Sleep Troubles

[Kirbs17]

For the past 5-6 months Ive been having troubles falling asleep at night. Ive tried a lot of things to help me fall asleep, none of them seem to work. What do you guys use/do at night when you cant sleep? As you can see from the time of this post, tonight would be one of those nights :banghead:

[max_boost]

Are you under a lot of stress? Are you thinking too much?
Your body maybe exhausted but your mind must be peaceful or else you won't get the rest you need.

Reason I'm still up, just got home from a good night at the Poker tables :D But I'm going to sleep now.

[Kirbs17]

Are you thinking too much?
I think this is one of the biggest things, I can never shut my mind off.

As for the stress, there isnt a lot in my life. School isnt overwhelming, money issues are alright. But I definatly agree with the thinking too much

[max_boost]

So you have a lot on your mind, whatever it is, you probably aren't alone. My suggestion is to have a nice chat with a friend, gf, whoever, it'll probably get a lot of the things out of your system and make you feel much better. :thumbsup:

[danno]

if i ever can't sleep (mostly my dumbass neighbour's fault) i sleep somewhere else. if your thinking you'll never fall asleep. try and listen to music that's rather mellow clear your mind:clap:

[t-im]

I have major sleeping problems, and i've tried everything..and still nothing...

if i get into bed around 1230-1..i'll toss and turn until 3...and i have to wake up at 800.....no matter WHAT i try to do i wont get to sleep early, so I just take sleeping pills now on the days I have to wake up early. As bad as those are, getting sleep is better then being exhausted and unattentive the next day during class.

[BokCh0y]

yeah i had that same problem too. didn't matter what time i went to bed i couldn't fall asleep until 3-4am then have to get up at 6am. my problem was thinking too much as well. what i've been doing now is trying to seperate my issues. i talk to my wife about everything and vent and rave :D the thing that works the best for me is to lie in bed and clear my brain. just lie there and think about nothing. another thing you might try is talking to a shrink or something. sounds to me like you've got anxiety problems. maybe take yoga or something. but definately sounds like you got anxiety problems. talk to your doctor about it.

[1badPT]

No reply yet, I guess Kirbs is asleep :zzz: :thumbsup:

[illeagle]

run,jog, bike or do somthing that will drain your energy. Or drink lots of nyquil (sp?)

[djayz]

im on the same boat...
i sometimes just go and sleep somewhere else like on the couch or in the basement...it helps most of the time
other then that the late nights are something i see everyday even when im tired :(:cry:

[Kirbs17]

Originally posted by 1badPT
No reply yet, I guess Kirbs is asleep :zzz: :thumbsup:

Almost :thumbsup: Finally got some sleep at 7, woke up at 10. Ive been doing homework since then. :banghead: I ended up going for a walk around the north half of airdrie and that helped a lot. Hmmm, maybe help is on the way

[AcuraTl]

Originally posted by max_boost
So you have a lot on your mind, whatever it is, you probably aren't alone. My suggestion is to have a nice chat with a friend, gf, whoever, it'll probably get a lot of the things out of your system and make you feel much better. :thumbsup:

:werd: watch some TV, a movie maybe, talk with someone, and drink a nice warm glass of milk before u go to bed. Just chill out, and get yourself tired in one way or the other...everybody has had these problems its a regular homeostatic sinusoudal (sp?) graph...

[lint]

Read a nice thick textbook. Never failed me.

[t-im]

Originally posted by AcuraTl


:werd: watch some TV, a movie maybe, talk with someone, and drink a nice warm glass of milk before u go to bed. Just chill out, and get yourself tired in one way or the other...everybody has had these problems its a regular homeostatic sinusoudal (sp?) graph...

tv is horrible before you sleep, as is your computer.
Also, it is better to have your tv, computer etc in another room. Try not to associate your bedroom with work, or anything.

[hockeybronx]

I never have troubles falling asleep, I'm usually gone in less than 5 minutes.

However between 10:00pm and 6:00am are your ideal hours to sleep, and there are several keys to this involving your Circadian rhythm:

- consistant sleep schedules:
So many people do the five days a week with 6 hours of sleep a night, then they party all night Friday, and wake up at like 3pm Saturday. This throws everything wacko with your rhythm. You need to discipline yourself to get enough sleep during the week, and not oversleep on the weekends.

- what you eat/drink before going to bed:
Some people can be affected by foods differently. Foods have little to no effect on my sleep, but try not eating an hour before bed and see if that helps. Various foods will have their own effects on this.


- getting enough daily exercise:
As a general rule we need at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. This doesn't mean 30 minutes of pumping iron, but something that raises your heart rate above sitting frequencies.

[Kirbs17]

^^ Wheres the Hey playa... ??? We have an imposter on our hands. That was such a trademark




Originally posted by t-im


tv is horrible before you sleep, as is your computer.
Also, it is better to have your tv, computer etc in another room. Try not to associate your bedroom with work, or anything.

Wow, I never thought it that way. Good thing my room is ghetto and doesnt have either

[Tyler883]

Its worth staying in a bright envirement when you are awake, and a dark envirement when you want to sleep. and most importantly try to create a consistant sleeping schedule that doesn't vary more than an hour or so.

Here's some sketchy stuff I remember from a seminar about sleep:

Light striking you retinas plays a role with your bodies sleep rythms.

These rythms can be trained over time, such is the case with people that work steady night shifts. Night shift workers are advised to sleep in a very dark envirement, and to work in a very brightt envirement. Some jobs make this difficult, rotating schedules and dark work places dont help. Many people are still able to establish healthy sleep parterns anyway. I beleive that consistancy and staying well rested were key strategies.

One point of interest, is some blind people still have no problems developing a sleep rythm, others have major problems due to their blindness. Researchers don't really know the mechanism behind this, but it is beleived that there might be a secondary function of the optical nerve that stimulates the area of the brain that helps syncronize your sleep rythms. And, it isn't neccessarily affected from all types of blindness.

[xkon]

Hmm I see some good advice here. I too have a hard time sleeping at night. Generally, nyquil is my best way to get the sleep I need.

[hexified]

I typically workout before i go to bed...seems to help alot. That way any stress or crap that im thinking about i get out the aggression by lifting weights and whatnot.

Makes for a peaceful night and good sleep.

[EgyptLuv]

Originally posted by xkon
Hmm I see some good advice here. I too have a hard time sleeping at night. Generally, nyquil is my best way to get the sleep I need.

agreed on that... nyquil is the shizznitle for puttin me to bed
knock me out cold

[Kirbs17]

Speaking of Nyquil: Have any of you seen the Bill Engvall "Heres Your Sign" dvd?

"I have the cheapest drug/alcohol tolereance in the world. When I get a cold, on shot of Nyquil and Im stumbling around my house tryin to hit on my wife and bring her to bed"

:rofl:

Yea, im definatly gonna start trying the working out before bed thing when I get back from college. For those of you that took sleeping pills, what did you think of them? Im a little apprehensious about trying them

[t-im]

Another thing about my sleeping problem is that I can't sleep only when I have school the next day...weekends and holidays i'm fine, so it's definitely stress/anxiety related..I just haven't gotten around to talking to my doctor about it.


Originally posted by Kirbs17

Yea, im definatly gonna start trying the working out before bed thing when I get back from college. For those of you that took sleeping pills, what did you think of them? Im a little apprehensious about trying them

To tell you the truth, I haven't exactly read up on the side effects of sleeping pills, except that your body will eventually build up resistance to them.
I was taking Nytol Ultra and it worked perfectly...you're not supose to take it for more then 3 days in a row (which I don't do). Since I ran out of it, I bought some Nytol herbal pills..they don't work nearly as well and smell like complete ass.

As I said, taking sleeping pills can't be the healthiest thing, but it beats not sleeping. Some say you get addicted and dependent on them, but that's not my case.

[Carfanman]

When I cant sleep because I have a lot of stuff on my mind, I usually just type it up or write in down and then read it once and delete it or throw it out. It works great though, I have a much easier time falling asleep

[pantharen]

Kirbs17 have you tried Melatonin

It is the all-natural nightcap
Melatonin helps people suffering from mild sleep disorders.
http://www.melatonin.com you can get it at GNC, Walmart, London Drugs, etc. etc. I take 1mg an hour before bed and I sleep like a baby. Melatonin is naturally produced by the pineal gland, however as we age it produces less and less.

Also 4 out of 10 people have a sleep disorder of some sort, the most common is snoring, the most dangerous is sleep apnea (you stop breathing).

Life style can affect sleep patern, stress, lack of activity, a number of things can bring it on.

[Kirbs17]

^^ Thanks for the info. Im thinkin I might want to try some melatonin. How much does it cost at GNC?

[pantharen]

Originally posted by Kirbs17
^^ Thanks for the info. Im thinkin I might want to try some melatonin. How much does it cost at GNC?

Dont remember, I bought mine from GNC in Bellingham for $5.95 USD. I've seen it in GNC in Vancouver.

[1badPT]

if that don't work, try a cheap bottle of red wine :D

[Shampoo Suicide]

I hate using drugs to go to sleep.
The best thing will always be exercise, you guys should try and take up running, it might do wonders for you.

[paulsaddress5]

i use melatonin its great i take 6mg before i go to bed, i can catch 10 hours most nights, but you are only supposed to take it for 6 weeks, and some people say it is not good to take regularally because your body might become depnedant on it and quit producing the little it does. hope that helps

[rvd]

Taking forever to fall asleep is a pain , here are 2 links that might help.

link 1 (http://www.dreamdoctor.com/better/insomnia/15.shtml)
link 2 (http://www.tinajuanfitness.info/articles/art052703.html)

[pantharen]

Originally posted by paulsaddress5
i use melatonin its great i take 6mg before i go to bed, i can catch 10 hours most nights, but you are only supposed to take it for 6 weeks, and some people say it is not good to take regularally because your body might become depnedant on it and quit producing the little it does. hope that helps

I dont know about 6mg, but I take 1mg 3x a week, I dont need anymore than that, tho I only sleep about 5 to 6 hrs a night. I dont need alot of sleep.

I haven't heard about the body stopping producing it, I guess if you take too much over a long period the body might stop producing it.

[90Tegra]

man ive had trouble sleepin for month now too. i think its from thinking too much and stress. so im plannin on visiting my fam doctor sometime this week

[Kirbs17]

Originally posted by 1badPT
if that don't work, try a cheap bottle of red wine :D


bahahah wines gross but thats awesome. Yea after 2 beers I get the yawns sooooo bad. Its terrible.