How do you put yourself to sleep?

[ab9924]

Thanks again everyone!
You are saving my sanity. Oops.

 

[spud_meister]

Nutmeg in warm milk, exercise until you're exhausted, or masturbate.

 

[Fisher]

I am naturally a night owl. I can get to sleep okay but if I get woken up I am up until dawn. Pretty much nothing helps other than just exhausting myself and trying to keep from being woken up, which is not easy with dogs in the house. I have gone as long as 5 days with no sleep but that was awhile ago. Destressing (i.e. Just stop caring about crap so much) helped end those cycles I used to get trapped in.

 

[Your Star]

I lie down, and go to sleep when I'm tired. I don't like the idea of taking pharmaceuticals to get to sleep, and would rather run on my own cycle.

 

[specklebang]

I sometimes have difficulty falling asleep. I lie there, completely motionless and wait for the cats to take their places all over me.

I've had some luck with:
Xanax - (similar to valium) .5 mg. It might be hard to get a scrip because it's abusable (although I can't figure out whtat abusers see in it)
Trazadone - any MD will give you a scrip for any amount. I take 50 mg., a small dose. Absolutely non-addictive and non-abusable
Melatonin - I tried that for the first time last night. Too early to tell.
Rescue Remedy - available at Amazon.
Magnesium - suggested by my son

Some nights, I use all of the above. But it works.

 

[NitroHangover]

I have a lot of trouble sleeping. I work 48 hour shifts and constantly have to be awoken from a dead sleep ready to spring into action at any given moment. Some shifts are slow and I am relatively uninterrupted and get adequate sleep. Other shifts are busy as hell and I basically get zero sleep for 48 hours straight. Needless to say this lifestyle plays havoc on your natural sleep cycle. Even on my days off I sleep really randomly and sporadically most of the time. You get used to it.

Back when I used to work 9-5 gigs, a lot of the time I'd just pop a Tylenol PM an hour or so before I wanted to be asleep so I could conk out and get a solid 5-8 hours. That stuff really works, consistently, and doesn't make you that drowsy when you wake up in the morning. I'd recommend that if you haven't tried it. Better than going straight to harder, prescription stuff. Even now with my current job, after a particularly busy shift sometimes I'll come home at 8am and take one so I can get some rest.

 

[X Factor]

I take half an Ambien, but I that's no longer the sure fire method it once was. Speaking of Ambien, one of the warnings on the bottle is that it could make you drowsy.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I can't sleep. I think I have become an insomniac. What shall I do? What do you do when you are an insomniac?

For a three year period, one part of my job was to get to work early and write production reports for the previous day. I often had to be at work by 6 to get this done. Ever since then, I have not been able to sleep past 6 unless I was absolutely exhausted. This also means that I tend to be very tired at the end of the day.

This was the same timeframe as when I was getting my BA degree in Business Administration and would often be at school until 10PM. I was a very grumpy person for a few years so I am told.

 

[Jetboogieman]

I'll let Mr. Marvin Gaye do the talking for me:

 

[madman]

I can't sleep. I think I have become an insomniac. What shall I do? What do you do when you are an insomniac?

If it already hasnt been mentioned, look into sleeping with "white noise."


some downloads
http://cantonbecker.com/music/white-noise-sleep-sounds/mp3s.php

 

[digsbe]

I have stress induced insomnia, I put myself to sleep at night using prescription sleep aids.

I take half an Ambien, but I that's no longer the sure fire method it once was. Speaking of Ambien, one of the warnings on the bottle is that it could make you drowsy.

Are you taking it on a completely empty stomach? Haha we have to put that on the label or people can legally sue the pharmacist.

 

[Wake]

Drink a special tea from the "Yogi" brand, found at Wal-Mart.

 

[Wake]

Without tea I burn myself out each night constantly thinking and fretting, even sometimes throughout the night, because the storm of thought won't stop.

*Considered tranquilizers/medicine*

 

[joko104]

I can't sleep. I think I have become an insomniac. What shall I do? What do you do when you are an insomniac?

I'm a night owl. My wife an early bird. You could set a clock by when she usually goes to bed and gets up. Except special occasions, its always the same time and only minutes past that and she's yawning struggling to stay awake.

Strictly enforce a sleep routine. Except rare occasion, always go to bed and get up at the same time - every day. Allow almost no excuses or exceptions. Your body will adjust to that. Until you do that you'll always have problems. That might be more a challenge for someone without a 9-5 type job routine or without a child attending/house-family chores routine.

 

[joko104]

I have stress induced insomnia, I put myself to sleep at night using prescription sleep aids.



Are you taking it on a completely empty stomach? Haha we have to put that on the label or people can legally sue the pharmacist.

Ambian can make for really wierd dreams. Lunesta is far more gentle, but you have 20 minutes to get in bed or it won't work. Xanax is awesome for sleep for some people, but is a psycho drug too and creates a dependency.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

I sleep maybe 3 or 4 hours each night off and on - I read when I'm awake or listen to the tv or something.

:shrug: Pills are not an option for me and getting tired isn't my issue - I'll go until I get worn out, I'll sleep a lot for a day or two - and then repeat.

As I've seen my husband become dependent on sleep pills I realize they're very dangerous - especially if you have young kids. My husband's developed a dependency and they're slowly trying ot ween him off. But the reason why he started taking pills was because he couldn't go to sleep. Catch 22.

What they should do is put more effort into figuring out why you *can't* go to sleep in the first place.

 

[joko104]

I take half an Ambien, but I that's no longer the sure fire method it once was. Speaking of Ambien, one of the warnings on the bottle is that it could make you drowsy.

Does it give you strange dreams?

 

[Mycroft]

When I was a teenager I had problems getting to sleep. Like now, back in those days I was an "information junkie" and I used to hang out at libraries a lot. I came across a book that gave the following technique that ended my sleeping problems.

The key to falling asleep is relaxing your body and focusing your thoughts. Starting at your toes, tense up portions of your body while slowly and silently counting to five. Move to your calves and do the same. And so on until you get to your head. If, by that time, you haven't fallen asleep, start over.

Over the course of time, I was able to forego the tensing and just count and now I just automatically relax my body and empty my mind of thoughts and fall asleep within minutes.

 

[iliveonramen]

I can't sleep. I think I have become an insomniac. What shall I do? What do you do when you are an insomniac?

I have the same problem as well....my mind races well into the night. Cut out caffeine if you drink it. If you're laying in bed and can't get to sleep get up go to the living room and watch tv or something. Don't read as much right before bed. Those are some of the things I've read for people having problems getting to bed.

 

[NitroHangover]

Strictly enforce a sleep routine. Except rare occasion, always go to bed and get up at the same time - every day. Allow almost no excuses or exceptions. Your body will adjust to that. Until you do that you'll always have problems. That might be more a challenge for someone without a 9-5 type job routine

Yeah, that has presented a couple of problems along the way for the GF and me. Particularly in the beginning, when we were getting used to living together. But we have a system in place for it now, and the system continues to evolve and improve. I basically go to bed with her at her bedtime every night I'm home, and I cuddle her and watch TV quietly until she falls asleep. At that point, if I don't think I can sleep myself, I carefully slip out and close the bedroom door. Then I have the run of the house until I get sleepy and return. So (on my days off, at least) I'm always there when she falls asleep and when she wakes up. I agree that's important to the relationship.

 

[Superfly]

I used to have alot of problems sleeping. I started watching TV at night when I go to bed, and I'd put closed captioning on and turn the volume down completely. You have to read the closed captioning to be able to know what's going on, and reading that is the same as reading a book, but this way you are already under your blankie, with the lights off. Sleep comes very easily to me now, and usually very quickly.

 

[American]

I had a deadly case of insomnia for years, and I believe now it was related to the hormonal changes of menopause.

All the suggestions above (apart from drinking liquor) are good ones, but ab9926, just don't freak about it. The anxiety over whether you will sleep can be the biggest barrier to falling asleep.

Just take note that a sleepless night will impair your fine motor skills, and that a week of sleepless nights will have you sleeping in microbursts, so you should not drive a car, etc. until it passes.

How did you manage to survive deadly? :lol:

 

[RabidAlpaca]

I can't sleep. I think I have become an insomniac. What shall I do? What do you do when you are an insomniac?

I'm not sure if this has been suggested yet, but I'm dead serious. Weed. Not only is it medically prescribed for it, it REALLY works. If you smoke right before you go to bed, not only will you get tired and fall asleep pretty quick, but you'll have vivid dreams and wake up the next morning well rested. Hangovers don't exist like alcohol.

It's not for everyone, but I've gotten some of my best sleep on it.

 

[Opteron]

I used to have alot of problems sleeping. I started watching TV at night when I go to bed, and I'd put closed captioning on and turn the volume down completely. You have to read the closed captioning to be able to know what's going on, and reading that is the same as reading a book, but this way you are already under your blankie, with the lights off. Sleep comes very easily to me now, and usually very quickly.

Yeah, I turn the TV on too. I just put it on sleep timer for 30 minutes and the noise keeps me occupied until I sleep.

 

[Manc Skipper]

The British term is "sleep hygiene", I don't know if that equates in the USA. Basically it's sorting out the environment for sleep. Regular exercise (during the day!) No heavy meals, stimulants just prior, make the room cool quiet and dark, Establishing a routine.