Insomnia

K

KennyJC

Registered Senior Member
Right now it's 3am and I have to be at work in 5 hours. I've pretty much been like this for 10 years almost. It's gotten to the point were I'm so used to being awake at this hour I feel like this is day time and I am most alert and able to do things... Which makes it very hard to sleep even if I want to.

Basically I sleep at 3am and get 4 hours sleep before work, come home from work and get 2 hours sleep. If I manage to skip the two hours after work I end up not going to bed till 3am again...

Anyone else overcome insomnia before? What are my options here? I am thinking of:

1) Being a fucking normal person and go to bed at a reasonable hour awaking fresh and able to get through the day. (which would probably mean having to go to the doctor for pills)

2) Reverse the normal pattern and go to bed after work (5pm) and sleeping for 8 hours then have my normal functions (such as dinner etc) before going to work again

3) Just continue mixing option 1 and 2 together.
 
As a life long insomniac since when I was a kid, inherited condition, you have my sympathies if precious little else. I've been in your position many, many times and I'm afraid to report the only thing that actually worked was getting used to dealing with 4 hours kip an night and making do.

Along the way you will reset periodically naturally, however long that lasts really depends on you and how easy it is you find it to switch off - if this is an acquired set of circumstances, ie just habit you've gotten into, just sticking with it and working through should get you towards something saner sleep wise, but it really depends on how you and your body cope.

Personally I don't recommend sleeping pills, but then I'm not one for pills even when I need them - not trying to want to go to sleep or telling yourself you must curiously works, but then again I adopted a life style that allowed me to incorporate the insomnia, not every one gets to be anything like as lucky, this I know.

Try sleeping with the light on. It might help. Also, figure out when your snap- awake trigger time is - me, I can hardly keep my eyes open after dinner between the hours of 8-11 pm, but the instant it hits 11 I'm as awake as if its day - so perhaps try eating your dinner when y'get home, then going for the sleep only instead of making it a nap, go for the whole thing.

It might throw you out for a couple of weeks, social life wise and all that, but you may actually find if y'let yourself you sleep right the way through.

Of course, this might mean you end up getting up ridiculously early in the morning, but if you get more than four hours straight kip out of the deal and closer to 8 - it's a trade worth making.

Best I can suggest, I'm sorry.

A
 
Get tested for a sleeping disorder... I have one and I used to get daytime sleepiness then I would go into bouts of insomnia. You should get a polysomnigraph from a good doctor.
 
i assume that a insomniac gets on the order of 4 to 6 hours of sleep per 24 hours.
i am not one myself but may i throw in my 2 cents?

your body usuallty doesn't cheat itself, you will sleep when you need to
the problem is with your job and social life not with you
if you have been like this for 10 years then i suppose its normal for you
there are some people that will be deadheads without 10 hours of sleep

may i also suggest that when you go to bed make sure you fall asleep within 15 minutes
don't just lay there awake, if after 15 minutes you are still awake then get up.
 
The biological clock is influenced by light. Buying a full spectrum light and trying light therapy may help.
 
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KennyJC, I've had insomnia similar to yours for about 12 years. For me, if I just lay down & turn the light off and try to sleep, I don't. I'm instantly awake and alert, thinking about everything but the kitchen sink. I can't just fall asleep. My mind races.

Like some others have mentioned, I've found that leaving the light on and reading a very boring work of fiction works pretty well for some reason. I'm usually asleep within thirty minutes and sleep okay. At some point, I always wake up and turn the light off and roll back over to sleep. Sometimes, I don't get back to sleep, but I usually do. You might try that.

Also, I've taken a lot of different prescription and non-prescription sleeping pills over the last 12 years. I'd recommend staying away from them, unless you absolutely have to have the sleep, say for something really important. With every pill I've ever taken, my body has gotten used to it over time, and none of them work very well now. The sleep I do get when I take one is horrible sleep. Waking and tossing.

Strenuous exercise might help too if you are not currently getting enough. It's harder for a tired body to stay awake.

Learn some deep relaxation techniques too if you've never tried them. Deep breathing. Relaxing your body from your toes up, concentrating on your feet first, then calves, thighs, stomach, chest, right arm, left arm, NECK, mouth, ears, eyes, scalp. First tense the body part for about 10 seconds, then stretch it the other way for about 10, back and forth a couple of times. Don't forget to breathe. :) Do this all the way up to your head and just relax. This worked sometimes for me. It focused my mind on something other than what I had to do the next day at work, etc.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. Good luck with it though because I know it sucks.
 
try some mindless physical activity, like building a brick wall, or cutting firewood. something that will wear you out. at least thats what works for me... when I choose to do it. I wouldn't say that I have trouble sleeping, I just hate doing it. I rarely feel tired when I get in bed. I wish I could go without sleep, that would be awesome.
 
For me the following helps, complete black out and ear plugs, I require complete dark and complete silence but still only get max of 5hrs sleep in 24hr period and not all in one stretch, I wake frequently.

If I go to bed say 11pm, I wake every hour on the hour until its time to get up! So zero effective sleep.If I go to bed later 1am, I sleep right through till 5am, then maybe do some dozing after that.

I think the more things you are able to block out that tell your body you should be awake (is daylight/noise etc) the more likely you are to stay asleep? I haven't cracked it complelely by any stretch, but I sympathise massively, good luck!
 
Tristan said:
Kenny: Are you happy with your life (truly and honestly)?
Click to expand...

Well I would like to live in a mansion and be a rich rock star with a supermodel girlfriend. But other than that, yeah.
 
Just continue your insomnia and get a nightjob. Some people are like owls, they are awake on the night and sleep on the day.
 
There are two possibilities.

A) You really have some monkey wrench in your biological gears that is screwing everything up

Or B) You have something on your mind... Might not even be a conscious thing... It could be completely unconcious.

So, your task is to figure out which. If it means going to see a psychologist to see if they can uncover something.... if it helps, then we know whats wrong. Figure it out though. We've gone through millions of years of evolution and part of it is that we sleep (circadian rhthym?).

Later
T
 
I've been an insomniac for a long while. I got so exhausted. I would be in bed, completely exhausted after a day of work and school not having slept the night before and lay awake wondering why I couldn't sleep. Sometimes it got so bad I would lay there, cry and feel bad for myself.

It affected me a great deal during the day too. I was a zombie all day and my mind wouldn't function. People thought I was a legitimate retard. But that's in the past.

What I found that kind of helped during that period was using everything I had that helped me sleep a little. My mom is one of those new age hippies and would only let me use natural supplements to help me sleep; that bitch had never had a night of insomnia. She gave me all of that shit. I'm sure some of these words ring a bell in your head: melatonin, kava-kava, valerian root -- there were various others I don't even remember the names of.

But I would use them all, have warm milk, have a regular night time ritual of stretching. This was a supposed way of telling your body that you're getting ready to go to sleep. It sometimes worked.

I'm still not a great sleeper, but I'm much better now. About (6-7 hours per night). I think the main reason I can sleep now is because I have a normal schedule. That's of utmost importance, I've come to believe. Try your best to wake up in the morning at the same time, everyday. Even if you're tired. Even the weekends. Eventually, you'll start falling asleep at a regular time. It's all about consistency.

I hope that helps a little.
 
leopold99 said:
i assume that a insomniac gets on the order of 4 to 6 hours of sleep per 24 hours....
Click to expand...
:) ... Actually, in my experience Leo, I could sleep for England were it an Olympic Event and probably acquire a Gold. It's not sleeping so much as when - I get a regular 8 hours minimum everyday, but it is everyday literally. It's only when forced into a regular 9-5 life style the lack of sleep comes into it.

When y'think on it, back in the day when Humans were just small tribes of itinerant peoples scattered far and wide, its a useful trait to have some of the group awake and active at night, tending the fires and keeping an eye over things whilst everyone else sleeps. Those with the more natural perhensity towards the affair finding the job goes to them in preferece... Society changes a damn sight quicker than biology, there's really no particular imperative biologically speaking to dictate that everyone sleeps through such and such hours specifically and others not at all. Be somewhat dumb of natural selection if it did.

Biologically speaking we need sleep, but the hours one sleeps in... That's not particularly fixed except by sociological constraints and natural proclivity.

God, I love that word. It's like gargantuan - so rare one gets to use it in a sentance...
 
Just think, only another 21 years and you'll get to sleep again. ;)
 
5 hours is good enough... i've had my sleep time at 2am and waking up time at 6am since "high school"
when i sleep for longer than 7 hours i feel very slow
 
blackout drapes and white noise (an air purifier) is good.

I don't understand people like varda - I need eight or nine (or ten) hours at least half of the week or I feel out of balance - I wish i could be happy with 5 hours of sleep a night. I would accomplish so much more.

P.S. If you need to get back on a schedule try lunesta - that stuff is perfectly timed for eight hours of good sleep, and then you wake up feeling like you never took anything. I've only done it when i have gotten my schedule out of whack, I would never recommend using a pill as a long term sleep aid.
 
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