Bloody insomnia is driving me up the wall!!!

[MrsTumbletap]

I can't sleep, I don't know why. It's getting more and more common and I'm relying on sleeping pills far too much.

Anyone have any tips on how to switch off and go to sleep??

Life is fine, and plodding along fine but as soon as my tired body hits the pillow I'm wide awake!! Grrrrrr

Same... even taking Melatonin doesn't help!

How old are you?

Me too.
Exercise eg swimming late, helps me.
Not being on here/avoiding white light.
Pulling an all-nighter to reset clock only works if I don't fall asleep/siesta during the day.
Have severe acid reflux atm which has woke me up over 5 nights

I have it too! It’s rotten. I’ve learned to stay calm about it and that I can function ok the next day, but ugh.

For me the trigger is work anxiety and guilt over not getting enough done. Phone use makes it worse; and yet here I am, because it’s just quite boring lying patiently in the dark waiting to see if you’ll sleep.

Matthew Walker and Guy Meadows are good scientists to look out for in this field (look for podcasts and talks on YouTube). Things you can try include: exercise (light) outside in the early morning light (a walk round the block would do), restricting eating to a 12 hour (or less) wondow, making sure to use low light in the evening, no phone etc an hour before bed (or if you wake overnight... yep, i know!).

Guy Meadows has a specific set of instructions for when the anxiety of insomnia means you associate bed with wakefulness and stress. But i can't remember. A good podcast with tips to try is here: drchatterjee.com/guymeadows/

And yep, this is advice is all very ironic given I'm here, on my phone, having woken at 4am...!

And apparently wearing blue light blocking glasses is apparently the way forward if you're going to watch TV/us your phone etc in the evening. I haven't tried them yet.

Nice to see I wasn't alone last night. Finally drifted off about 3:30am.

I used to fall straight asleep every night in my twenties. Now I'm mid thirties and it's like my brain needs an off switch.

I wonder how we will all do tonight?......