What do you do at night when you can't sleep?

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Except for fap, of course. That's a given.

I can't sleep! I'm so tired and sleepy but my mind won't shut off enough to just let me nod off.

I tried counting sheep but got to sheep number 9 and got bored.
I tried listening to music but avvici and tiesto just make me want to get up and do something.
I'm too tired to read/do anything interesting.

And the nights I do manage to fall asleep, I wake up a lot. It drives the OH mad, that I'm up and down like a whores knickers during the night, just wandering around.

I used to take sleeping pills but obviously don't want to rely on those to try get to sleep so AH - what makes you sleepy?

calfmuscle

Read! It distracts the mind and then you nod off.

steveone

I nod off after a cup of coffee, I get about four hours from a sleeper then the brain kicks in.. so i post on boards ha

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

steveone wrote: »

I nod off after a cup of coffee, I get about four hours from a sleeper then the brain kicks in.. so i post on boards ha

I used to think I'd get the full 8 hours from a full sleeper (sometimes ill halve them) but find I have complete blackouts from them, in that, I'll think I'm asleep, next morning ill wake up (not always in bed) and have no recollection of the night before, so I'll obviously assume I've been asleep. But they make me sleepwalk, and I'll have full blown conversations with people that I won't even remember talking to.
Also they leave an awful metal taste in my mouth all the next day.

When I lived in a house share one of my housemates used to have an endless supply of Valium, and I found I got proper sleep taking those, no blackouts or sleep walking.

I have to be up in an hour for work.

gordongekko

Normally poke herself and see if she's up for some action.

Skill Magill

Mow the grass, the neighbours admire my well tended garden

Merkin

I think reading a book is the only thing really. I've a habit of looking at the iPad or phone when awake and it's terrible as it just wakes you up fully.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I've spent the past 5 hours Facebook stalking. I accidentally liked one persons photo but its okay, it won't look too odd. I hope

FunLover18

Audiobooks and podcasts. I actually find it very difficult to sleep without them.

SmilingLurker

Soothe the baby, sing a lullaby. As I have one under one and a two year old sleeping itself is not a problem.

artanevilla

A few crosswords.

LizzieJones

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Except for fap, of course. That's a given.

I can't sleep! I'm so tired and sleepy but my mind won't shut off enough to just let me nod off.

I tried counting sheep but got to sheep number 9 and got bored.
I tried listening to music but avvici and tiesto just make me want to get up and do something.
I'm too tired to read/do anything interesting.

And the nights I do manage to fall asleep, I wake up a lot. It drives the OH mad, that I'm up and down like a whores knickers during the night, just wandering around.

I used to take sleeping pills but obviously don't want to rely on those to try get to sleep so AH - what makes you sleepy?

I take a couple of magnesium pills and 2 calcium pills and they relax me enough so I can sleep.

daveohdave

Fap again, just to be sure.

Then read, as others have said. I've always had trouble sleeping and even reading on my phone didn't help, as I'd get distracted by my email or even just looking something from the book up. Bought a Paperwhite, works nearly every time.

The only exception is when I get a gripper of a book, they'll keep you up all night. :-)

jester77

Just stop thinking, whatever you are thinking about will still be there tomorrow. No point losing sleep over something.

Non serious answer have a baby you will never complain again after the first few weeks you will be able to sleep standing up.

Serious answer you need to do sleep training there are lots of book and articles on the net about it, but it doesn't work unless you are persistent and stick with it, sleeping tablets are a really bad idea in the long term, sometimes it develops from a bad habit or from a time when you might have been stressed. There is no real cure except training yourself to sleep properly again. I never had a problem with sleeping but I do know someone who was tormented with it.

IvyTheTerrible

Get off the internet, you should be away from screens at least 30 minutes before you go to bed if you want to sleep easily.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Get off the internet, you should be away from screens at least 30 minutes before you go to bed if you want to sleep easily.

That's sound advice. But it's horrible lying there in the middle of the night with no distractions. Things always seem worse when it's dark and quiet and lonely. My problem is, my tiny little mind is super easy to keep distracted during the day. But the very minute I'm alone and "relaxing" I'll start thinking about ridiculous things. Are my dogs lonely? Where did my nude heels go after I only wore them one time back in either 2009 or 2010 and why haven't I seen them since?

I get sleep paralysis sometimes and I'm not sure if I'm 'afraid' to sleep or if I just suck at it.

I tend to sleep better when I have someone to mind me. Like if I lay down with him, get cuddles, stick on a movie, I'll be out like a light because I'm so relaxed and I know he's awake and won't let anything happen to me. Completely different story if he was in bed asleep before me, I wouldn't sleep as easy.

And then even when I do manage to fall asleep, I'm fidgety. I'll wake up, wander around, might go get a drink or go to the bathroom, go back to bed, try go back to sleep. Get up and go watch tv for a while. Go back to bed.

I can't imagine I'm very nice to have to sleep next to, when I'm like a yoyo.
Blah. I'm sure there's something simple that I need to do, I just don't know what.

Penny Tration

When I struggled with insomnia, and didn't want to take sleeping pills, my therapist suggested the following (and it eventually worked) -

Lie there, eyes closed, and listen to your breathing for 20 minutes. If you start to think, or listen to other sounds, stop yourself, and keep focusing on your breathing.

Sit up after 20 minutes, and spent 20 minutes reading something that's not all that interesting.
Repeat step one and two until you fall asleep.

I now fall asleep within half an hour of going to bed. I still wake up a lot, and thrash around in my sleep, but I manage to get back to sleep each time.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

How long did that take to work GS? Sounds interesting. Also, did you become less inclined to wake during the night or has that changed

vibe666

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Except for fap, of course. That's a given.

MOAR FAP! :pac:

The Backwards Man

I count 'What do you do when you can't sleep?' threads.

LeBash

Just keep fappin. If nothing else you may wake the other half up and you might get a sympathy leg over

Penny Tration

LexieOnRale wrote: »

How long did that take to work GS? Sounds interesting. Also, did you become less inclined to wake during the night or has that changed

It took a month or two of basically getting pissed off and getting out of bed :pac:

I wake less now. I do still wake up 3 or 4 times, but that's compared to 10+ times previously, and I'm getting 7 hours of broken sleep rather than 3

pickarooney

Just try really hard to stay awake

IvyTheTerrible

LexieOnRale wrote: »

That's sound advice. But it's horrible lying there in the middle of the night with no distractions. Things always seem worse when it's dark and quiet and lonely. My problem is, my tiny little mind is super easy to keep distracted during the day. But the very minute I'm alone and "relaxing" I'll start thinking about ridiculous things. Are my dogs lonely? Where did my nude heels go after I only wore them one time back in either 2009 or 2010 and why haven't I seen them since?

I get sleep paralysis sometimes and I'm not sure if I'm 'afraid' to sleep or if I just suck at it.

I tend to sleep better when I have someone to mind me. Like if I lay down with him, get cuddles, stick on a movie, I'll be out like a light because I'm so relaxed and I know he's awake and won't let anything happen to me. Completely different story if he was in bed asleep before me, I wouldn't sleep as easy.

And then even when I do manage to fall asleep, I'm fidgety. I'll wake up, wander around, might go get a drink or go to the bathroom, go back to bed, try go back to sleep. Get up and go watch tv for a while. Go back to bed.

I can't imagine I'm very nice to have to sleep next to, when I'm like a yoyo.
Blah. I'm sure there's something simple that I need to do, I just don't know what.

Well I've been told that rather than lying there for ages it's actually better to get up and do something else altogether, and try again in an hour (worked for me when I was pregnant and would be wide awake in the middle of the night!)