Category: Health and Wellness
Hi Guys.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to go to sleep at nights? sometimes it would take me ages to fall asleep at nights and it's getting to a point where I sleep in a lot of the times due to the fact I don't actually fall asleep till about 1 am.
If anyone has any suggestions would be great, If anyone has problems like mine feel free to post too.
Thanks!
Alex.
Hi Alex, I some times have sleeping problems due to anxiety and depression. I use kalms tablets. They are herbil and not that strong. I have used stronger tablets like diazapam but it leaves you feeling like a zomby. Try reading or something like that.
i don't sleep at all, so i know exactly what it's like. i've tried everything under the sun but to no success.
i do like listening to calm nature music though, sounds of the sea, birds singing, all that
sorry i can help any further- but if you are interested i can give some suggestions of relaxation artists you may want to try
It helps to know what exactly is keeping you from sleeping, because you aren't staying awake just because. My problem with sleeping is because I am always thinking of something. Whether it is about somethings that happened throughout the day, or what will happen tomorrow. It is extremely hard to do, but I try to think of nothing at all until I finally start to doze off. I have trouble doing that sometimes, but it does work.
I hear you, Ryan. A lot of the time my problem is that my brain won't shut off.
To Alex, you could try something like Melatonin, if you have trouble maintaining a normal schedule. I don't use it, but I know it works very well for several friends of mine, and it's over the counter.
Alex, I know on another board you said you're 21. A bit of a parental perspective here:
I am not denying that for many of the blind sleep is a challenge, but for young people in general, they now tell us your body clocks tend to want to stay up late and get up late. Even now some high schools are trying to gear their classes that way. When we were your age, they just called us fools and huligans for our general running around late at night and sleeping in.
But in reality now they are telling us parents that teenagers and young adults just have that tendency in terms of the body clock: that old song by Crocus from the 1980s, what was it, "Stay awake all night?" Or Slaughter singing "Up all night, sleep all day." OK I'm definitely dating myself I realize, but at your age I question whether it's in fact to do with being blind or just your age.
The daughter and friends go through this, and I certainly remember that. Even now, if something isn't done, I'm still thinking about it and have trouble going off to sleep. In recent years, I think I have gotten more of the non 24 hour sleep thing, to some degree. Not as serious as many sufferers on here, but it is different from the youthful need or want to stay up late, and then, like you said, sleep in.
Anyway you are not weird or strange for it: many of us were like that as teens and young adults, and now they are saying it's part of the chemistry or makeup or whatever. I'll leave the specifics to the shrinks on here, but as a parent when I read this from multiple sources, certainly makes sense based on what I observe whith the daughter, nieces and other youths bouncing about out here.
What I tell my daughter is, don't stress out over it, or you'll be thinking about not sleeping, then checking the time, then stressing because you're not sleeping, then stressing because you're stressing about it. The oldest advice in the book is to try your hand at reading War and Peace or some other dry novel, and you'll be asleep in minutes. The sleep machine apps, or even the stand-alone machines, really can help prevent a distraction. And, if you work out, try and do that earlier in the day, not too close to bedtime. I know the midnight swim or the late evening run is a blast at any age but if sleep is the trouble you probably want to avoid those.
Thank you all for your suggestions, I actually tried drinking either Glass of Water or Milk each night before bed, sometimes it helps. I also now tried eating snacks just to try and dose me off. I'm not really a fan of Sleeping Pills for I have a lot of Medical conditions already.
Thanks for your suggestions, feel free to do give more if possible just to see. I'm glad to see some of you are in the same position as me too.
ryan that's a very good point you made about knowing what keeps you awake
for me it's usually voices and anxieties and urges
HI Alex, it depends on what do you mean by "sleeping alot", and if you sleep at 1AM, what time do you usually got up? If you sleep at 1 in the morning, and got up like 7 or so, its still consider normal. Its depends on what your body need in terms of how long you need to sleep. Some body may need to have 8 to 10 hours sleep, some simply less than 6 hours may be enough.
Perhaps try to make a rutine, even if you can't sleep, but try to go to bed let say 11PM and got up at 6 or 7 or no later than 8 in the morning. Also, try not to take any nap during the day.
If you are a tea drinker, try to have a cup of camamal tea about an hour before bed, that will help to relax you.
Also, having regular excersise will help too. Perhaps make a rutine, to excersise about 15 to 30minutes each day.
I also have sleeping problem, but mine is cause by overly active mind that refuse to shut down and go to rest. So, even i'm physically asleep, my mind is still pretty much awake, if that make sense.
Good luck
i also have strange sleeping patterns. some nights I'll sleep like the dead and other nights I can't fall a sleep or I go to sleep but then wake up a couple hours later and won't be able to go back to sleep.
Hi guys, just to update I've felt I've slept better for the past few weeks, combination of Drinking before I sleep and eating as well, I feel as though now when I hop into bed I just dose off.
hey you guys.
This is going to be long for those like me, who don't like to read long post a lot of the time...
i have some of the craziest sleep patterns.
one day I will sleep at night, then the nextday in the day. I confuse some people some times because they never know when to call me. I just tell them to call me and if I am awake I will answer. LOL!
I use to have routines and then I got off of them. I started to get back on using them and it has helped a lot. It some how tells my body to wine down and get ready for bed.
I get myself up every morning no later than 6:30 no matter what is going on. IfI sleep in one day well, I will sleep in the next when I do need to get up.
I have my routines on my iPhone so when I am half asleep, I can just look and see what I need to do next, and it helps a lot.
The night before I do things to prepare for the next day and clean up my place so on so on...
I get in to bed basically the same time and then either watch a show or read a book for a bit then go to bed.
Some times I get those night wear I know I am not going to sleep. They suck. I have to drink a lot of coffee the next day to keep my self up so I don't take naps. If I do take a nap i will end up sleeping in the day time rather than at night for the next month.
It is a lot of work just to keep my sleep on the same time. Last Friday I stayed up until 11:30 and then yesterday morning I had a hard time getting up at 6:30 and then took a nap in the middle of the day. Fell asleep at about 8 last night then woke up fighting to get up at 6:30 this morning. All because i stayed up until 11:30 rather than going to bed the time I usually do.
I use to sleep for about 4 hours a night in highschool but IDK what has happened now.
I love waking up early mornings though. I hate sleeping threw the days. So I work hard at my sleep schedrul.
sorry so long.
I couldn't do that get up at 6 30 am every day. I am not a morning person. The earliest I will get up is 9 am.
I have a hard time falling asleep. I find it helpful to listen to a book or talk radio. I make it a habit to take slow deep breaths while doing so. I then find that I'm able to relax and drift off. That doesn't work for allot of people but it does for me for some reason. If I'm consentrating on what's being said, then I'm not worrying over all the other stuff in my head.
Good luck.
For me, it would be the opposite. If I'm concentrating on a book or music, I'll stay awake. I'm not a morning person either, mostly because I find that most of the time I can't fall asleep until about 3 or 4 in the morning. It's almost 4 now. I really don't know how I got into that pattern, but it's been happening ever since I was a little kid, which was one of the many reasons I hated school. It would really suck to only get 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night. That used to freak me out so much when it would happen to me back then, because I didn't knnow kids could have sleep problems. And it's not sleep-wake disorder or whatever that's called, since I have light perception. Now that I'm older, it happens much more frequently, and while I can relate it to my depression and anxiety a bit, it does bother me that I can trace this pattern back to my early childhood.
One thing that does help to relax me is having a fan on when I'm sleeping, even in the winter. I know that's odd, but there's something soothing about the sound.
Once again, thanks for your comments guys, some of you are in the same boat as I am, thanks so much guys.
One thing I found interesting, the majority of you who have problems sleeping, are women so any idea why I'm the only Male who has this problem?
i no guys who has the issues too.
the soun of a moder does help. a bus or a fan.
Alex, you're far from the only male who has sleep issues; trust me on that.
Nicky, maybe there was a typo in your last post, cause I highly doubt the sound of a bus would help one go to sleep. definitely a fan would help, though.
another thing that helps me relax and fall asleep is the sound of ocean waves. There's an app you can download called relax ocean waves; it is really neat, and there's a timer that you can set.
Good point Joanne. If you get the chance, say on a vacation or a time when you don't really need to get up at a certain time, try to rest as long as you feel comfortable with and see how long it is. From there you can gage when you want to go to bed at night that might be before work or school and such. In other words, if you felt like 6 hours was sufficient enough for you and you have to get up at 6:00, you could go to bed between 11:30 and 12 the night before.
nope, bus was correct. When in school, I slept really well on the bus. The engen was loud like a fan. Then the movement was relaxful too.
See, those things would keep me up, and they have.
When I took a couple train trips cross country, I had about zero sleep while on the train. It probably would have been better if I had a sleeper car, but the prices were too ridiculous for one person to pay for.
To each their own, I could never sleep on a bus. I can't even sleep in a car on long trips. I guess it has to do with the fact that I'm wearing a seat belt, and that's not at all comfortable, since I tend to want to move around a lot in my sleep. As for sleeping on a bus, I would hope I was alert for that, since I wouldn't want to miss my stop.
Easy remedies for sleep problems:
1) Schedule. I don't care what time you fall asleep at night, but set an alarm that you must get up for each morning, and get up. Eventually, your body's sleep rhythm will adjust to that alarm, and you'll get tired in preparation for the amount of sleep you'll need.
2) Minimal napping. Don't doze off for two hours in the middle of the day unless you want to be up two hours later at night.
3) Exercise. Do something strenuous, every day. Crunches, squats, push-ups, walking, weights, dancing, shadow-boxing, whatever. Get at least 30 minutes in. Do it more than 2 hours before bed.
4) Diet. No heavy meals, and taper off snacking, starting 2 hours before you want to sleep. Your body doesn't need a ton of calories bouncing around in it when you're trying to rest.
5) Caffeine, soda, alcohol. Try to avoid it for several hours, 3-5, before you go to sleep. That stuff keeps your brain from reaching deep-sleep, and you'll wake up feeling gross for it the next day.
will definitely try these. :)
To Post 25, thanks very much. :)
I've been on sleep meds for about a week, now, and am happy I finally called my doctor to get something prescribed. I'm not one who believes medication is always the answer, but sometimes, it sure does solve the problem/take a load off one's shoulders.
I've considered that, but I've heard that it's so easy to become dependent on sleep meds, and you need to take higher doses in order for them to work. Of course, if you only use them once in awhile, I guess that problem would be solved, but it's a risk I'm not sure I want to take.
I use them every day, but have been through this before. I was on sleep meds years ago, and didn't get addicted. so, it just depends.
Melatonin works very, very well for me. I take it every night and it has done A LOT to help my schedule. It's kind of amazing how much it has helped, I went from only managing to stay asleep for three hours at night and falling asleep at odd times to sleeping very well at night and staying awake during the day. I highly recommend anyone who has sleep problems that does not have an auto-immune disease to try it out. I didn't realize just how not rested I was until I started getting quality rest.
I have been told that you can only take sleep medication for a couple of weeks. I have done it before but I suppose it depends what it is.
I had trouble sleeping for more years than I care to think about until I got my prescription for medical marijuana. I'll smoke a bowl or two at night and sleep through the night now and I swear by the stuff. Hopefully one day soon it will be legalized nationwide so that prices will come down and more people will be able to afford it. Good luck to Washington, Oregon and Colorado in their upcoming elections to do just that.
I tried Lunesta for a while. That medication worked ... until I came off of it. Panic and anxiety were awful, and I'm never going back on that again. That was just a two-milligram dose. Now I rely on some crickets in an app I discovered called natureSpace to help me sleep at night. Unfortunately, I still have nights when I'm asleep for three or four hours, then I end up staying awake for the rest until the alarm goes off, but it doesn't happen as often as it used to.
I have trouble sleeping to. The best thing I have found is a classical Cd and another artist called liquid mind.
yes sleep medications can help but they can be addictive, i sleep a lot because of my medical condition which part is fatigue but if i can't sleep i usually listen to music or read or play a game on the computer and that will help me.
I can sleep in the car, bus and plane but not on a boat, lol, smiles.