to sleep or not to sleep, that is the question? Well wish I knew the answer!

I have the same problem. I get very sleeping around 3PM and have to fight to stay awake. By 4PM I'm fine but tired. I go through the rest of the day and want to doze around 6PM but resist it. By the time I go to bed I've gone through several cycles of sleepiness and when I'm practically falling asleep in my chair I go to bed. The minute my head hits the pillow I'm wide awake--it's so frustrating!! I've tried cutting out most carbs and more recently wheat and that has helped some. Reader's Digest published some techniques a long time ago in the late 70's and I remember one that worked for me. Breathe normally for 15 breaths then hold the 16th as long as is comfortably possible. Repeat till you're asleep. Naturally, the 17th breath will be a deep one and that seems to encourage your body to sleep. Soon you'll have trouble counting your breaths and drift off. It also helps to have some white noise. I have a fan no matter what the season is. I don't know how your roommate would deal with that but it's essential for me. Once I had to sleep where it was so silent I couldn't drift off so I turned on the radio (one with a dial, thank goodness) between stations and got a nice, sleep-inducing hiss that helped me.

One of the problems that will interfere with your sound sleep is being on the computer too late at night. You need to get offline and do something relaxing like read so that you can sleep more soundly. If you wake up in the middle of the night it is too bad you cannot just get up for a little while. Do you eat a good snack before laying down? I am having to go to bed early right now in order to get up on time, and I sure hate it if I do not sleep soundly.

When I have trouble sleeping, that is when I grab a book. Whether the book is interesting or not, reading always makes me sleepy. Are you able to borrow books from your local library? That is what I do.:)

Hatley, I go through that sleep/wake thing, also. When I get serious about getting a good night's sleep I take a 100 mg Trazadone. I've been up all night again working on crochet. Taking a pill might not be the answer for you. It works for me and it could help you. It's not habit-forming. You could just take one on those nights you keep waking up.

I don't usually have any trouble sleeping. Sometimes if I have to get up and go to the bathroom, I can't fall back to sleep, but that doesn't happen often. When it does happen, I find if I get up and read for awhile then I go right back to sleep.

Hmm, when i cant sleep i listen to music to put me to sleep but, i usually will have to turn it off when i get real tired because, it will end up keeping me awake because i will listen to the songs. But, it relaxes me and makes me able to fall sleep once i turn it off.

Just relax yourself. Sometimes I think it is helpful to do some exercise in the day time and then you will feel sleepy at night. So it is easier for you to fall asleep and then have a good sleep. I love China

I had that some problem. Woke up around 12:30, couldn't get to sleep until after 2. Almost came on here and posted about it. lol

Welcome back, Patsie!!! Did you get a new computer or did you get yours fixed? I hope you're able to get some sleep.

ive been going through the same thing for a very long time. i think its stress or maybe just age catching up with me. i cant seem to bring myself to take a med the doctor gave me for that because of having a very bad experience with a sleep natural formula several years ago. anyway, Dragon seems to have some very good ideas and the next responder also. im glad you brought this up. i will be reading the responses as it might help me also. thanks Hatley,. hugs, bon

I take a hot chocolate, and I pray the rosary... lol . Blessings Hatley... Dainy

Hi Hatley, happy to see you are able to online again. This type of question had been pooping in and out daily in our mind. Same like you, sometimes i do have problem to have a good sleep. Most of the night, i am only able to sleep less than 5 hours and had to take a nap in the afternoon. Now, i am trying my best to keep myself busy in the afternoon and make sure that i am very tired and able to have a good sleep. Hope i am able to solve my sleeping problem as well. Hope you will be able to solve your sleeping problem, too.

Hi Hatley it is 12.30 am here but I still could not close my eyes, I just moved to my new house and I miss my old bed room. The house is very quiet now because im just alone, I try to close my eyes try to count down from 100 to zero but it still not working. I know if I sleep I wont have a deep sleep, I'll be awake from time to time because I still not get used with this bedroom. Mylot is the only one who accompany me I dont have room mate I dont have television, but if I dont sleep I'll be in trouble to do my activity tomorrow, I'll be so sleepy and will be lazy to anything. How I wish I could just sleep and have a good dream now.

Hatley, take proper rest, it is good for your health, don't spoil your sleep for anything. As you mentioned you are not taking rest more than 6 hours, why like that? A healthy person must have a proper rest for 8 hours. Here after try your maximum to take rest for 8 hours

how i wish i could! i so want to sleeppppp.. but i am at the office right now.. and i could not do that.

I am not a sound sleeper. I wake up and roll over then go back to sleep. Sometimes I can't sleep when I am over tired or stressed out. When that happens I will nap in the afternoon when I am not working. If not I try to sleep in the morning before I go to work. That is how I do it.

You might have your normal sleeping schedule mixed up. My doctor told me a few years ago to set my alarm and get up every morning at the same time. Eventually I was able to sleep again at night instead of going to bed anywhere from 4 to 6 a.m. or later. When I go to bed and can't sleep because my mind won't turn off, I either say prayers or just say sleep over and over again. It helps stop my mind from thinking of all different things. I also take a black sock and put it over my eyes which blocks out any light. It has helped me. Good luck with getting over your insomnia. Oh, also get up and do something until you feel tired. I know it is probably hard with having a roommate. Hugs

A Catholic priest told me (in a class on dreams) that the first step in getting to sleep (once you're lying down and the lights are out and you're all comfortable) is 'don't TRY to sleep!' When you're in a 'ready-to-sleep' position, you're resting enough to be practically sleeping anyway. Just let the sleep come, until you're ready to get up!

Me, I should sleep because I haven't had a good sleep since last weekend. Everyday I can only sleep 6 hours a day because I need to wake up early in the morning for work. Everyday I need to steal a nap for about an hour and it will be okay for me. During lunch break, I sleep for an hour and it already makes a huge difference.

The last five days have been pretty bad for me. Previously on those five days, I had a very unique sleeping pattern. Sometimes I would wake up 4 hours from my time that I start, others would be 3 hours. The last five days, I couldn't sleep the entire night because I was too busy mylotting. Guess I took myself to be over the top, huh? :p Well anyways, I tried to prove myself that I could stay up so that later in the night I would be able to fix my sleeping schedule by sleeping at the right time. That didn't go exactly as planned because I had an energy crash and fell asleep on the couch by morning. Yesterday I had a few severe headaches, took a tylenol, and went to sleep. I woke up at about 10:00 PM that night and was able to get back to sleep. Finally, I fixed my sleep schedule, and I hope to not mess with it again tonight. :O