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Insomnia

swasher18
swasher18 Posts: 3 Member
in Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness

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?

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,785 Member

    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
    avatiach Posts: 363 Member

    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
    ythannah Posts: 4,388 Member

    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.

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