I can't sleep
 

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[Closed] I can't sleep

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I'm lying in bed right now, and am genuinely exhausted. I also have to get up at 7:00. But do you think I can sleep? Nope.

Help me out, and say something really boring.


 
Posted : 04/10/2017 11:19 pm
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If it's any help I can't sleep either.

But that's because I'm currently trying to write an assessment of the road safety effects of a digital billboard replacing a bunch of existing traditional billboards and signs. Rock'n'roll stuff.

But at least I managed to be working from home today so I'm about to head out and cut the grass while it's nice and sunny.


 
Posted : 04/10/2017 11:23 pm
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I'm never asleep at this time. Normally around 2am, regardless of what time I'm getting up.


 
Posted : 04/10/2017 11:27 pm
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I can't sleep either. What do we win


 
Posted : 04/10/2017 11:29 pm
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And me. Not trying yet though.
Sweet dreams

APF


 
Posted : 04/10/2017 11:32 pm
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But that's because I'm currently trying to write an assessment of the road safety effects of a digital billboard replacing a bunch of existing traditional billboards and signs. Rock'n'roll stuff.

Well that certainly ticked the boring box! I can feel myself getting sleepier already...


 
Posted : 04/10/2017 11:32 pm
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Makes... a number of us. I've felt really run down for a couple of weeks to a point where I took a day off work last week just for some downtime, and in a fit of great timing have been hit by a bout of insomnia for the last few days. I was The Walking Dead at work this morning.

Not that that helps unless I've just bored you to sleep, but I feel your pain.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 12:19 am
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Oh, sorry, STW answer: maybe if you switched off the Internet and put your phone away you'd sleep better.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 12:20 am
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Not sleeping is ruining me, my alarm is set for 4.30 but I know I’ll be staring at the ceiling until then.
I’ve not had more than 3 hours sleep a night in the last 2 months!

Nice to know it’s not just me.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 12:25 am
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I've just finished dinner. Excellent sushi, in case you were interested.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 12:31 am
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3rd night on the trot for me - I feel dreadful, but I still can't switch off :/

The screens *are* going away soon...


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 12:36 am
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I'm in a hospital bed, have been for 10 days now. I'm in a room of 3 on the ward. Both of the other 2 are old, 80 plus. The one opposite has a problem swallowing basically sounds like he's drowning in his own phlegm, poor guy needs hoovering out every half an hour or so. The one next to me had a sleep most of the day and is merrily singing away now whilst demanding a cup of tea.

I've broken my back - unstable T3, but I've been lucky to have no spinal cord damage. I find out tomorrow if they are going to operate or not. A long road ahead of me which course we go down.

I struggle to sleep at the best of times, but particularly bad tonight oh how I'd love a good walk right now.

I am self employed with a family and I can't help the financial worries rumbling around my head, even though I have fantastic family and friends around me telling me not to. Can't help it though.

The nights have gotten very long this last week.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 1:05 am
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Get well soon.
Ask someone to bring you earplugs.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 1:12 am
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Healing vibes maycontainnuts, I can’t imagine the stress you’re going through right now.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 1:36 am
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I am working nights..bed time for me at 6am


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 1:45 am
 Drac
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Sleep is for the weak.

However, one of the worst things you can do is stimulate your mind by staring at a phone, laptop or tablet reading forums.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 2:03 am
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I gave up on lying in bed trying to not think about getting back to sleep an hour ago. Alarm will go off at 6, only 3 hours to go until wife is awake & I can put the coffee machine on!


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 2:09 am
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However, one of the worst things you can do is stimulate your mind by staring at a phone, laptop or tablet reading forums.

In my case it makes no difference,I’ve tried every combination when I can’t sleep. I’ve spent nights staring into darkness, nights sporadically on my phone, nights with a book. Nothing I do will get me back to sleep.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 2:30 am
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I'm a terrible sleeper too. But a couple of tips that sometimes work for me are...
Don't lie in bed trying to sleep. get up, grab a hot chocolate or something and watch TV for a short time - maybe 30 mins, then head back up and sometimes I'll get off

Get some in-earhpones on and look up some ASMR video's on youtube and listen to them. It's just quiet sounds and whispering but quite calming and has often been successful in getting me to drop off.

But I think it is a 'modern disease' of our time. Our modern hectic and stressful lifestyles are simply not conducive to relaxing and sleeping.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 2:31 am
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Working nights, trying to sleep during the day is a killer


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 2:45 am
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The best thing about sleep hygiene is you get a nice drink out of it. Mmmmmm snore and peace.

I feel like I’m working nights, and days, then nights again.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 2:52 am
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Tick! I'm awake and have woken up thinking about the urgent request yesterday afternoon from my level 2 manager to bail him out and supply detailed information so he can tell the level 3 manager how badly we are not doing. The problem being I need info from three other level 1 managers who almost certainly won't be in, or won't be prepared this morning. So I'm deciding whether to get up and book overtime from 04:30 and do all the legwork myself...

P.S maycontainnuts, get well soon, I can't sleep with earplugs but perhaps some comfy over ear headphones and that 'ASMR' soundtrack will help cover the background noise.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 3:19 am
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Happily I'm in a side room currently so nice and peaceful, but I feel your pain maycontainnuts. Through lots of hospital time this year I'm now pretty good at ignoring ward noise/lights etc. but you might want to try pulling a buff down over your eye's , and some podcasts or audiobooks - if you check myy posting history I started a thread asking for suggestions, ready player one was particulary good.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 4:08 am
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Listen to some music


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 4:46 am
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This is not bad
https://www.mydodow.com/en

I have a friend with sleep problems who swears by it. For me it purs me into a very deep sleep but I have no problem sleeping anyway. For my wife it also works but her problem is that she keeps waking up so needs to use it often

And screens, get rid of screens way before you go to bed. If you wake up and look at a screen you are toast (at least in my experience)


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 4:54 am
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Me neither. ****in’ wind making a racket.

Off to the velodrome later today. I’ll have a think about me technique...


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 4:58 am
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Just had a year of 2-3 hours ‘sleep’ a night due to meds’ I was taking. The meds helped me, but the lack of sleep was becoming a real problem for me. I started coming off those meds 2 weeks ago and almost overnight (over Day?) I started getting 10 hours + a night. Just woke from 11 hours, I’m tired by 7pm and last night I was tucked up by 7.30pm.

So I feel your pain, I just listened the World Service, that was only thing I found helped in anyway


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 6:08 am
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I have bouts of bad sleep, usually stress related. Couple of things that help me are mindfulness meditation techniques - simple one is CALM meditation. But it takes practice and tbh if I'm lying in bed seething about work there's not much that can cut across it.

The other one is moving to a spare bed if you can sometimes helps.

Other than that sympathy all around as it's a killer.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 6:21 am
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Btw the way CALM is a simple body audit meditation. Concentrate on chest and even breathing - how you chest feels, going up and down any comfort discomfort. Then do same for arms, legs and mind all the time thinking about how body feels and concentrating on breathing. As with all mindfulness it's just a way of slowing brain and focusing on something other than circulating bad thoughts.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 6:25 am
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oh crikey! - Has the O.P slept in? 🙂
get well soon maycontain nuts.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 6:30 am
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Watch F1.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 6:32 am
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For me, no caffeine after 1700 helps, as does not using my pc after ~1900 and instead using my Android gadgets with the Twilight app installed (reduces blue light that stimulates brain).


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 6:48 am
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[url= http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/1/e006748 ]too many electronic devices[/url]


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 6:56 am
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GWS M.C.N.

I too have random bouts of insomnia , if it's bad enough the dogs get dragged out for a night walk on the Downs for a few hours which usually works for me.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:01 am
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The shorter you sleep the shorter your life

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/24/why-lack-of-sleep-health-worst-enemy-matthew-walker-why-we-sleep

If that doesn't terrify you to sleep then sorry cant help


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:08 am
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I go through phases, last couple of weeks have been intermittent waking at 3ish.. then awake for about an hour then forced doze back off to sleep and awake by 7.. this week it’s all back to normal with waking at about 0630 and feeling groggy until 0700..
I did go through a phase a few years ago of not being able to fall asleep, after about 6mths of not falling off I went to the chemist and they provided some sleep aids.. herbal and non herbal.. and I always have a couple of packets in the house now. I don’t tend to need them to drop off anymore, but if I wake at 3ish then occasionally I’ll pop two and settle with a cup of mild hot chocolate..
It’s the waking early that gets to me, I get annoyed and that certainly disturbs any sleep pattern and the cycle continues.. but I’ve learned to live with it.
Going to bed religiously at 10, watching some comedy before I doze off about 1030 is my normal routine and yes I’ve tried going to bed later/earlier but it makes no difference at all. So now I’m just resigned to the fact that I have disturbed sleep for about a week every month..

Sympathy to all sufferers, it’s a proper PITA and certainly I’d call it a medical condition.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:15 am
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The shorter you sleep the shorter your life

I've never understood this. How in the hell do they know without actually interviewing everybody just before they die to ask how much sleep they had, on average, throughout their life?


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:23 am
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I keep a pack of Nytol next to the bed, but I know by about lunchtime whether I’m going to struggle to sleep. Ideally take them 30 mins before you want to go to sleep. It usually works and I’m extra sleepy the next night too - I never take them more than once on the bounce.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:23 am
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I saw 2:30 last night and woke up /was woken up at 6:30.

I'm trying the podcast type stuff, I'll dig out your thread cantbike. I'm currently using radio iplayer and listening to the radio 4 comedies and other bits. Definitely looking to broaden my listening.

Fatmax with probably the best idea, although jellyfish in the cathater might upset the staff here.

I actually tried Netflix last night, I tried to think of a film to watch that I'd have no interest in, just some background drivel that would hopefully send me to sleep. I chose Pixels. Even worse than I could imagine, and ended up watching the whole bloody thing. Sods law.

Thanks for the well wishes.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:29 am
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I'm lying in bed right now, and am genuinely exhausted

There's your problem, right there.

Bed is for sleeping and (almost) nothing else.

No reading, watching TV, ipad, eating biscuits, looking at your phone. Nothing.

You need to train your body to make the connection that bed = sleep.

Lying awake in bed worrying about not sleeping strongly reinforces the mental connection that bed = no sleep

If you can't get to sleep within 15 mins, get up and do something until you feel tired enough to sleep. Read, do the ironing, have a drink , whatever. Even if you're up for hours, stick with it.
If you feel tired, go to bed and if you can't sleep within 15 mins, get up again...

I suffered horribly with insomnia for years in my twenties until i started doing this. Now I get into bed, close my eyes and i'm asleep in minutes.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:40 am
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Can’t you tell the night staff you’re in pain? They used to fire me up with oral morphine and Id pass out for hours ha ha. (Except when cats were running around my bed 😉 )


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:40 am
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I've always found this to be one of the better sleep hygiene docs. It covers a broad range of solutions, from the very practical (which you may already know about!) to the more psychological. It's appreciated and understood that not all the solutions will be ideal for everyone, but the important thing is to take away what works for you- and there will be something that works for you! 🙂

[url= https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.cpft.nhs.uk/Downloads/misc_downloads/Coping_with_sleep_difficulties.PDF&ved=0ahUKEwiDk6uAgNnWAhVEElAKHQH5DwUQFgggMAA&usg=AOvVaw2sp9vJFMoBI18bqFuroFW9 ]Link[/url]


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:55 am
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Didn't Maggie Thatcher sleep for something like four hours a night, but still lived to ~88?


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 7:57 am
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Didn't Maggie Thatcher sleep for something like four hours a night, but still lived to ~88?

Yeah but she was made of sour cream and bullets


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 8:00 am
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Podcasts and Tesco sleeping pills.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 8:00 am
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sour cream and bullets

Podcasts and Tesco sleeping pills.

The two next flavours of Walkers crisps?


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 8:01 am
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I would agree that trying to sleep when you can't is futile and a waste of time. So I usually get up and do something else. Usually something fun like play PS3 games I can't play when everyone else is up.

Or I often read - I do do that in bed though.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 8:01 am
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Listen to music 😀


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 8:36 am
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Didn't Maggie Thatcher sleep for something like four hours a night, but still lived to ~88?

If you read that article I linked to , the dude in it links Maggie's dementia to her famed sleeping habits


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 9:13 am
 DezB
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[i]Listen to music[/i]

That's what I do.
Hardly ever have trouble falling asleep, but always wake up at 3-4am and can't get back to sleep. So I have a load of ambient music on a little iPod. Earphones in and I sleep through. (Usually)


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 9:43 am
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Can't sleep? Have a, you know *whistles*


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 11:41 am
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Assuming Saxon passed out about 130am and left others to ponder insomnia?

EDIT:

Can't sleep? Have a, you know *whistles*

Rarely works for me but always worth a shot (sts)


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 12:10 pm
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Some good ideas here. Thanks. I did eventually pass out, but managed to edit an article I was working on before I did. 🙂

Who knew sleep was such a chore?!?


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 12:38 pm
 Drac
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If you read that article I linked to , the dude in it links Maggie's dementia to her famed sleeping habits

Well that’s me ****ed.


 
Posted : 05/10/2017 11:42 pm
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Normally i sleep ok, wake up occasionally as much as the next person. However at the moment I'm in the last 10 days of delivering a major piece of work I'm solely responsible for and after taking a while to get to sleep, I then sleep for a few hours before waking up thinking about how to improve it! Thing is it would be a lot easier to work on it if I slept properly. It's a viscous circle.


 
Posted : 06/10/2017 2:22 am
 Drac
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Is it worse when P20 is nights? My Mrs really struggles to sleep when I’m on nights.


 
Posted : 06/10/2017 2:56 am
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Yeah that doesn't always help. Particularly as he doesn't do that many full night shifts, so it can take a couple of nights to get used to. As a grown adult it sounds so stupid, but I go to sleep listening to the radio with a teddy in the bed and that normally works.

At the moment he is on early shifts (6 am), so I'm trying to lie there very still to ensure he gets enough sleep.


 
Posted : 06/10/2017 6:36 am
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Posted : 06/10/2017 9:51 am
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Fellow insomniac here, I seem to switch between not being able to get to sleep for hours or falling asleep quickly then waking between 3 and 5 am for a few hours. Completely life altering and so frustrating.

One thing that's really cool if you live in a town/city is to drive around for a bit. It's quite eerie how quiet it is at 2am, the only people you see are drunk or groups of neds on bikes, presumably out robbing stuff.


 
Posted : 06/10/2017 10:36 am
 DrP
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I go through phases of terrible sleep... last night was up till about 1am, awake at 6 am...

Kids, stress, worries etc all contribute.

Sleep hygeine advice is useful.
My 'get out' technique is to litereally not worry about it.

I used to get really stressed.... "I'm not sleeping//I'll be so tired..".. now I just lay there in bed (I do suggest [b]you [/b]get up and out of bed unless you can [b]REALLY [/b]not fret about it) and listen to pod casts.
I know sleep will come.
I'm generally tired all the time anyway, so it's not a huge difference to me!

DrP


 
Posted : 06/10/2017 10:59 am

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