Struggle to get to sleep!

Jordan93

Hi all,

I for one struggle to get to sleep and most of the time feel wide awake. I'm looking for some tips on getting to sleep and also some tips for getting up early i.e 5-6am

Thanks

Suffolkwheels

I've found herbal nytol to be useful for occasional periods of insomnia. Not a long term solution by any means but quite effective at getting you back into a pattern/routine of sleep.

Also, avoid caffeine in the afternoon/evenings and lay off the speed.

Alternatively, do a 'proper' days work

Ands

Jordan93 wrote:

Hi all,

I for one struggle to get to sleep and most of the time feel wide awake. I'm looking for some tips on getting to sleep and also some tips for getting up early i.e 5-6am

Thanks

I guess there may be heaps of possibilities as to why you are not able to get to sleep. I had a problem with never being able to get into deep sleep, waking at 4am, not being able to get back to sleep and then feeling like I'd been hit by a train when I tried to get up at 7.30am. I gave up caffeine and within a few days I was sleeping really deeply, waking up and raring to go at 6.30am, and not feeling like I needed a nap at 3pm.

Giving up caffeine was nasty - blinding headaches for about 10 days, then very bad joint pain (hips, wrists & knees after about 10 days for 4-5 days) but I stuck it out and felt heaps better. Since then I have gone back on to one shot of espresso a day and that's about my limit. When I was on holiday I was drinking loads of espresso and my old sleep patterns returned, so I've dropped back again.

What's your caffeine intake?

Jordan93

My caffeine intake i imagine would be zero or very little. I don't drink coffee so my only possible intake would be if its in any food/drink, i also dont drink energy drinks.

Also, for example i can go for a 30 mile ride and absolutely batter it and still not feel tired when it comes to bed time. I do watch tv in bed so maybe turning that off might help.

How effective are relaxation podcasts or relaxing music?

I'm only 16, its quite strange as i can feel drowsy right upto having a shower/getting into bed but as soon as I get in bed i cant sleep

Cleat Eastwood

have a wank.

Suffolkwheels

If your mind is racing, relaxing music or meditation could prove really useful.

If you're interested, I can send you details on a dead simple mentra meditation technique that could help you relax deeply which should help you sleep. Let me know if you're interested and I'll PM it over.

If you're exercising late, your heartrate may still be a little higher which might also effect your sleep pattern.

Light also stimulates your nervous system (google circadian ryhthm) so your TV might not help, on the other hand if it helps relax your mind it actually be beneficial after all!

Suffolkwheels

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

have a wank.

+1

Splottboy

T-R-A-M-A-D-O-L.

There...I've said it.

deptfordmarmoset

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

have a wank.

Alternatively, get a girlfriend

Trying to go to sleep is a waste of time, generally. You can end up waking yourself up trying to go to sleep.

Seriously, though, force yourself to get up when you have to even if it means ghosting it with a sleepless night - good sleep will eventually catch up.

Jordan93

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

have a wank.

Alternatively, get a girlfriend

Trying to go to sleep is a waste of time, generally. You can end up waking yourself up trying to go to sleep.

Seriously, though, force yourself to get up when you have to even if it means ghosting it with a sleepless night - good sleep will eventually catch up.

I have a girlfriend, having a wank doesn't help either . My problem is that alarms don't wake me up I usually just wake up around 8-9am, so i wonder how i could get up earlier.

I don't force myself to sleep i'll just get in bed and watch tv but i dont feel tired until around 2-3am.

Smokin Joe

Watching TV will make it worse.

Try reading a book instead. Or have two wanks.

Jordan93

Smokin Joe wrote:

Watching TV will make it worse.

Try reading a book instead. Or have two wanks.

Books don't help, i just end up reading whole bloody book. If one doesn't work then two won't, god you lot need to take your mind off masturbation

Sirius631

Keep repeating the word 'the' in your mind. That helps break any chains of thought that try to form so prevents thoughts from distracting you. Make the repeats slow and of random gaps.

forcutty

Splottboy wrote:

T-R-A-M-A-D-O-L.

There...I've said it.

Having took Tramadol hows that going to help?

MattC59

Jordan93 wrote:

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

have a wank.

Alternatively, get a girlfriend

Trying to go to sleep is a waste of time, generally. You can end up waking yourself up trying to go to sleep.

Seriously, though, force yourself to get up when you have to even if it means ghosting it with a sleepless night - good sleep will eventually catch up.

I have a girlfriend, having a wank doesn't help either . My problem is that alarms don't wake me up I usually just wake up around 8-9am, so i wonder how i could get up earlier.

I don't force myself to sleep i'll just get in bed and watch tv but i dont feel tired until around 2-3am.

Sounds like your body is set into a routine, which you need to break. If you're waking at 8-9am and going to sleep at 2-3am, then the key is to move this period of sleep. YOu're sleeping for about 6 hours. If you force yourself to wake earlier, ie 6am as you mention, then after a short while, you'll find that you're tired around 12am, maintaining your 6 hours. If you stop watching tv, you'll find that you sleep sooner as well.

Get yourself several alarms !! Alternatively, you cound try a Lumi alarm clock http://www.lumie.com/shop/categories/dawn-simulators they're suprisingly good, I've got one !

They simulate sunrise (stay with me, this isn't hippie sh*t !!) The light emited is in daylight frequencies, 30mins before the alarm is due, the light starts viry dimly and over the next 30mins gradually gets brighter, ending in a bright, but diffused, white light. This slowly stimulates your body into waking (your eyelids don't block out all light) and you end up waking naturally and refreshed.

I used to have sleep issues and one of these http://www.lumie.com/shop/products/bodyclock-sunray-100 worked a treat.

Either that or keep w*nking until you're exhausted or raw !

morstar

I was a crap sleeper throughout my teenage years. Not too sure exactly when it changed but at 39 I have been a very good sleeper for a long time.

Absolutely no help I know but it may well change as you get older.

shouldbeinbed

Jordan93 wrote:

I don't force myself to sleep i'll just get in bed and watch tv but i dont feel tired until around 2-3am.

I've had insomnia for 30 years and even now its a miracle if I ever go to bed before 1am & it can be much later if at all (thankfully all nighters are rare nowadays) I'm regularly up for 6-6.30 and in work no later than 7.45, usually earlier. Cycling in is a godsend for waking me up, I really notice the difference if I've driven in. drugs don't work if its a chronic thing, but see your GP and see what they advise (it'll be a sleep diary and stress questions at first, sleep tabs if they're not much cop)

DO NOT GO TO BED AND NOT SLEEP. you make things many times worse as you associate bed with not sleeping and its an increasingly vicious circle.

even if you stay up until 3-4am until you do get sleepy stay out of the bedroom.

no food and only water after 9pm (hydration is good but stimulating your digestive system isn't)

try and chill out and don't engage ypur brain whilst you're staying up, TV is bad as well as it gives your brain something to process and tells it that you want it to stay alert when you really don't.

slowly make your body & brain realise that after 9-10pm it isn't needed to be working and the bedroom means time to go to sleep, don't try to make a big deal out of it though, accept the fact that you're not going to be asleep early and worry about other things.



as for getting up early, brain training again, you could try telling yourself over and over the time you want to wake up as you're dropping off. otherwise multiple alarms out of arms reach or get the GF to shake you awake, or ring you at the appropriate time (or mum / whoever you live with) you'll begin to associate that time with waking up and soon enough will find you're waking up 5 mins before ready for the nudge/call.

john-e-big-guns

MattC59 wrote:

Jordan93 wrote:

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

have a wank.

keep w*nking until you're exhausted or raw !

I can just see his mother carring his bedding out like sheets of hardboard

Bunneh

I listen to music or the radio. As I listen I find my mind wandering into some really odd thought patterns, not long after I'm asleep! Make sure the music's not loud, just loud enough so you can hear it and make sure you can reach off the off button! the iPod's been great for helping me sleep.

Headhuunter

Jordan93 wrote:

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

have a wank.

Alternatively, get a girlfriend

Trying to go to sleep is a waste of time, generally. You can end up waking yourself up trying to go to sleep.

Seriously, though, force yourself to get up when you have to even if it means ghosting it with a sleepless night - good sleep will eventually catch up.

I have a girlfriend, having a wank doesn't help either . My problem is that alarms don't wake me up I usually just wake up around 8-9am, so i wonder how i could get up earlier.

I don't force myself to sleep i'll just get in bed and watch tv but i dont feel tired until around 2-3am.

Doing anything other than sleeping in the bedroom often means that your body starts to associate doing things other than sleeping there. If you feel wide awake most advice says that you should get up and go into another room to read, watch TV, wank, whatever and then when you start to feel drowsy go to the bedroom so your mind and body start to associate the bedroom and bed with sleep and only sleep.

Lying in bed watching dull night time TV, wide awake is not a good idea. If you want to get up at 6am, set your alarm for 6am and make sure you tear yourself out of bed at that time rather than lying aruond dozing. Get up, do stuff and by the time 10 or 11pm comes around you'll be naturally tired out. I used to be up til 2-3am and then sleep in til 11am or so when I wasn't working but now that I am obliged to get up at 6.45-7am I do so and am knackered by 10 or 11 and sleep with no problem.

synchronicity

Ok, I've had insomnia for about 20 years of my life, so I know what you are going through.

funny thing is, after I moved to Spain I quickly figured out that sleeping a siesta was no problem.

I now follow these rules to help me get to sleep:

1) No caffeinated drinks after the sun goes down. No exceptions :!:
2) Don't actually go to bed if you don't already feel tired.
3) Try to get into the habit of the relaxing feeling "gee this feels good lying here" instead of thinking "hmm I wonder what I'll do for tomorrow's schedule..." (all those thought possibilities = no sleep) :idea:
4) If you start to think, get up. Do something else until you are rat-sh¡t tired. Only then go back to bed. Your mind will then become accustomed to the notion that a bed is for one of two things (those things being sex and sleep).
5) If you absolutely, positively have to get up early and you neeeeed sleep, then take a sleeping pill. Here in Spain, they're available over the counter. Problem is, they're highly addictive and have all sorts of nasty side effects. :evil:
6) Try going to bed about 2 hours early. Treat yourself for once! Forget about the tasks that 'need' to be done tonight. You can finish them tomorrow. You might find that you actually enjoy getting horizontal at a time you normally wouldn't be. That's the key. Then it's like the forbidden fruit... you start to like it.
7) If lying there & thinking & not sleeping becomes frustrating, get up and start over. :arrow:
8) Stop doing all activities that wake you up (such as computering) well before bed-time.
9) Dis-associate other routines from sleeping. I.e. brush your teeth like normal and you are bound to be thinking: "sh¡t, that's the cue for me to sleep, but now I know I won't be able to..." So brush your teeth an hour before bed.
10) I think insomnia is actually more of an anxiety problem of already knowing you're not going to get to sleep, even well before you walk into your bedroom. You need to try and get over that anxiety at all costs.
11) A recent tip I saw on TV: don't wear sunglasses in the morning, only in the afternoon. Again, it's got to do with the natural light thing.
12) It gets worse when you become a trekkie and the episodes don't even start until midnight... the trick here is, don't even label yourself as an insomniac/trekkie/nightperson. Because as soon as you do, you've already convinced yourself that you'll never get to sleep within 20-30 minutes.

I'm 33 and I'm just learning how to get to sleep. :oops:
Even as a child I remember it was never easy... :x

Anonymous

Try reading Biking Bernie's posts about Lance Armstrong.

Le Commentateur

Not fair. They might be his cure for insomnia.