I don't like the nights. Lying in bed, waiting... doing my best to fall asleep but not being sure how one can even 'do their best' to fall asleep. Trying to not think of my worries. Getting distracted by the pain from my right hand's fingers, about which I can't do anything at the moment. Considering if I should take another trip to the bathroom, as the last time I went was less than 15 minutes ago. Considering if I should go downstairs and take another 2.5 milligrams of melatonin... I really don't want to, though, I want to be able to make do with 2.5 mg so when Summer comes around again 5 mg will be enough. Changing position again. Changing again, as this doesn't lie comfortably. Changing position yet again, as one of my muscles is having spasms and it's distracting me. Trying to think about positive things, yet at the same time trying to not think about them too much so I won't get excited and leave my sleepy mode. Looking forward to the day, but unsatisfyingly as I don't know how to get through the night. Eventually, I'll fall asleep. Dream interesting, but tiring dreams. Wake up again, to go to the toilet, and then worry I will not fall asleep again. Most of the time, I will, fortunately. Then finally, I fall asleep at a late enough time so - unless I'm getting a nightmare - I'll sleep until a time reasonable to get out of bed at. I get out of bed, and start the day. But I am still tired. ~ Wanted to get that out. There's one thing I'd like to try. Well, in fact I wouldn't really like to try it, but I feel like I need to try it. I'm going to make an agreement with you guys. As should be clear, my body doesn't make enough melatonin. That's one of the reasons I don't sleep well. But I know that using electronics suppresses the production of melatonin. In testweeks, I've set myself the rule to not use my iPad after 8 PM. And it actually seemed to help quite a bit. I didn't want to keep it up afterwards, though. But I think now I want to try for an entire month. As I desire to not be tired for a bit. I've been tired for weeks, perhaps a month, or more. I go to bed tired, lie in bed tired, wake up tired, and am tired throughout the day. I can do work, I can have fun, but I could perform and, moreover, feel a lot better if I wasn't always so tired. Let's make a compromis, though, as 8 PM seems so difficult for me. How about 20:15? That gives me some time to wrap up things, and complete doing what I want to do before 20:15, so I can actually have it on the charger and without use at 20:15. If you're wondering what I usually do in the evening: EMC. And that's why it's so difficult for me to make this choice. I want to sleep well. Of course I do. But I also want to enjoy my days. And I can really enjoy my evenings while doing some reading or something... but I've gotten used to spending my evenings at EMC. And I've been really enjoying doing so. But surely, I can do this challenge for a month. Then, afterwards, we can try to evaluate if it helped and how much it helped, and if it's worth the time I'm missing at EMC. And hey, I'll have enough time left throughout most of the days to go through my alerts and vote, of course... I don't need to spend hours every day on these forums, I'm probably one of the few people who does. So, hey. Let's start this today. January 4th. I'll keep this going until February 4th. We'll see how it goes.
Sorry it's difficult for you to sleep. What I tend to do is to lay in bed and think about what i want to dream. Before you know it it's morning. Also having a pitch black room to sleep in is best... No distracting light sources.
At the risk of maybe sounding a little silly or weird (as if that has ever stopped me before) but please keep in mind that I'm very serious here and definitely not joking around. First of all: don't focus too much about what others tell you or about the known stereotypes about sleeping. A lot of people react in a completely different way. Coffee is often said to help you stay awake, it's used in plenty of movies and cartoons. Yeah, so how come that I very often drink one or two cups of coffee before I go to bed and sleep like a baby? I use both a Senseo device (for one cup) as well as normal filter thingie (when I want 2 or more coffee). But I definitely recognize myself in your story. Especially when I'm in a very hectic period. When I start thinking about contracts, work to do, time, etc, etc. then I continue to worry and that will result in a mess. This is exactly one of the reasons why I play Minecraft. It's about the only game I can safely play and then head onto bed right away without any side effects. I'll sleep like a charm. Well, that and Solitaire I suppose. But when I find myself having trouble sleeping I try to relax. It's silly but if often works. You know that you got plenty of muscles, right? So first concentrate on your left (or right) foot. Relax your muscles, ease up, let it 'drop' on the bed and try to focus on not feeling anything in there because it's loosened up. Then go up and check your shin muscles, then your thigh, then the other leg. Then your all your fingers, one by one and the rest of your arm. Note: I'm not talking about just trying to move it around and thinking "ok", but actually trying to make it 'relaxed'. I never managed to get past 2 legs and one hand Maybe that could work? Ok, you got it If I see you in-game around 20:15, or a little later, I'll be sure to tell you that it's time to stop & prepare for bed. Hopefully you'll get your reminder and I'll be feeling waaay too old than is good for me I wish you all the best here, and yeah, I'm serious: if I can help you out a bit then I will
Thank you! This seems like good advice. And honestly, I didn't even post this to get advice: the idea for this thread stemmed from simply wanting to vent to somewhere public instead of my mother who has heard me complain enough, and then (the same night) I decided I'd do this challenge, and I would post about that too, so I'd be able to hold myself accountable.
Oh, I know the pain of not being able to sleep, some days I've gone to school without any sleep. You kinda get used to it after 8 years though.. Yeah, but, your challenge sounds like it might do you some good, so good luck with it! =)
Just so that you know, I'm now going to check all posts you make to see if you're not emc'ing too late
I really know how difficult it is to put away your tablet/laptop/computer at bedtime and especially before that. So you've got quite a challenge there! I also know the feeling of moving around the entire time when not being able to sleep. That only happens to me when I'm sick though. But nevertheless, it's very annoying. I ususally use music when I go to sleep. I connect my phone to my speakers, use a sleep timer app (Android, there's probably a good option for iOS and WP as well) to turn off the music after 90 minutes, and play my spotify playlist. This might not work for everyone, but you should definitely try it to see if it works out for you. Feel free to use (music from) my playlist if you'd like to. I know you didn't ask for advice, but I'm subborn, so I'm doing it anyways Final note: I typed this on my phone so there are probably some errors here and there, please forgive me. Also putting urls in is a pain >.> And good luck with your challenge! EDIT: Holy crap, did it seriously take me over 20 mins to type this!? >.>
Thanks for taking the time and effort, then! I'm quite happy with the other comments too: very motivating!
I am really tempted to try 'make the most out of my time'... But since 8 PM I've read everything I want to read right now, and not really anything new has been posted... So what use would there be in waiting 5 more minutes, to then be late again? So, I'm signing off now.
I know how it feels to not be able to sleep. What worked for me (and continues to work) is to do something repetitive. I have this game on my phone that is 'Doctor Who Legacy' or something. Basically it is a swipe and match game. The trick is that the game itself has progressed to a point where there are these battles that have more than 5 separate mini-battles in them. They usually take 20+ minutes to complete. I started playing only at night and the repetitive motion/lack of real thought required put me to sleep. Now 10 minutes into the battle, even if it's 2 pm in the afternoon, and I start to get sleepy. Alternatively I have this warm (and heavy) cat that likes to sit right on my chest any time that I lay down. It's easy to fall asleep with a warm kitty holding you down. I don't know if any of this is actually helpful to your predicament, but it worked for me. I figured it maybe could work for someone else.
I had problems sleeping when I was working at my last job. I actually had a sleep app that grades how well you sleep and I would regularly get about 40%. When I switched jobs, I had to completely switch my sleeping cycle too. I used melatonin supplements until I got into a routine and they helped out a lot. Another thing I've noticed that helps is figuring out how many hours of sleep you need to feel rested. Everyone says 8 hours, but a healthy night's sleep can be anywhere from 7 to 9 hours. I was sleeping about 8.5 hours and wondering why I still felt tired when I got up. It turns out I was sleeping too much. Now, I sleep about 7.5 hours per night and it feels a lot better. You might also try the sleep app just to see how you're sleeping when you do fall asleep. It'll show movement and such. Good luck though . I know a lot of people understand your struggle, but it's incredibly important to fix it as best you can because it can cause health problems.
I remember when I had trouble sleeping, I wasn't bothered by anything; felt like my body just wouldn't power down. It eventually caught up with work and school and I became really run down. I never went to see a doctor for medication because I hated the thought of taking pills. One day, I discovered something called "ASMR" videos on youtube. It was the perfect for me, I would lay in bed lights off with my eyes closed listening to "ASMR" videos and within 20 minutes or so, I would be out like a light. To me, someone whispering ear to ear, cupping my "ears" felt so relaxing. As asmr picked up, there's a huge variety of different types of "ASMR" videos out there on youtube. Maybe you should give it a go, if you do, I recommended finding binaural videos only (if you have earbuds/headset.) They're the best, because it feels 100x more realistic. Anyways, I wish you all the best and hope you start getting a better nights rest.
Today was an exception to this 'rule': I was having fun at a party with friends. We played a LEGO version of Guitar Hero until fairly late into the evening, so... I was really good at it, though, better than the host, while I hadn't ever played it before! Of course, perhaps that was to be expected from such an experienced gamer and musician... Anyway: Not going to check EMC either way. I'm not even reading my inbox or reading the new posts in this thread; there will be time enough for that tomorrow, and it's more than late enough now. Good night!
Thanks for telling us, you did get me puzzled here Aiming for 20:15, then posting around 23:00 Welterusten & good dreams!
I always have trouble getting to sleep. My usual sleep is around 3-4 hours but recently I have not been able to sleep at all. Every night when I go in my bed it takes my an hour to get comfortable and I keep tossing and turning. Once I finally get to sleep I wake up 30 minutes later with my blankets on the floor. I dont know what is wrong but I am always tired now in school. I even fell asleep once in Science ( woops xD ). I tried imagining counting sheep in my head, counting, and trying different breathing patterns! I end up meditating in my bed trying to seek peace ( and maybe fall asleep ), chanting random things, talking to myself about mythology, speaking to the stars/finding constellations if I can, and Talking to the zodiac ( Taurus, Aquarius, Leo, Virgo, etc... ) Yes I know im weird -_- Anyways, I just cant fall asleep at night anymore :/ I wish I knew why...
They also say taking sonething warm... like warm milk or water or herbal teas can help. Just sit... relax... drink... then go lie down. Also the right music or sound... notging heacy. I remeber when i didnt sleep much . Busy time of my life... always something on my mind. It usually doesnt last forever. so patience and... like they said... try to relax . Or you could see if you can be banned daily from 8pm til 6 am... ?
Thanks everyone, for the comments! @Krysyy and @ZombieInstinct: I'm glad those things work out for you! However, at the moment I won't be trying them, as both of your solutions seem to actually use a screen, while my challenge tells me not to. And I don't like having 'smart' devices in my bedroom anyway. Haha, no, that's not needed!
I voted yes in the poll, even though the nights where I have trouble sleeping aren't necessarily "frequent" (Although it's 2:30 AM as I'm typing this). I don't have any suggestions to help you sleep better, but I definitely do share in the pain. I often find nights where I don't get to sleep when I want to, and concentrating on sleeping only keeps me up even longer. I do wish the best for you, though, because I know the feeling of getting little to no sleep in a night.
Can't really relate all that much. I go to sleep just fine - it just never stops me feeling tired. I can get 8 hours of sleep in a night and still be battling to stay awake in class lol. Nice to see you venting about this though. I hope you succeed
