This is topic Takes me forever to fall asleep... in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=053948

---

Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
 
What can I do to fall asleep quicker? It's so incredibly annoying. It's like I've always got these antennae tuned in, alert for whatever.

Tonight, I felt sleepy, so went to sleep for about...10 minutes? Then I woke up, my heart was racing, no dream, and 15 minutes later, I'm on the computer because I know it's going to be another long night.

I don't feel stressed out even (or maybe I've been stressed out for along time, and it's so normal I can't see it?), but I am sensitive to noise at night. My partner makes this really annoying "pfffffff" sound at night. I don't understand people who fall asleep to the sound of people breathing, I don't find it comforting, just distracting and impossible to tune out.

I can't turn my ears off. Sometimes the fan/white noise helps, but the snoring usually cuts through everything. Any noise, it doesn't matter, if it's quiet, and I'm just dropping off, I hear a noise, my heartrate goes up, and I'm alert again. I can't control the thing, it's like I have no choice.

I'm really tired of either taking 45+ minutes to fall asleep (by that time, snoring has commenced from 3rd parties, making it even harder to drop off). Years ago, when I attended LAN parties, I could never sleep with all the computers on, but everyone else just dropped off within minutes. I've never dropped off within minutes at night. The only time that's happened is after a night of sleeplessness, around 1PM and my body finally starts pumping some heavier sleeping meds into me and I fall asleep.

Even those 3mg melatonin tablets aren't helping, I think my body's gotten used to it. I'm just realllly relaxed, but still alert, sensitive to noise, and eventually the stress of having not fallen asleep yet just wakes me up more.

Advice? Personal experiences?
 

---

Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
 
Man, that sounds like hell to deal with. Have you seen a doctor about this?
 

---

Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
 
I typically take 15-45 minutes to fall asleep. I haven't found any ways to fall asleep faster consistently.
 

---

Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
 
It usually takes me 1-2 hours to fall asleep. I've come to know when I need to get up and do something other than sleep. Here's what I've learned from years of this problem:

Don't have any caffeine after lunch. Honestly, anything after about 1 pm is just a bad idea. You don't think that it stays in your system that long, but it does.

Don't exercise after 8 pm. Earlier if you go to bed early. It gets your adrenaline pumping and it's harder to fall asleep. But, DO exercise at some point during the day. The more physically exhausted you are, the more willing your body will be to go to sleep at night.

If you can't fall asleep, get up and do something else. But don't go on the computer. It's stimulating and will not calm your brain down. Same with watching TV. Reading is your best bet.

Take the melatonin an hour or two BEFORE you want to go to sleep. It takes a little while to get into your system, so if you take it earlier, it will start working about the time that you want to go to bed.

Don't eat sugary foods or lots of carbs before you go to sleep. Your best bet is things like cheese. There's something magical about cheese. It always helps me go to sleep.

Those are my suggestions. I've had trouble like this for years, so you can definitely ask me questions if you like.
 

---

Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
 
I always take at least an hour to get to sleep. It's just normal for me.

Reading really helps. I usually read for at least an hour before bed. Make sure your brain stays focused and concentrated on what you're reading -- it relaxes you and makes you stop worrying about stuff.

Melatonin does nothing for me, although there are stronger doses (5 mg, I think) that you could try.
 

---

Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
 
Some good advice here...

Most important though.. Have a regular bed time.

Go to sleep at the same time every night. Yes, I've had people make fun of me for saying "It's my bed time. I have to go now." but I sleep pretty durn well.

NEVER sleep in.

If you sleep till noon, you're not going to be sleepy at midnight. You're going to be sleepy at 4am. This will make it difficult to make your regular bed time.

I go to bed between 10pm and 11pm every night. I get up between 6am and 7am every morning. Even on weekends.

And ya know what? When my watch reads 10, I start getting sleepy.
 

---

Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
 
If you google "insomnia" you can get other, more detailed advice about helping you to fall asleep. The big things to look for, though, have already been mentioned: exercise, diet, stress/relaxation, and patterns/habits.

One thing I'd add is to think about a particular scene/image every time you know you're going to fall asleep quickly - i.e. when you're really, really tired. If you use the same image every time when you're close to nodding off, eventually you'll be able to use it to get yourself to fall asleep even when you *aren't* that tired, but still need to sleep.

I use this technique when I'm traveling (and want to sleep to get the travel over with "quicker"), or when I've thrown off my sleep schedule by getting up too late.
 

---

Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
 
I spent three years working with a sleep specialist trying to find the right medication to help with my issues (I also have sleep apnea and restless limb syndrome, so medication + CPAP had to happen for me). If you take longer than 20 minutes or so to get to sleep, I can give you a couple tips that the specialist gave me...

1. Don't use your bed for anything other than sleep or sex (or just sleep if you want)

2. Try to make sure your bed is in a room that you also only use for sleep. If you live in a studio apartment or something like that, try to get a divider and make obvious separations in your living space so that your mind gets into the habit of thinking "Bed...sleep...right". (This is one of the few things I liked about having a bed in the attic at my last apartment. I never went up there unless I was going to sleep. It never took me longer than 5-10 minutes to fall asleep in that apartment)

3. Spend about an hour in dim light or total darkness prior to going to bed. You can read with a very dim light or just listen to soft music during this period. Complete darkness triggers the brain to generate melatonin, which induces sleep and moderates the sleep cycle.

4. Take a hot bath for about 15 minutes prior to going to bed. Typically, your body temperature drops slightly when you are falling asleep. Taking a hot bath will mimic this effect and make it easier to fall asleep.

5. When you wake up in the morning, get into sunlight as fast as possible. Extremely bright light will cause the brain to generate the chemicals that wake you up.

For the best affect, do 3 and 5 together. The hour of darkness before bed and 15-20 minutes of sunlight immediately after waking will help keep your circadian rhythm on track. This is the prescribed treatment for sleep phase disorder (which is what my major problem was). Sleep phase disorder is basically where your body operates on a rhythm that has a 26-27 hour cycle or more. This causes problems in a world with a 24 hour day. The mind uses triggers like light and darkness to know when to generate the proper chemicals to keep things on track. If you're in a really bright environment, your mind will continue to operate as if it is the middle of the day. If you are in a dark environment, your mind will begin to relax and slow down operations.

But anyway, you should be able to find out more information about that stuff through Google searches and the like. There are a number of other things you can do, like keeping a journal, that help in some people as well.
 

---

Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 
It used to take me an hour to fall asleep, and I was a really light sleeper.

Then I had kids.
 

---

Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
 
When you have finished trying all of those and you are still awake, go to your doctor and get a sleep aid. They're wonderful. They make them for people just like you, too (those who only have trouble getting to sleep versus staying asleep). You can try these on a short-term basis, they also make some for long-term use.
 

---

Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Pixiest:


I go to bed between 10pm and 11pm every night. I get up between 6am and 7am every morning. Even on weekends.

And ya know what? When my watch reads 10, I start getting sleepy.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by BlackBlade:

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Pixiest:


I go to bed between 10pm and 11pm every night. I get up between 6am and 7am every morning. Even on weekends.

And ya know what? When my watch reads 10, I start getting sleepy.

---

A woman after my own heart. People often think it's insane I get up early on holidays or Saturdays. The way I see it though, I get to do fun things on my off days that much longer.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Pixiest:

quote:

---

Originally posted by BlackBlade:

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Pixiest:


I go to bed between 10pm and 11pm every night. I get up between 6am and 7am every morning. Even on weekends.

And ya know what? When my watch reads 10, I start getting sleepy.

---

A woman after my own heart. People often think it's insane I get up early on holidays or Saturdays. The way I see it though, I get to do fun things on my off days that much longer.

---

I'm actually more likely to get up early on weekends/holidays. Sometimes I'll wake up at 5am and be so excited that I have the whole day to do what I want that I won't be able to get back to sleep. I love those days =)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by El JT de Spang:
That only works if you don't consider 'sleep' to be a fun thing.

---

Herman!
 

---

Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
 
Ha, thanks guys. Yeah, I do get on the compie because it is stimulating, I never thought it like that before.

I'm going to try getting up at the same time every day, and going to sleep when I'm sleepy. Also, I will get out of bed immediately when the alarm goes off. No debates.

Sunlight is nice, but I just moved to Seattle, it's not very sunny anymore. But cloud cover doesn't really block much anyway, so I'll go outside.

I just get really jealous of people who zonk out in any position, any place. Rrgghh!
 

---

Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
My sleep schedule is beyond messed up, as a couple people who've IMed me in the wee morning hours in this thread know.

Sometimes I can get myself into a rhythm, but it never lasts long. Generally I fall asleep only when I'm exhausted. If I try to go to sleep before then, I can stay away for hours at a time staring at the ceiling. Sunday I got up at 11am, went to work at noon, went to sleep Monday (today) morning at 830am, and woke up about two hours ago. I have to get up for school in about 12 hours, but I can't imagine I'll be tired enough to go to sleep for probably another seven hours at least. I have an interesting couple days ahead of me.

Unless I am utterly exhausted I generally wake up once or twice or three times during the night. Last week I went to sleep, had an intense dream and then woke up to find I'd only been asleep for 20 minutes, and then I couldn't get back to sleep for two hours.

Since I started working out on a regular basis I find my sleep has been a little bit more regular, deeper, and easier to come by.
 

---

Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
 
I support the "imagery" theory. I daydream while lying in bed. Then I drift off into real dreams without even noticing.
 

---

Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
 
I'm going to buy earplugs.
 

---

Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
 
Listening to the full cast audio adaptations of the Redwall series knocks me out like a light. Perhaps its all those rich, smooth accents.
 

---

Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
 
You're right Puffy, I should find some radio drama starring Patrick Stewart, Michael Hordern, and Tony Jay at the same time.
 

---

Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
 
Well fack. I worked out really late (24 hour fitness), slightly past midnight. Ate good meal around 2am. Creatine at 3AM. Try to go to bed at 4AM...no way Jose. My resting heartrate was 120ish. Jeezus, and I can still hear my partner with these earplugs in.

That broken single ikea bed is looking very good right about now.

Seriously though, I'm wondering if I've got some kind of weird "fight or flight" response wired into me. I've always been highly aware of my environment to avoid conflict (read: public school)...

Hypnotherapy? O.o gawd I'm tired.
 

---