INSOMNIMANIA!

[DPrinny]

Insomnia seems to like getting me after ive been working hard for a few hours, bloody nackering work and yet at night I cant sleep.
There are some times like last night where I wasn't sleepy at all.
The usual things don't get me to sleep, as soon as my head gets on the pillow im awake.

It is very annoying.
Sleeping pills don't work as don't other methods

Would see a doc about it but they will probably just end up giving me pills

[rapidly-greying]

Over the counters pills are hopeless,at least the doctor would give you something that will actually help you sleep.

Other suggestions would be having a warm bath before bed time.

But out all cafeine after lunchtime.

Take a book to bed,that way if you have struggle to get to sleep at least have something to hit yourself.

[DPrinny]

Tried the bath thing, again, head goes on pillow, I wake up.

tea/caffeine wise I dont drink anything with it in after 6

Book wise I cant have the light on as the parrot might be asleep in the bed room

[tachi]

I used to really suffer with insomnia due to stress & restless leg syndrome but what I found works best for me is to lay under the quilt so I am hot in my body but keep my unsocked feet out the bottom and cold (weird, I know).
More importantly though, if I have trouble I pop headphones on and listed to an audiobook while laying with my eyes closed.
It doesn't take more than 30 minutes and I'm gone

[jdanddiet]

Wife suffers from it, can't imagine anything worse as someone who's asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Why don't you try getting one of these cheap reading lights that clips to your book? Reading really helps, especially a boring book!

[MikeFishcake]

I get that sometimes and it's not good. My advice, which has helped me:

- Like Rapidly-Greying says, try to cut out caffeine after lunchtime. I know you say you cut it out from 6pm, but try cutting it out earlier.
- Camomile tea. It's an "acquired taste" but it's naturally caffeine free and it appears to be calming. (although it doesn't agree with a small amount of people - make sure you check it out first before trying it.) For me, the recommendation on the Twinings box says to add honey as a sweetener. Don't. I like honey, but it makes it taste absolutely awful.
- Ear plugs. If you get easily distracted (or have noisy neighbours) try some ear plugs which will block out a lot of noise. You may find you need to increase the volume of your alarm clock though!
- Meditation. Put aside any preconceptions about meditation, ignore the Lotus position/Ommmm cliches and start off by listening to some guided meditation (there's quite a few podcasts around). It's not something you can pick up easily - it does require a lot of practise to get it right, and you need to do it regularly, but it's very rewarding and very effective when it does. See it as practising a new skill rather than just "doing" something, if that makes sense.
- Music? For me, relaxing/chillout music doesn't really work. I find it relaxing in the evening, but it actually distracts me from going to sleep at night.
- Don't play computer games or go on the internet. It's just too distracting.
- Watch crap, unstimulating late-night telly.

Most importantly:

- Don't try to force yourself to go to sleep. It quite simply won't work. Just accept the fact you're going to be up for a while, shrug your shoulders and slump into a chair or sofa. Don't watch the clock, don't get stressed. So you may be a bit tired next day? You'll get over it; in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter that much.

[bensonrad]

I had it last night, I managed to get literally 2 hours sleep in the end. Feel exhausted today. I also have ringing in my ears, which started last May out of the blue. Which was a killer to start with, but have now grown to live with it.

[DPrinny]

Bizarrely with the lack of sleep last night I feel like ive had a good nights sleep.


Only had one cup of tea this morning.
It must be my old night time routine still in me (did work nights for about 5 years, but it was over five years ago).

Haven't really done anything all day besides play Minecraft online

[oldtimer]

I suffer with insomnia myself, i fall asleep quickly , but with an hour or two i am awake and i just cant sleep again afterwards... then of course i am totally useless for the next day.
The doc gave me some sleeping pills and they worked, but i found i was fuzzy the next day , and they can be addictive, so i knocked them on the head real quickly.... now i just tend to lay in bed exhausted .....

[Antiriad2097]

A ham shank has always worked for me.

[DigitalDuck]

I usually just stay awake. I've trained myself to be able to go a few days without sleep, so missing one night doesn't bother me.

[Rinoa]

I'm quite lucky as I'm one of those people who falls asleep straight away. On the down side though, I want to sleep too much. I'm always tired, so have to keep a packet of Pro Plus on me for work.

[Ferret Oxide]

I've suffered from this and spoken to a couple of doctors about it. Both advised that if you're really struggling to sleep, get out of bed. Laying in bed when you can't sleep is apparently counter-productive.

Also, try to do excercise in the afternoon or evening (just something to get the heart pumping so even a brisk walk will do). That really helped me.

[RMLF]

Insomnia sufferer for a goodly few years.

Last thing that was said to me was to not make sleep abnormal

By that I mean, dont treat it as something abnormal as in that that you arent going to sleep and make an issue of it (Hard I know). Through normalcy of sleep, as in not making it a big deal you arent sleeping then the idea is that you will eventually not see it as an issue and thus get to sleep again.

Ive been surviving on 3 hours or less for ages, some times because of the pain, but before that just not wanting to sleep

[aztecca]

A ham shank has always worked for me.

Is that before you get into bed though? As i cant stand crumbs or food stuff in the bed that would keep me awake even longer.