Insomnia
 

Lately I have a problem with insomnia and there are times when I am up all night and do not fall asleep until 5:30 or 6:00.

Is there anyone else dealing with insomnia? Does anyone have any tips that worked for them.

Do you have an iPod? Audiobooks put me STRAIGHT to sleep. I downloaded one to my iPod and have yet to make it past the first three minutes.

Re: Insomnia
 

You could be talking about me when writing this. I have to take medicine to get to sleep. Here are a list of suggestions:

-Use your bed for sleep (and "other" activities) only. Do not spend the day in there reading a book, watching TV, etc. This way you will "train" your mind that the bed is there for sleep.

-If you can't get to sleep within an hour, get out of bed and go to another room. Watch TV, read a book...when you start to feel tired, lay in bed.

-Try to go to sleep at the same time every night. Same with waking up. Thus, along the lines of mind training.

-See your doctor if this has been happening for longer than a "few times" - there might be a medical reason for you not sleeping. There are some medicines that can be prescribed to help with short-term insomnia.

I hope these help. I know what you are feeling, and it sucks. My hope is that you will find whatever works for you to sleep.

Night-night! ;)

Nyquil, the moonshine of medicine. I take two gelcaps and I'm out like a light.

I'm going to give some of the tips a try tonight.

Thanks

:)

I'd have to second the Benadryl, but I don't have a serious sleep disorder; just mild insomnia in times of stress. Good luck getting some sleep!

Ambien works very well and you don't get the Nyquil "hangover" the next day.

Just remember to proceed directly to bed after you take it because it works fast.

How many hours of sleep do you need to get when you take it?

-Rudey

I find that I wake up naturally at about the 8 hour point.

Make sure you're not taking in stimulants for several hours before bed too (caffeine especially).

What happens when you try to fall asleep? If my mind is racing, I use numerous different stress management techniques. I especially like this one:

Take in a deep breath through your nose, hold for a count of 5, release in a big whoosh through your mouth (cleansing breath).

Take the deep breath and point your toes as hard as you can, one foot at a time. After the count of 5, relax your muscles again and let the breath go.

Do that with each muscle group... toes, ankles(point or flex), tighten knees, hips, push out stomach hard, make fists, tighten elbows, lift shoulders to ears, clench jaw.. you get the idea? With each muscle, you tighten it up, deep breath, release after a count of 5.

This does several things. First, it makes you focus on something other than what your mind is racing about. Second, it causes a physical relaxation response. After you've trained yourself in this, you will probably fall asleep before you get to the hips.

Imagery works better for some people. Listening to a tape with nature sounds, waves, a thunderstorm.. whichever noises you think would relax you could be very useful. While you're listening though, you try to picture the scenery.

I had a hard time falling asleep when I was little because I had night terrors. My mom used to have me imagine that I was floating on a big pink (my fave color) cloud. It worked great for me so I guess these other things are along the same line.

I used to teach relaxation/stress management classes and I loved it. Another one of my favorites is just bring myself down any time I'm starting to feel stressed by imagining myself going down a stairwell very slowly, counting the steps down from 10 to 1.

Now, I mainly have insomnia as a PMS thing, and more frequently now that I'm peri-menopausal. I know when things are going to happen because I can't sleep the night before. At those times, I do have to resort to Benadryl because it's just totally physical. I would try the other types of techniques first though.

Dee

Speaking of insomnia....I am up yet again after only a half-hour's worth of sleep. Going to be a long night. I see my doctor tomorrow. Hopefully we can come up with something.

I hope you got some sleep tonight!

I did not get any sleep last night. :( I think I finally fell asleep around 5:30 a.m. Which really sucks because I am starting to feel the lack of sleep.

Tonight I'm going to try to go to sleep by 11pm.

I was wondering how you did last night. I hope you find some sleep tonight. Don't worry, your body will sleep when it needs it.

Do you take naps at all? Just a thought that if you do, then maybe that has something to do with it.

Re: Insomnia
 

Drink a HUGE glass of whole milk and eat a decent amount of turkey slices and you'll pass out within an hour. Both of them are natural sedatives. When I'm on a cycle I have a hard time getting to sleep if I'm taking a lot of sauce and instead of taking 2mg of Xanax I started eating turkey and drinking milk. It works better and is healthier than taking some sleep aid.