Insomnia

gamblitis

Hey guys,

Just looking to see if any of you guys may have some home solutions to this. Over the past few years I've had terrible sleeping patterns which I feel is having some pretty adverse effects on different aspects of my life.

I'm usually awake till 4 am and I will still wake up an hour or more before my alarm is due to go off regardless of whether it's set for 7/8/9am.

What maybe a contributing factor is the amount of coffee I drink. I work in a Café so I do have my fair share of caffeine throughout the day, but saying this, some days I will only have one (before midday) and and the odd day none but still suffer the same effects.

Things I have tried,

Hot Milk before bed, large dinner before bed, drinking decaf all day(ugh :P),
getting up extremely early and trying to get to sleep at a respectable hour that nigh, lots of exercise, none of which seem to create the desired effect.

On the very rare occasion I may get a fantastic night's sleep (once a month roughly) but on trying to analyse my actions from the previous day I can't find anything I did differently to cause such a pleasant slumber. :-/

I was never a big tablet taker(not even for a headache) so unless I seriously have to I'd rather not.

If you have any solutions or methods that you use to help you sleep that you find particularly effective I'd love to hear them.

Thanks.
Gamblitis.

kerash

Have you spoken to your GP about this? It sounds like you've tried most everything else, that may be the next step.
You're gp may be able to refer you to some professional if you're not having any success.

I'd suggest some relaxation and breathing techniques and try not to get obsessed about getting to sleep. If you're worried or stressed about anything that wont help and try to cut back on the caffeine definitely.

Ecobluff

Definitely agree, your first stop should be to get a full check up from your gp. Sometimes insomnia can be symptom of an underlying condition such as diabetes.

About 2 years ago out of the blue i started to wake up 4-5 am ( normally get up at 7am so was a pain especially at weekends!) Went to doc after about 2 weeks as was getting a bit anxious about it. All was more or less normal and she advised against meds unless i really needed them, we agreed to leave it for few weeks.

In the meantime i read the following article
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-causes-insomnia

I found i just stopped worrying about it and followed the tips in the article. Still happens occassionally but I dont stress about it.
I'd also advise to cut the caffiene especially after 5pm.

Best of luck

Osgoodisgood

I have battled with chronic insomnia for most of my adult life. I have found ways to work with it and not allow it to consume me but it never really goes away.

I have had success with making changes to my diet, eliminating high sugar items and completely removing coffee from my life. Yes, it was difficult but the improvements in my sleeping patterns make the sacrifice worthwhile. The other big change I made was to adopt a different attitide on the occasions when insomnia really kicks in. Instead of becoming worked up and irritated I now just use the time when everyone else is asleep to do stuff that I wouldn't otherwise get to do. Write letters, read, clean my golf clubs etc. I turn it into "me" time and you'd be surprised how the change in approach makes sleep more likely.

JuliusCaesar

here's a good behavioural programme. But you have to give it 10 days solid to develop a new pattern. No lie-ins at weekends!

gamblitis

Thanks a mill for the info and links everyone. I'll def give that check list a try and update you in a couple of weeks on my progress.