Trouble getting to sleep

I have an iPod nano, which is very tiny - about the size of the palm of your hand. I have filled it with lots of music that I enjoy. I connect that to my sleepphones (www.sleepphones.co.uk) and drift off surrounded by beautiful music or a relaxation track sometimes. It works for me. You can put the sleepphone headband over your eyes to cut out any visual interference.

Different or new pills?
Change in pattern of work or exercise?

Music is worth a try, thanks Luckygirl. Will have to look up sleep phones - never heard of them.
obie, no change in anything that I can think of...? I wondered if it was just one of those things about getting older. My dh has started sleeping less soundly during the night but for me it's the getting to sleep in the first place that's the issue.

I have found the same problem. I think it is part of getting older for some anyway!

Try talking yourself to sleep?
Just tell yourself a bedtime story and make it up as you go Along.
Try not to make it about actual people or events or you might start thinking too hard about them and lose the story.

Try to go to bed much later - ie midnight to 1am. If you can find things to fill those few extra hours.

I also use headphones and music. I have Amazon prime music which has super compilations such as 'classics for sleep' or 'soothe to sleep'. These were a great find as in the past I've started listening to something I considered soothing only to be shocked awake by a sudden change in tempo.

I can get to sleep easily very rarely make it after 10pm but I wake between 4 and 5 and can't get back to sleep so end up shattered by the afternoon I'm up at 6 30am for work and that's when I could just drift off .

I'm a newcomer so hi everyone! ..I use Audible. It's a life saver for me. I set it to sleep timer and it sends me off quite quickly. Only thing is if I forget to set timer I can be on chapter 3 and wake up in the early hours on chapters 33!

It pays to cut down on caffeine and to be physically active outside for part of the afternoon. Having an enjoyable social evening with no alcohol also helps though some people do say that a dram of whiskey at night helps.

www.readersdigest.co.uk/health/wellbeing/sleep-well/insomnia-remedies-and-treatments

Insomnia cures: Before bed

Have a slice of turkey or chicken or a banana before going to bed. These foods contain tryptophan, an amino acid that the body uses to make serotonin. And serotonin is a brain chemical that helps you to sleep. Keep the helping small, though, or your full tummy may keep you awake.

Carbohydrates help tryptophan to enter the brain. Try a glass of warm milk (milk contains tryptophan) and a biscuit, or warm milk with a spoonful of honey. A sprinkling of cinnamon won't hurt and might add mild sedative properties of its own.

Don't go straight to bed at night–enjoy some quiet time just pottering about, perhaps making a ‘to-do’ list for the next day or reviewing the day's activities. That way, when you lie down to go to sleep you won't be kept awake by the day's annoyances or tomorrow's worries.

Regulating my breathing sometimes helps. Count the breath in, count the same number while you hold that breath, count again as you slowly breath out, then try to count the same number before you re-start the cycle.
Probably at the start you may only manage to count to 3 or 4, but with practise can get to 7.
It is the concentrating the mind which often allows sleep to come.

Sometimes I try to visualise the colours attributed to the various chakra points. It doesn't matter if you believe in that or not, it is the concentrating on something specific which might allow sleep to come.

I can list the 50 states of USA alphabetically in less than one minute!!

Sadly, very often, nothing works at all.

Still awake at 4.00a.m this morning and then only slept till 7.30 a.m. Totally shattered and having the grandchildren for lunch!?
I find it virtually impossible to go to sleep even though I am exhausted at bedtime.

I tor tally emphasise, can take hours to get to sleep. Tried staying up till one, naturally I m an owl, not a lark, but it didn't help. Def keep off blue light things like tv , I pad etc for a good hour before bed. I ve not found a solution yet .

Meditation apps work quite well for me.. I particularly like the Calm app - I'm used to her American accent now and i find it soothing.

I got a really good technique from a Mindfulness app. It involves relaxing every part of your body individually from toes up & then concentrating on deep breathing. Lastly you count in your head from 10,000 down. I rarely remember getting past 9,500.

I seem to go through phases, for a few weeks I will fall asleep really quickly and then go through a few weeks of tossing and turning and waking up frequently throughout the night. Nothing has changed in my daily life or bedtime routine to make me like this. I now write a book in my head - my autobiography. It's all so boring that I drop off to sleep fairly quickly. I also notice that I sleep better if I am warm and cosy and have stopped leaving my window open at night.

A magnesium tablet an hour before bed and i am out like a light, even DH has started taking one as he was fed up with tossing and turning whilst i slept like a baby

I know it is said that you should not watch TV just before going to sleep but let find it brilliant. I go upstairs about 10 pm and use the tablet to watch programs DH doesn't like. I try to stay awake until about 11 but often drop off before that. It often takes me a couple of nights to see the complete programme. Done often wake until about 7am but if I do I just start watching again and usually go back to sleep.

What sound relaxes you? Music does nothing for me, I get too involved with it but the sound of rain on a tent is like self-hypnosis. If I can't sleep I find a YouTube recording of it on my phone and I'm asleep within minutes xx

Melatonin works like a charm for me.

I also have a nano and mine has audiobooks on it, so I have some very nice actors/actresses reading me bedtime stories. Bill Nighy is one of my favourites, his voice is very calming even when he changes his voice for different characters.

I get off to sleep alright but have to get up for loo about 2ish and can't always get off again have to get GD off to school,she starts at 8.10 so I am up at 6 and she leaves at 7.15

Emily I laughed at the chicken or turkey one because apparently although they do contain whatever it is you need to eat about a tonne to consume enough to send you to sleep. I only know this because DS said the same as you and then it came up on a consumer programme and they debuncted it. I had this vision of DS wading through loads and loads of turkeys!

Someone else told me about the banana thing and said you should have warm milk with it.

How about podcasts of radio programmes on your ipod? Preferably rather boring podcasts. It works for me.