In the Still of the Night

Close your eyes and dream of me.

You've done exactly what I do. Doesn't work for me either.

Sometimes, I just give in and stay up. After about a week of progressively later bedtimes, everybody thinks I'm up early when I haven't slept at all. After another week, I am usually back on schedule.

Roger, you posted your reply in the middle of the night too! I finally went back to bed about three, and did manage to fall asleep. This has been a lifetime problem for me. How about you?

Comforting, but not so effective

I mentally count to two as I breathe. (deeply)


eventually I stop... (counting)

An exercise which was introduced years ago by some college weirdo in dirty white pants and curly black hair (no it wasn't me) , was to lay there on your back and slowly concentrate on your toe (right or left foot, any toe) and imagine it going to sleep then the other toes, then the foot, the ankle, the calf, the knee, the thigh, the nether regions, the hips, the stomach, then over to the fingers, the hand, the wrist the elbow and so on up to the head and the ears, the lips, etc.

I never had to go beyond the legs, I'd be out like a light and awoke better rested than any other time and in a shorter sleep span. Haven't dealt with levels of insomnia for a while now so I haven't tried the exercise recent. Last attempt was shortly before what I call Deathwatch 3 (or was it 5?) and it still worked.

Not exactly, Mags. However, I've always resisted going to bed. I've also always resisted getting up. Army life was a horror.

I visualize knitting patterns.

knit knit purl knit knit purl twist
knit knit purl knit knit purl pass over

...

...


doesn't take too many rows before I'm knocked out

When I can’t sleep I cuddle in bed with a good book, read for an hour or so. That usually works for me.

If I'm already in bed, I put on some soothing music, lay on my back and start at my toes and tightly clench and release every muscle in my body, working up to the top of my head. Usually, by the time I get to my shoulders I've fallen asleep.

If even that doesn't work, I get up and go driving for awhile. Takes about an hour before I'm feeling tired and return home. When I'm under that much stress, driving seems to distract and relax my mind enough to allow me to sleep.

Here’s David Williams' prescription for a good night’s sleep:

Start with the basics. Make sure your room is cool and dark, go to bed at the same time each night, avoid napping, and refrain from eating an hour, or two, before bed. Of course, also avoid caffeine.

Drink “walnut milk” prior to bedtime. Walnuts are said to be the richest dietary source of the compound serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain that promotes feelings of relaxation and wellbeing. You can make a sleep-inducing "serotonin shake" (or walnut milk) simply by blending 1/8-1/4 C. of walnuts with an equal amount of skim milk about 30 to 45 minutes before bedtime.

Make sure hypoglycemia isn’t keeping you awake. Your brain needs glucose, and if your blood sugar dips while you’re sleeping, your adrenal glands release hormones that stimulate glucose production—waking you up. In addition to solving the hypoglycemia through diet and supplements, you can have a small amount of unsweetened juice, a teaspoon of cottage cheese, or peanut butter when you wake up at night. That will often stabilize your blood sugar enough to allow you to return to sleep.

Train yourself to fall asleep: Researchers at Flinders University uncovered a unique therapy that helps beat insomnia. During the first night, the researchers woke the insomniacs up when they first fell asleep, forcing them to stay awake for half an hour. As they grew more tired, it took them less time to fall asleep again. By the second night, insomniacs who initially took more than an hour to fall asleep were falling asleep within 25 minutes. Their brains were retrained to fall asleep more quickly.

For most of my life, I've been a champion sleeper. Falling asleep. No problem. Staying asleep. No problem.

The past few months I've been experiencing insomnia. Aaaaaargh. What do I do? After trying a number of things, I finally came to the conclusion that nothing would work. So I just get up and do stuff.

I figure I'll eventually get tired enough to fall asleep. So far it's worked.

I listen to the next installment of the audio book I've been following. (currently The Time Traveler's Wife)
No need to get up, or turn on the lights, even.
The (midget-sized) CD player is right next to my bed. I just reach over & click it on.
The last thing I do after getting into bed, turning off the lights & falling asleep is listen.
No matter how fascinating I find the material I'm listening to, rarely do I get to the end of each CD before falling asleep.
I think it must be because it takes my mind right away from anything that might be worrying or concerning me. (& I have a very busy, overactive mind! )
And it's a really, lovely, relaxing feeling, being read to!

thanks for all the good suggestions so far. I am doing a little better. This morning woke up at four and birds are already singing.

You're lucky you don't have crickets.

I'm a lifelong insomniac, particularly when I'm stressed. Like you, I can get to sleep but will oftentimes wake up in the wee hours and my mind starts cranking on whatever it is that's stressing me out.

I do the sleep breathing that rockhead described - inhale slowly and deeply thinking "one", exhale slowly and completely thinking "two". Don't count breaths. Just "one" then "two" over and over again for a couple minutes. You get deep oxygenation which should allow you to roll over and go to sleep.

Or, I get up and move to the couch, turn on the tv with the off-timer set for 90 mins and watch Without A Trace, which I like and seems to be on all night long. It distracts me from what I was churning over and I usually fall asleep before the 90 mins is up.

Or, I do as Roger said -- just get up and try again the next night. Sometimes I'll take a quick 15 min nap in the afternoon to make it through the day, but any longer than that puts the next night's sleep at risk.

Although I have a lifetime history of insomnia, I should add that I am in the throes of withdrawal from Effexor, which is an antidepressant sometimes referred to as "California Rocket Fuel." I had only been taking it for about three weeks when it became quite clear that it was not the drug for me. "throes' is perhaps too strong a word, but I'm sure it's having an adverse effect on my sleep.

My ex strongly subscribed to your solution, Roberta.

Me, I read, and the preferred reading material is, for a change, not a crime thriller or other novel, but some sort of interesting (I must be interested at least a little bit, after all) non fiction book or article. This usually puts me right out within a page or two. Just last night I couldn't stay awake to read Adam Gopnik's interesting NY'er piece on his learning to draw. Clonk, out like a light. And that's a subject I'm fascinated by.

yep, im sure that listening to something helps you sleep, i find podcasts do the trick for me, the only downside is that i never remember where i fell asleep and takes me a while to find where i was