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17 January 2010
I can't sleep. What do you do when you can't sleep?
I just took another ambien. Insomnia has been a problem for me lately. Someone recommended Overcoming Insomnia by Jacobsen but I have not located it yet. Hope you get to sleep soon Janet.
Um, I come here, and see if anyone else can't sleep. Hi!
Or:
I play Scrabble online against a bot.
I take a hot bath with the lights turned down dim.
I take a Benadryl.
I listen to This American Life.
I lie in the dark and make anagrams from random words.
When I'm totally awake and have no chance of getting to sleep, I just decide "Well, I'm up now!" and do something productive: write or research or wash dishes or whatever.
It's really unusual for me to be unable to sleep. Alas, I have no bathtub, so that idea's out, but I'll try lying in the dark and listening to something on the radio.
Usually, when I can't sleep, I stay up on the internet and dread how exhausted I'm going to be the next day. If I'm particularly smart, I move from my bed to the floor because sometimes that breaks the anxiety cycle that's causing my insomnia.
In the absence of a tub, a hot shower might work just as well. I take care not to get my hair wet, since that makes it harder for me to get to sleep. Lavender soap (or burning a candle with a drop of lavender oil) helps me, either through aromatherapy or placebo, and I don't worry about which it is.
I'm sorry. Insomnia sucks. I usually have exactly the opposite problem these days, but reading, crosswords, or logic puzzles have helped me nod off. Some sort of logic puzzle with few enough elements to hold them all in my head so that I can lay down, close my eyes, and try to work it out mentally (no pencil and paper) is quite good. Or I might concentrate on a stubbornly tough clue from a cryptic crossword.
If the bedroom is untidy, take the time to clean it up and put on fresh bed linens. If it's cold out, crack the window and snuggle up under the blankets. Herbal tea. Perhaps some white noise? I can usually sleep better with a fan running, for example.
but I'm sure you are asleep by now! Sweet dreams! *tiptoes out of thread*
Arg. The animals in the neighborhood are restless, too. A bit ago, the big dog upstairs started barking wildly and running around, her claws clicking and thumping loudly on the floor above me.
And now a cat is out in the cold night right outside my window, yowling long and loud.
Poor animals. At least I have a laptop to distract me.
Instead of counting sheep, I try to mentally drive from home to someplace I know well - imagining the scenery going by, the turns in the road etc etc. That generally sends me to sleep.
Otherwise, I just get up and sit at the laptop and read something totally light like MyLifeIsAverage, and then try going to sleep again.
I used to make little daydream movies for myself but they ended up so exciting that I got more awake than I started out. Overactive imagination for the win! :(
hee! I like the Swan's suggestion. That made me smile at 7am on a Sunday.
I'm a grad student who is committed to get 6-7 hours sleep/night so usually I sleep pretty soundly. Writing a thesis is draining (see why I'm up on 7am Sunday with no alarm clock) - you could write it up for me...I'm sure that would cure your insomnia pretty darn quick ;)
What about yoga/deep breathing/meditation techniques? You can even do that in bed with the lights off. Stretch your legs by pointing your toes forward, hold for 10 seconds and repeat. Stretching your hip flexor and do ankle rotations also are good bed-exercises.
I kind of have the opposite problem, I can't stay up past 11:30 even if I want to. I've been that way since I was about 25; I had to go through both my (second try) undergrad career and grad school without being able to stay up late and work. I could be in the middle of a writing a paper at the computer and my head just involuntarily falls forward and I'm asleep. Usually I get enough warning that I can get to a bed but once my body decides to sleep, there's nothing I can do about it.
Orange Swan's idea has worked for me in the past. What? I'm being honest!!
Or I'll tell myself stories - that usually does it. If all else fails, I'll get up, read a little, put in my earplugs (the sound of my own breathing sometimes helps, too) and try again. Hope you got to sleep at last!
I count down from some insanely large number.
Listen to music.
Terry gross can usually knock me out within 15 minutes.
Concoct an elaborate backdrop for a dream.
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