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Does anyone else suffer from sleep disorders? I've had this so long, I can't remember a time when I could sleep without pills, teas, and meditation. These used to be my most productive hours. Sometimes I find myself laying beneath the sheets staring off into the blackness. Other nights, I get restless and write. I'm curious to learn how anyone else may be coping with this.

I had terrible insomnia when I was really stressed/depressed/having anxiety attacks. I would lie in bed, exhausted, unable to sleep, watching the room get brighter until the sun was up. It was very frustrating, and needless to say, I was constantly tired. I never tried any sleeping pills, but a few times I had chamomile tea.

My bigger lifelong problem is that my circadian rhythm does not want to conform with the typical 9-5 day that The Man dictates. I naturally stay up until 2 or 3am and wake up around 10am. This means that most of my life has been spent feeling like someone is waking me up at 5am. I have a sunrise clock, which has helped a little in terms of waking up (instead of sleeping through my alarm for hours), but it hasn't done anything to change my sleep cycle.

Yeah, I've got a lousy sleep shedule too. I've been trying to reset it for years, but I've mostly given up and accepted the vampire lifestyle. Insomnia is not so much a problem now as oversleeping and daytime drowsiness. My dreams have been improving though, in frequency, duration, quality, and recall.

As far as coping, I used to drink hot milk before bed, but it tasted yechy and didn't help much. If I'm really desperate the extra-strength OTC cough medicine works like a tranq dart, but it tends to leave me with a "hangover" effect the next morning, so I mostly avoid it.

When I'm haveing trouble getting to sleep I'll take a couple tylenol, one regular and one PM, that seems to help. A natural sleep aid called melatonin works really well too, but depending on the dosage and whether it is time release, it can leave you feeling groggy in the morning. I haven't used in a few years buy you can find in the natural suplements section.

Last night I had one of those nights where your brain just won't shut down and it just keeps rehashing the same problem. I finished my last night of hockey tryouts last night about 11:30 and have 7 guys for 4 spots and no matter how we went over it we couldn't make a fair decision. We're going to keep them all on a little longer, but my brain just kept trying to solve the problem and all I wanted to do was fall asleep. It used to happen a lot before big tests or projects. Having a cold at the same time wasn't helping either, the ability to breathe seems to aid in the sleep process.

Since we're on the topic of Insomia, there are a lot of Counting Crows songs that deal with this topic since Adam Duritiz suffers from it too.

Nothingman wrote:Last night I had one of those nights where your brain just won't shut down and it just keeps rehashing the same problem.

I know that kind of nights. Usually I try to leave all thoughts about work and other complicated things out of the bedroom. As soon as I start thinking about work I know I can forget about sleeping for a few hours. Once the thoughts start spinning, there's no stopping. And the more you try to focus on falling asleep, the harder it gets...
I'm not a big fan of pills -- I avoid taking them whenever possible -- so I've tried several other things when I've trouble sleeping like drinking some relaxing tea or watching a really lame tv show ("Smallville" really does mircales ). Drinking a bottle of beer (not more!) works sometimes. Or putting some warm water over my feet in the shower also helps. But sometimes I just give up, turn the PC on and play an hour SimCity.

Nothingman wrote: Last night I had one of those nights where your brain just won't shut down and it just keeps rehashing the same problem.

that's my main problem too. and it's not just problems I work out, I simply suddenly think of everything the minute I get in bed. once I get to sleep, I'm usually fine. but then, like a bird, I wake up as soon as the sun comes up. I tried taking herbs, like Valerian Root (not strong enough), Kava Kava (worked well for a month until I got used to it), and then Melatonin. Melatonin worked really well for me and I didn't have that groggy feeling the next morning, but I didn't like the thought of messing with the chemicals in my brain, so I stopped. the only true method for me to fall asleep is to watch television. there's something about the lull of their voices that bores me to sleep. but then I wake up at 4am on the couch with a crick in my neck, so that isn't such a great method either.

I probably should be productive when I can't sleep. like read a book or write something. but I'm a very stubborn insomniac, I insist on laying in bed, knowing that any minute I will fall right to sleep. my ex-boyfriend could fall asleep the second he laid down. that's like so not fair!!

My boyfriend tried valerian but it was so stinky that he threw away the whole bottle.

Years ago Valerian worked like a charm. My body got used to it. I've been on Ambien, herbs, allergy pills, and now I've returned to mega doses of melatonin. I'm really stressed right now from and about work. Just too much happening at once. It can feel overwhelming at times. I've popped a few already tonight, as I don't wish another night spent reliving the days flubs.

Other things which help me to sleep:

Tibetan bell music (Dueter's Nada Himalaya is excellent)
Rain, thunderstorms and ocean waves on cd
Asian flute and bells
Wong Kar-Wai's superb Day's Of Being Wild
Talking to Mom, Gran...my best friend
A nice hot shower

I find that drinking large amounts of whiskey, thursday, friday and saturday night allows me to fall right asleep, among other things. There is a slight side affect of nausea in the morning though, but it doesn't say anything on the bottle about it.

Another slightly less potent method is a glass of red wine and some Norah Jones.

Nothingman wrote: Another slightly less potent method is a glass of red wine and some Norah Jones.

Liquor is fine, but, there's always the next morning. A great workout can also do the trick. Not sure I'm ready for more Norajonesing. I think one of the sweetest things was having a friend surprise me with a beautiful Chinese bedtime story. Oh, if only Chow Yun-Fat were reading those to me on a regular basis. He has the most incredible voice.

special_k wrote: Other things which help me to sleep:

Tibetan bell music (Dueter's Nada Himalaya is excellent)
Rain, thunderstorms and ocean waves on cd
Asian flute and bells
Wong Kar-Wai's superb Day's Of Being Wild
Talking to Mom, Gran...my best friend
A nice hot shower

ah yes, I good rainstorm always helps, as does a hot shower. but it seems like if the problem is in your head, there is only so much you can do about it. I've tried meditating, but even that is hard when you are stressed and can't stop worrying about everything. clear your mind, yeah, easier said than done!

I suffer from both insomnia and nght terrors. For the insomnia, I usually watch TV, write down what I am thinking if I can't stop thinking about work stuff, so mentlly I will deal with it the next day, or I take Tylenol PM. Jut one to help me fall asleep. If I take two, I am groggy n the morning.

Now, I have never found a cure for my night terrors. They seem to be triggered by stress. I think I see something in the bed/bedroom (like bus, spiders, a person, demon, etc.), and I scream and scream in my sleep until either I wake myself up, or my husband wakes up. It is not fun, especially form my husband.

Hey Megs I'm new and don't know you but y Dayghter gets night terrors, so I can empathise with you.

I usuallu use valrian for insomnia( You can get it in pill form so you don't have to deal with the smell.), that or sleeping on the couch with the TV on low...make sure it's nothing your actually interested in watching though.LOL CNN works well.

Ugh, I had night terrors throughout my teens. For some reason they stopped around twenty; maybe less stress. I read that some people have been able to "break out" of the paralysis often associated with the terrors by concentrating on moving a small part of the body, like a finger or a foot, then progressing gradually through the limbs, etc. Never tried it myself though.

Excepting stormy weather, I need the sound of a fan running in my bedroom to get to sleep. I've tried white noise generators and cds, but they aren't the same. Even during the coldest winters I'll angle the fan away from my bed but I keep it running all night.

I never heard of night terrors before. They don't sound good.

I wake up once or twice during most weeknights. I think waking up might be caused by drinking too much caffeine to keep me going during work and general work-related stress. I sleep Friday and Saturday nights through. My job is stressful, I deal with people on the phone all day. I guess I'm anxious, since I never know what someone is going to say and I don't know if a trade error has my name on it.

I'm watching "Strangers in the House." I'm starting to feel like Graham, wondering what I'm doing with my life. I think that it's time I tried something new, but I'm not sure what to do.

"People our age don't have heart attacks," Graham says. Heh, I'm five years younger than Andy Cherski and Graham. Scary.