Sleep drains me

[gustavofring]

That sounds weird, because sleep should have the opposite effect, but it's true. I only go to sleep very late lately, almost 3/4 am. I do try to sleep earlier but it just doesn't work, because I lay awake and my brain suddenly starts doing overtime.

I literally go over all my life, every mistake, how things should be, what I need to do, what I need to be, that I am 29 and have nothing to show for it, whereas others of my age, do.... I also suddenly get this sort of weird nervous energy, and motivation. In the middle of the damn night. I try meditation, to clear my head, but it's hard and thoughts just come in through the back door.

But then when I finally fall to sleep, the next day I wake up feeling absolutely drained and sluggish, like a vampire had his way with me. I feel like hiding indoors, just sitting behind the computer. Then I end up doing almost nothing again, until the night comes, when the thoughts come racing again. What a terrible vicious cycle.

Right now I'm pulling an all nighter in a desperate attempt to get out of this horrible sleep cycle, and although I feel pretty terrible and my stomach is upset from the caffeine, at least I don't feel like my brain is stuffed and my physical energy and motivation drained ike it normally does after sleeping.

 

[LazyHermitCrab]

Hey here are some tips that have helped me that might help you too. 1) I leave the tv on that's something happy or a movie so I'm listening to that too instead of focusing on my thoughts too much... also a book on tape 2) I put rain music on or some other nature sound 3) I open the window slightly so air circulates from the natural world more 4) drinking warm milk before bed and/or decaf peppermint tea okay those are the main tips... I don't usually do all at once but you should try some of them if you haven't

 

[gustavofring]

Hi Hermitcrab, thanks for the suggestions. But these simple homemade solutions atm don't cut it unfortunately, even though I try. I just lay awake.

My body is just out of whack. I now even sleep at like 5/6 o clock in the morning. It's incredibly hard to get back on track. mg:

 

[Ithior]

When I find myself thinking about my life and so on, I try to imagine a fantasy setting and just doing stuff. Might be killing monsters for example. What matters is that it is unrelated to my life. I also try to imagine things from a first person perspective, which I have trouble doing at first, but I always end up falling asleep after a bit. If I didn't do this I'd stay awake for a couple of hours thinking about my life.
You should also wake up early, since that will make it easier to fall asleep at night even if you don't feel tired.

Another thing I sometimes do when I can't fall asleep is take Alprazolam. It's a medicine to calm me down when I feel anxious, but it only makes me feel sleepy. I'm not suggesting it, but using something like that can be helpful some times. Just make sure you don't use it every night or you won't be able to fall asleep on your own. I use it when I'm not sleeping at home or the night before an exam for example, but I have also used it when I wanted to go to bed earlier than usual.


You can also try something like this: How to Naturally Reset Your Sleep Cycle in One Night

 

[MotherWolff]

That sounds weird, because sleep should have the opposite effect, but it's true. I only go to sleep very late lately, almost 3/4 am. I do try to sleep earlier but it just doesn't work, because I lay awake and my brain suddenly starts doing overtime.

I literally go over all my life, every mistake, how things should be, what I need to do, what I need to be, that I am 29 and have nothing to show for it, whereas others of my age, do.... I also suddenly get this sort of weird nervous energy, and motivation. In the middle of the damn night. I try meditation, to clear my head, but it's hard and thoughts just come in through the back door.

But then when I finally fall to sleep, the next day I wake up feeling absolutely drained and sluggish, like a vampire had his way with me. I feel like hiding indoors, just sitting behind the computer. Then I end up doing almost nothing again, until the night comes, when the thoughts come racing again. What a terrible vicious cycle.

Right now I'm pulling an all nighter in a desperate attempt to get out of this horrible sleep cycle, and although I feel pretty terrible and my stomach is upset from the caffeine, at least I don't feel like my brain is stuffed and my physical energy and motivation drained ike it normally does after sleeping.

You need to cut out that shitty caffeine, stop using the computer all day, stop the medications, and stop worrying at night(or really at all)!

Replace these poor habits with good habits instead like excercising.

Instead of using medications, that you can become very dependent on and addicted to, for a sleep aid, use melatonin, 5HTP, valerian root, kava kava, and/or catnip herbal supplements at bedtime.

You will notice a difference in your sleep patterns in a few days to a week.

God Bless!:thumbup:

 

[sonia]

Trust me I faced the exact same thing ... There is just one way out... Whatever thought enters your mind face it ... reason... Instead of running away from the thought relive it ... reason why you did what you did ... cure yourself out of it ... running from it will bring these thoughts back... Im not saying you will be cured immediately ... but as you face your thoughts they will stop coming back to haunt you ... I used to go through the exact same thing ... Until it got so bad that I used to not get sleep for over 48 hours ... It was horrible ... try it and let me know

 

[Sacrament]

Get busy with productive things during the day so that when you go to bed at night, you're not focusing on all the things that went/are going wrong, but on all the productive things you'll do tomorrow to keep your life going in the right direction. Also, the more things you do, the more tired you are when you go to bed.

 

[Mokkat]

I know that routine. These days I usually just postpone sleeping with a book or watching something on the computer until I'm too tired and can sleep without lying there pondering my situation.

Do you use F.lux? It's a godsend if you go to sleep right after using the computer.
Also, the single thing that drains my energy and mood the most is going to sleep late, setting an alarm for 5-6 hours later (to try getting up at a reasonable time), waking up to shut off the alarm and then falling asleep again for a couple of hours. After getting up I feel completely bombed until many hours later. If I don't set the alarm or set it to ring later and don't have wake up up for that minute or two, I get up refreshed and much more positive.

 

[S_Spartan]

I know that routine. These days I usually just postpone sleeping with a book or watching something on the computer until I'm too tired and can sleep without lying there pondering my situation.

Do you use F.lux? It's a godsend if you go to sleep right after using the computer.
Also, the single thing that drains my energy and mood the most is going to sleep late, setting an alarm for 5-6 hours later (to try getting up at a reasonable time), waking up to shut off the alarm and then falling asleep again for a couple of hours. After getting up I feel completely bombed until many hours later. If I don't set the alarm or set it to ring later and don't have wake up up for that minute or two, I get up refreshed and much more positive.

What is F.lux?

 

[Steiner]

I have this problem but I take sleep inducing meds so that seems to help me.

 

[Steiner]

What is F.lux?

It's a program which dims your computer screen based on the time of day. Gives it an orange hue late at night instead of the bright blue which can keep you up. Much easier on the eyes.


https://justgetflux.com/

 

[Mokkat]

What is F.lux?

A program that automatically lowers the colour temp of your screen based on sundown/-set for your area. To cause less straining when you look at a screen with no other light in the room or only low colour temp lamps, and to help melatonin production.

 

[S_Spartan]

^Very interesting idea.
And since my life has been reduced to a series of screens a very good idea!