Insomnia

jonny68

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but does anyone suffer from Insomnia or has done in the past?I've had it on and off for years,sometimes i will sleep no problem but other nites i cannot get to sleep no matter what and i would be knackered all day in work the following day.

Someone said to me that it's possibly all the late nites and sessions years ago that would continue into the next day and beyond without sleep that could well be the cause of it as when i was a lot younger i never seemed to suffer from it.

Thankfully ive been sleeping alright the last while but i just know that at some stage ill get another few nites where i just can't get to sleep,any ideas/suggestions folks?

Nevyn

Go talk to your Dr first off.

Have a look at your bedroom how restfull is it ?
It is too bright, too warm, too cold, too stuffy
too full of electraical stuff humming on standby.

Have a look at your bed and bed clothes
is it too firm, too soft, too many pillows not enough.

Get into a routine to get yourself ready to sleep,
change into sleep wear, have a glass of milk or water
Listen to relaxing music or even read for a while.
Don't eat too much before going to bed or thing you find hard to digest as
it will keep you awake, but don't go to bed hungry as it will wake you up.

Get some lavendar oil put a few drops on the flip side of your pillow,
that is if you are not allergic to it.

As we get older your engery levels and metabolisms change we can't push or
punish our bodies the way we could when we are 15 to 25.

JCDenton

One tip which used to work for me was to get loads and loads of exercise. Wear yourself out so that you can't fail to go unconscious when your head hits the pillow.

Unfortunately though it seems to be wearing off now, Im 10 times fitter, and still as tired as ever.

Still though - if all other attempts fail then try it out to see what happens...

jcoote

get rid of your clock for starters...if u have one

I have bad insomnia, as some people might remember. I've started drinking ovaltine and reading before I need to sleep. I used to sleep at about 6/7 in the morning, but now, I'm sleeping round 2/3 in the morning, It might not seem like much, but it helps My advice would be to get as relaxed as possible, whatever makes you feel good. And read an hour before you should be asleep

Best of luck:)

Zillah

Make sure your hands and feet are warm. Might sound wierd but if your hands or feet are cold you will not fall asleep.

Little biology lesson too: Your body deliberately keeps your extremities cold sometimes to make sure your core body stays warm, thats where all the important organs are. So, the best way to keep your hands and feet warm is to heat up the rest of your body as much as you can, that way your body will get your feet warm all on its own.

Crucifix

Get up and go to the bathroom. You might not feel like you've gotta go when you're lieing there, but often by the time you shuffle to the toilet you'll feel the need.

rugbug86

i suffer bad from insomnia too - actually haven't had a proper nights sleep in 9 weeks! kinda sucks but ya get used to it after a while.

CerebralCortex

I hear that meditating can give you some of what you lose when you don't sleep. So if you know that you aren't going to acheive rem try some meditation. My 2 cents worth.

CerebralCortex

rugbug86 wrote:

i suffer bad from insomnia too - actually haven't had a proper nights sleep in 9 weeks! kinda sucks but ya get used to it after a while.

I would advise trying not to get used to it and make sure you sort it out the effects of no sleep for long periods are disasterous (diabetes and such) but you probably know that already.

Maybe slightly off topic, But does anyone here not sleep for ages then when they do, they can sleep til 3/4 in the afternoon? AFAIK Insomnia is where you can't sleep. At all, and when you can't sleep til late then wake up at 3/4 pm it's called apnea. Any one have a clue?

jonny68

Papa Smut wrote:

Maybe slightly off topic, But does anyone here not sleep for ages then when they do, they can sleep til 3/4 in the afternoon? AFAIK Insomnia is where you can't sleep. At all, and when you can't sleep til late then wake up at 3/4 pm it's called apnea. Any one have a clue?

Thanks for the tips folks,im a bit like that as well sometimes in that (if i have no work the next day) and i can't sleep ive been known to lie in until 2pm that afternoon,i do be knackered though it does happen on occasions..anyway i will take heed of some of the advice given here.:)

embee

Papa Smut wrote:

Maybe slightly off topic, But does anyone here not sleep for ages then when they do, they can sleep til 3/4 in the afternoon? AFAIK Insomnia is where you can't sleep. At all, and when you can't sleep til late then wake up at 3/4 pm it's called apnea. Any one have a clue?

No, apnoea is a condition where you stop breathing when you are asleep. If you've ever shared a room with a person who takes massive gasps in their sleep, stops breathing for ages or thrashes around in their sleep a lot, chances are they suffer from apnoea.

See http://www.isat.ie/isat_faqs.htm#What%20is%20Sleep%20Apnoea? for more info.

Tiriel

yeah I'm a bit of an insomniac. It goes in cycles though, for 4/5 nights of the week I get to sleep at about 5 am and wake again at 8. Then the other 2/3 nights I'll get to sleep for 5/6 hours.

It's wierd as I used to be one for sleeping a lot!! Maybe this was the initial problem, I used to sleep from 11pm to 9am every night. Now it is a tough job to get to sleep, even though I still go to bed early and try to get a decent nights sleep.

Sleep is the best medicine of them all in a way.. which frightens me as I often get very little.

sutty

I my-self only ever sleep 6 hours anight. Once in a while I will sleep longer. But feel tired after it. There are often times when I will not sleep at all for a few days. Or will sleep maybe one or two hours over a few days.
Only advice I can give you is cut out things like coke or coffe.

Dragan

jonny68 wrote:

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but does anyone suffer from Insomnia or has done in the past?I've had it on and off for years,sometimes i will sleep no problem but other nites i cannot get to sleep no matter what and i would be knackered all day in work the following day.

Someone said to me that it's possibly all the late nites and sessions years ago that would continue into the next day and beyond without sleep that could well be the cause of it as when i was a lot younger i never seemed to suffer from it.

Thankfully ive been sleeping alright the last while but i just know that at some stage ill get another few nites where i just can't get to sleep,any ideas/suggestions folks?

Heya, I used to regularly go anywhere up to 5 days without getting sleep, i'd be like the walking dead by the end of it, just couldn't function.

I would suggest you find a supplement called ZMA, lots of sleep problems boild down to a lack of zinc and magnesium in the diet and this will sort them out and help you sleep much better. It does not cost very much at all either.

It worked for me.

Is this readily available? If not, plese don't lock thread, just edit

dundalk cailin

sometimes i cant drop off to sleep til the wee hours; ill be ok getting up the following morning, but the tiredness hits me during the day, and i fall asleep quite early that night. ive started sleeping better in the last while, prob cos im living away from home, and have to rely on myself to get me up for college. im like a bull if i dont get enough sleep, there's no talkin to me, the girls at work used to avoid me for the first hour after i was out the night before

Selik

My own personal method of a nicely packed spliff has yet to fail me.

Other than that it's good to do a bit of physical exercise during the day which will tire you out a bit... PC's and TV are both very bad in this instance and should be avoided at night if you want to sleep. Books can be good too....

Zillah

Papa Smut wrote:

Does anyone here not sleep for ages then when they do, they can sleep til 3/4 in the afternoon?

So, you find that when you go to sleep very late, you wake up very late...

Gods man, it must be aliens or something.

condra

insomnia sux.

554am.

goin to bed soon.

one thing which helps me is playing java games on my phone. .. and counting sheep has actually helped occassionally too. A comfortable bed is crucial.

dundalk cailin

i also find if i sleep in late (being lazy ) ill not be able to fall asleep til late that night, usually happens on a sun night before the week starts

Dragan

Papa Smut wrote:

Is this readily available? If not, plese don't lock thread, just edit

If you mean the ZMA you should be able to get it in most health shops.

if not try fitnessireland.ie

LegacyUser

I had severe insomnia a few years ago and went to my doctor. Went off to acupuncture and that solved it.I'm not one to believe in hocus pocus .. stick a needle in my ankle type of things usually. It was at the last straw for me.
Basically the acupunturist stuck needles ini different places and leaves you there lying for a while, so you HAVE to relax. No java games, counting sheep or anything .. just relax.

I think it is down to learning to relax fully before going to sleep, stop thinking about things. Don't watch the telly in bed before you go to sleep .. you will end up too keyed up to drift off. The same thing with Java games etc .. you need to let your brain wind down. Even reading a book isn't great, becuase if it is a good book, then you want to read it.

I really recommend Acupuncture ..

condra

acupuncture did nothing for me but take quite a sizeable sum from my wallet.,- sorry just giving another side of the story.

I think insomnia can be caused by different things for different people though.

Supercell

Still a bit of an imsomniac but much less so since quitting the smokes last year, was the first perceptable benifit I noticed (before loosing the cough..frequent colds etc etc).

A good book as others have said is a nice way to drift off..just dont get to carried away with the plot and stay up all night reading it..darn you Ludlum!!

dundalk cailin

couldnt sleep last night,tossed and turned, but for the life of me couldnt nod off..tried my owh suggestions and other people's but to no avail..ended up getting up at 6.20, ten mins before alarm :rolleyes:

BoozyBabe

This is slightly off topic so sorry, but:-

I don't exactly suffer from insomnia. If the conditions are right I'll sleep like a baby, generally BUT:
I'm a really light sleeper, & it really p!sses me off. Anything wakens me, or prevents me from sleeping in the 1st place.
I can't have a watch ticking in the same room as me,
I can't actually have any kind of repetitive sound happening as I start to listen out for the next one,
if a light goes on outside, that wakens me,
dogs barking,
a fly that starts flying round the bedroom in the middle of the night wakens me,
I can't sleep with the radio / TV on.
When I lived with my ex, I gave up & slept in the other room as if he snored at all, or even turned around in the bed, that wakened me.
I also resorted or ear plugs at night to drown out potential noise, but those left me with sore ears the next day!!

If I get married, of live with another partner, I really want to share the bed with them & enjoy the comfort of sleeping beside someone, even if they snore (which my new bf does. We've shared a bed on a few occasions & I've lay awake for the entire night on all occasions )

Does anyone know how I can get over my problem, or will I just get used to it with time?

suffered from insomnia for about a year............
get bouts of it every now and again when theres something on my mind
tried herbal pills, dont really work, theyre more of a placebo thing really

itl pass, give it time
exercise, sex or reading helps