What type of insomniac are you?

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Do you like in the South West of England?
Are you aged 65 or over?
Do you take medication for sleeping problems?

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES!

Volunteers are invited to an interview regarding personal experiences with sleep medication, approved by The University of Bristol's Ethics Board.

If interested, please email Georgia on [email protected] or call 07753448779.

This study is confidential and all details will be held anonymously.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

I wake with with a jump from a vaguely unpleasant dream around 4.00am, or just drift awake at that time and then cant get back to see, my mind does not yammer, I do not worry about problems real or imaginary. My mind just drifts from one topic to another, something I have read in the paper, heard on the radio or on Gransnet, none of it of importance.

When this happens I retire to another bedroom taking a small portable radio with me and turn it on very low so that it provides a background murmur. If that doesn't work I read a book I have read before until I am fighting to keep my eyes open, the radio will also be murmuring on. 99 times in a 100 that works. On the 100 occasion I just get up, go downstairs and start my day.

I've tried every thing to get a whole nights sleep to no avail. I slept for England till the day I was 50, now haven't slept for more than2 hours in a row for the last 6 years. That is during normal night time hours - I have discovered that if I'm able to fall asleep about 5 or6am I can get 4 hours in a row and get up at 10am. So that's ok on days when I don't have to go to work. I've gone through the menopause now but the sleep problem still remains, anyone got any good news about when it returns to something like normal?

I have developed several strategies .. first strategy:go to the loo then put eye drops in dried up eyes, then put on or take off bed socks. Second strategy : scribble down thoughts/irritations which are troubling you. Third strategy (if other two fail) fire up my Nintendo and do some sudoku - the concentration necessary for that soon obliterates worries. Fourth strategy: if fairly close to getting up time, get up and do something useful..ironing/tidy a drawer out/plump sofa cushions and tidy round.
Absent loved your snoring report!

Once upon a time I was out for the count every night, then the menopause struck and for the past few years my sleep pattern has been really disturbed by getting really hot and having to hang limbs outside the duvet, then of course it's cold, so back under the duvet again and so it goes, on and on and on.............then finally drift off to sleep and 5 mins later it's time to get up, a bit like the book "Peace at Last"

I'm much the same as Gracesmum and often wake up around 4am . The only way I seem to settle again is to get up and make a drink. Somehow this seems to work and I usually fall asleep again fairly quickly. Occasionally I
wake nearer to 6am ,in which case I switch on our local radio programme and then tend to snooze until around 7am ,when I am sufficiently awake to listen to the programme properly!

I'm having real problems sleeping since gradually giving up HRT in January after taking it for 4 years. I wake on average 3 or 4 times a night feeling really hot and/or needing the loo and then can't get back to sleep. I have one caffinated drink in the morning, the bedroom is dark and cool, I run for 30 mins most days and only drink at weekends! Help! Has anyone tried a Chillow or that special cool nightwear that is advertised?

good sentiments Nando

Did you go cheelu ?

Have a great day Ariadne and everyone who is looking forward to Christmas
Hope it passes quickly for those who are not

Meant to say, re insomnia, that this is very much my pattern - I slept for a good ten hours the night before, and feel as if I've had enough sleep to be going on with. Yet we had a good, if slowish (his hip, my knee) walk on the cliffs above the sea yesterday, so we're well fresh airified and exercised. I'm just not sleepy.

Me too! Awake early, that is; it is pouring down again and I am going nowhere until late afternoon when we go over to DD's house. (Still loving this!) The men are going to the pub, (tradition) and the women (including DGD) will be drinking fizz and eating canapés. Mmmm.

I may contemplate a small encounter with the Hoover..

Nanado me too awake early, so funny because I was contemplating going to 24hr Tesco..

It's not all bad suffering from insomnia. It's 3.54 am and I've just come back from Tesco, my Christmas shopping completed. Shelves full, car park empty, no queue fir the checkout, staff very smiley. The best bit is no one ( except one of the dogs) even knew I'd got up, dressed and gone.

The clue will be the fresh croissants for breakfast.

As I can worry for the world I have problems trying to get back to sleep so I try to concentrate on making lists. Eg
All 50 states in USA
Host cities of the Olympics since 1948
Winners of all series of Strictly
It keeps my mind off the
worries and anxieties

Ana

Phew

Quite, POGS - whatever does it for you!

I am a stay up late person due to arthritis etc.,I can't settle and get comfy.

It's fine for me as I am happy watching utter rubbish on the tele and I function well the next day.So no problem really, 4/5 hours quite normal. I do find that about after 10 or so days I have a fairly good nights sleep, suggesting my body is saying, "For goodness sake get some rest idiot".

Failing that Tramadol and Bicardi and Coke does the job.

Please nobody tell me I am stupid, it's only a thread.

Normal??? Am I abnormal, then?

Oh good. I was afraid I might be doing something wrong. I tend to have forty-ish winks sometime in the afternoon.

Those 'rules' are only for those who are insomniacs. 'Normal' people can do what they want - including those who are not bothered about insomniacs and are happy to sleep as and when. Which is fine.

I don't hate you, anno! I admit to a touch of though...

Come to think of it, Butty, most days I don't have anything with caffeine in it after my breakfast 'bucket' of tea. Living alone, I don't indulge in alcohol, not out of principle but because I am only a social drinker.

anno I'm in the non-hating group. . After many years of sleeping badly, I find it's now rare to have disturbed sleep (apart from the loo visit - but hardly wake up for that). I go to bed early-ish most nights, and wake up early.
I do adhere to two personal 'rules' - no caffeine in the afternoons and no alcohol in the evenings (staying hydrated) - and when I do - it's a given I have a bad night!

I follow none of these rules and regularly sleep 7 hours a night, usually with a short loo break. Now I am convinced that at least 50% of G'netters will hate me.