't sleep because I'm worrying about too much. It's 5:42am and I've got to get up at half 7 to go to college, but every time I try and sleep I end up thinking about all the things I have to do tomorrow (tax my car, go into work and argue about wages, try and get my college work done) and hence I can't fall asleep. It's not that I'm not tired...I am...as I said, every time I shut my eyes my brain starts up and I stay awake.

Anyone got any ideas?

Please help...gonna be absolutely shattered tomorrow.

[MrRandomQuotes]

I get the same sort of problems, for similar reasons. I found the best thing to do is to put some chillout music on quite and then just focus on that. After a while you fall asleep without noticing.

Hope that helps

[Usurper MrTeapot]

You could just stay awake. When sleeping becomes really bad I stay awake till I fall asleep of exhaustion, also more productive, more hours in the day sorta thing.

[{Gothic Angel}]

- Hot milky drinks before bed (cheesy, but effective)
- Try not to eat lots of carbohydrates after about 2 hours before your normal bedtime, or sugar, or caffiene. Energy spikes = bad.
- If you're lying awake and can't sleep, don't try to. Get up and do seomthing else for a bit, not in your bed or anything, just go and read somewhere else.
- If that doesn't work, try tensing and stretching the muscles in your feet and ankles, then relax. Do the same with your legs, then ass, stomach, chest, arms, hands, face. It just chills you out an stops you feeling tense.
- I know this sounds really crazy, but make your room cold, or at least cool. Open a window in winter, just a crack, or have a fan on in summer, and make your bed somewhere you can snuggle.
- If you really can't sleep, there are things like Nytol Herbal, Sleep-eze and Kalms. Stick with the herbal ones, though, unless your doctor reccomends otherwise.
- Don't worry so much about it. I went to the doctor for sleeplessness a while ago, and there are so many people who come to me at work for sleep loss. Most people go through periods of it. If it doesn't go away in a few weeks, go speak to the doctor

[I_am_the_best]

I find doing exactly the same routine before bed each night helps me just get into the cycle of going to sleep, even thinking the same things before sleeping. Also, if you put on some relaxing music you like before bed and just sit there and imagine just plain white and then wait to see whatever your brain makes happen in this white. It clears your mind. I know it sounds stupid, but my form tutor makes us do it in school and it really works well.

[Sir Psycho Sexy]

Reading before sleeping helps clear my head of thoughts, also, if you read every night before going to sleep, it'll help train your body into thinking reading is followed by sleep.

[Jaq]

All the things that GA said. A cool room, the same time going to sleep every night and the same time waking up every day, don't toss and turn in your bed for too long, get up and do something.

Those are all really good suggestions for chronic insomnia but if you've just got a night or two where you can't stop your mind from racing, get up and write down all of the things that you're thinking about. They seem huge when you're frustrated because you can't get to sleep and it's 4 am and you've got to get up in a few hours to go to school/work and you just know you're going to be dead to the world tomorrow if you DON'T GET TO SLEEP, but if you can get up, write down all of the things that are bugging you and think of what you're going to do about them the next day or the next week, then suddenly the problems and stresses that are keeping you up don't seem so all-consuming or stressful anymore, because they're all contained on a little scrap of paper. Then you can go back to sleep, full in the knowledge that, yes, they'll be waiting for you when you get up in the morning, but they will wait. And really. What are you going to do about your taxes at 4am?

[elphaba2]

I find that sometimes light non-cardio exercise wears me out completely and I just hit the pillow half-dead. Bunches of crunches in bed isn't best for your back, but often for me I just need to exhaust my body before my brain can calm down. Perhaps you are the same?

Nick Drake and James Taylor will put me right to sleep a lot--soothing folky guitar and such. Or dull audiobooks, if you feel up to the task of finding some Tolstoy on CD.

Everyone else's advice is also brilliant.

[Calantyr]

Regulate your breathing. Take deep breaths and let them out slowly. Calm your body and feel out with your senses to where you limbs lie.

It may sound like some jedi trick but it works. Just... be... in your bed.

[MrRandomQuotes]

And if all else fails you can always knock yourself out with a mallet. You may wake up with a sore head but it will put you to sleep fast

[Marriegold]

I have that problem for some reason all the worriers seem to come at night instead of day. So now before I go to bed I write for a couple of hours in a diary to try and get it out of my mind I found it works. Just thought I might menchen the idea.

[Calantyr]

I have that problem for some reason all the worriers seem to come at night instead of day. So now before I go to bed I write for a couple of hours in a diary to try and get it out of my mind I found it works. Just thought I might menchen the idea. 

I am so gonna steal that idea. I knew there was a reason why I have a livejournal account.

[Paulie]

I have that problem for some reason all the worriers seem to come at night instead of day. So now before I go to bed I write for a couple of hours in a diary to try and get it out of my mind I found it works. Just thought I might menchen the idea. 

I am so gonna steal that idea. I knew there was a reason why I have a livejournal account.

Me too...can't hurt to try I suppose. Thanks guys

[bryden42]

not sure if this is appropriate but sex is great for inducing worn out sleepyness.

[Aria]

Make sure you're getting enough exercise.
Chamomile/valerian tea help, since they're natural sedatives.

[Astarael]

I always have a bit of milk before bed and I listen to quiet music for a while to calm myself down. If all else fails, I have a CD of lovely instrumental Celtic lullabies. It's absolutely beautiful and I've never been able to hear it when I'm trying to go to sleep for more than twenty minutes without relaxing and passing out. It's always works, even when absolutely everything else has failed. I'm not sure if it's available in stores, as I got it from a small folk band, but I can try to find out if you think Celtic music is your thing.

[Daria]

not sure if this is appropriate but sex is great for inducing worn out sleepyness.

'Tis scientificaly proven- all to do with hormones etc etc... And it doesn't have to be sex, it can just be an orgasm that does it.

/Spam from biology student...

[bryden42]

try settng aside 30-45 mins before you go to sleep write down all the stuff you have to do thats worrying you on the following day and work through them.
a ) you'll be reading and this normally makes me a little sleepy
B ) you'll be sorting the problems before you get to bed and hopefully resolving them in your head so you won't be as worried therefore not thinking about them as much.

Hope this helps as i know how agravating not sleeping can be.

[Rykan]

I don't know if this would work for you, but this has always guaranteed to get me to sleep.
I listen to something familiar when trying to get to sleep. I have a fair number of audio books that I know back to front. This seems to be effective because it makes my mind concentrate on what I'm listening to rather than all the worries and thoughts zooming round my brain, but I already know what's going to happen next on the tape, so I don't feel the desire to stay awake to hear what happens next.
Just a suggestion

[Saratina]

fairly old thread, but I thought it was worth mentioning that there is a natural supplement called melatonin that you can get from almost any pharmacy that is quite effective at inducing drowsiness. it's a small white pill that dissolves under the tongue (and incidentally tastes very good); if you take it a half-hour before bed, you shouldn't have trouble falling asleep.

note that as it is a natural supplement, it is not addicting and does not need to be prescribed to you.

[Mata]

That's also used to help prevent jetlag I believe.

[Greeneyes]

It's a hormone, and (as far as I'm aware) what causes you to feel tired naturally anyway. I don't believe you can get it in the UK though. I thin for some reason places aren't allowed to sell it here.

[CrazyFooIAintGet...]

You can buy it online, not sure about pharmacies though.

[artist.unknown]

It's strange that melatonin isn't allowed in the UK. I use it when I'm absolutely desperate to sleep. I was feeling virtuous and all-natural, but maybe there's something I ought to know about it....?

Sometimes to get to sleep I tell bedtime stories to myself. It sounds silly, but if you make up stories as you go along, most often your brain will spite you by falling asleep before you can finish. It's also enough mental gymnastics that you wear yourself out, but not so much you keep yourself up thinking. And it's distracting for Mr Brain; you can only concentrate on so many things at once.

[{Gothic Angel}]

The sleepy drops on sale in the UK contain antihistamines. Same thing they give you for travel sickness and systemic allergy relief. They cause drowsiness, they don't actually make you sleep, unlike melatonin, which does.