I can't sleep at night.

(It's been a while since I've posted here on ATS. So if this happens to be in the wrong place, Mods please feel free to move it.)

Alright so here goes. As the title states, I can't sleep at night. Simple problem with a seemingly simple solution. Lay down earlier, shut everything off, try taking a warm shower before bed.... etc. It doesn't work at all. It doesn't matter what I try. I've been prescribed sleeping medications, I've taken supplements, all to no avail. It seems as when the sun goes down my body kicks into overdrive.

It really puts a damper on what little semblance of a life I have left. The moment the sun comes up I feel drawn to the bed, in which I only get about 2 hours of sleep. I feel half dead and I just want to start sleeping again.

Any thoughts, Ideas. Hell any insight would be welcome.

SP

reply to post by SemperParatusRJCC


I am also not efficient at sleeping.
I don't have a problem getting to sleep though, which sounds like the issue you are having. My problem is staying asleep. I can only sleep maybe two hours then I am awake again.

What I end up doing is taking a few 10-15 minute naps throughout the day. Then once a month or so it catches up with me and I'm out for like 15 hours.

Have you tried gravel or melatonin?
Lots of people who work shift work use Gravel.

Have you had your thyroid checked?

i was once like u
now i sleep like a baby and it happens instantly ,where as before it would take me hours to fall asleep
how did i manage this?
if u pm i will tell u since its against the rules here to talk about it,and no im not alking about we.. that stuff

I've had major sleep problems but overcome them, mostly due to having children. Once you get sleep deprived by kids your body learns to take any sleep it can get and fast. I learnt to sleep much better before that, though, and I might be able to suggest something to help but it all depends on what is the cause of you not sleeping.

Is it that you feel tired, lay down, relax, and yet sleep does not come? Or is it that you are restless, cannot relax, don't feel like sleeping at all, and struggle to even give your body a chance to sleep?

The best thing I have learnt about sleep is that there are no good methods for sleeping. Getting to sleep is a completely natural thing, your brain will switch off if you give it the chance and don't do anything to interrupt its ability to do that. You shouldn't try to sleep, you shouldn't use techniques, or pills, or anything like that. If you have trouble relaxing that's a separate issue that needs dealing with, and is more of a relaxation issue that prevents sleep, rather than a sleep issue as such.

If you can learn to relax, get off all pills, and avoid caffeine and anything really stimulating before bed, you should just lay there and wait, continuing to relax until you fall asleep. If it fails the first night, keep going, eventually you will sleep and do so naturally, and things should get better from then on.

Make sure you focus on the right issue, there is probably something stopping you from sleeping that needs addressing, like inability to switch your mind off, or inability to relax, and it's these things you should work on away from bed where there is pressure to sleep. Practice relaxing, and practice quieting your mind, meditate, slow everything down, get rid of your mental worries, write down your daily stresses etc, so when it comes to night, all you do is think of nothing, relax, and wait for sleep.

@Watch- I wish I could sleep for those fifteen minutes. I crash for two-ish hours when I can.
@Keron- To no avail
@Katie- I don't think there is anything wrong with my thyroid. The VA would have told me.

reply to post by humphreysjim


It's gotten to the point where I will remove all synthetic sugars from my diet. I have kept myself from the caffeine, sticking to Chamomile tea. I don't eat past 10 in the evening. Hell I'll relax and lay in bed all night, I still can't sleep

reply to post by SemperParatusRJCC

Actually the solution is much easier than you might think.

Not sure of your work or school schedule but try this for 3 days.

Day 1, wake up at 7 am and stay up all day until say 10 or 11 at night. No naps!

Day 2, wake up at 7am again regardless of whether or not you got any sleep and stay up until 10 or 11.

Day 3, same thing. Up at 7am, no naps. By 10 or 11, youll pass out like you were hit by a train.

If you follow this strictly, it will work.

Its a relatively simple method for regimenting your sleep schedule.

reply to post by SemperParatusRJCC


I take it you can't stay in bed because of work?

Have you thought about taking a week off and catching up on all the missed sleep by sleeping long into the day? Maybe just catching up can get you back on track?

If not, it sounds like it could be a medical thing and I really have no idea. Usually people who can't sleep know why.

Wait what work, I'm an unemployed vet who lost his job because of lack of sleep. I'm not stressed at all, bills get paid, job or not. It's because of the lack of sleep that I now have no semblance of a normal life. So I can take all the time in the world. That whole designated bedtime deal doesn't work either I have tried it. I can lay down and sit there trying to sleep and wait until 10 maybe 12 in the afternoon before I fall asleep. Thank you though

reply to post by SemperParatusRJCC


Sorry when you said you feel drawn to the bed and get two hours sleep once the sun comes up, I figured you had to get up to work or something. Can't you just sleep in a few extra hours, or do you wake up after two hours once you get to sleep?

reply to post by SemperParatusRJCC


Accept it!
Due to health, I do not sleep like most people so I have taken on a cats sleep schedule.
I sleep when I am too tired to stay awake.
I normally get a couple of hours here, fifteen minutes there Etc.
It works I guess, I've been doing it this way for better than a few years.

when are they going to release the new help you sleep and live forever nanobots? I'm still waiting, I guess now I'll just take a nap.

reply to post by humphreysjim


Never fails one to two hours then I'm up again. I'm always tired but can't pass out.

reply to post by nrd101


At least you can sleep. I think the day I get the full 8 hours is the day I die. xD

reply to post by SemperParatusRJCC

As a diagnosed insomniac of 20 years, I can give you a couple of bits of advice:

1)Exercise. It does help. Seriously.

2)Meditation at bedtime. While you are lying there, find something simple, and let it fill your mind. For me, focusing on the color black works.

3)Stop eating any carbs after 5 pm.

4)When all else fails, there are options that the T&C of this site wont permit me to speak about.

I've had that problem over the years as well. It's not as bad as it used to be for me. The frustration of not being able to sleep at night, only to fall asleep when the sun rises and then only for about 3 or 4 hours at most. Yeah, been there, it sucks pretty bad too.

HYPERVIGILANCE

You mentioned you're a vet. Any chances PTSD may be bugging you? Milder forms do have symptoms like you are describing. That's what I was finally diagnosed with. None of the OTC sleep aids helped me, nor presciption ones. What I found that helped were several things,

1)staying away from alcohol altogether, it messes with my sleep cycle BIG TIME,
2)eat breakfast, hungry or not.
3)avoid all forms of caffeine.
4)exercise, earlier than 2 in the afternoon. hard. push hard, then harder
5)the sleep schedule recommended above, live it.
6)find your God or whatever you want to call it. make peace with yourself.
7)dont isolate yourself, we are social creatures, interact.

Keep at it, even if you don't think you are sleeping, you are getting needed rest. I bought one of those ZEO sleep brain pattern monitors to see if I really was falling asleep or not, because I often felt like I hadn't slept a frickin' minute. Google it. Turns out, I was entering a different brain wave pattern. Not the needed deep sleep I wanted, but it was rest. After wearing that thing for a few weeks, I got used to the idea that I was sleeping whether I felt like I was or not.

Eventually, it got better. I don't know if I out-grew it (50+yo now), but it was worst in my twenties and thirties. I also don't live underneath the traffic pattern at an airbase or in a hut at an airfield any more. The quiet of the Idaho mountains brought peace and quiet, albeit lonliness was part of the package.

Good luck.

Melatonin works for me been taking it for years.

You may get some freaky dreams at first but they go away after a few weeks. You can buy it anywhere Walmart - Target etc and is relatively inexpensive.