# Anyone here ever get sleepless nights for no reason?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-get-sleepless-nights-for-no-reason/613940>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 25, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-get-sleepless-nights-for-no-reason/613940 "2012-02-25T08:43:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-get-sleepless-nights-for-no-reason/613940/21 "2012-02-29T17:05:42Z")

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It’s rare these days but I have had it happen in the past. Nowadays I’m always so exhausted (from some health conditions) that unless I’ve just had a medication change, I pretty much pass out at bedtime.

Best I can say is if you see yourself starting into a rough night, break the pattern. Don’t lie in bed fretting, get up and do something. Have a snack, read a book, or whatever. I keep an ipod on my nightstand as well - if I’m lying there trying to go to sleep (or have a nighttime bathroom break), I’ll plug it into an ear and start up a podcast - just interesting enough to keep my mind from focussing on stressors, but not totally fascinating (which would itself keep me too alert).

Also, you could ask your doctor for a prescription for a sleeping pill to keep around. Preferably one with a shorter half-life (I was told Sonata is good for that - as in, you could take it at 2 AM and still function at 7 AM). For me, it’s sort of a “security blanket” - I rarely need it, but I know they’re there just in case. Which removes one stressor (“I can’t get to sleep and I can’t do anything about it!!”).

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-get-sleepless-nights-for-no-reason/613940/22 "2012-02-29T17:07:39Z")

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> [@obbn](#):
>
> I wish I could say it was for no reason, but I take amphetamine to wake me up during the day to offset the lethargic effects from morphine. Sometimes they do too good of a job and I find myself awake and unable to sleep for a night or two in a row. Yeah, it kinda freaks me out as well, because I should be exhausted but I don’t feel tired at all.

You’ve just described the only thing that causes me that kind of severe insomnia these days. Not an amphetamine, but a nonstimulant drug to promote wakefulness (Provigil). If I’ve taken a few days off of the stuff, that first night after I restart it is brutal. This is even if I’m careful about not taking it too late in the day and restart with a smaller dose.

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