What do you do, if you can't sleep?

[snookyjojo]

Hey,
lately I have a problem with falling asleep, though i'm reaaaaaaaaaally tired! I wonderded what i could do that coul dprobably help me falling asleep! what do you do in such situations?

[SingleTunePoet]

Here is the answer from the queen of insomnia (which is me): Right now i am kind of lauging because I what I just did was to sit down in front of my computer to send you an email complaining about the fact that I can not fall asleep, yet again. I guess you´ll see it next time you come online.
Honestly sweety I have major problems with falling asleep. I can be terribly tired and still, I can´t fall asleep (Just like now.). Often it happens when outer circumstances disturb my mind but it happens a lot too that I am perfectly at ease with everything and still can´t fall asleep. I do not know why my body reacts like that and I do not have THE idea that could help you fall asleep...obviously.
But what quite often helped me was/is my respiration-relaxion-thearapy CD. It basically has a guy give you instructions on how to breath in order to relax. You concentrate on breathing mainly and the guy even warns you to not follow his instructions if you do NOt want to fall asleep. So yeah, it is a pretty good way if you want to fall alseep. When the guy finally stops babbling, if you did not fall asleep yet, there´s meditational kind of music too.
Do you want me to send that CD to you?

[marc]

When i have trouble sleeping, its either too much coke, or having something going over in my mind, for example, the first time i watched unplugged was 10pm one night, i was so amazed with the performance that i didnt sleep until 3am

Oh yeah, we were talking about how to fall asleep....
Um, don't drink coke/other caffeine in the afternoon, try to avoid anything terribly exciting close to bedtime(like what i did....)
if you find any more tricks tell me haha, sometimes i also can't sleep for no reason

[snookyjojo]

hahahaha, okay! So we all seem to have the same problems! hahahaha.
Sounds like a cool idea! the meditation CD! aaha! And oaky, do not upset yourself close to bedtime! okay...all noted down! btw marc, hahaha, we all had that experience with watching a corrs concert and then not being able to fall asleep...i call this a...aaaaaahm...the corrs-concert-can't-fall-asleep-norose! absolutely normal! hahahha but ahm, what else came to my mind is this sleep-tea! it shall be rather calming aaaaaaaand those little pills of baldrian you can get in the drugstore...not the bing burners...those which are little concentrated and so on. ahm, what else....authonomic training! that'S GOOD! i tried that several times!
You lie down in your bed, lay your amrs next to your body, you lie on your back. then you close your eyes, and in your mind you say: "I'm totally calm and relaxed" and you say that about 3 times...and then you say "my right arms gets heavier and heavier" and ou won't believe it but you honestly have the feeling it's getting heavier! then you do the same thing with your left arm and your legs. then you repeat again that you`re totally calm and relaxed, and your bed is really comfy and so on. mistly one falls asleep while doing this, but if not you say: "I am totally calm and relaxed and i STAY totally calm and relaxed!" then you stretch your fingers, your legs and open your eyes. breaaaaaathe. and then turn on the site, try not to think and feel calm. fall sleep! TA-DA!
that's actually something that mostly helps me! and if THAT doesn't help, I take a book and red,which is a good way too, buuuuuut not too good for the next day, because you still won't have slept a long enough time and feel tired the next day....
any more ideas?

[cynthia]

Well, I think I can join the club here....
I have a lot of troubles sleeping. Someone knows me for having been online at 5am because of that. With me it is my recent hiptroubles (yes they are back!) and my grandma being so sick that they stopped all her medication except for the painkillers... So my mind is not ready to go to sleep and will not be quiet....
What I do, and what sometimes helps, is to cuddle up with George or my little cuddly-sheep I got from a dear friend, and just concentrate on that. Concentrate on stroking the sheep and on it's softness. In a while, my mind gets a bit softer and sometimes allowes my head to rest a bit as well.... At other times, I just get out of bed and get online. Or I write emails, or I check my boards and sometimes I just write a poem or two...

Big hugs for all the insomnia people out there!!!!

*hugs*

Cyn

[snookyjojo]

Hmhm....guess there's a lot of us having trouble sleep huh?
Iiiiiiiiiii sometimes also start to make up a story in my mind. of course aaaalways with celebraties and me as the protagonist hahahaha....a good i dea to switch off your mind...BUT not good for falling asleep because you concentrate on the thought of the story wqay too much. I mean it's great stories you knwo`? hahahaha. But not to be recommended if you WANT to fall asleep! exceptz you make up a really booooooooring story....like you talk to a scientist and he tells yo all about biological thingy bingys and then andrea joins in and it turns out great and AHHHH! LOOK AT THIS!....trust me, THAT won't work! hahahaha

[snookyjojo]

BTW, when i was at the philharmonica yesterday we were home at about um....midnight. and my bed felt soooooo comfy! AWWWWWW! and i slept like a baby tonight! SO probably it'd be good to listen to some classical music to calm you down? OR the best: go to the philharmonic and see yourself? hahahahahhaa classical music is okay i think! but dooooooooooon'T take those hard pieces....like by Schostakowitsch or sb. Debussy is to be recommended!!!!!!! hehhehe

[SingleTunePoet]

Hahaha I can already imagine Andrea dressed up in her sientist outfit. "Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the biological development of a cellular form of life or a virus..."

[snookyjojo]

hahahaha!
OH!!! And just when you said "scientist" ahm...if you are NOT interested in it! biology or chemestry or physics, read something you don't undersxtand and which is reaaaaaaaaaaally and I mean REAAAAALLY boring! You'll be surprised how fast one can fall asleep! and if you say now, "hey, but I dun ave any boring books" CALL ME! I have loads of them...they're so-called "SCHOOLBOOKS" but we kind of never use them, and when I had a look at them I also knew WHY! hahahaha

[Sabine]

Ok, so here´s the girl posting that can sleep anywhere, anyhow, anytime, so listen to me, I know how to fall asleep, hahaha.

I kind of never have trouble to fall asleep. It happens very rarely, so if it happens it´s really terrible for me. But, when I can´t fall asleep I close my eyes and concentrate really hard on falling asleep. I keep on saying to myself "relax, fall asleep". And, it works. That´s basically all I do. And if it doesn´t work I turn on the radio and then the music helps me to fall asleep. It´s always good to fall asleep while you´re listening to music, hihi.

[DazedOblivion]

Hahaha!! ;D ;D

I like these theories! I think also you should try to simulate a lecture in your room. Have a PowerPoint presentation with voiceover, the feint sound of a fan and dim lights - it works for me just about every time!

I recommend avoiding caffeine. (hmm... have I ever tried that? )

I also recommend having a relaxed attitude. I used to panic if I didn't get to sleep and I had an important event the next day. I just don't worry about it and that helps.

I love the sound of rain or some other "white noise" - rain is the best. I often listen to a CD that is just 60 minutes of rain recorded at Cape Cod. It works for me.

I read too. Reading has a way of making me sleepy, EVEN when the book is a good one.

[SingleTunePoet]

@ Steve: A 60 mins recording of rain at Cape Cod??! *puppy eyes* *puppy eyes* *puppy eyes*

@ Sabine: You are not qualified to write comments in this topic. Haha, sorry, I am only joking! Yet, I envy you! I wish I had you "sleeping abilities".

But I find that I also tried a lot of the things that were mentioned in this thread so far (Well, naturally, you do anything if you are desperate and just want to fall asleep.). I also often try to just focus on falling asleep but that only works for me if I concentrate on my breathing and without that CD I mentioned earlier it is more difficult.
I tried music too but that always only has me excited because I force myself to stay awake until the end of the songs. So the only music that works is meditational one.
I also tried listening to radio plays or spoken word on audio. That sometimes works but sometimes it has the opposite effect, just like music.

I did not try the power point presentation or sientific lecture yet though, haha.

[snookyjojo]

aha!
what? STEVE! You even fall asleep if the book is a good one? NO WAY! hahahahahahahah
yesterday was again a night i couldn't fall asleep! AH! and you know what? I forgott about all those things we alread said here! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! i really have to learnit all by heart! hahahahahahahahhaa!
what about watching tv at night? good or bad idea?

[Brownie]

Sometimes I watch a movie or sitcom on my laptop in bed.
I realize I fall asleep when I can't follow the story anymore.

[Andypandy]

brownie said:

Sometimes I watch a movie or sitcom on my laptop in bed.
I realize I fall asleep when I can't follow the story anymore.

I watch The Boys & Girl From County Clare ;D