Can’t sleep. Please share your best insomnia tips.

[adidas]

Ugh I’m struggling. I’ve always slept badly (even as a kid) but it’s worse than usual at the moment. My doctor has offered prescription meds but I’m not really wanting to go there. I know all about sleep hygiene, have tried all the tricks like warm milk, melatonin, Valerian, magnesium etc. I just can’t sleep. I’m not worried or stressed, just awake. 

[Maggie Mae]

Are you in a cannabis legal state? An edible and a glass of wine usually helps me.  

[adidas]

I’m not, unfortunately. I can do the wine, but no weed  

[Botkinetti]

For most of my life I had trouble falling asleep but it is getting better as I age. These days if I am having a bad night I use a couple of tricks that usually help.

1. I throw off my covers and let myself get quite cold, almost but not quite shivering. When I pull my blankets back on getting warm relaxes me enough to drift off.

2. I watch tv in bed. I use a sleep timer  so it will never jar me awake later. If I can’t get to sleep I try to find a show I have seen before or a documentary about a subject I have no interest in. I have the volume at a low level but not so low I have to strain to hear it. With my eyes closed I then repeat what whatever is being said. The more boring the subject the faster it seems to lull me to sleep.

[clueliss]

Have you researched 'sleep hygiene'?  It is what a psychiatrist recommended to me because sleep issues affect my depression/anxiety - and gives me headaches.  

Things like room temperature, how dark your room is and electronics in the room/at bedtime are all factors.  As is keeping a regular bedtime/wake time even on weekends.  

[nausicaa]

One suggestion as part of the sleep hygiene that @clueliss mentioned is to take a bath before bed. For me at least this serves two purposes: it keeps me away from phone/laptop screens (I normally just read a book or daydream). It also has my body cool down once I get out of the bath, which has been shown to signal to your body to rest. 

What also works for me is getting some exercise to tire myself out and to spend time in the sun (and it's extra useful if I combine them). 

Taking melatonin can help and I don't believe you build up a resistance to it like you can with other sleep aids. 

[adidas]

As mentioned in my first post, I’ve tried melatonin and I’ve done all of the sleep hygiene stuff.

On 6/10/2020 at 9:09 PM, Botkinetti said:

For most of my life I had trouble falling asleep but it is getting better as I age. These days if I am having a bad night I use a couple of tricks that usually help.

1. I throw off my covers and let myself get quite cold, almost but not quite shivering. When I pull my blankets back on getting warm relaxes me enough to drift off.

2. I watch tv in bed. I use a sleep timer  so it will never jar me awake later. If I can’t get to sleep I try to find a show I have seen before or a documentary about a subject I have no interest in. I have the volume at a low level but not so low I have to strain to hear it. With my eyes closed I then repeat what whatever is being said. The more boring the subject the faster it seems to lull me to sleep.

Thanks for this idea, I’ll definitely try it. Watching something boring could be a good idea too.

[Maggie Mae]

What about a boring audiobook? I personally find Jim Dale's reading of any Harry Potter book to be sleep inducing, but there's also various books from the "Great Courses' like the one I am getting through on the Civil War. I can only listen to like 5 minutes before I am drifting off. Audible has a sleep timer which is pretty useful. 

[adidas]

Actually that’s a fantastic idea. Thanks!

[47of74]

Something I did a couple times since I work remote 90% of the time when I couldn't sleep was get up and see if there were any work requests outstanding, and then take care of them.  I then had no problem heading back to the sack for a few more hours of shut-eye. 

I interviewed for some jobs lately and the people said the jobs were all in office and I said no problem at all.  (Didn't get the job).  I was hoping sooner or later to be able to ask if remote work / flexible schedules could be a thing later on.  One thing I like about my current job is the flexibility.  Official office hours are 8:15 to 5:00 but the manager hasn't whined all that much about me going ass crack of dawn to 4:30pm   And if I tell him about my needs (appointments, heading back to CovidKim land to visit family, etc) he is really good about accommodating me.  I'm just trying to work up the courage to say hey look, you want me to stick around for a while we need to talk about converting me to a full time employee and having the same benefits their FTE staff have.  They might too given how they've given me other stuff to do.

[Kiki03910]

I am so sorry you're having sleep troubles and I wish I had good advice. I've been told to count backward from 10, inhale on the number, exhale before the next. Go from 10 to 1; repeat as needed. This helped me as a nervous flyer.

So I'm nervous to ask this -- is there a menopause thread here? I couldn't find one. I would really appreciate some help, or just a place to vent. Regardless, thanks much to all of you for creating a safe space for so many people.