The thing about learning to relax and how to turn off your brain is that you lose the fear of insomnia. So much of insomnia is a self-fulfilling prophecy - you worry that you won’t sleep, and you don’t sleep. You worry that you’ll lie tossing and turning too long and be wasted the next day, and that’s exactly what you do. You worry that once you wake up in the night, you won’t go back to sleep, and you don’t. Once you learn to relax under any conditions, these fears are just taken out of the equation.
I love reading these threads for suggestions. I am a terrible sleeper. ON occasion and I fall asleep but within an hour or two I am wide awake. I take abmien which doesn’t quite to the stick even though it make me drozy. My heart goes out to you.
I have insomnia that manifests itself as the ‘irretrievably awake in the small hours’ kind: I go to bed at 11 or 12, drift right off, then wake up completely at 3 or 4, and cannot get back to sleep again.
I think most chronic insomniacs end up working out some kind of strategy to attempt to ameliorate the symptoms.
Over the years I have devised an entire routine to counter my problem, and it seems to be working. I have an eyemask, I’ve recently fitted dark curtains, I have a big cushion next to my bed, a bottle of water, and a small radio with comfy headphones. When I wake up, I sit up against the cushion, chug some water, fit the eyemask, plug the phones into my ear and put on talk radio really low (the BBC World Service is much better than TV to fall asleep to, because you can listen to it with only one sense involved, and shut down the others). If I still can’t sleep, the radio keeps me interested; otherwise the burbling voices send me off to sleep - and the headphones block out external noise.
I’ve also recently tried herbal sleep remedies, and they appear to work - I find it much easier to drop off again if I’ve taken 4 ‘Kalms’ before I go to bed. It’s probably a placebo, but to be frank I don’t want to investigate to find out - it’s working, and I’ll happily remain in denial about its efficacy to maintain the effect.
Good luck. You may find some of this stuff useful, maybe not, but it’s worth exploring a few avenues to get something that starts working for you.
In my experience, shooting up in bed is a good way to put yourself to sleep.
:D:D:D
Hey, don’t knock the placebo affect. If you think it’s working, it is. If I were a doctor, I’d be tempted to prescribe placebo pills without telling the patients all the time, and see who’s really sick. (It’s probably a good thing I’m not a doctor. 
)
No kidding. I’ve been awake since 4, and my alarm doesn’t go off for another 15 minutes. I woke up coughing up a lung, and haven’t been able to go back to sleep since. Hence, I am here.
I already told my husband that if my daughter is sick today I would stay home with her, since I’m not feeling too good myself. If she’s not sick, today is going to really suck.
I’ve found that pretty much completely eliminating caffeine is the key to keeping insomnia at bay for me. If I weren’t sick, I don’t think I would have ever woken up.
ambien and the ilk are wonders for me. Just the fact that I know if I really need to sleep one particular night, I can just take a pill and go out with at least 6 hours of restful sleep, removes a lot of the “pressure” about falling asleep. If I feel it’s one of those nights when I need to but can’t sleep, just pop one. If it’s 2:00 am and I’m wide awake, half a tab will put me back to sleep and I’ll still be able to wake up at 6:00 or 7:00.
Trust me, having twins is bad for an insomniac. when I wake up, I tend to be “up”
I’m convinced that if I go to sleep tonight (this morning now) that I’ll die in my sleep and I don’t wanna. Really. I don’t think I’ve ever had this fear before but its keeping me up now.
One yoga pose that’s very easy and good for insomnia is legs-up-the-wall pose. It’s just what it sounds like. Lie on your back on the floor and scoot your butt so it’s right against the wall. Then straighten your legs as much as is comfortable, let your arms flop to the sides and close your eyes. Breathe deeply. If that isn’t comfortable for your legs, try putting the soles of your feet together and support your legs against the wall.
It’s relaxing and restorative–perfect for just before bed.
I fall asleep fine. But woe is me if I wake up and have to relieve myself… I’ve been up since 3:00.
Yep, it’s that damn 3-5 window for me. If I wake up between those hours, that’s it, until about 6:30, and then I can fall asleep. I’m just starting to yawn now, and it’s 6. In half an hour, I can probably catch about an hour long nap before my babysitting charge arrives for the day. Cross your fingers for me that both toddlers take their nap at the same time today so I can nap with them!
It’s also worse in the winter, I notice, this waking around 3…
ETA: Kalms is mostly hops and valerian, both of which have a solid history of use as soporifics - sleep inducers. Valerian is what I call a “there-there” herb; it’s gentle and soothing, not a knock-out. Hops, of course, is what gives beer its aroma, and it’s also a nice gentle sleepy herb.
I take my daughter through a modified sun salutation. Then we do corpse pose and I talk her through a meditation to relax. She’s eight - she has a hard time with yoga’s idea of simultaneously stretching and relaxing - but the combination of stretching then relaxing really does help.
(Valarian also helps her).