Can't sleep

I suffer from this quite often and I have now found what works for me.
I used to count from 100 back to 1 but ended up doing it so quickly that it stopped working.
I now go from A-Z and think of all the animals names for each letter and I am normally asleep before I get to the end. It stops you thinking and worrying about things as you are so busy trying to think of the names of the animals.
Give it a try, it certainly works for me. Good luck

I have DH snoring, shuffling and mumbling in his sleep, the traffic outside zooming by at all hours and since February DH has been on overnight dialysis so a noisy machine is whirring away all night, If I get out of bed and go to the spare room DH then can't sleep "because I'm not there!" and I then lie in the spare bed feeling guilty because he is hooked up to a machine so if he needs anything in the night or feels unwell I wouldn't hear him, so I still can't sleep. I have sleeping tablets for when I get desperate but I live my life on very little sleep and feeling tired all the time. I've never been a good sleeper to be fair but as I get older I am less able to cope with the tiredness. ( I do get up and read/do puzzles/drink camomile tea/eat toast/chocolate etc and when I go back to bed I get some rest then. Just wish I could have the sleeping tablets every night (I limit myself to 1 a week on nights when I know I will struggle). Sorry this is long winded but good to have a moan - thank you GNer's

if I wake up and cannot get back to sleep I take myself to the living room, read a book for a bit and have a cup of Pukka Night Time tea - it says:' Let the hush replace the chatter as you fall into a restful calm: a sleepy crush of oat flower, soothing lavender and silky-sweet lime flower . One cup and the path to sleep is clear - so give - in - let the rest begin'. Works for me x

I don't worry about it. I'll make a cuppa and either crochet, knit, read, or embroider (new hobby). I try and use the time to do something useful - and stops me from thinking. But then again, I sometimes have my best ideas and brainwaves at 3am. I consider it "special me time" and promise myself a snooze during the day.

Know what you mean Coolgran65. So want to go to bed because so tired but dread the inevitable tossing and turning.

I also am having a run of very bad nights, 4 hours last night ! I tried reading, music etc nothing worked. I feel spaced out now, plus my tinnitus returns after a bad night .....and am supposed to be out walking with a friend at 11.

I make sure my bladder and bowels are sorted and that I am not dehydrated.

My mental strategy for calming myself is to lie in bed in my preferred sleeping position and tell myself a story. This story is a scenario from a favourite film which I recite in my internal voice as if telling someone else the story. I seldom get past "And then as he was lost on Sunset Boulevard he stopped and this beautiful hooker approached his expensive car. The he lowered the window and asked the way----- " The next thing I know I have slept.

I take a sleeping pill nightly, BUT, even with that I'm lucky to get 5 hours. Full moons affect my sleep and dream pattern, for sure, and tonight is a full moon with partial eclipse. I go to the spare room to cool off, and toss and turn in peace, coming back to DH around 6am for another snooze. It really hard. My sympathies to all fellow non-sleepers !

I put earphones in - the earbud type and listen to story cds or to radio 4 or the world service. Then it's interesting being awake. I find that before too long I have dropped off to sleep.

I get about 3 hours a night for this last 20 years. Last night it was one hour’s sleep. I’m currently waiting on the result of a sleep test.
How I dread the nights.

I thought I was reading about myself, LizBethhan55. I find I have to have a bowl of cereal, or a hot chocolate to try to get back to sleep, even though Michael Mosley says that this does not work - it usually does for me! I really sympathise with you and wish there was an easy solution.

I got 3 hours last night, 4 the night before. I try to block thoughts whizzing around my head by thinking of only one sound - a a a a. It does work...eventually.

Well as a complementary therapist, I prescribe remedies to help with sleep issues so if you can find a herbalist or a homeopath, for example, there may be some help there. A health food shop may also have something to ease the problem. But personally, I find the best remedy is to wear myself out physically during the day, preferably by having fresh air. If I’m indoors all days and not doing much, I sleep poorly but otherwise, I’m ready to drop off ...With Covid, many people aren’t sleeping that well and it’s to be expected, so I would also limit news watching etc., and try to be in a more calm mindset before sleep.

I try not to worry about it now. I've been an insomniac all of my life and I still manage to function the next day.

I'd probably still lay in bed, although that goes against what sleep trainers would tell you. My reasoning is that I'm resting even if I'm not sleeping.

Warm milk sometimes helps. As does reading. James Joyce in particular could bore me to sleep in a busy room, let alone in bed.

But sometimes, nothing works and there is no point stressing or being angry, because you have zero control over it.

I used to have problems sleeping every night and then I discovered that listening to audio books on my Kindle Fire meant that most nights I got to sleep. Sometimes I have to rely on prescribed Valium if the books don't work. I listen to the seven books in the Harry Potter series on earphones and it works for me about 90% of the time.

I have to go downstairs drink a cup of tea then go back to bed about 20 minutes later, it usually works as your distracting your mind from everything that’s churning over in it. I never get more than 6 hours tho.

I used to try counting backwards from 100 but got so good at it so it didn’t work as my brain carried on overtime. Now I try to think of as many girls or boys names or flowers beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet. That usually works but if not I read a book for about an hour.

Sorry the picture didn't load.....

I get myself to sleep using podcasts on fairly interesting subjects in drony American voices. Generally they work very well!

I use this. Natural, no hangover feeling in the morning. You can buy it online. Not particularly expensive.
I had tried sleeping pills from the gp, although they wouldn't prescribe long term because of the addictive effects. I much prefer Valerian.
Good luck ?

I come downstairs and watch something boring on TV. Eventually I'm ready to go back to bed and sleep.

I’ve never any trouble getting to sleep between 11 and 12, but have got into the habit during lockdown of waking up some nights at 3 or 4 and not being able to get back off. Let’s face it, there’s plenty going on in the world at the moment to keep our minds whirling. I find the only way to get back to sleep is to read my Kindle for half an hour to an hour till my eyes start to droop and then I sleep again till around 8.

PS it also does not disturb DH.

I always read on my Kindle Fire in bed. For me it's magic, I can put on blue light blocker which keeps you awake, turn down the brightness and if I fall asleep it turns itself off if I do not turn the page after a couple of minutes. I regularly wake up a few times a night, so turn it on and can be back to sleep within minutes. So I get a pretty good night's sleep.

It's a tricky one. I can normally get to sleep(apart from one night last week when wide awake until 5am)but often wake up in early hours,sometimes for a few hours.
There are lots of tips to be found elsewhere,personally have tried all of them and not made any difference!
It's worse when I'm at work as have to get up at 5.30am so tend to go to bed earlier to get sleep in!
Certainly at moment I tend to just go with the flow. I do remember reading somewhere in past times people used to wake up in early hours and do something to occupy self then go back to bed. Apparently this also good as makes you associate bed with sleep rather than being awake. Good luck?