Insomnia for Dummies

After graduating high school I went back and did an extra semester of courses and I am now just living at home and working to save money for my very expensive education. Since not having school in the mornings I find myself going to sleep at the times I used to wake up in the morning then I sleep until like 2 in the afternoon.

When I'm awake in the wee hours of the morning and there is little to no one to talk to I find myself yearning for something to occupy my midnight boredom. I find myself lurking on the forums I'm a member of, creeping on Facebook, rereading stories I've read countless times before and rereading web comics.

What do you like to do on those nights you can't sleep? What do you do to occupy that lonely time when the rest of the world is sleeping? I'm always looking for something new to keep me busy in my hours of insomnia...

I've had pretty bad problems with insomnia for over ten years now. I have different versions at different times, which is probably weird but I try not to think about it. The most prevalent one is the most common version, that I have a really hard time getting to sleep. I generally can't sleep until I'm exhausted, ready to drop.

I keep my sanity mostly through XBOX Live (gamertag Profaust if anyone games late at night), Cable TV, reading, browsing forums, reading existential philosophy, studying quantum physics, and of course my never-ending quest to study every religion on Earth to find the tiny reflection of a universal truth that I believe each one may possibly contain.

So yeah, I'm pretty much nuts.

But I actually just think of situations to put my poor characters in, or play Solitaire on my iPod whilst listening to foreign pop until I drift off.

I don't really have insomnia, it's more a case of "I should better sleep now that it's 3AM"

lol yeah mine STARTED as a "it's 4 in the morning I should go to sleep now" kind of deal but over time it's turned into a "I cannot sleep cuz I'm not tired until 4 am" kind of deal.

I have some advice straight from my psychology textbook.

1. Don't do anything stressful and relax as much as possible before bedtime.
2. Sleep and wake up at regular times.
3. Sleep in a cool room.
4. Avoid consuming caffeine (especially after 2 P.M.), taking naps longer than 20 minutes, or watching television and surfing the web right before bedtime.
5. Try to sleep only when you're tired.
6. Get out of bed if you're having a hard time sleeping and go back to bed when you're tired so that your bed becomes a classically conditioned stimulus.

For those that don't know about classical conditioning, they are basically saying that if you only use your bed for sleep then you will eventually feel tired just by lying in it. Of course, you don't need to avoid having sex in your bed.

I suffer from insomnia. Personally, I read something new and/or complex to help me sleep. Eventually I realize I'm so tired because I can't keep track of what is going on, and I fall fast asleep.

lol some of those things may be why I don't sleep. I am prone to taking obnoxiously long naps and surfing the net before sleep and my bed = where i do my internet surfing/reading/eating (I do alot of things besides sleep in my bed) Hell as I write this I'm lying in bed

Danaidae wrote:I have some advice straight from my psychology textbook.

1. Don't do anything stressful and relax as much as possible before bedtime.
2. Sleep and wake up at regular times.
3. Sleep in a cool room.
4. Avoid consuming caffeine (especially after 2 P.M.), taking naps longer than 20 minutes, or watching television and surfing the web right before bedtime.
5. Try to sleep only when you're tired.
6. Get out of bed if you're having a hard time sleeping and go back to bed when you're tired so that your bed becomes a classically conditioned stimulus.

For those that don't know about classical conditioning, they are basically saying that if you only use your bed for sleep then you will eventually feel tired just by lying in it. Of course, you don't need to avoid having sex in your bed.

I suffer from insomnia. Personally, I read something new and/or complex to help me sleep. Eventually I realize I'm so tired because I can't keep track of what is going on, and I fall fast asleep.

Damn. No wonder I have a hard time sleeping.

Course, I also don't like sleeping at night. I LOVE the nighttime when everyone in my house is sleeping and it's nice and quite.

I fill my time with chatting with friends who are also up, reading webcomics I'm backlogged on, anything of mine on the DVR, I think I watched 2 hours of SpongeBob last night.

I normally go to bed around 4am, and wake up around noon, but last night my dreams where just to weird so I stayed sleeping and here I am waking up at 3:45pm XD

When I do get a job, and have to sleep at night, I'll will do my best to follow those instructions though.

I woke up at 7 am today, completely unsleepy. I was tired and exhausted, but not sleepy at all so I couldn't go back to sleep. It was horrible.

omg that happens to me all the time and I hate it. It only ever seems to happen to me when I've gone to bed REALLY late the night before like some obnoxious time like 4 or 5

RainbowSprinkles wrote:lol some of those things may be why I don't sleep. I am prone to taking obnoxiously long naps and surfing the net before sleep and my bed = where i do my internet surfing/reading/eating (I do alot of things besides sleep in my bed) Hell as I write this I'm lying in bed

NAPS ARE THE DEVIL (unless you are super sick, ne?). Srsly. And really really bad to do things in bed besides sleeping (and sex and reading).


I have insomnia, but unfortunately, mine was not fixed by following all those rules and more. I tried everything I read on the internet, even things I was originally suspicious of like vitamins or lavender scented stuff (it did make me relaxed/feel good though). I spent all of my high school years getting an average of 4-5 hours of sleep a night (and even that was not...quality sleep as I had lots of nightmares back then too). I remember not sleeping well in middle school too, but I didn't keep track back then. And this was with me going to bed every night by 9 or 10 pm and waking up every morning at 6:30 am (it can also be important to have a strict sleep schedule which is why naps = devil). Eventually, I was put on sleep meds.

I'm not saying "go on a pill now!" Not at all. It is much better for your body to not have to take medication to sleep, as any medication makes it harder for your liver to function and can cause minimal liver damage. Please note that EVERYONE leaves life with a damaged liver and one medication per day (along with the occasional pain killer, allergy med, antibiotics, etc) for 80 years is not going to cause you to die of liver damage, but it is healthier for your body in the long run if you can do other things instead of relying on pills.

From the sounds of it, you most likely do not need sleeping pills - you haven't had trouble with insomnia until you were no longer required to be up early in the mornings. Honestly, it sounds like you are just on a new "sleep schedule"...this is mostly unwanted, but it happened gradually because you started going to sleep later and later. If you are actually able to, it is actually best to keep moving your "going to sleep" time ahead an hour (or two or three) per night until you reach your wanted bedtime. And then go to bed every night at that time. The quicker (only takes 2-3 days as opposed to 7-10 days, but is possibly less effective) is to stay up for more than 24 hours (if your body is able to do this).

For instance, say on you go to sleep on Monday at 7am and wake up at 3 pm. Then from 3 pm Monday, you will stay up until 3 pm Tuesday. Then you would sleep until 11 pm on Tuesday. From 11 pm on Tuesday, then you stay up until 10 pm Wednesday.

Sorry, I wrote a book. But insomnia is one of those things that interests me.

I'm sure if I forced myself out of bed at like 8 and didn't take a nap I'd prob be able to sleep that night but I just can't bring myself to do it.

RainbowSprinkles wrote:I'm sure if I forced myself out of bed at like 8 and didn't take a nap I'd prob be able to sleep that night but I just can't bring myself to do it.

Since you are living at home can you ask your family for help?

Heh though I have been having something of a similar problem. I want to get back into a 5 A.M. wakeup and work out lifestyle but I have been having trouble managing it. And I live at home right now too. May be the soda I have gotten into drinking again. Naps aren't a problem since I have never been able to take them unless I was really really exhausted.

I would ask for help but my dad is on stress leave from work and he's driving me crazy so waking me up is probably not the safest thing for him to do but I will wake up if I hear my alarm clock (school has programed that into me) So hopefully i'll get to bed soon tonight and I'll be up at 9 tomorrow (instead of 2)

-sighs- Went to bed at 5am, woke up at 8am and couldn't get back to sleep, I not only feel horrible psycically, but mentally.

And to top it off?

Surprise visit from my favorite aunt, the house is a mess, the room she designed for us is a mess, and we all feel like crap (children and mom getting over a cold), ack.

Poor Clawdee.

I didn't manage to fall asleep until 4am due to an impromptu sinus migraine but I did get up at 11:30 so it's a start.

Killing is illigal right?

Cause I managed to fall asleep at around 11:30, to have my sister wake me up at 12:45ish, to ask me what time I wanted to wake up...after I already told my brother, 3 o'clock.

And now I can't get to sleep, but good news! Not only is Auntie coming over, she's taking us to dinner!

It seems all my insomnia needed to be cured was for me to become completely exhausted. I fell asleep at 10:30 last night and slept the whole night through. It was wonderful!

RainbowSprinkles wrote:It seems all my insomnia needed to be cured was for me to become completely exhausted. I fell asleep at 10:30 last night and slept the whole night through. It was wonderful!

That is good news. I hope you can reproduce the study and with no adverse side effects.

I fell asleep early again but last night and tonight not so much but mostly because I've been sucked into the British TV show Skins and I can't seem to pull my face away from the computer for long enough to sleep. Yes I know that's quite sad.

I am a chronic insomniac, nothing helped (not pills, not white noise, not lying awake for hours watching the ceiling) but because it's longstanding it's just another way of life for me now. Sleep 'til late in the day (when i can) and stay awake all night until early morning...(forget graveyard) - vampire shift.

Physical activity during the day DOES help though, walking until you feel physically tired, swimming (at the beach if you can, the salt water and sun add to the therapy), i agree with reading an ultra boring book or watching c-span (haha). Arguments and extensive heated debates are good for making you tired but they just pump negative energy, drains everything in you.

I could never fall asleep without a book. I had to wear out my mind and my eyes before I could sleep. But then I would get bitched at for falling asleep with the light on. My solution: Audio Books! I'm currently listening to the entire Harry Potter series (I'm on book six now). It's like being read to, I'm usually asleep within a few minutes. BUT you can only do it with books you've already read or else you could wake up in the middle of a really huge spoiler. Which isn't fun. After I finish HP I'm going to relisten to the Inheritance cycle, then probably HP again. The whole thing takes about six months for me to read all the books and then start over again.

Audio books = love. It's true that they're perfect for those nights where you can't sleep. I have a pile of burnt CDs with audio books on them somewhere from when I never slept when I was in grade 8. OMG thanks for reminding me!

Hi!!!!

I just need some place to complain... Last night my cat lost her mind... she's a 9 month black cat that's usually cute and loving... a little too crazy, but everything was alright until last night...

I had a really hard time falling sleep and in the middle of the night I start hearing sounds comming from the linving room... it was my cat playing with the window shades... I got her to stop that (after a looooong time) so I went back to sleep... after a long while of spinning on my bed...

Later in the night she thought that it would be a good idea to climb into a shelf... the obvious result was a really loud crashing sound that could be heard all over the apartment building... now everybody there hates me and I found no love for my cat... at least not this morning... I locked her in a separate room, I think that will be her sleeping room from now on, I couldn't stand another night like that...

Does anyone has had this problem??? I now several people here have cats and could cheer me up because I'm in a bad mood today...