insomnia ...friend or enemy?

[ViolentBeauty]

Hello. I can't sleep. Ever. Ok so I can but only cause my body shuts itself off after being awake for so long. Its four am here and I can't sleep ...infact the last two weeks I've had this issue.

So I'm posting this thread in hopes finding someone who is awake aswell. I've never had a problem with sleep until recently I like have to take drugs to sleep :/

[Utopia]

Well, I have a 2 month old...so, based on the time stamp you posted this at, I was already up for 2.5 hours. Heck, I was leaving for work then.

[ViolentBeauty]

Wow ...what time setting or whatever are you on? Its about 530 am now. Still can't sleep! D: congratulations on the baby. he or she must keep you busy.

[Schizophrenic]

Luckily my bout of insomnia has been coming to a close, but only because I've been overworking myself during the day so I can't help but pass out the second I hit the bed.

All I can say is staying on the computer usually doesn't help, well at least for me. Neither does television, or reading. I try and turn on some kind of background instrumental music that has no lyrics to distract me and lay down. Usually it takes a bit for it to actually work, but my mind is so easily swept up in things I have to find something that will make me stop thinking!

How long have you been having sleeping problems, Beauty? Is it affecting your everyday life at all?

[ViolentBeauty]

Well my mind is on overdrive. Its Like I can't shut it off I'm always thinking or worrying about something that keeps me up. Well I don't have a job as if now so all its doing is effecting my depression and like I can lay in bed for hours tossing and turning my eyes can be crying cause I'm so tired but still I just can't sleep. Usually I like to put on a movie or music so my mind will focus on on thing and eventually ill fall asleep.

I fell asleep around eight am and was up by noon. Its taking a toll on my mental state ...and idk how to stop it. I've never had a problem sleeping until the last few weeks.

[Tigerkytti]

Wow, I've had that happen to me before due to my depression, I was barely sleeping for about 3 months or so. One thing that I found to sometimes help is meditation. Have you tried that?

[Schizophrenic]

Well maybe it was an event that triggered it? Did it begin around the same time you began worrying about not having a job?

I've seen it related to school or family stress before as well.

[Maneki Neko]

I actually choose to have an abnormal sleep schedule since I work from home. I go to sleep between 5am and 9am and wake up between 5pm and 7pm. My schedule lets me be awake during my creative hours when there are fewer distractions to my working on them. Except for the Aussies and night owls I chat with, that is. >_>;

The seasons are changing, so I've been having trouble sleeping. I feel compelled to stay up between 9am and noon instead of going to bed at a more "decent" hour. In spite of feeling exhausted. And then I've been being woken up early (lately by stomach cramping). Stress may also be a factor, though I'm not sure how it's feeding into it.

One of the tricks I've been using lately is one of those sleep masks. Y'know, the little blindfold on elastic things that usually only appear in shows/movies/cartoons where the character is being depicted as ridiculous. 9/10, I put it on and I'm asleep in under five minutes. Earplugs have also helped. Granted, you're probably not like me, sleeping during the day and needing sensory distractions from being blocked out, but it can also be a ritual, of sorts, to tell your body it's time to sleep.

I've also been told that one should avoid television, music, video games, the internet, books; etc for roughly a half hour or more before you intend to sleep because your mind may still be thinking too much about the plot/puzzle/etc while you're trying to sleep. Obviously, we being creatures that we are, we may reject this notion. But if you're having mouse-in-a-jar-itis (where thoughts keep running around and around in your head like a mouse in a jar), it can't hurt to try avoiding things that will add to it.

Meditation is nice. Laying there and taking deep, proper breaths in and out at an even pace and thinking of something peaceful. Imagining sitting in a field with the warm sun on your skin and hearing the birds, feeling the breeze, etc. Just keep adding details to flesh out the scene. Alternately, try picturing yourself sitting in a darkened theatre, the seats are black, the curtains are black, (etc) and looking at a black screen.

When all else fails for me, I sleep at the opposite end of the bed. Usually that works for me. :B

Hope this helps any. >_>;

[Utopia]

I actually hypnotize myself to sleep when I can't sleep. It is easy to do. Just think about your breathing, on every breath out, think the word sleep. I am usually out in a couple of minutes.

Then again, my insomnia has always been different. I have no trouble falling asleep, my trouble is staying asleep. Once I wake up, I can't just roll over and go back to sleep. Nope, when I wake up, I am awake. This means I can't nap and when baby wakes me up at 3am, I am up at 3am.