I have insomnia. Does anyone have any tips on how to get to sleep faster?
- Thread starter Delliar
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I've had trouble sleeping since a motorcycle accident and a TBI, my sleep schedule is pretty fucked up as it is, but when coming up to protracted breaks and the like I've found trying to create a solid schedule of rest and activity helps. Forcing yourself to not sleep until a very specific time if you couldn't (for a variety of reason, work, study, etc) sleep the night before.
If you manage to get into that schedule of actually getting decent sleep at a specific time at regular intervals, try not to break it for anything.
Secondly you might want to look at the reasons for your insomnia, maybe talk to your doctor and discuss treatment strategies or perhaps counselling if it is manifesting worrying signs of anxiety or depressive disorders. Sleep is incredibly important for both physical and mental wellbeing. It's a cornerstone of psychological fortitude in terms of dealing with stress, general happiness, critical in longterm memory store, emotional regulation and (thus) healthy/positive social engagement such as working with others and getting ontop of your studies/workloads.
If you're getting into a vicious cycle where your lack of sleep is beginning to affect social functioning, which is causing you serious anxiety and possible depressive disorders, then counsellors and talking to your doctor for short term solutions to getting necessary sleep may be the best way to address problems before there is longterm impairment that will actively prevent you further from healthy rest.
If you manage to get into that schedule of actually getting decent sleep at a specific time at regular intervals, try not to break it for anything.
Secondly you might want to look at the reasons for your insomnia, maybe talk to your doctor and discuss treatment strategies or perhaps counselling if it is manifesting worrying signs of anxiety or depressive disorders. Sleep is incredibly important for both physical and mental wellbeing. It's a cornerstone of psychological fortitude in terms of dealing with stress, general happiness, critical in longterm memory store, emotional regulation and (thus) healthy/positive social engagement such as working with others and getting ontop of your studies/workloads.
If you're getting into a vicious cycle where your lack of sleep is beginning to affect social functioning, which is causing you serious anxiety and possible depressive disorders, then counsellors and talking to your doctor for short term solutions to getting necessary sleep may be the best way to address problems before there is longterm impairment that will actively prevent you further from healthy rest.
Light sanitizing your room can help a lot. Any lights, especially the fancy blue status lights on most electronics these days can be bright enough to fool your body into thinking its still day time. Point your alarm clock away from you. Lower any screen's contrast and brightness level. Put yourself in a darker environment at the end of the day and your body will thank you for it.
I have occasional sleep paralysis and wake up trapped, my body fully unable to move, and sometimes it takes a good 30mins before the rest of me wakes up, so I really don't like waking up. Going to sleep I love, and sleeping so too. Waking up is sometimes a living nightmare.
Every now and there I take a melatonin with a tall glass of milk before bed. It helps keep my brain asleep as long as my body. Other than that maybe 3 fingers of whiskey over ice? I'm a big fan of self-medicating within reason.
Every now and there I take a melatonin with a tall glass of milk before bed. It helps keep my brain asleep as long as my body. Other than that maybe 3 fingers of whiskey over ice? I'm a big fan of self-medicating within reason.
Don't stare at any sort of screen before bedtime. Especially social media (for additional reasons.)
Adopt a familiar ritual to "train" your body that this is what goes on before bed (I put on pajamas, I brush my teeth, I listen to music...)
You might be helped by an eyemask and/or earplugs to block out ambient light and noise (both are available at most drugstores fairly cheap.)
Don't eat within an hour of bedtime if heartburn is a problem.
Melatonin works for some people; if necessary, a doctor can prescribe something like Ambien if it's an ongoing problem. Some people also find the scent of lavender has a calming effect.
Adopt a familiar ritual to "train" your body that this is what goes on before bed (I put on pajamas, I brush my teeth, I listen to music...)
You might be helped by an eyemask and/or earplugs to block out ambient light and noise (both are available at most drugstores fairly cheap.)
Don't eat within an hour of bedtime if heartburn is a problem.
Melatonin works for some people; if necessary, a doctor can prescribe something like Ambien if it's an ongoing problem. Some people also find the scent of lavender has a calming effect.
I find ASMR helps me. Shuts up the chatter in my head, lets me drift off. Look some up on youtube or something, see if it works for you
All right, here you go:Delliar said:
1. Don't watch TV, computer or other screens about an hour before bedtime (at least).
2. Don't drink coffee, coke or other stuff with caffeine before bedtime.
3. Don't eat heavily or junk food. 4. Sleep on warn and comfortable mattress. Find many reviews of different mattresses on Sleepissimple
The best thing that has helped me when unable to sleep (which is like half of all nights) is to fantasize. When you close your eyes to try and get to sleep start writing a purely fictional story in your mind. Though nothing too difficult, or your mind will still be too busy. And whenever you notice your mind wandering to other subjects force it back to the story. Usually helps me sleep within 15 minutes or so.
My go-to options for going to sleep both revolve around youtube. I'm subbed to an english(?) guy and his voice/accent is pleasant sounding enough that I can use it as white noise to pass out to. So if you can find a soothing kind of talker to just leave going in the background, that could help. If not that, then I load up one of those 10 hour, black screen videos that play light music or storm sounds or whatever, set my laptop to shut off in about 2 hours and then just lay in the darkness.
I don't have experience with full-blown insomnia, but when I occasionally have trouble sleeping it's usually because there is something on my mind (usually work related) and I can't stop my brain working at a hundred miles an hour. The trick I've got for helping with this is to derail your brain a couple of hours before going to bed. Give the brain something to focus on, a task that requires concentration but is ultimately achievable (reading books/watching tv/computer games are no good for this as you can easily fall into the 'one more chapter/episode/level' trap) so that afterwards your brain can 'power down' allowing you to sleep easier.
I have a great tip to try because I suffer from bouts of insomnia too. Have you ever done the meditation body scan? It works a treat. Do it while lying in bed: https://www.mindful.org/beginners-body-scan-meditation/
You basically have to bring awareness to each part of your body, concentrating on internal sensations starting at your toes and going up to your head. There's a guided meditation audio file in the link.
I started doing this years ago when I first started suffering from pain in my face through TMJ.
Also, as others have said, avoid caffeine in the afternoon/evening and don't stare at screens when you go to bed.
You basically have to bring awareness to each part of your body, concentrating on internal sensations starting at your toes and going up to your head. There's a guided meditation audio file in the link.
I started doing this years ago when I first started suffering from pain in my face through TMJ.
Also, as others have said, avoid caffeine in the afternoon/evening and don't stare at screens when you go to bed.