Trouble sleeping/Sleep disorders

[Dudley]

The average person takes somewhere on the order of 15 minutes. I cannot remember the last time it took less than 40 minutes to fall asleep once I got into bed. If I do actually fall asleep "quickly", I'm a very light sleeper so I usually wake up at least once during the night, so then it's another battle trying to fall back asleep.

I drink maybe one cup of coffee in the morning and I never get wired or anything from it. It's usually some intrusive thought. For example, last night I cooked dinner for my family and they all said it was very good. I didn't think it was that great myself so I was convinced that they were all just being nice and my cooking is terrible. From there, I was convinced that everyone I talked to in the last few days was just lying to me. About an hour and a half after crawling into bed, I think I finally fell asleep.

Ugh. My question is, does anyone else have trouble sleeping either from OCD or a sleep disorder?

 

[SilentType]

I didn't get much sleep either of the last two nights. Last night I didn't sleep at all actually... I seem to go through occasional periods where insomnia is a major problem for me. I remember a 3 month stretch when I literally could only sleep every other night. It gets real frustrating when you're staying up for like 40-48 hours between sleeps.

I was supposed to get a sleep study done a while back to see if I have some kind of sleep disorder, but I chickened out at the last minute after I read they may ask me to take a drug test beforehand.

I don't have OCD either, but I definitely have had my fair share of insomnia.

BTW, where in PA r u from? I'm in Bradford County in Northeastern PA.


Peace

 

[Psychedelicious]

Electric Sleeping Wall

[COLOR="C00FF"]I have a weird problem with sleep, I'm not good at it. I honestly just never feel tired, and I don't know why. I can just stay up for days at a time, and I don't feel tired, I just feel weird until I eventually crash. I need little sleep to function normally, but it can be really frustrating sometimes. The only solution I have is to knock myself out with pills until I go to sleep. Everytime I have tried sleeping on my own I've been awake for over 24 hours. [/COLOR]

 

[Dudley]

Yeah, a schedule definitely helps. Of course, it can just add onto anxieties ("I have to get up in 6 hours and I'm still awake!"). Very jealous of all my family and friends that can just take a nap whenever they want. Although to be fair, it's not that big of a problem during the day because I don't like to sleep in anyway. I just get frustrated at night when I toss and turn, cursing at the clock.

I've thought about pills, but then I just worry about becoming dependent or running out when I really need them or something.

SilentType, I'm in Lehigh County, three counties south.

 

[LostinmyThoughts]

takes me so long to go to sleep its annoying cant seem to stop thinking about stuff...its especiallly worse when u think about not being able to got to sleep while ur in bed cuz then that thought just doesnt leave ur mind ...did that make any sense lol!

 

[pjc104]

i cant sleep right now... but its not a recurring theme, lol

 

[NothingElseMatters]

try reading something.this usually makes me sleepy

 

[Dudley]

try reading something.this usually makes me sleepy

Oh I read constantly and it does make me tired, but then when my head actually touches the pillow I get anxious about something and can't sleep. Thanks though.

 

[SilentType]

I've thought about pills, but then I just worry about becoming dependent or running out when I really need them or something.

In my experience, sleeping pills aren't the answer. I went through about 4 different medications that were intended to help me sleep at night - Ambien, Trazodone, Seroquel, and something else I forget... Each of them worked for about a month, but the insomnia would always return full force. Eventually my doc just told me nothing was going to work for me long term, and the best thing to help me sleep would be to get into a more active lifestyle. I agreed and started exercising every day and came to find out she was right. Unfortunately, as a depressed person whose life is ruled by panic attacks, I must say it's difficult to stay motivated to continue an exercise routine. I think just having a job would expend enough energy for me to be able to get to sleep at night. I'm about to have one of those perfect solitary jobs that many of us dream of, so maybe when that begins I'll be sleeping better.

If you can stay with it though, a good hour per day of strenuous exercise worked wonders for my insomnia, so I recommend that to you.


Peace

 

[bigchris]

I feel tired all the time, takes me around an hour to fall asleep, I've been sleeping 10+ hours a night in these holidays and still feel tired all the time.

 

[Flowers-Of-Bloom]

Hm, I wake up every three or so hours sometimes. Then it takes me another three hours to get back to sleep, regardless of how tired I am. I can lay in bed for five or six hours, wide awake, but dead tired.
Then there are the nights when I just sleep way too long, for 15 hours straight, and then wake up still tired.

 

[Lorraine Manca]

If i go through bad sleep deprivation, during the day it feels like an altered sense of time, like moving underwater. Its a gross feeling. Sound familiar? Try reading Leviticus or Numbers from the Bible with determination.

 

[getbornagain]

I would not recommend taking sleeping pills. I started and became dependant on them, I literally craved them at night and looked forward during the day to popping one. My dreams became so vivid and on-topic that I actually approached people in real life and talked to them about a conversation I had with them in my ****in dream.... It was freaky. I'm still taking melitonin pills as of this day but I've weened off of the zopiclone (Thank God).

 

[livingnsilence]

It usually takes me around an hour to fall asleep unless I'm having a bad day then it takes way more. I also wake up at least every two hours and wake up not less than 15 times a night. Luckily most the time I can fall back to sleep within 15 minutes when I wake up but sometimes I can't fall back to sleep. I've found two meds that help me fall asleep but nothing to help me stay asleep.

 

[Dudley]

Has anyone had good results with meditation or anything like that? I can't see why that wouldn't work at least a little if you did it correctly.

 

[getbornagain]

Meditation is probably the best way to get to sleep. It's something that anybody with anxiety problems should do.... Clearing your mind; slow, deep breathing, relaxation. It's basically like disk defragmenting a computer. Very underrated and I'd recommend you try it.... Very hard to shut off your train of thought though. I struggle with meditation.

 

[FOR REAL]

sleep/relaxation is not something we have to practice.
its just natural.
think about NOTHING! switch the phone to silent, door buzzer off
switch your brain off (give it a rest)
i didnt train myself this (self hypnosis tapes did it for me)
you are entitled to 'your time,

this is only my opinion by the way!!

 

[Dudley]

I gave a really solid, open-minded try to meditation last night and I was VERY relaxed when I was sitting on my bedroom floor with my legs crossed (I practically fell asleep sitting up!).

But! As soon as I climbed into bed, my heart rate increased and it still took pretty long to fall asleep (not as long as usual, but still longer than an average person). I'm going to keep up meditation and see if that doesn't do the job after a week or two of practice. Thanks for your advice, everyone.

 

[getbornagain]

Maybe try meditating in bed.

 

[durda_dan]

i can' sleep fine usually but i am a light sleeper, i find myself waking up almost every week atleast once. and just get tired so early, my job is early in the morning but i never go to sleep early, but now it's like 8:30 or 9 and i'm tired. i can't help it, i just start to drowse off if i'm playing a game or watching a movie, i just can't stay awake.