Cant sleep...

techguy

Hi,
I'd say at the start of December I began finding it hard to sleep, probably because of exams. Since then I have had trouble sleeping and just get so pissed off with lying in bed trying to sleep that I just get up and watch dvds/go on the net.. Its really disrupting college now cause when I do eventually fall asleep its around 5.3 in the morning..
Has anybody else here ever experienced something like this? What do?

Gosh, look at the time of posting

cormie

Go to a health store and try... emmm... eughh... I forget what it's called. I'll edit this if I remember:o

edit: Velerium, I obviously haven't tried it yet (look at the time;)) but I hear it's supposed to be very good!

Ruu_Old

Some good tips/hints in the Sleeping & Dreaming forum.
What kind of environment is your room in? Is it noisy outside or quiet? Some kind of white noise (small fan or something) or even light music helps a lot for me. Try melatonin perhaps.

~Rebel~

some problem for me a lot as well. my rooms ridiculously quiet which probably doesnt help. The only thing ive noticed that really helped me sleep earlier, simple but obvious - tiring myself out, football or something. On those days its grand but seeing as thats only a day or 2 every 2 weeks the rest of the days its back into the old cycle.

red_ice

dont take anything ever to help you sleep, because you will be begin to rely on them.

A friend of mine is seeing a counciler about a bunch of stuff, one of which is sleeping. He mentioned that he started to talk about random things that were on his mind and it led to him not thinking of it at night in bed.. or somethig (i was playing xbox at the time, how good am i for a heart to heart). So i only cought snippets of what was being said..

I too had problems sleeping before and im only starting to get to grips with it in the last year or so... I got a relaxation tape, which makes me kind of laugh coz it sounds so cheezy, they repeat stuff like "this is the feeling of relaxation" after they tell you to make a fist and squeeze real hard for 30 seconds and then let go... so you do that, and then remind yourself that thats what its like to relax. The tape starts from your toes, make a fist with em... then relax... then it tells you to point your toes up to your nose as hard as you can(calf muscles), then relax, then to lift your belly up as high as you can(back muscles), then relax, then make a fist(hands), then relax... each time you clench your holding for 30 seconds, then you let go...

Another trick that i saw on telly which i've never tried, because i dont like tedious excercises is to look up while your in bed, as far up as possible, before it starts to strain and focus on an object or something that catches your eye. Looking up tires the eye muscles which in turn makes you want to relax them. So while your looking up at said object for say a minute, gradually bring another item in via your peripheral vision, but stay looking at the origional item. Do this every minute and eventaully you will have a bunch of things in your sight, but your eyes will get heavy and tired.

Another thing to try while doing this, is to open your jaw as far as you can, and relax it, and go this every 2-3 seconds, it will induce a yawn and also tire your face out, you should try that while doing the looking excercise.

Another thing to try is playing static on the radio. you know the light Fuzz noise, play it on a low volume.. Basicly, if your in a somewhat noisy room, or area with a bit of chatter, its hard to sleep.. Its not because of the noise, its the type of noise you hear. Your brain trys to comprehend what the sound is, and trys to translate it into reason and understand whats going on(wtf are they talking about type thing). If you have a repetitve noise that means nothing, your brain will tire out trying to understand it. Any white noise does it. good proof of this is a child in the back seat of a car, the sound of the car and outside the car as your driving is a type of white noise - it knocks the kid out. Another example of this is a beach, the waves crashing on the sand is a repetitive white noise (as such). This is very popular in relaxation tapes because a beach is generally a holliday, and the waves make you tired.

hope these tips help. I think your problem with getting to sleep from the exams is that you knocked your sleeping pattern out of sync. If you get to sleep at 5 am, try setting a clock for 9:30 or so, and get up real early. The mind needs 7 hours sleep, so giving it 4 will make the day horrible, but if you manage to do it, you should be asleep by 1. Then set the alarm for 8 and stick with that pattern.

good luck with it - i know the morbid abyss that is 3am during the mid week more than anyone, only i dont have the luxury of being able to watch anything or have a light on as my house has walls made of cardboard and a pane of glass over each door! I have to sit there and watch the clock go by!

DonkeyStyle \o/

There's nothing like a good book to tire out your eyes and take your mind off things... head to bed an hour early and get stuck into something engrossing and light.

Or I find giving up all hope works well too... nothing is worth thinking about, nothing really matters, surrender yourself to the dark void. (but then that's me and I'm a bit of a depressed sort so this is easy to turn on at will, lucky me says you :rolleyes:)
Remember, there is no "trying to sleep", it'll come when you're relaxed enough in body and mind. (a horrible hippy cliché, but for the want of a better word)

If you must think about something, occupy your mind with something with which you have no emotional investment... emotion is the enemy IMO (I suppose because it carries with it physical effects like adrenaline etc.(?))
I like to lie there thinking about how they must do/make something and guess my way through it... exploring it, right or wrong... who cares... it's interesting enough to keep me on that train of thought, but not compelling enough to keep me awake... probably similar in concept to counting sheep, only less frustratingly boring.

If you're stuck in a trap of thinking about problems or whatever, get up and have a snack/drink/wee... go to bed again when you're ready... do something to break the thought-cycle that's keeping your mind nattering away to itself.

bug

I had/have the same issues.

I really got lots of advice, but I would still say that eliminating anything that worries you, causes you stress, and keeps you awake at night is the best bet.

I started walking home from work, about 3 miles, and that made me very tired and would give me about an extra two hours sleep.

Also wear something really warm to bed. Wear a long sleeve t-shirt, something that keeps you snug and warm. I find heat induces sleep a lot more quickly.

Switch off the computer about an hour before you decide to head off yo sleep too watch something crap on the tele for a little while.

Oh and force yourself to get up early three days in a row, even if you dont have to be in work/college until 10 get up at seven.
It'll adjust your body clock. Kill you for three days though.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

cormie wrote:

Go to a health store and try... emmm... eughh... I forget what it's called. I'll edit this if I remember:o

edit: Velerium, I obviously haven't tried it yet (look at the time;)) but I hear it's supposed to be very good!

He means Valerian - it's from the same herb/plant as valium.

I had the same thing when I was unemployed. What cracked it for me was listing to realxation/meditation CDs on headphones. A soothing voice just takes you basic breath awareness and visualisations that help calm the mind.

Hope that helps.

LundiMardi

yeah, listening to something relaxing always helps.. The most unlikely things can be relaxing, when the snooker was on i would purposely turn it on when going to sleep... I find the commentators voices and clacking of the balls to be soothing.. weird i know.

Other than that, i reckon you should just go and buy dark side of the moon, but beware the clocks:)

imeddyhobbs

techguy wrote:

Hi,
I'd say at the start of December I began finding it hard to sleep, probably because of exams. Since then I have had trouble sleeping and just get so pissed off with lying in bed trying to sleep that I just get up and watch dvds/go on the net.. Its really disrupting college now cause when I do eventually fall asleep its around 5.3 in the morning..
Has anybody else here ever experienced something like this? What do?

Gosh, look at the time of posting

Hakko

Im serious here but i have had the same thing since late december but im not doing any exams.I have to be up at 5:30 6 days a week (which i was doing perfectly)until recently but now im always late.I lay in bed for 3 hours on thursday night before i could get to sleep and then i slept thru my alarm clock next morning;i cant explain it!

Strokesfan

Similar problem due to worry before - Xanax makes sure you get an amazing night's sleep (anti-anxiety type medication) or Light a tealight and sprinkle lavender essential oil in it and let the smell circulate around your bedroom before blowing it out - lavender really works

Alter-Ego

LundiMardi wrote:

yeah, listening to something relaxing always helps.. The most unlikely things can be relaxing, when the snooker was on i would purposely turn it on when going to sleep... I find the commentators voices and clacking of the balls to be soothing.. weird i know.

Other than that, i reckon you should just go and buy dark side of the moon, but beware the clocks:)

Go with dark side of the moon. The dodgy guitar solos tend to induce coma!:)

Cake Fiend

The classics: get regular exercise, don't drink caffeinated drinks after lunchtime, try to keep to a regular waking time. I personally find that watching TV actually makes me stay awake longer (I end up wanting to watch whatever's on next, then on after that, etc), but if I read, it knocks me out.

nervous_twitch

I had problems sleeping for months after I first started having panic/anxiety problems, eventually I started taking Valerian every night before bed, and it helped massively!! I took it for weeks, and then began sleeping independently.

However, it doesnt work for everyone, and some find it agitates them further!

Sangre

Exercise, exercise, exercise. Its just that simple.

Go to the gym everyday. Put in a hard enough session and you'll be struggling to stay awake to actually reach bed. Any sleep you get will be always better so you won't need to sleep as long the next day.

Black Swan

Ruu wrote:

Some good tips/hints in the Sleeping & Dreaming forum.

Yes! Come join the rest of us insomniacs.