sleep hurts.

red_ice

Well, i couldnt think of a good title... so bare with me.

For as long as i can remember i have not been able to sleep. I get into bed and i just look up at the celing and reflect on the day i just had and events to happen in the future. From 12-3am i usually just work on programs for college or like now... post topics on boards.ie, but in this case i really really need some advise on what i can do to get to sleep.

Its actually making me go insane. I roughly go to sleep at about 5 and get up at about 4 in the evening. If i try an all nighter, i fall asleep at 8 and wake up at 2 am or something...

I dont eat before bed, i smoke shit loads of ciggies and drink loads of tea but this is only as of late. When i actually decide to go to bed for the long reflect, i start to get headaches and my pillow feels rock solid - i get relaly uncomfortable and too hot or too cold. The headaches get worse and then i have to go downstairs and watch the shopping channel or something pointless like that.

This sleep deprevation is effecting my college work... i dont get up in time for anything, and when i do manage to get into college i really cant be bothered to go to lectures. Although i get an average grade of 90 percent in all my assignments and to some extent i could lecture the lecturers about computers, i still feel i can do better. So, then the thoughts about my future n all that pants stuff im not ment to be thinkin about starts to kick in. Back to the point.

Ive tried EVERYTHING i can think of. I really am stumped. Counting sheep doesnt work and all them stupid remidies are useless. Ive even smoked a joint or two to see if that worked... but that just made me think alot more and sleep in too late... way to late, thus making my pattern even worse.

Now, the one time that i can sleep is when im with my girlfriend. Simply sitting down watching telly with my arm around her can relax me so much and i nod off straight away. So im thinking that there is something other than a sleep pattern that is wrong, but i really cant put my finger on it. Lifes grand for me, just sleeping isnt.

My complexion is very bad. Im pail and i have purple bags under my eyes and i have a memory span of a gold fish. On some occations my motoring skills are deprived and i stutter because i cant rmember what i was going to say - i know its to do with my sleeping patterns. Now when i get focued, and awake, i can be as sharp as a pin. throwing darts i can hit 6 bullseye in a row without even trying.. but usually i just feel weak and i cant be bothered to do anything.

As you can probbly see, i have strayed a lil from the topic... right now my head is thumping and im going to make a further attempt to sleep, and the chances are i will fail.

Has anyone any idea as to why i cant sleep?

Or any tips on what i can do to get to bloody sleep?

Cheers

reD.

Excercise? Try hitting the gym for a solid 1 hour workout for 3 days a week. And not just those crappy machines either - get some free weight training in too.


Other than that you could smoke MORE weed. I know it sounds crazy but a couple of hours after(no way will you sleep right after doing it but you WILL get hella sleepy later on) a good sized waterfall and I'll have the most pleasent sleep of my life. Or you could try seeing a doctor and see if he could prescribe you something.

Then there's always the home remedies..such as having a hot whiskey or 2 before bed. Or you could always invent some handsome alter ego and go crazy for a few months until you finally end up shooting yourself in the head...

Elessar

It sounds like all the classic symptoms of depression. Sleep deprivation, lack of concentration, weakness, forgetfullness and just not being bothered.

Of course, to be sure, I'd go see the doctor, who might be able to get to the root of the problem.

Also staying off the ciggies or at least lowering your daily amount might help too.

Some excercise can help too, although coming from a self-confessed lazy man, I can't really say I've ever tried it.:rolleyes:

Cake Fiend

Excercise.

Make sure you're knackered by the end of the day. This also means making yourself get up at some sort of reasonable hour, in order that you're tired enough by night-time to be able to sleep.

Get more excercise and structure your waking times more.

Sparky191

Exercise is the key. Get a part time job on a building site, or something that requires a lot of manual labour out in the fresh air and you'll definately sleep. You also need to get into a regular pattern of doing things as you body obviously doesn't recognise when its time to sleep. You are burring the distinction between night and day. So you are going to have to retrain your mind and body the difference between day/night etc. Doesn't sound like depression to me. Classic lack of sleep tis all. Basically you've got into bad habits and you need to break them.

red_ice

nah, i wouldnt say its depression. When im angry i let it out and i let people know im annoyed. I can vent my anger anytime i want to and at the person or people in question. As i said before, lifes grand

Excercise? Hows 4 training sessions a week sound training for the irish icehockey team? or... skating loads and hurtung myself so much i need my sleep even more!?

It didnt really work when i used to play hockey, but i guess i can give the lads a call and go for a session tonight, while i have the time.

Cheers

Sparky191

If you are doing a training session and are not tired enough to sleep afterwards you can't be be training hard enough.

red_ice

oh man, believe me i was. I tore a musle there 2 year ago and wasnt allowed to leave the ice because the coach said i could train through it. Scared calf musle was the result!

Ill go skatin today, see what that does for me :]

-ADREN-

nah Red m8 I agree with sparky, if u really **** ure slef out of it in training, you should be going back to ure Room, colapsing on ure bed and falling straight asleep. Or generaly if u play ure ass off for an entire matches, you generally fell more fecked then after just a normal training... not sure what its like for Ice Skating though..
I'm basing my points on previous matches and trainings ive had, in regards to rugby.

Then again, im a lazy ****.. so when I push my self, i feel like lying down and sleeping and never waking up again

Sparky191

Originally posted by red_ice
oh man, believe me i was. I tore a musle there 2 year ago and wasnt allowed to leave the ice because the coach said i could train through it. Scared calf musle was the result!

Ill go skatin today, see what that does for me :]

Thats contradictory. Either your training/working hard enough to the point of exhaustion where your body will not be able to stay awake. Or you're not. Theres no middle ground. I don't see what getting an injury and getting bad advice has to do with it.

Falkorre

Well,
There is obviously somthing(s) on ur mind.
Thing is mate, the human mind is such a complex thing, it dosent always let us know what our problems are the way we would like it to, somtimes it just gives us another problem to solve that will lead us to find out the root for ourselves.

I suggest speaking to your GP, and asking him/her if they think maybe some sort of counselling may help. A lot of people also claim to find relief from insomnia from hypnotherapy, but personally I would recomend a good counsellor who can teach you breathing and relaxation techniques before drugs prescribed or otherwise come into the picture.
IMHO things like hash are good for recreation, but when u start using them to self-medicate thats where problems can get out of control.

B

red_ice

i was saying that we never got breaks, it was non stop fitness. 6 mile runs in the pheonix park in 50 minz, if we didnt complete it within the time frame we had to do situps and push ups for a further 30 minutes.

thats off the topic tho. As i said, ill go out later on for a late session!

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by red_ice
i was saying that we never got breaks, it was non stop fitness. 6 mile runs in the pheonix park in 50 minz, if we didnt complete it within the time frame we had to do situps and push ups for a further 30 minutes.

thats off the topic tho. As i said, ill go out later on for a late session!

If you're not exhausted by it, then its not enough. End of story.

b3t4

I don't see that your problem is that you can't sleep. You do sleep but it's not at the conventional times. I used to be like this. I have a pretty good sleeping pattern now.

Force yourself to get up early in the morning. Have a pattern. Get up at 8am every day for a week (no matter what time you got to sleep) and force yourself to continue on with your day as if you had all the sleep in the world. Your body will soon adjust and will get the idea about what is waking time and what is sleeping time.

Also your mind is going to need some training as well. I used to be like you too always thinking when I was ment to be going to sleep. I would be thinking for hours and then it was 3 in the morning. Tell your mind to shut up literally. :-) It sounds daft but works a treat. I have small reaccurances of this thinking thing but not as bad as it used to be. This will take time but combined with the 8am starts your brain should learn to shut the hell up. :-)

Also do you ever masturbate before you go to sleep?? It's great for relaxing and works a treat for putting oneself off to sleep.

Hope some of this helps,
A.

ando

hey Red, I used to suffer from insomnia. I was told that my sleep pattern was no good, so I had to retrain my body. Normally I now get to bed at an aprox time, midnight on weekdays and if I'm out at the weekends, its about 1-2am at the weekends.

If I'm working all day, I usually do some weights for half an hour in the evening to tire myself out.

If you have a tv beside the bed, get into bed and watch some nature program or something quite to settle you down (star trek is very good for making you drowsy!! lol). When you feel yourself nodding off, turn the thing off. I've got an extention lead for the tv right beside me so I dont have to get up and turn the tv off !! laugh all you want, but it saves me getting up and turning it off (and waking up)

also, another trick I use is earplugs. I find it so much easier falling asleep with them.

Emboss

a book a **** or ryhpnol

oeNeo

Try listening to some music going to bed.

Woden

you say you roughly go to sleep at 5 and don't get up then to 4 in the evening, i know if i had that sleeping pattern i wouldn't get asleep til 5 in the morning either think about it you've only been up for 13 hours.

what happens if you go to bed at 5 in the morning and you drag youself out of bed at 9, will you still not get to sleep until 5 the next night?

also i'd give up the tea, its a stimulant, not as bad as coffee but a stimulant none the less.

SantaHoe

Originally posted by Emboss
a book a **** or ryhpnol

^^^ Best advise yet
All three at once = teh win.
Read a good book until you physically can't keep your eyes open, it'll also wear your head out a bit.
Also lay off the Counter-Strike before bed (if you're still playing) as it takes too long to wind down
Take some time other than bedtime to digest the day and hammer out the masterplan, take a nice long bath, and get all your thinking out of the way.

Might sound a bit daft, but you said your pillow feels hard... maybe it's your bed?
My old bed used to poke me in the back/ribbs with springs from the matdress... took me ages to figure out why I found it hard to sleep in the feckin' thing.
Try sticking a few thick blankets under you to soften things up.
Avoid Coke, redbull and all that crap aswell.

Lafortezza

What b3t4 said above,
exercise, regular going to bed and definitely regular getting up times, especially if you have had a late night.
don't eat up to an hour and a half before going to bed,
read something that you don't have to concentrate on while lieing in bed, your mind will be distracted until you feel you're eyes closing of their own account,

and having a toss never does any harm either

seamus

Originally posted by SantaHoe
Take some time other than bedtime to digest the day and hammer out the masterplan, take a nice long bath, and get all your thinking out of the way.

I tend to think too much when going to sleep aswell. As the man says, I find a shower before bed both helps me relax, and gives me time to mull over the day, leaving me more sleepytime

MrNuked

Valerian can often help.
Get it over the counter in a health shop.
Don't drink tea after 2 pm.
write down the stuff you're worried about right before you try to sleep or in bed.
count up to 4 slowly as you inhale and count to 7 as you exhale then wait a second or two before taking another breath while your in bed. this is an effective relaxation technique.
Try to get some sunlight during the day.

Falkorre

Just a note on Valerian,
DO NOT use this until you have ur sleep patterns sorted.

This herb can be quite powerful for a lot of people.
I tried it a while, while I was still going to bed at 4am nightly and all that ended up happening was i didnt wake up till 5pm!

And, as with all remedies, talk to your GP before using.

B

mirv

If you're going to bed at 4am and taking a sleep aid, what do you expect? Combine a sensible sleeping and waking times with a gentle sleep aid, I says. Looks like Reddy's stuck in a bad pattern as opposed to having full out insomnia.

mooman_00

id kinda have to say depression too, although thats only cuz thats what im going through at the moment. Those are exactly my symptoms although, i could add the feeling of not wanting to get out of bed for anything or anyone to the list and replace watchin the shopping channel with playin the playstation. Dunno what advise to give though except for dont rule depression out cuz its the kinda fuker that can creep up on you, and sometimes you deny its there out of pride...keep it in mind anyway..

LegacyUser

crank one off man.

mental energy in your head from the photoshop part of my brain really takes it out of me, my **** bank is at max at the moment