Insomnia - Can't sleep!

Last night I got up and had a drink of pop, chatted for a bit then headed back to bed. That helped for a while, then I woke up again. Maybe it’ll com to the point where I’ll just be so exausted I’ll fall asleep no matter what.

Any other insomnia cures?

I’ve read that reading a book for like an hour in bead is a good solution with some warm milk. Be sure to have a night lamp next to you so when you done reading and feel tired you don’t need to stand to turn it off. Just extend your hand and turn off. Also try enforcing yourself to bed, that’s something I do, especially when summer’s over and I have to go back to school.

I’ve made a big topic with all the insomnia related threads I’ve found, in the hope you can find useful info.

For some people, reading helps, but for others it doesn’t. You have to read stupid books which don’t require intellectual effort. :content: Generally speaking, you have rather not to do intellectual work before going to sleep.

In a sleep laboratory, they did some “soft” researches about insomnia and they found that imagining a relaxing scene, like a landscape, was a good cure against insomnia. In the other hand, counting sheep requires a mental concentration and often leads to fall asleep later than normal.
Counting sheep no aid to insomnia

Here you can find a general article about insomnia:
Treatment Methods for Insomnia: Critical Evaluation
…but I don’t think you’ll find any practical tips.

In homeopathic treatments, you can take coffee (at homeopathic doses, of course!).
In herbal treatments or tea, chamomile, valerian and passion flower are said to be sedative.

I can stress enough the importance of a good sleep hygiene and of not doing any intellectual effort before going to sleep.
Try going to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning. Avoid napping during the day. Avoid eating a heavy meal late in the evening. Avoid stimulants like caffeine and nicotine at night. Caffeine (coca cola, coffee) has his maximal effect 5 hours after you drink it. Get regular physical exercise but not too near bedtime. Try progressive relaxation techniques to help you relax.

If you wake up during the night, don’t stay in bed but get out of it, wait for 15 mn and go back to bed. I hope all this can help! :smile:

I got a BIG problem every time i want to fall alseep i use about 1-2 hours before i sleep. When im lying in my bed and try to focus on sleeping, i start thinking of things like my driver license and World of warcraft and girls, Its like i cant help it.

Yesterday i was at my dads hous (i was sleeping there) and that night i didnt fall asleep for like 3 hours :confused: i even checked the time.

Im in the stage were i only remember my dreams but
when ever i get a nightmare i feel that i got the control to end the dream(Wake up) I really need help falling asleep

Hm have you tried drinking some hot milk? Valerian also helps very good to fall asleep easily, plus it gives a good dream recall. Or take a hot bath with lavender oil, right before you go to bed; it has a very relaxing effect on your body and mind. There are also some herbal teas which might help (linden, catnip, probably some more).

Hope this helped :smile: Good luck!

Ah il try warming some milk before im going to bed :smile: and also il try to work out more at the day so i use more of my energy.
thx for the milk tips :happy:

Welcome Moto and Firesnake.

I myself believe in the warm milk. I believe it works wonders.

Omega3, vanilla icecream? Yuck!!
Why does it work?

No clue, most likely the temperature inside my house is quite hot even at night and also how dairy products in general help you fall asleep. That same guy also said to try warm milk with powerdered milk in it…that tastes way worse.

Hello out there.

I kinda have a problem. I cant sleep. Or at least not verry much.
I go to bed about 00:00 - 01:00 and fall asleep around 03:00-04:30. And then i sleep like crap waking upp like very hour and when my mother screams at me at about 13:00 i usualy gett out of bed.

Its sucks gangsta ass. Since i cant sleep a normal amount of time. I cant have normal REM sessions and i therfor have serious problems with having more LDs and i like have crappy dream recall.

Does anny body know anny tricks to fall asleep.

Please help me :bambi:

Drink some good hot milk before going to bed :smile: It must be hot because cold milk doesn’t work (because in hot milk there’s far more tryptophan, a precursor to some important brain chemicals involved with sleep). It appears to help for a lot of people, so hopefully you’re one of them :smile:

Well there is one catch. I dont dare to drink hot milk. :razz: Since the last like 5 times i have done that i have experiensed extreeeeeeem stomache pain… So i dont know realy. But preahaps :razz: Its worth a shot

Edit: And btw how hot does the milk have to be for it to be efective

Well if it causes you to have stomach pains, then you shouldn’t drink it. I don’t know if there’s an optimal temperature… it’s probably not boiling temperature, but more like when you drink tea: let it boil for a minute, wait a few minutes and then drink it. Only guessing here though…

Hmm I wouldnt boil it (yuck), but thats personal preference… perhaps it needs to be boiled for more effectiveness?

Could be… As far as I understand it, warming up the milk causes a chemical reaction whereby a great amount of tryptophan is released. So yeah, boiling it might enhance its effects.

If you don’t like hot milk, there are other foods you can try. As long as they contain a large amount of tryptophan or other sleep-related chemicals. For instance:

You can also make your own sleep potion:

If that doesn’t help, you can always massage the sole of your feet with mustard oil (do this at bedtime). Seems to help too :smile:

Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter active during waking life consciousness, which we strive to reach during LD’s. So perhaps you should not avoid these foods after all? Increase of norepinephrine might perhaps lead to more dream awareness?

Might be, but what’s the point of increased dream awareness if you can’t fall asleep due to the stimulated brain activity? :wink:

Yeah it’s probably a fine line, but one worth exploring, because I think with a little experience one can fall asleep anyway with a slightly stimulated brain. First of all it might depend on the person, and second of all on the dosage. The bald man btw is going to experiment with this kind of stuff anytime soon, so im quite exited to see results :smile:.

Guess you’re right… Heh yeah I’m also pretty excited about it :smile: But he’s confident he’ll get some awesome results.

Some people cannot digest milk. That’s rather curious: you live in Sweden, and nordic people generally can disgest milk (it’s quite their only D vitamine source, as there is not a lot of sun).

Ahhh! Nothing is working tonight! I’ve tried everything! Reading, milk, expressing myself through some bad poetry…Even doubled up on the trazadone! Dry mouth big time but no sleep! WTF! Anybody got a hammer or a bat? Just knock me out already!