Insomnia

swasher18

any ideas to overcome insomnia Will be appreciated. I have tried a regular bed time , no blu light exposure for 30-60 min , melatonin, and a cool environment..Any other recommendations?

AnnPT77

What's the nature of your insomnia? Knowing more might help us help you . Trouble getting to sleep? Frequent waking? Waking after relatively short sleep but not being able to get back to sleep? Is there the "can't stop the brain from thinkingThinkingTHINKING" kind of thing involved? Something else?

I have sleep interruption insomnia. I started having this problem in my 40s, after cancer, cancer treatment, and chemotherapy-induced menopause. I'm not sure which of any (or all) of those things were triggers. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, but it didn't solve the sleep interruption problem (though sleep quality improved during the short intervals of sleep, subjectively speaking). I tried all the folk remedies, all the habits variations, some OTC supplements and drugs, some prescription drugs. What helped the most - though not to perfection, just big improvement - was a short course of hypnotherapy by a credentialed psychologist. I was skeptical about that, but desperate, at that point. To my surprise, my initial sleep block got 2-4 times longer, which was helpful. Almost 25 years into this, I still have sleep interruption insomnia, though.

I have another friend with a different type of insomnia who says she got improvement through sessions with a commercial hypnotist, too.

When I went to my large employer's counseling service to seek referral to a psychologist/counselor who did hypnotherapy, I talked with a staff psychologist there. She told me that if I had the "brain spinning, can't get to sleep" kind of pattern, they had found a small number of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sessions to be effective for many people for that. If that's your pattern, it might be a thing to consider.

Other things people have talked about here that helped them included adopting a meditation practice of some personally suitable type, anything from the non-spiritual (such as the Relaxation Response) to a meditation practice consistent with their spiritual beliefs. There are meditation practices in pretty much every spiritual tradition.

Some people report sleep improvements from varying schedule, type or intensity of exercise. Others report improvements from stopping eating long before bedtime . . . or making sure to eat something right before bedtime . . . or from eating/avoiding particular foods. Some benefit from OTC medications, or supplements like magnesium, melatonin, or others.

If you look around in this part of the MFP Community, you'll find several threads about possible solutions for sleep problems, some of the above, and more. I hope you'll be able to find something that works for you, because poor quality/quantity sleep really is a pretty big deal.

Best wishes!

avatiach

I wore a fitbit tracker overnight and discovered that although my sleep was not great, it also wasn't as bad as I thought. That made me feel more relaxed/happy about falling asleep and that helped.

Getting enough exercise during the day helps also.

Sometimes melatonin, a gummy, or a benadryl seems to help? Sometimes they don't…

I turn on Spotify "Ocean Waves" if I really feel I can't sleep, definitely helps.

ythannah

I can't sleep with noises or, paradoxically, silence. If it's too quiet my brain is constantly straining to hear a noise, any noise. I have three dogs so there is almost never complete silence at home, one of them is always shifting or sighing or snoring. Then I'm on high alert waiting for the next shift/sigh/snore.

I use white noise + pink noise to combat this. I need a solid wall of sound to block out external noise, or the lack thereof. My white noise is an ancient air cleaner and my pink noise is one of those sound-generating machines, something like rain or babbling brook is usually my go-to. With one on each side of the bed I hear nothing outside the room.

I even travel with a pink noise machine or I can forget about getting any sleep in a strange place.

willboywonder

Cardio after dinner, even light aerobics is great, then a warm shower before bed. That helps. If you have some light dumbbells, work that into your cardio routine. That really helps me sleep so much better.

jodymaro1

I struggled for a long time too, mostly during perimenopause and menopause. I am a very light sleeper (my entire life). I also have trouble falling asleep and winding down my brain. I don't like noise distractions of any kind nor do I like total silence either, so I totally get you! What helps me get sleepy is either watching a very relaxing tv show or movie, or playing enigma music, or playing rain sounds mixes on youtube. If i read more than 2 pages, I pass out lol. Rain, and sometimes, even light thunder, has always relaxed me. You can put the music in the other room so that you just hear it faintly. Enigma music has been my savior most of all for relaxing my mind and body. Exercise. However, don't exercise 3 hours before bed. It's healthy to "think" and spend a little time doing that, and then meditate right after. Sometimes a dehumidifier or humidifier sound is also relaxing, as is a fan. My cat snoring actually makes me fall asleep lol. I hope one or any of these suggestions help. I still struggle but I have some experience now that can help.

SafariGalNYC

Stretching before bed to relieve tension and magnesium.

I also minimize caffeine, alcohol and sugar. Esp closer to bed time. It’s helped immensely.

PupStraps

autism and cp here. Often will sleep with a YouTube video of some sort. Usually train rail cab view or a flight video. Often easy to fall asleep with a long rain scape as well. Mute sound if needed and use dimmest brightness use night shift highest intensity. Other times as weird it sounds grab something comforting if you can also make the house a bit cooler so the bed is a warm comfortable spot. Always take a water bottle with and be prepared to have a bit of time just laying around staring off into the window of the train. Again good reason why I use rail travels because it’s like being on a sleeper train just a lot quieter.

slickmickey

magnesium helps me a lot more than i give it credit for.

glypnirsgirl

I had horrible insomnia for many years. A friend recommended a tape called "I Can Make You Sleep" by Paul McKenna. He is a hypnotherapist that speaks with a British accent. It was very helpful. I listened to it for months with excellent results. It helped me break the inability to fall asleep/mind racing insomnia that I was plagued with. Now, I don't need to listen to the tape out loud: it is in my head. I just replay it from memory now.

I also avoid all caffeine after 4 pm. Even a glass of iced tea with dinner will keep me awake.

Magnesium has helped as well. For a while when I resumed exercising, I would get leg cramps in the middle of the night that would wake me up. The magnesium would stop the leg cramps. I now take it to not have them at all instead of waiting to take it once I have the cramps.

maryjay52

i make sure my bed is clean and comfortable and madebecause if it isnt I definitely won't sleep.. I have made my bed is my sanctuary. have had insomnia for decades. When I have it really bad I take a hot shower and then go to bed and play a thunderstorm on youtube or my spotify and imagine I am in a tropical island , laying in bed with the window open and watching the storm. It literally puts me to sleep. I always have a fan on me too. I get hot flashes unfortunately but the air blowing on me is soothing. I tried everything including prescriptions , sleepy time teas and so on . This will work for me

adrispals

I have found that brown noise videos on YouTube help me (think the sound of the hum inside an airplane).

I also recently found some frequency patches that are working very well. I stick the patch to my pillow and each one lasts about a week. I get to sleep faster and stay asleep better.

DaveF66

I suffer from anxiety which sometimes leads to insomnia and difficulty falling asleep so after a good deal of trial and error I found something that really helps me. I take a Magnesium Glycinate supplement together with Vitamin D3+K2 right before I go to bed to sleep, and I take a tryptophan supplement with Vitamin B6 first thing in the morning as I don't get enough from my diet.

I started taking the tryptophan for my anxiety as it's what the body needs to make serotonin and it really makes a big difference for this, but it is also what the body needs to produce melatonin which has made a marked improvement in the quality of my sleep. The Magnesium Glycinate calms the mind and helps you relax and with increased melatonin it's really made a big difference for me.

Also, make sure you're hydrated as this also helps with good sleep.

NotForJustNowForever

I don't know which of these have helped me in particular, but I use to have bad insomnia and now it's less hard to fall asleep. It's still isn't quick, but I do fall asleep within 1 hour 95% of the time. If I skip any of these, I find I have a harder time falling asleep. At my worst, I can go a whole week and not manage to sleep more than 8 hours total.

• I walk a lot in a day. 14-16 000 steps. If I don't manage that, in general it's during high mental stress period which I find exhausts me anyway.
• Melatonin gummies didn't help me originally (they tend to be 1mg) but I found some mint "candy" ones at 3mg and most times I'm fine with one. A few rare times I take a second one after 1 hour if I still haven't managed to fall asleep. I checked with my doctor and pharmacist first, but they both said I could increase if needed because my other alternative (prescription) was sleeping pills which I'm trying to not need.
• My heaviest meal is my last meal. Going to sleep on a full (heavy) stomach helps me for some reason.
• Putting the fan on has helped (when weather allows).
• Absolute silence helps me. I've done sleeping stories from apps, hypnosis, music, … I seem to respond best to silence.
• I try to jumble my thoughts, slow down my breathing. I know jumbling up my thoughts sounds weird and I'm not sure how to explain it, but I try to eliminate rational (linear? logical?) thinking. I let thoughts and ideas that don't logically line up come in succession to me, without focusing on anything. I suppose it's kind of similar to counting sheep?
• I don't think it's suppose to be the ideal sleeping position, but sleeping on my stomach helps me for some reason.
• Even if I don't sleep well (or at all), I try to still wake up at the same time (5:30 in my case) regardless.