insomnia

Hello,
When I have insomnia, if it's a weekend night and I don't have to go to work the next day, I get up and either paint, read a little, investigate the nighttime mysteries of shadow and moonlight in the trees, or lay awake and ponder if I maybe had a bit to much caffine during the day! I find that the more physically active I am during the day, generally speaking the better I sleep at night. Also, we finish eating dinner early ( usually by 6:00 we're done); so no rogue digestive battles are waking me up at inconvenient moments, nor am I dreaming about growling dogs or thunder! I sleep better and feel better in general if I avoid high starch, high sug, caffeine after about 4:00 PM and dairy. Another aspect of insomnia can be worry or topsy turvy emotional states. That's a big one. A further consideration is adequite darkness in your bedroom, healthy ventilation, non saggy mattress and good head support ( I have a tempurpedic pillow, which I adore!) failing all that, I sometimes take a long hot soak with some epsom salts and Arnica oil added to the bath. Very soothing. Sweet Dreams!

I have 2 sleep disorders according to my sleep study.

What the sleep neurologist told me is that if you wake up and can't get back to sleep, don't lay in bed and stress about it. Get up and read or do something, then try again.

Since I'm already prone to sleeping issues and am on meds for it, the slightest disturbance in the force messes up my sleep. Like that iron supplement I had to go on for a few months? If I took it after 4, I was up all night.

Right now, I have gallstones and have surgery scheduled in June. I'm waking up multiple times a night.

Things I do, I DO get up and check the computer, but not long, read a little, snuggle up with the dogs, if it's past 4 and I'm not getting back to sleep, I go to the gym.

Melatonin works for some people, as does valerian root, which I think you can get in tea or capsules.

Go easy on the melatonin - people like it because it is "natural," but there are demonstrated links between melatonin use and development of autoimmune disease, so it's best to use it very sparingly, if at all.

Going to bed at the same time every night helps out tremendously. Avoiding computer screens and tv's about an hour before you go to bed will help as well. I just started taking melatonin, and it helps out a little but if I'm not tired it does nothing.

Melatonin -- I have used it for years. Non-addictive, natural and for the most part cheap and available at most every grocery store or pharmacy.

Melatonin is helpful for falling asleep, but Valerian Root is what you need to STAY asleep. Sometimes you can find combos.

Valerian comes in capsules and is pretty stinky, but it works. (I just saw that you took Melatonin and didn't like it. Often people take too much. You really only need 1 or 2 mgs, but I've seen 10 mg capsules in the store recently.)

Also, I find that intense cardio in the evening can cause insomnia, as can alcohol (seems like the opposite, huh?), and staying up beyond the point of feeling tired. When you feel tired GET to bed, off the computer, lights out!

blessings.

If you are taking vitamins, try taking them before noon.

Is it your time of the month, and/or are you pre-menopausal? Wondering if it's hormonal, or if this is happening to you regularly. I ask because I used to have "initial insomnia", for most of my life I'd have trouble getting to sleep and would toss and turn before finally just getting out of bed and going to do something else until my body called it quits. Now that I've hit my 30s, it's flipped, and I have "middle/terminal"... I go to sleep just fine, but now I wake up after only a few hours and don't get back to sleep. I found that it happens most often during the week before my period starts, when my hormones are all over the place.

Anyway, back to your question... if I've spent more than an hour tossing and turning, I get out of bed. I don't want to hate the place that I should love to fall into! I don't have a spare room, so I end up on the couch with a blanket, and a change of the sleep environment does help me stop feeling so stressed about it. I also don't go back to bed - I stay on the couch and fall asleep there for the remainder of the night.

If I'm wide-awake, I'll turn on a light and read... not a "thinker" book, but a fiction book that lets me imagine other worlds, and escape the reality of being awake at 2am on a work night. Sometimes I'll make a cup of decaf tea, the warmth makes me feel cozy. If I'm already cozy, but just not sleeping, then I lay on the couch with the lights off and focus on my breathing and intentionally relaxing my body. I focus on each part individually - first my toes, then my feet, then my calves, then my thighs, etc - and purposely tense them, and as I relax them imagine the tension physically actually flowing out, like strands of energy actually leaving. Once I've made it through my whole body, I focus on my breath. I listen to my inhale and exhale, I try to feel each part of my body that's contributing to my breathing, and I pay attention to how I'm doing it... short, shallow breaths or deep, long breaths, etc.

I don't know if those things actually work for me, or if I spend so much time doing them that I just pass out from exhaustion. But either way, eventually I get calm and fall asleep.

49 years old here...I was awake from 1:30 till 4:30...thank goodness it was not a work night!