What do you do when you can't sleep?

Sometimes when I can't sleep, I'm also too tired to get up too. Just exhaustion probably. I'll read then, and I know the exact time to put the book down and I'll go right to sleep. I really like reading in bed as it's relaxing (except when I have one of the darn riveting books I can't put down!). My husband used to watch TV in the bedroom and it was ridiculous. He'd watch TV, doze, wake up watch TV, doze. When we don't have a TV in the bedroom, he'll do this in the living room. He doesn't get any kind of good sleep, although he keeps saying it's helping him get to sleep! If I am in one of those really can't sleep moods, I jump up and do what will stop my mind going - I'll make lists, get on the computer and play solitaire or other games, read. I completely understand about the bathroom business, if I wake up even slightly needing the toilet, it's no going back to sleep until I get up.

Have you tried lavender? It's a great relaxant, but I'm sure you're aware of that already. I have a plastic jar full of lavender flowers which I keep the lid on, until I go to bed. Then, I mereley unscrew the lid and place the jar beside my pillow or on the bedside cabinet. It works wonders. In the morning, I screw the cap back on and give the flowers a shake, so that they're ready for the next night. If the lavender loses its scent, then either replace the flowers, or add a few drops of lavender essential oil to the jar. Lavender flowers are very cheap to buy, and I used an empty plastic jar from some nuts I had at Christmas once. If you prefer, you could just put a few drops of lavender essential oil on your pillow each night. You could also take a lavender bath before going to bed, which will also relax you ready for sleep. Just add a few drops, (not too many.. 3-6) to the bath water, and relax for twenty minutes in its scent. Brightest Blessings, my friend, and sleep well.

I used to toss and turn and try to fall asleep again but gave up on it; now I go online or read. I have a mild form of restless leg syndrome so it feels like I am dancing when I'm in bed sometimes lol; when that happens and I know I won't be getting any sleep I figure I might as well do something productive.

If I can't get myself to sleep I'm ususally pretty slow about getting out of bed to go somewhere else. I have a hard time sleeping and am a very light sleeper when I do fall asleep so I need to learn to just get up and do something relaxing like reading a book or something like that.

i mylot LOL. i'll work on crafts,catch up housework,watch a movie.. i try to find something useful to do so the time isn't wasted since i'm up anyway.i'll just flop around like a fish if i stay in bed.

I am just like you in this respect, nancy. It is usually my inability to turn off my thoughts that is keeping me awake. I too have heard that it is best to get up rather than starting a habit of needing to read in order to fall asleep. Like you, it helps me to write down my thoughts and just get them out of my head. Also like you, it does not help me to drink a milky drink because I am only delaying the process until I am able to go to the restroom. I enjoy writing in journals and sometimes my best journal entries come at all hours of the night when I am unable to sleep.

Then I am doing it wrong because when I can't sleep I sit up in bed and read a few chapters of my novel which I keep on my bedside table. I turn my computer off so I don't go on there and that is fatal because I won't come off it, so I leave it alone. I usually get myself a drink of water, I won't drink anything other than water because if it's sugary it will then start attacking your teeth whilst you sleep! I also have a puzzle book as well to tire my brain out or a notepad is good for writing out stuff on your mind which won't rest.

I can't sleep right now and so I'm toolin' around online. I may take a Simply Sleep pill here in a bit.

I often wake in the early hours of the morning and use it as a opportunity to practice meditation. Like you, during meditation ideas often come into my head that I can use the following day.

Well I usually just sit up and watch some television. I guess I should stop doing that if you are not supposed to be in bed. I don't have that much trouble sleeping though.

Usually if I can't sleep, I just turn off the lights in the bedroom and turn the tv on. I watch until I get my eyes weary and tired. Eventually, I get to sleep without my knowing.

nancy....hehehe The only thing I always do when I cant sleep is wake up my wife and make-love with her. She understands well this my habits. She will know why I cant sleep, and sometimes she gets to smile as a clue to ease my tension. After this, all is running well. No more tensions, and I get to sleep soundly....

when i can't sleep, which is isn't that often, i read books that have been waiting to be read... i usually buy books that i intend to read...and moments like these, when i can't sleep, are the times when i get a chance to catch with the reading that i want to do...

My sleep doctor told me if I wasnt asleep with in 15 mins. to get up and read something or write. Then when you feel sleepy go back to bed. If you still havent fallen asleep do it again and also get up at the same time everyday..

Get in a comfortable position and relax. So you start at the toes of one foot and relax each toe in turn then when all five are done concentrate on the ankle then the whole foot. When the foor is done then relax all the muscles in the lower leg. Then move to the knee and make sure that it in a relaxed postion. Mow the upper leg all the way up to the hip making sure that you have relaxed all the muscles in that leg. Now repeat what you have done in that leg and apply the same to the other leg. When both legs are done then you know where to go next and I'm sure with so many parts of your body have been relaxed completely you have been to busy to think of anything else so By the time you have reched your brain you will have forgoten where you relaxed the last part when you wake up the next time you wake up!

When I cannot sleep which is a rarity, I will put on a cd of the sea, this is so relaxing also I have a brilliant Paul McKenna Sleep like a log hypnosis cd, I am gone within seconds. I prefer to go to sleep with the TV on as I hate to go to bed in a silent room, as my brain starts thinking too much. I hope you get a good sleep tonight Nancy x

I usually go to the washroom, and then go back, lay my head on the pillow, close my eyes and hope to go back to sleep. Sometimes I am thinking about something and it bothers me so much that I will lie awake thinking of it, but I decided to not do it so that I can sleep better. I figure that in the morning, it will sort itself out. I have not gotten up and wrote since that would entail getting on the computer, since I can only write by hand for so long before my hand hurts. So in main what I do is to close my eyes and not think of anything. That does help.

I suffer from bouts of insomnia and not much helps apart from getting up for awhile perhaps having a cuppa (and a ciggie for me) and then trying to go back to sleep. I normally only get it when I've got to wake up for work the next morning which makes it worse! I do read books before sleep and they normally help, if not try a meditation CD, that usually puts me to sleep!

I take an Ambien!

i usually have those sleepless nights, well im insomiac, what would i expect, i hate taking sleeping pills, i never took them, well i think for a couple of times, but i hate it, so instead of taking pills and forcing my mind to go to sleep, i take milk, that works sometimes, or should i say raretimes, but if milk wont work, i make myself enjoy and make use of that sleepless night, i read books, surf the net, make my cross stitch, or sketch, until im not bothered about these sleepless nights..