Sleeping issues...

[Jingo]

Hello boys & girls of BD - or should I say Good Morning?

I shall refrain because as far as I'm concerned, I cannot sleep and therefore it is still night!

I've had trouble sleeping in the past few days, grabbing what I would consider the bare essential amount of 2/3 hours a night, all interspersed with awakenings and general disturbances.

I've never had issues before and frankly LOVE sleep - a factor that seems to multiply the frustrations of my "insomniatic-episodes!" (to any true insomniacs I certainly dont look to compare to your conditions - I am feeling dreadful from the tiniest pinch of sleep-lack!)

I have been to bed, failed to sleep, read, meditated, relaxed, bathed, allsorts and nothing would appear to get my mind in correct state for relaxing and sleepytime!

I am plagued with bad dreams at present that awaken me when I do slumber and I feel whatever is causing this dream-disturbances may also be the reasoning behind why my mind won't relax enough to release me into sleep!

For medical reasons I cannot take the majority of medication available to the masses, and the one time I took "night nurse" I awoke with the world's most hellish hangover with no 'memories' to get me through the pain!

What suggestions might our knowledgable and experienced crew be able to suggest to help rid me of this annoying, frustrating hinderance??

Thanks in advance and apologies for delay - after a few hours kip I am rather lathargic in undertaking anything and might not be able to bear such hassles as lifting laptop lid and pressing shiny on button!

Much love - J :) (:'()

[Kell_ee001]

As someone who regularly suffers from insomnia I feel your pain but cannot give you suggestions other than what you seem to have already tried :( I gave up trying and just deal with the bouts I get now.

[Blackstar]

You should ask DRZ for lessons he sleeps more than anyone else i know. This probably wasn't helpful but it is true.

[Jonny69]

Sometimes I get terrible insomnia. Best way I find is get a routine in place. Regular job with regular hours, bed by 10:30 and up by 6:30/6:45, don't lay in too late of a weekend or you get screwed by Sunday night, don't eat dinner too late, no caffeine after 4pm, not too much alcohol in one sitting during the week, don't sit there on the internet all night. Keeping fit helps me too, I sleep much better.

What's your diet like? Do you drink a lot of fizzy drinks like Coke etc? What alcohol do you drink when you go out?

[Pheebs]

I used to not be able to sleep when I was in my late teens and had to go see the docs about it (although I felt fine - I was quite hyper in fact!)

In the end I had to cut out *all* caffeine during the day (if I *really* wanted it I would have to have it before 12 noon) and then have a set routine for bed. It might sound kind of obvious but it was the whole no tv half an hour before bed, hot bubble bath (I was told to have lavendar oil in it but I'm allergic to the stuff!), no drinks (none of this hot milk stuff!), no alcohol, no reading... just relaxing.

Another thing I was advised to do was have a pen and paper by the side of my bed and literally before turning out the light, bullet point my thoughts (or if anypoint through out the night I woke up and found myself thinking about different things to jot it down). Nothing detailed - just things like:

Essay
Dog
Wind
Family
Nanny
Shopping
Money
Post Office

Somedays it would be two pages long, others just half a page - but amazingly my brain would be emptied and I would just stop thinking about these things. Don't know how it would work but it did!

Sleep wise I managed to get some more zeds but sadly during those zeds I would be awake (sleep walking).

Now... I seem to have grown out of that (although I did find myself in at the end of the bed the other night looking for something... which annoyed me and so I went for a wee and back to bed again). I do still sleep pretty pants though - I'm the lightest sleeper in history. But... if I do a routine I am much better off :) The worst thing about not sleeping - is thinking when you're in bed "I'm not going to sleep tonight" ;D


So yeh! No caffeine, more of a routine wind down (no poota/tv/books/mobile phone) and pen and paper is my advice :)

Hope you get a good snooze tonight!

[Jingo]

Thanks for all your responses! Blackstar I am envious of those who 'deadsleep' like the chap you describe!!

Last night I managed to scrape a few hours interupted by silly dreams etc.

Johnny - To be honest I barely drink - I am on a body detox to be honest following 18months of 'medical fun' and I have dramatically improved my diet, cutting out alcohol (with the odd exception maybe once a month), and gradually increasing my exercise and fitness regime with an aim to get me back to my former 'happy' self :)

Some interesting points there too thanks Pheebs, I'm happy to try those points you suggest - penning down some troubles and thoughts last thing would certainly suggest they might be put from my mind during slumberlands! :)

*reaches for the decaff teabags*

[Lomster]

James are you on any new medication? sometimes medication can cause nightmares and cause crap sleep.
Also are you under a lot of stress? stress can cause you to worry and think too much when you sleep which also will wake you up and keep you awake.

[Jingo]

Kitten that would be great, I wouldn't class myself as an insomniac as yet- I don't feel the severity of my situation relates to that title; that said, I would appreciate any advice or potentials to try- thank you! :)

Lomster - No, I can't take any medication but I believe increased stress may well have something to do with it- who knows- I'll have a look at my resources and my expenditures and see if I can balance them out somewhat :)

[Wryel]

Sometimes I really struggle to sleep and it can be accompanied by bad dreams but nothing like what you are suffering. If I really feel like I'm not going to sleep then a bit of Valium always helps ;)

[Admiral Huddy]

Firstly worring about it is half the problem.. Your body is in tune with what you need rather than what it wants. They are not the same thing.

Best thing is if you are having a bad period, make sure you have no TV on an hour before bed, no reading, no games etc.. Instead, have some light music on, grab a pen and write down your thoughts for the day.. Blurb anything and everything that comes into mind. Then go to bed.

How many time have you gone to bed only to starting to think about things that don't really matter at this point. By writing things down, you are giving your mind a chance to purge everything, leaving nothing in your mind.

This works for me, and it bloody cost me a fotuner to find this method, so invoice is on the way :D

[Will]

I suffer from insomnia. Usually through worrying about work, my friends, my family, money problems etc... Little things keep me awake, my mind whizzing at a million miles an hour. Even though I feel tired, and am physically and mentally exhausted, I cannot sleep. I don't drink much caffeine, I seldom drink alcohol, I'll have a few pints from time to time, I exercise a lot and eat ridiculously healthily, but in spite of that I can lay in bed frustrated, tossing and turning for no obvious reasons. It's the sub conscious that's having a hard time "shutting down" - not that it ever does it, but when you get tired your brain releases a hormone a bit like dopamine and melatonin (cant' remember exactly which one) but the receptors are inhibited by a built up of some form of stress hormone (again a bit like cortisol but cant' remember which one).

Unless you go and speak to an expert there's not much you can do rather than try herbal recipies and furthermore, as Pheebs said try and expunge your memory - get it all out and air your thoughts, speak to people. Often there's things building up inside that you don't realise until you get a trigger for it, and that trigger is more easily released during "sleep" however until you can file away the niggle it'll keep bugging you.

Of course your conscious may be clear, mine normally is, but I'm a natural worrier - if I wasn't worrying about something I'd be worried that I had nothing to worry about! ;D However, there's some chemical interaction somewhere causing some brain stimulus which is robbing your subconscious from being able to do it's "filing". It would seriously be worth seeing your doctor as he may suggest you go on a sleep study/survey which I did, it's a bit weird but I learnt a lot about my mind after it.

Basic things are, don't do exercise too soon before going to bed, don't eat too late, keep away from rich foods, a small portion of complex carbs can help you sleep. Don't drink antying that may stimulate you, or watch tv or play/use the computer before bed. Read a book, drink some camomile tea, have a hot shower/bath, maybe go for a leisurely walk.