Help me! Sleep problems

I am without a doubt the worst person i know about sleeping. In order to have a succesfull nights rest i require pills to go to sleep and energy drinks to wake up…even then it doesn’t always work, not to mention it’s expensive. Don’t think this has a thing to do with dependency on the mentioned items, all my life I have just been different. I see my friends proclaim they are tired and they are asleep within 10 minutes, I on the other hand will spend at LEAST 1.5 hours just lying in bed before subconcious finally takes over. The problem is I’m never really tired.
Now one may assume that there would be a balance here and waking up would be a breeze…ha. No matter if I got 1 hour or 12 I will always be groggy and irritable for a while. All this has become especially problematic since this semester began and I have to maintain a daily schedule which includes morning classes. Anyone have similar problems? Any tips that don’t include drugging myself up?

Try watching C-Span. That might put you to sleep after a few sub-committee reports…

Do some web searches on “sleep hygiene” (not sure I spelled that right). Also, have you discussed this “1 hour or 12, always groggy” with a doctor? There are a number of medical conditions that can massively affect how well your sleep “works” (e.g., apnea, restless legs syndrome). Good luck.

In order to have a succesfull nights rest i require pills to go to sleep and energy drinks to wake up…even then it doesn’t always work, not to mention it’s expensive.

Elvis?

You really should see your doctor. I was having much less serious sleep problems than you were, and I was referred take a sleep study, which I posted about.

Sleeping problems can cause serious health problems, so I’d look into this.

First–sorry, been there, it sucks!!

I had a sleep study, which resulted in cognitive-behavioral therapy (i.e., It’s all in your mind :frowning: ). The therapy helped somewhat, but what I really found help in is herbs, no kidding. Something with a combination of valerian, poppy & kava kava helped me. If you try (or have tried) something, don’t give up because one formulation may work where another didn’t.

But you should get a sleep study if you can to rule out biological causes…Good Luck!

Things which people have told me work really well for them before bed: -

warm glass of milk
chamomile tea
hot bath

I find reading or watching TV in bed will usually send me off within a half an hour.

Sleeping tablets will always make you feel groggy next morning. I got into that vicious cycle when I was working two jobs, needing something to put me to sleep and something else to wake me up. It certainly takes a few weeks to break this cycle, don’t expect instant results as you will go through a few sleepless nights once you throw away the pills.

I used to have a lot of trouble falling asleep as well. Without really realizing it in the process, I solved the problem, though.

I have a routine. I always take a hot bath before I go to bed. Not only do they make me sleepy by virtue of the heat, it is now a signal to my body. Bath = soon to bed and sleep.

I used to lie awake at least 45 min per night, and now I rarely take more than 10 min to fall asleep. The key is in having a regular routine, no matter what it is.