Unable to sleep

Hi sealover sorry to hear that??it isn't pleasant at all ! Do you take any medication I'm taking Phenergan but more than I want to. I've tried lots of things including Buddhist meditation I seem to be doing ok then wham back to square 1

I’m another one with sleep problems sometimes- fall asleep easily but can wake up after a couple of hours and be awake for next 3! Never taken any medication but just accept. I realise that I actually use a form of sleep restriction cogbtherapy.com/cbt-blog/sleep-restriction-therapy

No matter how tired I am, I never go to bed early- 11-30 at least. If I go earlier, I’m more likely to wake about 1 am and be awake for hours. On nights when I’ve been lying awake a long time, I go downstairs with my book and read for a while, or do something useful like emptying dishwasher. When I was working, I even corrected exam papers in the middle of the night.

What I realised was that if I slept badly one nights, I would usually sleep better next night- as long as I didn’t go to bed early.

I have two sleeps per night generally.I fall asleep most nights fairly easily but the wake anything for half an hour to 3/4 hours later and I'm awake then for a couple of hours.Most frustrating but after several years I've decided not to to stress about it.Just reading my paper this morning and there is an article saying sleep trackers add to the anxiety and can increase insomnia !
The only time I get really stressed about my sleep now is when we are away,especially with friends or in an hotel and I can't potter around for a drink or head to the spare room if I've started out in our room withDH.
What works for me now is to listen to a podcast.Nothing too interesting like a drama or with jangly music.Rather a history or natural history one from BBC iplayer that can quietly play and eventually I drift off.On really restless nights I take 2 panadol and an anti histamine.Don't know if /why that works but psychologically I relax and do go back to sleep. It's a pain isn't it ?Oh for the nights of blissful,uninterrupted sleep.

I take 1 or 2 magnesium- works a treat

Hi sea lover ate u taking any medication

Bigred I bought the magnesium and then read you can't take it with certain meds. Do you know anything about this?

I read somewhere that, in the Middle Ages, people went to bed in the evening (possibly earlier than we do because of the light) then got up again in the middle of the night, finished off the jobs they'd been doing and went back to bed later.

It was suggested that this was a normal routine for humans to follow. So maybe we should stop being quite so tied up with going to bed and sleeping until morning and be a little more relaxed about our sleep patterns. As long as we get enough sleep to function (I realise that this can be a problem) and are able to attend appointments etc. at the right times, what does it matter exactly when we get that sleep?

Normally I start off listening to the radio, fall asleep in the middle of the programme I want to hear, and wake up when it finishes! Some nights I know I'm not going to get back to sleep so I get up for a cuppa and a game of cards on the laptop, maybe for 2 hours or more. I usually sleep OK the next night!

Relaxing brings on sleep. Orgasm brings relaxation. Try that

I'm another bad sleeper.
I was prescribed phenergan too, but they made me feel really restless and rotten.

I used to be out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow, but not nowadays.

Try 'Kalms one a night'. 1 tablet to be taken about an hour before bedtime. ( 21 tablets so lasts for 3 weeks)About £5
there is another just called Kalms night but although there's 50 in a tub you have to take 4 tablets per night.
Traditional herbal remedy.Dry extract from valerian root.
The one night seems to the best. Tesco and Boots chemist have them on offer 3 for 2 at the moment. Read the information on the box before buying.

Hello Linjoy and welcome

I'm afraid that I fall into the 'can nod off at anytime' camp, but a couple of years ago I had a bout of insomnia that troubled me. I ended up taking my ipod to bed to see if listening to podcasts or music would help (without disturbing Hubby). I ended up listening to the song Teardrop by Massive Attack and it worked wonders! Every time I played it, I fell asleep before the end.

If you are unfamiliar with the song, it is based around a heartbeat, which is possibly why it works. You may know it as one of the themes to 'House'

The politics threads are good to dip into if you like the mental acrobatics involved with the rebuttal of views that oppose your own. You know what they say about the little grey matter ... use it or lose it!!

Hi,

My husband has been prescribed sleeping tablets but his doctor said after a time the body gets used to them and they stop working. He suggested not taking them every night even if it means two or three bad nights and then one decent night’s sleep.

Another sleep struggler here, once upon a time I would sleep the sleep of the dead, however that was in a previous life before the menopause Like others I go over and over things in my mind, find it so hard to switch off. Of late I have been listening to audiobooks and obviously I do sleep because I can't remember most of what I've listened to the night before and have to replay it during the day. Nevertheless I perceive the sleep I have to be fitful. However, come 9pm if there is something worthwhile on tv I'm following, cue to fall asleep and then I have to catch up with that again too. It's a wonder I have time for anything else.

I do a gym session 3 times a week and have several long walks in nearby Bushy Park, but that doesn't help either

Accepting that you are one of those who just can't get a good night's sleep, is the first step. As we get older, we don't need a lot of sleep to function properly (so I've been told). I don't stress myself over it now. I get up, make a nice cup of tea, read a bit and then drop off - might take a couple of hours. But Ofcourse, I.m retired and don't have to work the next day.

It’s interesting to see that once retired the worry about not sleeping lessens, I found it so myself although I’ve always been a good sleeper even through the menopause.

In any month I only have one or two poor nights when I can’t drop off so usually get up and read (book, never computer or tablet) with a camomile tea then go back to bed. Anything worrying me is written down to deal with tomorrow and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve looked at the list the following day and just crossed stuff off as too trivial!

Septima I'm half way through that book. So far lots of theories have been debunked.

MissA I was prescribed and anti-histamine and it made me feel sick and weepy the next day. Sharon Kalms had a similar reaction too.

Keeper my GP prescribed sleeping tablets but said they are addictive and to only take every other night so at least I sleep one night in 2.

Crazy I'm glad that works for you but if I don't get my sleep I simply don't function and research says that lack of sleep causes so many health problems that I don't think I can just accept it.

Hi, I often wake about 3 a.m....I think I need to try to break the habit. What I have found is reading a light story on my Reader can make me shut my eyes. I carefully put it down with closed eyes and often manage to get off again.
L

Has anyone tried CBD oil for sleep does it work

I have had chronic insomnia ever since my fifties when my hormones dipped. I am now 78 and tried all sorts of things. When I used to tell a doctor I was told to find something herbal. About ten months ago I went to another doctor and burst into tears. I explained that I knew regular use of sleeping tablets could stop them working. I said if I could just get one or two nights sleep a week I would be grateful. He said it would be okay to use them up to twice a week and gave me 14 zopicione 3.75mg with instructions to take one at night but if it didn’t work take two which is actually a full dose for a younger person. He then put them on a repeat prescription for every 28 days. I have endeavoured to keep to one but often have to resort to two. I regularly don’t go to sleep at all for an entire night. Often I get 2/3 hours. My Fitbit usually cannot register details as my sleep is less than 3 hours. Even when I sleep longer I wake up every hour and a half on the dot! If I know I am going out anywhere I take a sleeping tablet or two. I can’t drive if I haven’t slept so regularly my shopping is restricted to a bus journey. My husband says try to sleep and not get up but that never works. I too have tried Piriton and sometimes I have managed to get a little sleep. The trouble is that if I have to take two tablets it only allows me 7 nights sleep a month. It’s a problem that really affects my life and my health. Last year ?i had months of a terrible skin condition which the doctor in the Times said was thought to be caused largely by lack of sleep. I then went on to have shingles. So yes, my heart goes out to anyone who has insomnia.

Has anyone seen 'The Truth About Sleep' it's on BBC iplayer number 12 in the series. Insomniac Dr Michael Mosley took part in a trial, he took a prebiotic 'Bimuno' daily, it increases good gut bacteria which in turn sent messages to the brain, it worked for him, I haven't tried it as I get a decent night's sleep, but would if I needed it. It's worth a watch.

Thanks grandmaoftwo I've sent for some bimuno I hope it works

I have to take a lot of piriton anyway in the summer (sometimes six a day) and don't sleep well since a back injury in 2017. I'm often up in the night having tea and toast, then walking the dog around the garden.

It doesn't matter if I can have a nap in the afternoon. I do worry, though, if I'm out for the day and can't lie down (bad back and extreme tiredness).

I sleep better if I go for three long walks, rather than the usual two, also if I take codiene or tramadol (although I feel awful with a fuzzy head the next day).

The worst time was the night before my daughter's wedding, when I couldn't sleep at all at the hotel. Being claustrophobic, I spent hours wandering around the car park and was drained on the big day, drinking loads of coffee!

I have had chronic insomnia for years because of pain. I have severe arthritis and going to bed at night is like purgatory. Nothing has worked so now I use the time to pray for everyone in trouble. I try to nap during the day and listen to relaxation tapes. Good old vino may get me off to sleep for an hour or two but then it’s wakefulness as usual.

My husband bought me a sort of light show that danced about on the ceiling , you had to follow the sequence, guaranteed to give you a good nights sleep! Didn’t work, sleep inducing spray on the pillow, didn’t work, I refuse to take medication, but some days it’s such a struggle to keep focused

I bunnyhop through the night normally drop asleep very quickly around 10.30 Im then awake around 1 or 2 have an hour or so awake then off again until about 4 sometimes another couple of hours or not I usually manage about 5 hours a night but I absolutely don’t stress about it at all I manage fine the next day and just accept this as my sleeping habit
Night before last I literally didn’t sleep at all (that’s unusual) no reason, not hot, not cold, nothing on my mind, comfortable, just complete sleepless however I felt fine the next day, worked as normal and didn’t feel tired

I would not take tablets ever, and I think a lot is about acceptance and not feeling worried by which ever way your sleep pattern goes
Welcome by the way to the new or nearly new posters ?