Insomnia - Can't sleep!

Things that help me to get to sleep:

50mg diphenhydramine (or equivalent dose of other antihistimine)

Sleeping pills are good but addictive

Meditation <— This is very rewarding. I feel wierd tingling sensations all over when I do it right

Getting up early <----- IMO 90% of people who say they have insomnia just lay in too late. Me included.

Things that I’ve heard are good for sleep (but haven’t tried enough to say)

Camomile tea
Lavender oil (?)
Turkey, milk and cheese.

Although sleeping pills and other medicines do help to make you fall asleep faster they can become addicting…

My mind tends to do the same thing and wanders around random thoughts for at least an hour before I can fall asleep. Getting up early and excercising definitely helps and I’m sure meditation would be of benefit as well. The one strange thing that helps me to fall asleep though is listening to that static sound you get in between radio stations. I guess it keeps me focused on one thing and makes my brain less active when trying to fall asleep. Its soothing too… quite relaxing, as odd as that sounds. So experiment… and find what works for you. There are foods and drugs and music and all sorts of other stuff that work for different people. Just gotta find your thing.

where did you hear the average person takes 8 minutes?

That seems like BS to me… well… I mean, like if you’re on vacation and therefore automatically tired as hell and you have been excercising all day MAYBE

it’s 5:32 a.m. and I haven’t gone to sleep yet, took a melatonin and tried to for about 30 minutes.

I can get “to” sleep in 5 minutes flat, but i just get realy intense and disconcerting myoclonic jerks over and over and over and over and over and over and over (i’m going to type this till i feel tired) and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

then i’m not tired anymore.

Try warm milk with a little bit of vanilla and sugar in it. Works really well for me and anyone else I know whose tried it.

Or, try counting: 1, im dreaming, 2, im dreaming, etc. Sorta like sheep but Dreams instead. :tongue:

Or, i read somewhere that when you breath in, in your mind say Ham, and when you breath out, say, in your mind Sa. Over and over and concentrate on the Hamsa, don’t let your mind drift, or if it does bring it back to concentrating on Hamsa. That works for me too. Or, if you’ve been doing it long enough and get board, try the Hamsa and counting, but not one after the other, at the same time. That requires a lot of concentration and you dont even notice yourself going to sleep.

But it usually takes me about half an hour to get to sleep too.

yey people the same as me, it can take me about 2-6 hours to get to sleep most nights if i get any atall, this can get really annoying as i then really feel the need for sleep during the day.
Apparantly this could be due to my diet. i think its the way some peoples minds work though, if you have a busy mind then its really hard to relax your mind to get to sleep and this is also the same if you tend to ‘fidgit’ around alot. I know thats absoulutly no help but it might give some more information for somebody else to.

A few quick tips on insomnia:
=> Do something active during the day but, do not exercise or anything in the evening.
=> Spend as little time as possible in you bedroom. You bedroom should be used for sleeping and sex only.
=> Don’t watch the clock when you are trying to sleep.
=> Don’t try to go to sleep unless you are at least a little tired.
=> If you are not tired try reading for a ½ hour then watch tv with all other lights off till you are tired enough to sleep.
=> ( optional but helps a lot) study meditation or self hypnosis.

Since you asked about sleeping pills I’ll share my experience:
=> Benadryl and similar antihistamines can help.
=> Melatonin - did not help me much
=> Xanax- works good but, is addictive. Did not prevent me form lucid dreaming.
=> Ambien - Works great and is less addictive than other medications but, I had trouble lucid dreaming on them.
=> Other traditional sleeping pills are highly addictive and in my opinion should be used as a last resort.

I do the 61 point relaxation method everynight, and I fall asleep imediatly after doing it…

So I would suggest a relaxation method :cool_laugh:

Yes in my opinion meditation or relaxation is best. But that is just what is best fo me. I included info about medication because it is an option and I don’t want to push my views on anyone else.

Yeah I find that a lot. I keep thinking about stuff. Or say if I try to clear my mind… I’ll try to sleep too hard and get frustrated, and since sleep is about relaxation how am I gonna sleep if I get frustrated every time I try? :tongue:

Bah… me hate sleep…

61 points?! :eek:

Explain… sounds quite complicated…

I read that in some home remodies book

I was just thinkin u said u sleep easy in busses or cars perhaps thats cus the noise is drowning out you thoughts? Have you tried listening to music before you go to sleep? im gonna try that tonight

I usually get to sleep in half an hour to an hour. I don’t consider it insomnia. But prehaps you are trying to hard.

it takes me at least 2 hours but i dont think i have insomnia… i thought 2 hours was normal

but if you are worried try diphenhydramine but keep it under 500mg

I would recommened amusing yourself by thinking about life etc

The 61 point relaxation method is actually quite simple, all you do is close your eyes while you are laying down and focus all of your energy onto certain spots of your body, once you feel a tingling pressure in that area you move on to the next one.

List and order of spots to consentrate on:

1.between the eyes
2.adams apple
3.right sholder
4.elbow
5.wrist
6.thumb
7.fore finger
8.middle
9.ring
10.pinky
11.back up to the wrist
12.elbow
13.sholder
14. adams apple
15-26 repeat on other side
27. sturnum
28. right nipple
29. sturnum
30.left nipple
31. sturnum

(you should only go to here, the first couple times, and then move on to the rest once you have gotten the hang of it a fully memorized it)

32.belly button
33.over the bladder
34.right hip
35.knee
36.ankle
37-41 big toe through little toe
42.back up to the ankle
43.knee
44.hip
45-56. repeat 33-44
57. back to bladder
58.belly button
59.sturnum
60.adams apple
61. back between the eyes

I know this might sound complicated, but once you memorize it, its pretty simple

:cool_laugh:

hmm, i don’t noe may work for you, but i’d be willing to bet it wouldn’t for me…

That could be part of it, but headphones make it uncomfortable to sleep…

But I think maybe what it really is mostly is that in a bus it makes no difference whether I sleep or not. Whereas if I don’t get to sleep before 6 for example, I’ll be tired in the morning and I don’t want to spend a whole night trying to sleep.

Maybe that puts pressure on me to sleep, and maybe then I can’t… dunno.

Dream_Reacher, if you say that you don’t think that it will work, then it won’t, you have to believe and it will happen.

I have just been able to start Inducing Lucid Dreams because I believe that I will have one. That is the key to Lucidity and many other things… Faith…

Dream_Reacher

There are plenty of other relaxation techniques you can try. If you do a search on this site for meditation you will find lots of them. You just might find somnething that will work for you. But, you have to be willing to try.

i noe it’s just that, i don’t seem to have much success with meditation, self-hypnosis, subliminals etc. but if i remember i might try it.