Insomnia

I feel your pain. I am retired, so have far more leeway now. So, if I can't sleep, instead of lying there, stressing about it, I'll do something. Decoupage, gilding, organising a drawer or cupboard, writing or reading. Sometimes if anxious I do 15 minutes on my vibroplate to burn off adrenaline. If totally knackered will listen to audio-books or pod casts through sleep phones. I try and treat it as 'bonus' time to do things that are either absorbing and creative, or something that is a little job I never seem to get round too during the day.

I would imagine that insomniac have pretty much tried all the tricks.

Try white noise, or some other sound that relaxes you. Loads to choose from on the internet. Also, no iPads, caffeine, or anything stimulating after around 7pm.

check with your doctor that St John's Wort does not interfere with any medication you take. And be careful with the sun, both for eyes and skin- as St John's Wort makes you more sensitive. But it is very effective for many people with mild depression and related sleep problems.

I have a little read, spray my face & pillow with Sanctuary Sleep Mist and I'm away Works for me!!

Oh how I envy you (sorry I know it is no joke, bless you). But what I would gice to be in your situation! I am entirely the opposite ?. I have terrible trouble staying awake both day and, night. Mine is 6am wake, feel exhausted by 11am to tell myself ill have a nap (set my alarm but never hear it, my DH tries to wake me apparently and has now just given up trying. When I properly wake its anywhere between 4.30pm to 6pm. I go usual things like cook dinner for us then by 11 I'm I need of more sleep. Sadly I don't sleep good at night but that's obviously because I have slept too much during the day ?. I deek terrible for my DH it's a Linley life for him. I do have multiple health issues one of which was being investigated just before lock down.
My mobility is poor due to chronic back pain and rheumatoid arthritis is another main issue. I am trying with help to reduce the morphine I have to take for pain but isi a long slow process. I know the pain medication is obviously making my sleep pattern worse but also my back pain is horrendous too.

I feel so terrible for you all. Having poor night sleep makes a person exhausted during the day. I wish you all the best and I hope you can get to the bottom of this xxx

I’m used to it now after 10 years. I go to bed around 12.30 when I’m tired, I cannot get past 6 hours then I’m wide awake.Some nights I’m still trying to fall asleep at 4 in morning.

@giulia
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I have Audible books on my Kindle Fire and every night I switch my bedroom light off when I'm ready to go to sleep, plug in my earphone into my Kindle and go to sleep listening to a book. It plays all night and it gets me to sleep 90% of the time. There are still the odd nights when I really struggle to sleep but most of the time listening to something like a book works for me.

Guilia CBD is cannabis oil.

Thank you kestrel I will try St Johns Wort.

It stands for cannabidiol (I think that's how it's spelt)

Excuse me - but what does CBD mean? I hate acronyms.

I find St Johns Wort helps with insomnia and several other things as well like joint pain and mild depression. Might be worth a try

Ohhhhh and also..... dont have a drink AFTER 8pm hahahahahahaha. Otherwise you're up at the loo ......

I've had that whether I've taken Amitriptyline or not hahahaha

So glad I came across this post.

I take Amitriptyline that I am weaning myself off but that does help enormously with getting a good night sleep.

Believe it or not but all though the lockdown I was able to reduce the dose and now things are more relaxed, I am finding that my nights of sleep are more broken ...

What helps a heck of a lot when I wake and find it hard to get back off is I concentrate on a void of blackness, nothingness, and when I train my mind to focus on nothingness I find that I fall back off asleep.

I have MS and if I have had a sleepless night, it affects my left eye, believe it or not. Watering, weak, blurred vision.

So whereas I was pretty proud of myself at dropping the dose in Amitriptyline ( from 20mg each night to 10mg every 3rd or 4th night )I now feel the need to increase the dose to.maybe 10mg every 2and night, in order to feel human again ....

I use a lighthearted podcast on my phone next to me in bed and I am asleep in no time. Steve Allen on LBC is the cheapest most effective sleep aid. As he is on between 4am-7am I listen on LBC catch up and I know I am one of many people. He just rambles on about nothing much......

I know they say TV's ,electronics etc are bad at bedtime but I use my kindle and just let it drop when my body falls asleep. If I take the 8 seconds it takes to shut down and then remove glasses I wake up and am alert again. Reading switches my mind off worries

Thanks for all the replies, such lovely ladies! Last night was particularly bad for me. My sleep pattern became bad when my son was ill as a teenager and some years later after a fall out with one of my children, still ongoing with estrangement from grandchildren. I have tried most of the suggestions here, which sometimes work.

Sorry to hear that so many of you have similar problems. I will be thinking of you all tonight.

I never had a problem sleeping , I used to be asleep with 30 mins of going to bed , wake up to go to the loo and the back to sleep. Since my DH died in December I have had great trouble getting to sleep even if I’ve had a busy day and walked miles ! The thoughts and memories rush in as soon as I switch off the light . I get up have a bowl of cereal and a cup of herbal tea and sometimes paracetamol. If I’m really desperate I’ll take a Phenergan but I have such a thick head the next morning .So I usually stick it out and drop off about 3 . Still set the alarm for 8 and never snooze during the day . Interesting about Magnesium I take mine every morning , so I’ll try taking it at night . I hope I get back to my easy sleeping , but maybe it’s an age thing too .

www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-get-good-nights-sleep
I think you have to research and then decide on a routine that should work with what ever sleep aid you choose and keep the routine up tweaking it if necessary. Start of course with a room that is good for sleeping - dark, cool , comfortable etc. I always wear a comfortable night blind. Good luck in your research.

Audio sleep hypnosis downloads. I suffer with bad sleep and these help me no end. Might take a couple of days to kick in but we’ll worth it. I get mine on audible (craig beck)

I just learned to live with it. End of story.

I have struggled for years with insomnia until 6 weeks ago. I decided to try cbd oil for my migraines which I've had since fourth grade and I'm 65 now. I get botox shots in the head and take numerous drugs for migraines and still couldn't sleep. I now sleep like a baby and have had 3 headaches each lasting less than a day each in 6 weeks. Sleep is a wonderful thing.

Hi
Have you thought of acupuncture to help with sleep?

I haven’t slept properly for years, waking every couple of hours at least and getting up about 6;30.

I then tried acupuncture and while I don’t think I slept longer, I’m sure I had a better quality of sleep.

I haven’t been since before lockdown started so maybe it’s time to have another session, this time to help me with eating habits