I remember that an ex-girlfriend listened to a cassette (that was in the 90s) with 30-minute kid stories before sleeping. I think I heard the end of the stories a dozen times at most during the 3 years that we were together, so I may try solutions like the ones you mention.
As far as not looking at the clock, this is almost impossible. There’s always this perverse, nagging thought “Come on, just one glance.”
No. I’m considering it, but see below.
I was thinking about doing a sleep study but your experience isn’t exactly reassuring.
Lots of the things you mention are spot-on, especially the wash-cloth metaphor and the anxiety.
And I decided long ago never to take sleeping pills. From what I’ve seen in others, it seems that the downsides far outweigh the advantages. And I don’t like the idea of using pills to shut down my brain, plain and simple.
Anecdotally… when I was young, my scouting troop had a weekend event where you tried to stay awake for 36 hours straight and badgered innocent victims beforehand to pledge a certain amount for charity per each hour that you made it.
I made it through over 24 hours, (plus all Friday at school before the event started,) but I remember wandering through the church late Saturday night with other boys teasing me that I’d fallen asleep, and I didn’t believe them because I had no memory of either sleeping or waking up. Eventually the scoutmaster confirmed that he’d found me at around 11pm among the board games, snoozing in a chair next to the Risk table.
Based on your experience, I think you would see improvements if you gave your mind something else to think about so it’s not so focused on the time. Those kids stories sound like a good idea. I’ve had luck with this audio which counts backwards from 100 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWAb3Kc_SMs. There’s also this one from 1000 (which I haven’t used) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z4TIWu-IWk. It doesn’t work for me if I try to count backwards myself. My mind gets distracted and stops counting or counts too fast. Listening to the audio of someone else counting gets my mind on track towards sleep.
You may have to force yourself to not look at the clock. Put the clock and your phone in another room and don’t look at it. Listening to the audios will help distract your mind so it won’t have the urge to look at the time. By looking at the clock, you’re giving your brain evidence that it’s been awake the whole time. It subtracts the current time from the previous time and incorrectly assumes it’s been awake for that entire duration, causing further anxiety.
Can you sleep in another room for a while? That may help break the clock habit since your brain will realize it’s in a different place and that place doesn’t have a clock. If you have the urge, look around the dark room and tell yourself, “Oh well, no clock. Back to sleep.”
This is actually one of those things I learned from House (the TV show). Some patient came in with chronic insomnia, having not slept for 10 days, even after downing a bottle of sleeping pills, and it was set up that she had to get some sleep soon or face brain damage. After a while, though, they proved she was actually going into microsleep, and hence was not in danger.
House, of course, then keeps her awake intentionally to figure out what’s wrong–that’s how the show works, after all. Turns out it’s [bubonic plague.]
Oh, and I’d recommend melatonin for the OP. Small doses, like 300 micrograms, or 0.3 milligrams, and taken about an hour before you wish to sleep, and avoid any bright lights.
It is NOT a sleeping pill. It just signals the brain that it’s time for sleep.
If you aren’t willing to try that, then I’d suggest reading about proper sleep hygiene and CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia). Which also involves not seeing any bright lights an hour before bed.
Also, don’t have a clock where you can see it. Even if you get into the whole “get up if you haven’t slept in 20 minutes” part, try to go by feeling.
I suffered with insomnia most of my life since early childhood. I don’t have much of a problem anymore, a big help is a white noise machine I use at night. I have it set to play the sound of rain, which is comforting to me having grown up in the Pacific Northwest where it rains constantly. It also drowns out the sound of traffic and my wife snoring.
See, I’m the opposite. Looking at the clock just relaxes me, in that, “Oh, I don’t have to get up for another four hours” type of thing, then I can fall back asleep.
I had a boyfriend who would claim that he “didn’t sleep a wink last night”. Judging by his snoring, which woke me up during the night, he slept more than he thought he did.
That’s very informative, thanks. I’m definitely going to have the clock facing a wall, starting tonight and explore the audio solutions (@Atamasama, the sound of rain would be nice, I love it, too).
Yes, I’ve heard of melatonin and I agree it’s not a sleeping pill, so why not ? I’m not sure it’ll works, though.
