SLEEP!

Cassandrat83

Well, here I am again, 2:12 am and going for attempt 3 for sleep. I have cut out all caffeine past 7pm, but as I work in a restaurant (split shifts) my internal clock is completely messed up. Most nights I don't finish work till 10pm, so by the time I get home, shower and unwind it is already midnight- any ideas? Kids will be up in 4 hours so I spose I'd better try to get something resembling sleep tonight

summerlovin0817

Can't help you for sleep the other night, but for future reference, I have the same problem. You probably need to cut the caffeine out earlier or altogether. I have always been a reverse cycle sleeper (sleep during the day no problem, sleep at night heck no), and have found some ways of managing it (most of the time). Definitely NO caffeine on week days, outside of morning coffee. Any type of soda (diet of course) or even late afternoon coffee will keep me up all night. I teach, and I am usually exhausted when I come home, and I have found that taking a nap at 4 every day is great, but it will make me have a miserable night. If I work out too late it keeps me up as well, winds me up i guess. Try to get a routine before bed (I see you have children so that may not always be possible!), but I HAVE to shower before bed or sleep is a near impossible feat.

Insomnia does suck, royally, but there are ways of coping with it. Since I have been dealing with it my entire life (since I was born), I function rather normally on as little as 4-5 hours of sleep. I do have a bottle of Lunesta for nights where I am especially struggling and have not had a good night in a couple of days, so that may be an option as well.

It may just be something you have to deal with for the most part. I do still have bad nights and bad weeks sometimes (averaging 2-3 hours a night if any), but eventually my body crashes and sleeps it off and i catch back up. If you do suffer from chronic insomnia there are some ways to control it and help yourself out (for the most part) but it does take a lot of self control. Cutting out caffiene, turning the TV off, and getting off the computer can be hard, I know, especially when you have the mentality of "well I wont be able to sleep so whats the point?", but you have to really discipline yourself and learn to function on less sleep or it can really make you sick over time (been there after month long stretches of bad bad nights-- only sleeping a few hours every other night and at some points not sleeping for 3 days).

Good luck! I know it can be hard!

Cassandrat83

Thank you so much for your reply. I think that is my biggest problem at the moment, I think well I can't sleep anyway- then spend the next 3 hours reading, watching telly or on the comp. I'm going to take your advice onboard and try having no caffeine after midday, hoping to cut it out completely. Im also going to try the health food store for some supplement that might help calm me down at night.

Shock_Wave

Over the counter sleep aids is what I use for my insomnia nights which are always the nights I work out in the day. I hate dilly dallying watching tv or on the comp waiting to get tired until the wee hours in the morning. I have no problem falling asleep on my own on rest days.