so is this like insomnia, or an anxiety thing, or what?

[edgecrusher]

i have trouble falling asleep. my mind goes a mile a minute and i just lay in bed for over an hour before i fall asleep. sometimes when i wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or something i lay back down and its the same thing. i think about where im at in life, things i have missed out on in the past, and my loneliness. it happens like half the nights in a week. im on my computer at 4:50 am right now because i finished watching a movie (the lovely bones, it was good but had a random ending) over 30 mins ago and i couldnt fall asleep.

 

[dead]

yeah, that happens to me all the bloody time :/ i am DEAD tired (hehe, dead. nice going.), but can't sleep. :/
hmm... well, i just do random things then, draw or listen to stuff...

 

[kelbo]

What do you do in the day? What time do you drag yourself out of bed?

If you sit about all day and vegetate then your mind will be active because you've not done anything all day. Try exhausting your body and mind out in the daytime then you should be able to sleep. Go for a run and then read a book

Oh and make sure you drag yourself out of bed at a decent hour too!

 

[Brian]

I'm not an expert but I think of it like this:

If the mind racing is causing you to stay awake, it's definitely an anxiety problem.

If you otherwise sometimes just lay there awake and cannot sleep, I think that's insomnia.

I've had the same problems off and on in my life.

 

[edgecrusher]

I'm not an expert but I think of it like this:

If the mind racing is causing you to stay awake, it's definitely an anxiety problem.

If you otherwise sometimes just lay there awake and cannot sleep, I think that's insomnia.

I've had the same problems off and on in my life.

when it happens its because of my mind. to try to prevent this almost every night i have to throw in a dvd, like something with a lot of episodes on a disc like futuram aor south park and literally watch it until i am passing out. sometimes that doesnt happen until after 5 am, sometimes later than that.

 

[Mike Moose]

Yeah..i hate that when I'm trying to get to sleep and my thoughts won't shut up..i normally think of a song..also thinking of a snowstorm at night in a quiet forest relaxes things for me..
I generally keep myself busy during the day,recording music,artwork and keeping myself fed and read all the other daily things..
i also love detective point and click computer games to keep my logic ticking over..
Walking in to an empty flat/apartment gets to me sometimes.i always imagine catwoman from 'batman returns' walking into her place and calling out,"honey I'm home!"....and then saying.."oh yeah I'm not married"

 

[cheaptrickfan]

It doesn't have to be an either/or thing. Sometimes anxiety comes with insomnia as a result of not being able to shut down your mind. I get insomnia when I have manic/hypo-manic episodes, and it's just as you've described, mind racing.

For a while I was dependent on prescription sleep pills, but really that was not a good solution for everyday sleep problems. You know, it's like treating an ant infestation with a hydrogen bomb. I did need them when I was verging on a week's worth of days with fewer than 2 hours sleep, though.

What has helped me a lot as a daily cure is establishing a meditation routine at night to help slow me down. I start out with a breath-focused, whole-body relaxation. Sometimes that underlying physical tension preoccupies the mind as well. Anyway, once I'm done with the physical relaxation, I move on to the visualization techniques. Very often I drift right off to sleep in the middle of it.

I hope you find some relief soon.

 

[Drama]

For a while I was dependent on prescription sleep pills, but really that was not a good solution for everyday sleep problems.

I heard that an "overdose" of these kind of pills can kill ..

What has helped me a lot as a daily cure is establishing a meditation routine at night to help slow me down. I start out with a breath-focused, whole-body relaxation. Sometimes that underlying physical tension preoccupies the mind as well. Anyway, once I'm done with the physical relaxation, I move on to the visualization techniques. Very often I drift right off to sleep in the middle of it.

I agree but I need two three hours to relax, to sleep two hours and wake up again and have to use my imagination to creat paradise which take a long time then sleep some time and wake up so tired...

 

[cheaptrickfan]

For a while I was dependent on prescription sleep pills, but really that was not a good solution for everyday sleep problems.

I heard that an "overdose" of these kind of pills can kill ..

Yes. Too much of any sedative or hypnotic can be lethal, and even more so if they're combined with another depressant like alcohol or barbiturates like anti-anxiety drugs (valium, xanax, klonopin for example).

For acute insomnia though, they can be invaluable because an extreme bout of sleep deprivation is a bad thing. Once I went almost week on a little over 2 hours of sleep total and thought I was having a breakdown.

 

[Talus]

How much exercise do you get in a day? I know it might not make sense that a physical think would relate to a mental thing but getting more exercise would probably make a huge difference.

In the last 6 months or so I've started running nearly every day. Before that it'd take me up to 2 hours to get to sleep, and if I woke up in the middle of the night, well forget about it, I was up. The whole time my mind would be racing thinking about all the thing's that made me unhappy or upset.

Now, I sleep in 15-20 minutes, and if I wake up I can generally get back to sleep without much trouble.

Meditation would certainly help as well as anything else that's mentally engaging - Which Futurama and South Park probably are not.

 

[Danielle]

I think i rely too heavily on my Meds to fall asleep. I take Klonopin at bedtime... so that I can fall asleep. I did take ambien, but did some silly stuff while taking it.. so I stopped it.

I have never been a good sleeper.. even with the meds... it takes me on average, about 2 hrs each night to fall asleep. I do get exercise during the day....i meditate, i do yoga, i've gone to sleeping workshops... you name it, i;ve done it. I think i have a chronic case of insomnia...

if you can do the sleeping thing without meds... that's the way to go... I wish you luck. Sorry i don't have any advice to offer you... (hug)

 

[coricopat]

Ditto what Danielle said. I'm having a sleep study done in a week or so, but I'm not really holding out much hope.

 

[edgecrusher]

ive always been a light sleeper anyway which doesnt help. i could never sleep well on a couch or in a chair or sitting up. on a 9 hour flight to san diego i never fell asleep other than nodding off and immediately waking up a couple times. its weird but i can only sleep decent in like a specific set of circumstances. it has to be pretty cool or even cold in my room and i have to be under a comforter. and it has to be really dark. as a kid i always had a humidifier in my room because of my allergies so i guess i got used to the noise. so now i have a fan on in my room at night year round. if one of these things is off it will cause me to sleep even worse than i normally do.

 

[evanescencefan91]

hmm I have similar problems is it stress related, are you worried about not going anywhere good in life?

It sounds stress related though I am not an expert

you wonder if it might be anxiety, why is that? Do you feel nervous or restless when you are trying to fall asleep?

have you looked up any wiki articles on anxeity and insomnia? there are many different kinds of anxiety, are you very often worrying about your future, or things you have to? Like I said probably stress, but if you find it happening often it could be generalized anxiety disorder I had that for a while until it evolved into panic disorder

lols

I'm serious too, like *pokemon evolution theme*

Generalized Anxiety disorder reached level 25 Genralized anxiety evolved into panic disorder

do do dolu do do dod odo



Have you thought about talking to a therapist about it? If it get's so bad that your life is affected it might be good to talk to a professional about it, they can probably help you to figure out what it is

if you haven't already checked them out here are the wiki links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia

more info

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-related-problems/insomnia-and-sleep

http://helpguide.org/mental/anxiety_types_symptoms_treatment.htm

as to fall asleep, the best way without medication ( my therapist tells me to do this a lot , i don't often follow through)

is sleep hygiene, as in get up everyday and go to sleep everyday at the same time, and eventually your body will fall into a rhythm making it easier to fall asleep

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_hygiene

if not, nightquell, as well as nightquell+cough syrup helps pretty well for falling asleep

( disclamer I am not responsible if for some reason this causes something bad to happen)

probably not, just make sure you don't take more than like 2 nightquell tables before you go to sleep

and bendaryell helps a little too

Seraquell is really ******* good at calming you down and putting you to sleep like a little baby, but it has a lot of long term risks and can a bit of a dosy to get off of

also exercise is good, if you excersise during the day to help wear yourself out,

and teddy bears making sleepytime a fun and cuddly time