Monday, March 17, 2008

insomnia

anybody know how to cure insomnia?

i feel like an engine that's been running for a week. i'm only getting like three to five hours a night. my body is crying out for sleep and i'm plagued with headaches, but as soon as i get into bed, i'm wide awake.

it's starting to scare me.

4 comments:

Originally From Brooklyn said...

One shot of highly alcoholic beverage.&/or sleeping pill. For a non-medicating solution try a walk around the block. If that doesn't work read a book till the sun comes up. Then you won't have to worry about going to sleep for another few hours, or until you collapse of exhaustion.

frumskeptic said...

I'm exactly like that. Its terrible. Find yourself a book that is dull, will get you to bed in no time.
Or, stop thinking about whatever it is you're thinking about.

Basically, don't worry and read a book.

Btw..childish made a good point. lol...alcoholic beverages always work for me :)

Looking Forward said...

these days, if not for my medicine I'd have huge problems sleeping.

I still remember the times I'd only get to sleep at midnight and wake up 3 times a night and have trouble going back to sleep, heaven knows I still do that sometimes.

but my first sugestion is: establish a strict and regular bedtime. Even if you don't go to sleep for hours, just lay in bed, maybe read a boring book.

Secondly, AVOID CAFFINE! caffine can continue to affect you for hours after you're finished with it, and will make you sleep worse once you're asleep. A single coffee or so in the morning isn't that big a problem, but drinking it as the afternoon wears on is.

and I always find sometimes a couple of cookies help me sleep (although sometimes its not just a couple...)

taking a calm walk around the block like above is also a good suggestion.

But above all, the fully regular bedtime is probably the most important. Oh, and make sure that you do not have your cellphone or computer running while you're trying to sleep. these things can keep you awake like nothing else, and actualy hurt the quality of your sleep segnificantly. its troublesome and anoying I know, but this is very important.

oh, and even though you don't listen to classical music, there are certain pieces that might help you sleep, and some people find the sound of rain helps the sleep, you can get machines designed to replicate that sound for this purpose.

does this help?

Looking Forward said...

oh, and one other thing, there is a counting excersize that you can do to help you sleep as well. (it works, even for me!) (although it may take a little bit.)

breathe in deeply for two counts. Then hold it for 4 counts, and then breathe out for 4 counts. (maybe I mixed up the hold it and breathe out counts.)

regular breathing like that can make you fall asleep faster, because it relaxes the body and keeps you from thinking about other things.

and one other thing: if you're not sleeping because of stress, thinking about things that make you happy, playing over fantasies of things that make you happy and calm, or remembering happy events can help you get to sleep as well. They calm the nervous system and cause you to be more able to fall asleep.

sometimes when going to sleep I think about getting a hug from a dear friend; it often does the trick, I'll fall asleep in the middle of it.