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What are your tricks...

kathryn i am

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
... for curing insomnia? I woke up at 4:30am, and can't get back to sleep. I've tried yoga, soothing music, deep breathing... posting on TrekBBS ;)

What are some of your tried and tested ways of getting (back) to sleep?
 
I put on a DVD that I know I won't stay awake for. This is usually something I have watched many, many times and includes some Star Trek episodes, the Lord of the Ring movie or some David Attenborough DVD.

I tell myself that I am going to stay awake until a certain point. For example, if I had the Fellowship of the Ring on I would tell myself to stay awake until the start of birthday party. I am rarely able to stay awake until the allotted scene.
 
I usually just stay awake. I'd rather do something useful (or entertaining) than being in bed with my eyes wide open. It just makes me more and more annoyed.
 
Yeah, I'm an insomniac from way back, but if I'd awoken at 4:30 I probably would've just stayed up.

But, if it had been, say, 2:30 ..., first thing is to get OUT of bed once you've realized you're not going to fall back to sleep because you'll just angst yourself out. Get up, go to another room and maybe grab a book or a magazine and start reading ... but preferably not anything that's going to get you all jazzed up and into it or you'll be up all night. :p For some people TV or a movie will work. If you know you're the kind of person for whom TV is a sleep aid, then this can work great (but it just wakes me up more.)

When you get sleepy, go back to bed, and a little white noise always helps (a fan, for instance.)

Hope you were able to get back to sleep. insomnia really sucks.
 
I usually can't sleep when I'm worried about something and then nothing helps but to find some kind of solution to that problem. It doesn't have to be big discovery it can be just a calming thought, or rational version of what ever bothers me. That gives me some peace, so it definitely works in most of the cases.
If that doesn't work then I grab a book, or even better watch something that I am not too much interested in, and usually fall asleep in no time.
Other "methods" would be praying, thinking of something I am up to tomorrow, deep breathing...
 
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A fifth of Scotch.

:lol:

I'm having insomnia issues lately too. In fact, I am hearing that a lot of my friends are too. WTF is up with this??

I have one of those tiny reading lights next to my side of the bed, so i keep a book close by and read ...that helps me sometimes. But other times i just have to get up and out of bed, go into the LR and put the tv on. Eventually i fall back to sleep, although on the couch and not in bed. Don't know how old you are but it could be menopause.
 
Cheese & crackers. Or some other form of calcium. The calcium is a natural soporific the will help you relax enough to fall back to sleep.

Jan
 
When I have trouble sleeping, there's one technique I use that works every time. It may not work for anyone else, but maybe it will give you ideas.

I lay flat on my back, close my eyes, and imagine myself lying in a meadow (or some other plain and rather uninteresting scene). It's bright and sunny out. Gradually, I sink into the ground, and the light above diminishes, little by little. I usually imagine I am sinking into a rectangular hole, but if you're afraid of coffins or something that might not be the best thing to think about. :lol: Anyway, the point is that the light gets farther and farther away as you continue to sink, and by the time it becomes a pinpoint I am usually out.

It's not quite like counting sheep, but I find it very relaxing and a good way to clear my thoughts so I can sleep. It probably goes without saying that shifting around and thinking about other things will totally wreck the process.
 
I fantasise about what I'd do if I had magical powers. :vulcan: After about 20 minutes of using my powers to make women's tops fall off, I start getting into more interesting stuff. For example, I imagine myself going to the Pope, pretending that I'm god and tell him to drop the Catholic Churches more offensive positions, such as lying about the effectiveness of condoms to communities with an AIDS epidemic. Or I might magic up a spaceship, fly to China and threaten to destroy their military if they don't bring about democratic reforms. Or I'd threaten Mitch Hurwitz into writing the script for the Arrested Development movie already! There's no limit to what you can imagine if you imagine having limitless powers.

After a couple of minutes I usually get too tired to think about these things in detail any more, at which point I imagine things more generally and hope to slide into sleep.
 
Reading's good but it has to be an old favourite; something you feel relaxed and comfortable with like an old friend.

On the other hand that gives me another idea.;)
 
I've stopped trying to cure insomnia. If I'm sleepy, I'll sleep. If I can't sleep, I just find something else to do.

However, I have noticed that I've been sleeping better since I've start waking up early and exercising in the beginning of the day.
 
I settle in for a long Kirk/Spock fanfic (90% of those things are not very good). I rarely reach the end of the story.
 
^ :lol:

There or those who don't? :p

The trick is to not pick a really fantastic story though, or you will feel far from sleepy!
 
I'll usually grab a paperback book that I've read 20 times and go take a warm bath. If that doesn't work after 30 minutes or so, I'll try one or two shots of JD. That almost always works. When it doesn't, I'll just stay up.
 
Try reading a textbook. It put you to sleep back in school, so why not now.

Masturbate. For guys at least, after completion is the most sleep inducing moment on earth.
 
I read alot, so that helps sometimes. If it doesn't and I can't get to sleep no matter what, I quit trying and just get up.
 
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