Sleep Advice

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Alright. This is the third night in two weeks that I've not slept at all. Layed in bed...tossed and turned for hours. Eventually sat up and read a book. That usually gets me tired. Well, no...I AM tired. That's the problem. Tired and can't sleep at all. Up until the last couple of weeks, I've never had such an insanely erratic sleep schedule and its really starting to annoy me. Sure, there's a lot on my mind lately(probably too much, but that's not the point) but I've been dealing with the troubles for months and it hasn't caused me any sleep difficulty.

So, I come to ENWorld for assistance. What do you do if you're having trouble sleeping? Suggestions? Pillows? Bricks? Anything...?

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

Sorry to hear you're having problems and hope the stress eases down soon. In the meantime the only advice I will offer you is exercise - preferably involving fresh air. Go for a gentle jog around a couple of blocks, or a nice long walk, or a bike ride, or a swim. Nothing too strenuous, just enough to get the heart pumping a bit. If you can - get into the countryside for it, or if not a park. When you get back have a nice hot shower and then lie down somewhere.

Hope it helps
The Hoard

 

[CronoDekar]

Various stuff. For one, try getting to sleep at around the same time every night. Don't nap for longer than 20 minutes during the day, since that can mess with your cycles (I'm certainly guilty of this). If you're trying to get to sleep but you can't within 20 minutes, get up and go somewhere else to relax until you feel you can go to sleep -- you don't want to feel like you MUST sleep well. Part of the reason for this is that if you spend too much time restless in bed, your mind learns to expect restlessness when you get in your bed.

Don't use your bed (or whatever you sleep on) for anything besides sleep and sexual activities, basically for the same "conditioning" reason. Try cutting yourself off from caffeine. Don't drink alcohol before going to bed. Certain medications could mess up your sleep, if you're taking any. Regular exercise and a good diet help a lot too in getting good sleep (again... things I'm guilty of not having).

Another thing that may help considering the stuff on your mind is setting up a "worry time" sometime before bed where all you do is worry about whatever's bothering you. Worry worry worry to your heart's content (10 minutes should be good). The important thing here is not to worry while you're in bed. Something that helps me is just to type or otherwise write my problems out so they're not cycling in my head.

If there's anything else that's critical I'll bring it up, but that's all I can think of, really. Anyway, hope you're able to sleep better!

 

[Cintra]

The advice given so far is good - exercise, elimination of caffiene, and check any medications you're on. Decongestants, for example, can speed up your heart rate just like caffiene does.

I'm not thrilled with over-the-counter sleeping aids, but sometimes I've taken a Benadryl shortly before I go to bed, for just this sort of situation; sure, the sleeplessness isn't caused by sinus problems, but Benadryl does make people drowsy, and it's worked for me (especially if I need to take a decongestant but can't because of the heart-rate/anxiety thing).

When stress stays constant over time, it can cause worsening problems even though the individual stressors don't seem any worse. If you're worrying about a lot of different things, it might help to jot down a list of what you've been stressing over, then look over the list. Pick out the ones that you can actually do something about, and that upset you the most (but only if you can do something about them). Come up with an action plan for addressing them. And give yourself permission to NOT worry about the less upsetting, and about any of the ones that you can't fix. Whenever you catch yourself starting to worry about anything other than the few you selected, recite something to yourself about how you aren't allowed to worry about them. (This works best if there are a couple of major issues and then lots of little things; it may or may not work in your case. And sometimes it takes a bit of time to get the "interrupt" recitation to be a habit.)

Also, smart/imaginative people are prone to OCD (Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder) and related conditions, as well as anxiety conditions, and if what you're experiencing is intrusive thoughts whenever you try to relax and sleep, you may be having an episode of something in one of these categories. Since it's been going on for more than a few days, you may want to consider seeing a psychiatrist to see if they can narrow down what's going on chemically, and prescribe either a sleep aid or a more specific medication to rebalance your brain chemistry. That might help your mind ease out of the pattern its gotten into.

 

[der_kluge]

Zen.

Seriously.

It sounds to me like your mind is far too active. I can do that - lay in bed and think about lots and lots of stuff. You can't sleep if your mind is too active.

Clear your mind.

How do you do that? Practice. It's not easy, but I fall asleep within 5 minutes on most nights nowadays.

Find a quiet place, meditate, and think about - nothing.

You'll find that actually thinking about nothing at all is actually quite difficult. Things will invariably pop in and out, and you'll start thinking about thinking about nothing, which doesn't help either. One way I found to help in this regard was to just imagine the color black, like I was in space, except without the stars or planets. Just imagine a complete expanse of nothingness. Any thought that enters, quickly diminish it until only the blackness remains.

You'll fall asleep right away if you can do that.

 

[Laurel]

Just to repeat:
1) Exercise- lots of time we think we are tired, but it is our minds that are tired not our bodies. Especially with stress you mind might be working overtime, but your body physically may not done anything strenuous.

2) Relax- Make a cup of something warm and go sit somewhere outside. Wheather its a warm brandy or just a cup of cocoa the important thing isn't the drink it is doing something mundane and easy. This tends to help me, but with yours being stress this may just give you more time to think about it all. It seems to work for me though.

3) Conditioning- I am proof it works, maybe a little too well I used to have problems sleeping, and was told by a doc to stay away from the bed but for sleep. If you need to read before bed place a chair some place close by. Read for a bit when you start to feel drozy the two stumbles it takes to get to bed shouldn't be enough to wake you up completely. This doesn't mean that you can't do other things in bed, but for a while keep it to sleep till it starts registering bed=sleep. Again can't say this would work for you as everyone is different.

4) If this keeps up as someone said you might think about seeing a doctor. It could be a chemical imbalance that just needs to be worked out, or could be just a little bump in the road, or something bigger. A few nights sleepless is one thing, but a month or more of sleeplessness is more serious.

5) I have to second the thought of staying away from the sleeping pills unless a doctor tells you to try one. Trying it once though isn't a big problem, just watch how many and how much. Sorry, just saw some bad cases of over use.

Best of luck to you, and hope all the things that are causing the stress ease up a bit or work out for the best.

 

[devilish]

All the above are great suggestions. I had some problems sleeping a few
months ago --- beware of caffeine. I read somewhere that it's effects have
a half-life of 6 hours or so; any coffee after 12n is bound to have some
effects on you much later -- and I got caught in a slippery slope b/c I didn't
sleep well, drank more coffee to stay awake during the day, rinse and repeat.

Hot bath, warm milk and meditate a half hour before bed. Make sure you
set a time and stick to it and not get drawn into absorbing activities like
t.v. or surfing.

hth,
-D

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

However, with the exercising:

When I exercise after 7pm, I cannot sleep. I toss and turn for hours and hours.

I have to do it right away when I get home from work/school or in the morning.

But, like Laurel said, stuff like this differs for everyone.

 

[maddman75]

MEditation is a good idea. I'll do that, or usually just crank one out and take some nyquil. Does the trick every time.

 

[Abstraction]

If ordinary behavior modification isn't working, see your doctor. Ask him about Ambien. If you are going to use a med, this is the right one for your symptoms. You can only take it only occasionally, it's not for every night. If helps you get to sleep in 10 minutes, but you have to get at least 7 hours sleep. Most importantly, it does not wipe you out the next day the way over the counter drugs do.

I used to have severe sleep problems. After I got married and couldn't control the environment in order to sleep, I saw the doctor. I use Ambien about 1/week and take another med called Trazadone every night. Works for me.