Trouble Sleeping

@Carolyn63 (1403)
United States
January 25, 2013 8:26am CST
Do you ever have trouble sleeping? Sometimes I do for normal reasons, such as having a lot on my mind. Sometimes my pets decide it's pounce on the momma time. Sometimes it's my husband's snoring. However, sometimes I just seem to be keyed up for no reason I can define. Then I may go days, even weeks with less than 2 hours of sleep at night. In those cases I've tried taking a nice relaxing bath, a glass of wine, or even exercise to try to wear myself out. I've tried taking melatonin with occassional relief. The over the counter sleep aids, they don't work for me. The only time that's ever worked I had a severe headache all day and didn't realize I'd grabbed the bottle of sleep aid instead of the tylenol. After taking a few doses it still only made me a little drowsy. What do you do when you simply can not rest? Then, when you finally do manage to sleep through the night, you wake still exhausted. When I don't sleep well for a while, I go through stages. After several days I get giggly and silly. After that of course I reach the "don't even speak to me" stage where I'm considering biting your head off. I have a sledge hammer. Surely there is something I can do less painful than knock myself out. No, I haven't done that but it's gone through my mind when I'm at my limit. I've tried warm milk, sleepy time tea, everything I know to do. The mind says yes, sleep. The body says nope, lets get up and run around the block a few times. Sorry, it's cold, half the neighborhood allows their dogs to run loose, it just wouldn't be a good idea. Especially alone, at night.
1 person likes this
7 responses
binaybbsr1
@binaybbsr1 (375)
• India
25 Jan 13
A good description on unable to sleep. In fact my hobby is sleeping. You have summerized all causes as the reason of trouble in sleeping. I feel when your body n mind requires a rest, you do sleep and non necessarily you should sleep only in night. You can try it after your lunch too at least to equalize the backlogs. If your mind doesnt want to sleep, i guess u dont ve much options. But sometimes, we need to sleep n due to some dreams in our mind, we r unable to materialize it. You can follow these two rules. First one is to think positive at least at the time of sleeping. The positive things may include your professional/ romantic dreams even. Second one is to practice a "Pranayam". The procedure is like this. Slooooowly breath by which air will in and out very slowly. In one min. 2 or 3 cycle is better. Do it for 3 to 4 mins. Thts it. Your eyes will open after at least 4 to 5 hrs of good sleep. Trust on me. Try tonight. If you fail after practicing this, I shall cut my mustache.
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
25 Jan 13
Oh dear, don't do that. Fact is, I have done the breathing exercises. I've also gone through my day, backwards, in my mind, kind of a countdown from the stresses and accomplishments, to ease and slow my mind. I've played relaxing music. During the week I can't take a nap during the day, I have to work. It's just my husband and I so we are both needed. I should probably have mentioned, my body stays wide open, constantly. I've actually had to sit of both of my hands in order to hide the fact they seemed to have a mind of their own. I tremble constantly. So, if I get "keyed up" boy is it interesting. Are you familiar with things having different vibrational states/levels? Dreams rarely bother me in the sense that they are disturbing. Generally, if a dream is intense in a confusing way I've always found a message within. The "nice dreams" well, if I wake from that it's okay. I've had a few lucid dreams, but they are very rare. I've done many types of exercises, meditative, energy work, clearing the chakras and miridians, mantras, etc. There are just times when nothing works. However, my husband teases me and says I could hear an ant fart in China and wake. I live in Alabama, that's quite a distance, lol. Don't cut the mustache.
binaybbsr1
@binaybbsr1 (375)
• India
25 Jan 13
lol ... thnk god, mustache saved ... u can do one thing. cut yr pillow, extract some cutton for yr both ears, it may help. perhaps i m determined to make u sleep.
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
28 Jan 13
Lol. I've used ear plugs. I don't have kids, but apparently I have a stong mothers instinct since I do notice all that goes on. But I think my husband exagerates a bit. I don't think my hearing is quite that good, lol.
ladygagama
@ladygagama (6)
• China
26 Jan 13
i think if you can not sleep well,you should not force yourself,take it easy,you can read books or do everything you want except sleep, because the more you want to sleep the more you can't
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
28 Jan 13
You got that right. If I simply can not sleep I do get up. Sometimes I turn on the TV or some music. However, I may feel like going on a cleaning frenzy to wear myself out. I can't though because then the animals will want to play and I don't want to wake my husband. Fortunately, I had begun sleeping well again. Well, as I said, till last night because my back hurts. Once the chiropractor gets ahold of me, that will help get me going back in the right direction. But I know for tonight he will want me to ice it down and it will still be extremely sore. So I won't sleep well tonight. But hope to be back to sleeping in a normal, healthy manner after tonight. But what causes me to reach such a level in the first place? I'm trying to pinpoint it. If I could, then I could keep it from escalating.
pachuchay
@tipay26 (867)
• Philippines
26 Jan 13
hi there Carolyn63,If I may ask uhm do you like listening to music whenever you don't have much to do?Why not try to listen to relaxing music whenever you have difficulty sleeping that way it can help your brain to relax and not to think of anything.Your whole body will relax too by that method. :)
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
28 Jan 13
I do listen to music. Nature music is wonderful to help. Sometimes I go to another room to avoid having to listen to the hubby snore, and turn on the tv to one of the music channels. One aimed at relaxation. I've used white noise machines as well. Fortunately, the extreme lack of sleep issue only happens a few times a year. However, when it does, I haven't found anything that will shorten it. Not music, not exercise, not breathing, not mantras, not prayers, not relaxation techniques, not pills or beverages, nothing. Once it runs its course, I'm great for a few months. I've begun sleeping again, until last night cause of back pain. But I'd like to find a resolution to the issue so I'm prepared for next time.
courtknee525
@courtknee525 (3742)
• United States
25 Jan 13
For a while now I've noticed I've had a bit of trouble sleeping and resting. I can get a full night's sleep and I'll still get tired throughout the next day. Even if I relax at home during the day and don't do much, I still find myself yawning as soon as I go out somewhere. I have no idea what's causing this to happen. I'm not sure if it's because during the night my brain just doesn't get proper rest or what. But I'm tired of always feeling so tired all the time even when I get the right amount of sleep.
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
28 Jan 13
Oh yes, the difference between sleep and restful, recuperative sleep. I had chronic fatigue issues about 10 years ago. I slept just fine. I was in my late 30's. I was having to take naps and going to bed around 9:00 each night. It was awful. I had some health issues I wasn't aware of. And, I had gremlins, lol. Meaning I had some issues from the past that kept me worn down. I spent 30+ years sleeping in the fetal position. And no, it didn't matter if I relaxed all day or I was active. The point is, there are many reasons for extreme fatigue, some being health related. I can now stay up like a grown up, lol. I hardly ever take a nap.
41Combedale
@41CombedaleRoad (5954)
• Greece
26 Jan 13
Mostly I fall asleep within a few minutes but there are times when I lie awake for hours wanting to sleep but being totally unable to do so. When I analyse these times it is usually because I have overdone the coffee, too much caffeine. I never drink caffeine now after 7.30 p.m. and I try not to drink too many cups in the course of the day. Weeks without sleep though is a problem, perhaps you should pay the doctor a visit because going without sleep for long periods is bad for your health. Are you taking any kind of medication that might keep you awake? Do you go to bed hungry? The only other thing that might help that you may not have considered, is going for a walk during the day and getting some fresh air in your lungs and tiring your body out.
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
28 Jan 13
It is rare that I fall asleep withing minutes. Coffee, or no coffee, hasn't made a difference. None of my current medications have been an issue. When first put on blood pressure meds I couldn't take the one they gave me. It caused me to have a tickle in my throat so I was up coughing nights. Once they change the meds I was fine. And I see the doctor regularly. I have tried tiring my body out. I have a punching bag. I have an elliptical machine, and I also do light aerobics and Tai Chi (sp). As bad as I get, compared to my husbands step mother, I get plenty of sleep. She hasn't had a full nights sleep in years! She rarely sleeps more than 2 hours. She does however have a number of health issues. I don't know how she functions at all! Now, I do usually have to get up at least once a night because of the lasix, but after taking it for years that isn't what is keeping me up. The mind shuts down pretty well. Sometimes the body doesn't.
vivek19
@vivek19 (218)
• India
26 Jan 13
Please don't cut off anyone's head and don't go for sleeping pills at all as they will only worsen the situation. Just start doing yoga exercises and that's it. You will just feel like being in heaven. Just do it regularly. I'm damn sure that's really gonna help you out.
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
28 Jan 13
My body is about as flexible as a brick, lol. And I am quite clumsy. Not an exageration! I can do a few poses, but not many. However, I do laugh quite a bit when trying to do them as the cats always want to help. Floor exercises especially. Laughter is relaxing too though. And no, I won't cut of anyone's head. I have a punching bag for a reason. Well, two reasons, one for the exercise and one for stress relief.
Jennifer
@LovingMyBabies (85288)
• Valdosta, Georgia
25 Jan 13
I could have kept reading your discussion forever, you just made this so interesting! Just wanted to let you know that first... Now when I cannot sleep, I watch a movie, read a book or come here. For some reason those things make me sleepy after a while of doing any of the three of them. Eventually I do end up falling asleep, the movie has to be something that its okay but I am not dying to finish it. The book, it can be any book and coming here when I am sleepy just makes me more tired for some reason, don't know why. Lol. But between the three of them I can usually fall asleep.
Carolyn63
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
28 Jan 13
Thank you. For me, reading books are too engrossing. I can however, usually tune everything else out when reading. Watching a movie might help. Sometimes background noise does help, be it the TV or white noise, or music. I've inquired as to where my off switch might be but I have yet to discover it. Lol.