Hello everybody!
I am looking for help with a problem I am having sleeping.
I go to bed around 11pm but lay in bed for what seems like hours unable to fall asleep.
I think I might be sleeping without dreaming for periods of about 10 to 15 minutes. This goes on until about 3am. At that time I start sleeping and dreaming.
Does anyone have any advice or experience with this kind of problem.
I am always tired, and very tired of this problem!
Thank you!
Are you tired enough at 11 PM?
I figured out that I do not get tired enough at bedtime unless I only have 6 or 7 hours of sleep in me. If I sleep a full 8 hours I am not tired on time the next night. On the nights when the night before I had too much sleep, I’ll feel a little tired and think I can go to bed normally but instead spend up to two hours unable to sleep on time. Of course, that means I end up with maybe 5 hours of sleep and that’s too little, so the next day I am super tired and want to take a nap…and it just kind of snowballs.
Anyway, perhaps you are, funnily enough, getting too much sleep on certain days?
There is also a condition called Delayed sleep-phase disorder in which your body is permanently in night-owl mode. In this disorder you can’t just work on getting your bedtime earlier - your body simply just doesn’t want to sleep until a specific time.
I have heard that using your bed strictly for nothing but sex and sleeping will train your body into going to sleep more easily when you get into bed, because of the strict association.
I also fall asleep easier if I have exercised that day, since…well, it tires me out!
Your doctor may be able to help better than random internet folks 
I’ve had trouble sleeping in the past and there are a few things I do that seem to help:
No caffeine after dinner.
The bed is for sleeping only. Reading, watching tv, daydreaming, whatever is done elsewhere.
If I feel drowsy after dinner and before I want to go to bed, do something active like taking a walk or doing household chores rather than napping.
Finally, it may not be a bad idea to talk to your doctor. It’s possible that something is interfering with your ability to sleep or the quality thereof.
Is this anxiety related - is your mind racing? Or is it you just can’t fall asleep?
Some things to try -
as mentioned, reduce caffeine - for some people its noon, for some people its never
relaxation exercises - like a relaxing yoga routine.
a before bed routine - maybe a bath, a cup of chamomile tea and a light snack, some stretching, an hour of reading.
Reduce screen time before bed - don’t move straight from screen to bed. Read (and not on an iPad), pick up the kitchen, walk the dog - just get rid of the screen.
a lot of people find melatonin to be helpful
I like valarian - it basically acts like a low level anti-anxiety. Its herbal.
Ooh, yeah. Tazo makes a tea called rest that’s got valerian in it. I assume it’s mostly psychosomatic, but I have spilled it before because I fell asleep halfway through the cup.
My husband takes it nightly in pill form.
As for psychosomatic - the jury is still out: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Valerian-HealthProfessional/ - but its worth a try (but not if you are already taking something for anxiety).
I have either puberty-onset insomnia or circadian rhythm disorder - in any event, I can remember being awake at 02:00 in middle school.
At first I used cheap beer, then decent vodka, then vodka + Unisom gel caps (had to be the gel-caps; I’d burn off the tablets as fast as they took effect.
Eventually got to the point of using 'script hypnotics.
Stay away from the 'script stuff unless you have no choice. Above all:
STAY AWAY FROM BENZODIAZEMPINES. Unfortunately, the list includes almost all of the current generation hypnotics.
Lunesta (still under patent, $150/mo) is gorgeous stuff and is NOT a benzo
Ambien is also not a benzodiazepine - it is even worse. DO NOT USE IT. PERIOD.
Triazelam is a benzo and is especially nasty, even by benzo standards. I have it listed as an allergy on my records, just to ensure I am NOT given it.
Now is time for my nightly OD or morphine and a benzo.
When you hear of this combo, it is usually in a story about a suicide.
as I said, stay away
Not listed yet are:
Earplugs:It take some getting use too, but I find that when I’m trying to fall to sleep without them my mind keeps getting distracted by random background sounds.
a go-to-bed ritual: start winding down in a specifc way each night a hour before you go to bed
never sleeping in: try to get out of bed at the same time every day, dont sleep in just because its the weekend, it confuses your body
total darkness: same as with earplugs
If I do all these things I can sleep, but I if don’t , I don’t
Don’t take a nap at lunch time, if I do I’m wide awake till midnight.
I fall asleep about 9:30 pm and wake up around midnight, maybe about 4 am I will fall back asleep for another 1 hour if I am lucky. Maybe once a week I manage 5 hours sleep. Feel tired all the time, when I was living by myself I would hit the sack about midnight fall right to sleep and not so much as roll over before about 6 am. As soon as I moved in with girlfriend the insomnia came back just like when I was married.
Benedryl (Diphenhydramine) hasn’t been mentioned - my doctor recommends benedryl BEFORE trying a prescription sleep aid. (I have a similar opinion of Ambian - I call it “The Sleep of the Damned.”)
Warm milk
Strangely, I’ll get into patterns like HoneyBadger - and if I stay in bed, I stay awake. If I get up, move downstairs, and lie on the couch, I usually fall asleep. I think part of it is the temperature change - my covers have gotten me overheated and moving down to the couch and throwing the couch blanket over me is much cooler. And my husband snores and I hate the thought that my tossing and turning might keep him awake. I may not sleep WELL on the couch, but it seems to work more often than not.
My experience is that this changes for me as I enter each new decade. In my 30s none after dinner worked. Now, in my 40s it’s none after 2:00pm.
These are my things as well. I’d been doing well with sleep for a while and had gotten lazy about my sleep readiness routines until just about two weeks ago.
The total darkness surprised me. I’d never thought of it until a couple of years ago. I was laid up and my sister came to take care of me. The first night she came into my room for a final check and started to close the curtains. I get anxious about anyone taking trouble over me and said she didn’t have to do that. She got bossy and said “you can’t sleep with THAT!” pointing at the neighbors’ porch light. You could land planes by it and it shines directly into my room.
For years I’d read myself to sleep and fall asleep with the light on. I didn’t think it was affecting me. But I really do sleep much more soundly and for longer stretches with the curtains closed. I often wear a sleep mask as well.
I occasionally use chewable melatonin tablets that I got at Trader Joe’s. I save that for when I’m amped up about something and expect my mind to be racing.
I think one of my problems is that I am to exceited about starting the next day. It seems I end each day with a project that I will need to pick back up on in the morning. I go to bed thinking about it. I usually leave my house for my girlfriends house at a point where I feel I have not quite finished where I needed to be for that day. If I were home I would bring it to some conclusion so I could relax.
one thing I noticed with a lot my friends who have trouble faling asleep is that they also almost always have some degree of restless leg syndrome/leg twitches.
you can get medication for that
Exercise. I work out on a regular basis and find that if I miss a day or two it becomes much harder to fall asleep. Sometimes I’ll play racquetball to the point of near-collapse. A hot shower and maybe a beer and I’m out in minutes. Not that its necessary to go that far. Just an hour of moderate exercise could be a great help.
If you watch TV or use a tablet/PC right before bedtime, you might want to stop doing that at least an hour before bedtime.
Staring at the screen’s light can trick your body into acting like it’s still daytime.
Not everyone has this problem, but it’s worth a try.
also for android there is app that filters out the blue light of the screen, could make a diffrence