NationStates Jolt Archive

I have a sleeping problem, I find it very hard to get the full 8 hours of sleep. I usually get about 4-6 hours of sleep. I stay up late and get up early, and I'm tired throughout the entire day. I need the 8 hours sleep because if I don't have it I'm dead the entire day. Does anyone have any method of getting my sleeping pattern back on track? Beside medication and sleeping pills. I want to try the natural approach first.

I have a sleeping problem, I find it very hard to get the full 8 hours of sleep. I usually get about 4-6 hours of sleep. I stay up late and get up early, and I'm tired throughout the entire day. I need the 8 hours sleep because if I don't have it I'm dead the entire day. Does anyone have any method of getting my sleeping pattern back on track? Beside medication and sleeping pills. I want to try the natural approach first.
Yeah. Get of this forum and to sleep.

Yeah. Get of this forum and to sleep.

It's two in the afternoon.

You have to shock your system. You have to stay up like 48 hours or more, in a row and wear your body down. Then youll be tired enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour and get back on track. I sleep maybe 3 hours a night....if that. But I have sleep apnea so cant count on me to be the average case. Try it.

5-HTP works wonders for me. It's a supplement, and is a derivative of tryptophan (the stuff in turkey that makes people tired). It's also a mild antidepressant, and helps keep my weight down. :)

I use the Natrol brand. I take 100 mg at 6:00 am and at 1:00 pm, and then 200 mg before bed.

Do the research for yourself. You can get it at GNC, but it's usually cheaper at Walgreen's.

It's two in the afternoon.
So? Regulate your sleeping patterns by catching up.

Exercise. You'll need less sleep, and sleep better.

Stop drinking coffee after 5 pm too.

Cut off caffeine.
Go to sleep at the same time every night.
Exercise.

I have a sleeping problem, I find it very hard to get the full 8 hours of sleep. I usually get about 4-6 hours of sleep. I stay up late and get up early, and I'm tired throughout the entire day. I need the 8 hours sleep because if I don't have it I'm dead the entire day. Does anyone have any method of getting my sleeping pattern back on track? Beside medication and sleeping pills. I want to try the natural approach first.
Try staying up for 24 hours and go to bed at 9pm the next day. Works for me.

1. Exercise. It'll wear your ass out.
2. Drink camomile tea before bed.
3. Take vitamins.
4. Take a valerian root supplement.
5. Check to make sure that you don't have food allergies. They could be keeping you up.

There's a good list of treatments at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia#Treatment_for_insomnia

And if all that doesn't work, I recommend Ambien. It works awesomely for me.

I have a sleeping problem, I find it very hard to get the full 8 hours of sleep. I usually get about 4-6 hours of sleep. I stay up late and get up early, and I'm tired throughout the entire day. I need the 8 hours sleep because if I don't have it I'm dead the entire day. Does anyone have any method of getting my sleeping pattern back on track? Beside medication and sleeping pills. I want to try the natural approach first.

Speaking as an intermittent heavy insomniac (summer and winter are the worst times), a very intermittent speed user and possibly the lightest sleeper known to man(again, summer), i've tried pretty much every remedy. Beer or dope can knock me out. But you don't get mental rest then, just physical rest, hence the whole waking up very groggy thing. Sexual activity helps. Love helps more. The only times i've slept decently in the past couple of years have been when i was in a relationship. My deepest (and yet strangely, shortest) relationship recently ended and my sleep patterns have gone off the wall (oddly, very oddly, we were both insomniacs when we met, our sleep patterns both reverted to what most people would describe as normality once we started the relationship, in the dying days of it our sleep patterns both went crazy, and now i'm massively tired and using amphetamines to keep me lucid for chunks of the week then passing out on weekends - i said intermittent earlier because this is a recent thing and will not be a long term thing - and she's using amphetamines because they keep her lucid in work and give her confidence and then when she goes to bed at 12ish, she sleeps like the proverbial baby, which is the bit i find really odd).

What else helps? Mindless physical exercise can have a similar effect to beer and dope, and just leaves you achey the next day. Working for a living cut me down from being awake all but 2 hours in the night to being awake for all but 4-5. Fresh air, especially seaside air, always used to knock me out quite well.

Question is, when you can't sleep, whats the state of affairs? Is your mind lucid, coherent? If so, it's a mental thing, perhaps you aren't getting sufficient mental stimulus in the day to wear the beggar out. Or is it a physical thing where you just don't feel tired? In which case, look at exercise above.

Another question, is it just something really stupid, like your mattress? You'd be amazed the difference a really comfortable one, or conversely a really hard one (dependent on spinal preference) may make.

After the above, i'd say looking into herbal stuff before full on sleeping pills (especially if you are American, American sleeping pills would knock out a rogue elephant and i don't tend to trust any medicinal drug that strong). I'm currently - due to anxiety attacks regarding work, the doomed relationship and being attacked while i was out a while back - taking some herbal pills called Kalms. Dunno whether they are a placebo or not, but they keep me chilled in work, which at the moment is fucking impressive, and they do have some impact on the sleep patterns.

Aside from that? I'm buggered if i know. Welcome to the land of late night flicking through TV channels down low not to disturb anyone, mindless surfing of the net, people not actually GETTING IT when you say you don't sleep, blinking owlishly in work or college when everything goes a bit swimmy for a while and all those other joys. If you really really really can't sleep after trying all those selections, i'd offer two choices:-
(1) Get those elephant doping American sleeping pills in or
(2) stock up on a fuck of a lot of good books and expand your mind.

(as an aside, very few people of my generation that i know - mid 30s - suffer from insomnia. Virtually everyone i know of a certain generation - 18 to 23ish - are as bad as me. So either it's an age, growing thing for most people or there's something seriously got fucked up with the psyche of that generation, maybe linked to net useage - which is the most radically noticeable difference between now and ten years ago - or just George Bush/Al Quarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruda making anyone with a soul terrified of dropping off just in case they never wake up, or wake up a cinder. Or you could just blame fucking Emo)

I take Melatonin before I go to bed, it sometimes does the trick although honestly I think Benadyl worked better. Also, try Celestial Seasonings' Sleepytime blend of tea.

to elaborate on the advice of others...

put yourself on a rigid sleep schedule. from now on you go to bed at exactly the same time. what time doesnt matter, the rigidity does.

prepare yourself for sleep with a calming ritual that you do every day. a bathing/hygiene ritual, a nice cup of herbal tea while reading or listening to soft music, whatever

no caffeine after dinner

no stimulation in the bedroom. lights off, no tv. soft music only if you need to override an otherwise noisy environment.

go to bed at your appointed time. no matter if you fall asleep or not (you will soon begin to fall asleep quite quickly) you stay in bed for at least 4 hours. keep your eyes closed. breathe softly. if you fall asleep and wake up within that 4 hour period, stay in bed until the 4 hours is past.

if you cant fall back to sleep after the 4 window is over, get up and start your day. even if its 2 am, your sleep time is OVER.

dont nap during the day. do whatever it takes to stay up until your appointed bed time then make sure you go to bed at the exact right time

our bodies have a natural affinity for schedules. if you do this, it wont be long at all until you go to sleep quickly and stay asleep as long as your body needs rest.

remember that some people need less sleep than others. as long as you arent sleepy during the day, you are getting enough sleep.

if you do this for a couple weeks and still have trouble sleeping, you should probably talk to your doctor to see if you have some medical reason for not sleeping.

Try to stop drinking all that coke, it keeps you up also.

Do you snore?
Try going on three hours of sleep a day for about four days and see if there's any difference. If you feel just about *exactly* the same, consider looking into therapy for sleep apnea. I've got it. I worked for an ENTIRE MONTH getting by on only three hours of sleep a day, and there was almost no discernable difference whatsoever.

First, though, like many others have posted, lay off the stimulants in proximity to bed time. That's always good advice.

I've had similar problems in the past and agree with the "shock your body" people. The trick is to stay awake as long as you can, and go to sleep whenever you're tired. The very next night, go to sleep when you want to and your body should fall asleep.

The last time I remember doing it, I stayed up until 8am (almost 24 hours) and then I totally crashed, I woke up at 3pm and then went to sleep around 10pm. From then on, I could sleep normally from 10-11pm and wake up after 8 hours of sleep.

First take a nice warm, relaxing shower, then have a glass of warm milk before bed. Not hot chocolate, because chocolate has caffeine in it. Also, a regular bedtime, and a regular wakeup time will help. And try one of those sound machines (or a cd or whatever) with soothing sounds like ocean waves. You could also try a lavender potpourri. Lavendar is a very soothing and relaxing scent.

I'm too lazy to dig out my psych notes on sleep disorders, so I'll go from memory.

First, it could well be stress related. Sort out your affairs before going to sleep, and try to reduce stress in your life.

Second, don't try to force yourself to sleep. That'll backfire every time.

Third, if you're a light sleeper, try using ear plugs and/or a sleeping mask.

Fourth, the lack of stimulants, be they visual or imbibed, should be obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people have caffeine/sugar before bed. If anyone tries to suggest drinking yourself to sleep, I highly suggest you tell them to refrain from ever offering any form of medical advice again.

Fifth, if all else fails, talk to your doctor or check into a sleep clinic.

You have to shock your system. You have to stay up like 48 hours or more, in a row and wear your body down. Then youll be tired enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour and get back on track. I sleep maybe 3 hours a night....if that. But I have sleep apnea so cant count on me to be the average case. Try it.You Have Sleep Apnea? How bad is it? Does it interfere with your life much? Details Please

learn the WWW.

Wank, Whiskey, Weed.

learn the WWW.

Wank, Whiskey, Weed.
I like this approach.

Is your bed comfy? When I bought a new mattress, (wasn't outrageously expensive, but better than the cheap one I had) my sleep improved dramatically. Nice big comforter, flannel sheets (but not with flannel jammies, or it's like getting stuck on a giant feltboard) and I'm out like a light. My only problem now is getting out of it in the morning, beacuse I'm so damn happy there...

Does anyone have any method of getting my sleeping pattern back on track? I want to try the natural approach first.
Meletonin. It is the natural hormone that tells your brain to get tired. It should be in the supliments department at a local drug store.
My doctor said it is a great way to help you sleep. It is non habit forming and very gentle. It is as natural as you can get.
I take 1 pill about 20 mins before I go to bed and I conk right out.
Good luck!!!

I also have trouble sleeping, I get maybe 3 hours a night on weeknights and about 4-5 hours on weekends.

I have always had this problem, but after I had kids it got worse.

My doctor said to not do anything in your room but sleep, if you wake up in the night don't lay there, get up and do something (clean house, do laundry, read a book) but don't do it in your bed, your bed is for sleeping only, don't watch TV in your bed ect.

Cut down on caffiene, don't have any within 4 hours of bed time.

Make yourself a bedtime routine and stick to it, your body will get the idea after a few nights.

I did all this and it worked for a while, but then pregnancy screwed it up and almost 5 years later I still haven't gotten back on track.