Tips for helping with insomnia that really help

[TellySavalashairbrush]

I’ve had insomnia for years , mainly an issue with waking up around 3am and laying there worrying about anything and everything until
6am and then having to get up for work. GP gave me pherneghan tablets which does help but the horrible headaches it gives me and the risk of developing dementia worry me a lot. Does anyone have any tips/advice that has worked for them?

No. But following as have the exact same issue 😩

I've tried everything bar prescription medication and nothing works. Although I heard melatonin is good but it's prescription only too.

I once listened to a sleep meditation that told me to breathe deeply, imagining sinking further into the bed as I did so, then imagining walking down endless stairs. Sometimes, it works! Helps if the stairs are carpeted and the walls a soothing colour.

I have the same problem, always 3am. I find listening to audio books help a little, at least it distracts from the random thoughts going around in your head.

Same here.
I have a 3am game where I will go through the alphabet naming something. For example - animals. Think of all the animals that start with A and then B. It prevents that anxiety thinking setting in and I rarely make it to C.

Snoozeband. I Listen to audiobooks playing all night. Stops my mind racing and I always fall back asleep.

Paul McKenna sleep trance on YouTube helps me a lot. And an antihistamine before bed plus 2 magnesium.

@Needtoughloveare you me? I do this I massive amount of lists if you run out of alphabet ideas.

Audiobook on a timer so it doesn’t go to the end works for me. And if I can’t get to sleep I’ve stopped worrying about it. The stress of thinking I’ll be tired the following day made it worse. I then realised I can cope with a broken nights sleep ok, especially if I can have a nap to make it up although I appreciate not everyone can.

I put magnesium butter cream on my feet. Take 1 Nytol. A few low dose melatonin gummies. Have Friends or something familiar on tv. Phone on dim light and just read til I pass out. Sometimes I’ll make it to 6am. If I wake at 3/4, I will try to fall back asleep but sometimes I’ll have another melatonin gummy and read again until I’m out. I’ve never been able to fall asleep by just pretending to be asleep. It’s a combo of adhd and peri so not much else I can do

Not sure why my post has been hidden, there’s nothing explicit in there!

I’ve been taking Together Health magnesium (Waitrose / Holland & Barrett / Together Health website) for about 3 months now and I’ve never slept so well (dreadful sleeper all my life). DP takes it too and we both feel less stressed as well.

Aged about 45 this started happening to me. I eventually got a GP referral for an online insomnia course called Sleepstation

It was brutal but it did break the habit...for a while

Finally when I turned 49 GP said oh its your age and put me on HRT. On and off the sleep got better but would often be absolutely awful

Past few months I feel like I've finally cracked it. I'm 53. I'm on my 4th different type of oestrogen (lenzetto spray) and citalopram which is an anti depressant but also reduces night sweats. So that's also brought down anxiety, which is lovely in itself.

I've also only just worked out that I'm now post menopausal (🎉) so that might affecting sleep too

Good luck v it's f'ing awful. I felt absolute rage at being wide awake for hours at 3am and then zombie like all day. And so many asking if I read stressed at work / home etc. No I wasn't, just stressed from not sleeping!!!

Count backwards from 700 in 7s (so 700, 693, 686, 679 etc). If you go wrong, start again. This used to work for me until I got really good at it! Going through the alphabet for place names, girls' names, countries, singers etc is a good way to occupy your brain too and stop it fretting about not being able to sleep.

huge problems too. resolved with hrt and doing a very detailed walk through of grandmother's house. She died many years ago, so I have to concentrate deeply to try to remember all the details. Lay in bed, imagine walking down the garden path, stepping inside, walking through all the rooms. Furnishings, carpet, ornaments, paintings, photos, cutlery. Only get through two rooms usually before sleeping in 🙂

Melatonin. I took advice from here and bought it from Biovea. Game changer.

Sometimes doing a body scan helps me if I am fairly calm. I know we shouldn't go on screens but the words of wonders crosswords game sometimes works.

Chronic bad sleeper all my life for various reasons, (I'm in my 60s), 3.30am and I are close friends.

I came across this recently, and what do you know, it's really helpful!

It doesn't always work, but it does more often than not. For me, that's really saying something.

Lie down to go to sleep and then do the following, with your eyes closed.

Look up. Look down.

Look to the left. Look to the right.

Circle your eyes in one direction. Circle your eyes in the other direction.

Repeat.

Often it takes no more than three times, one second you're thinking, the next you're asleep.

Persevere if it doesn't work the first time you try it. Despite being sceptical, I've found it a very useful weapon in my armoury. Something to do with the vagus nerve apparently.

If it doesn't work after a few repetitions, stop and do something else for a while.

I’ve had this, waking up in the middle of the night and lying there for hours, brain going ten to the dozen until it’s time to get up. Now this may sound daft, but it does seem to work for me. You may not even have noticed this but when we are thinking of stuff our eyeballs naturally roll up, even if our eyes are closed. What I found, if I realised my eyes were “looking up” when my eyes were closed, I’d purposely gently roll them down again as if I were looking down and it seems to stop your thoughts and quietens your brain making it easier to fall asleep. It can actually be difficult to realise your eyes are looking up but once you do and roll them down again it does seem to make a difference. Sounds mad I know but it honestly works for me. It’s worth a try anyhow!! Good luck I hope you find something that works for you.

Magnesium glycinate in sachet/shots, often called bisglycinate. Can be in tablet/capsule form too. Game changer for me. I take half the dose before turning out the light, and the other half if I wake up! Audiobook timed, or podcasts are essential for me to stop the racing mind. Rarely fails now but took a long time to get something non prescription to work.

Melatonin gummies bought online.

I did sleep station but it didn’t work for me. I was one who woke at 2am every night. I now take the melatonin at 2am and fall back to sleep every time. Saved my life, marriage, work everything! Praise the lords for melatonin

Thanks for starting this thread, this has been my life for about 20 years. I’ll be taking some tips from posters who’ve shared here

i’ve done everything even the new prescription drug ( begins with d but can’t remember cos it didn’t work) I’ve not slept since the day I turned 50, so 19 years.
Currently trying this -choose a pattern of 4 numbers eg 2468 and repeat over and over in your head - its really hard to stay focused on those numbers without your mind wandering off.

I imagine that addressing anxiety is what helps if anxiety is keeping you awake.

Nothing helps my insomnia... I'm not anxious. I just don't Fing stay asleep.

I was part of a trial into Torture No Sleeping allowed. Actually, that's not the formal name. Instead, they call the strategy "Sleep restriction" and they measure success as "Sleep efficiency."

The gist of that programme is you go to bed at 1am and set alarm for 2am. At 2am get up and not allowed into a bed to sleep until 1am next day. As long as you sleep the entire hour from 1am-2am then you have great sleep efficiency = success = cure for insomnia. it's very important that you completely avoid your bedroom, btw, at all times except your sleep efficient hour. Your bedroom becomes a massive no-go zone. And if you believe in "sleep hygiene" then the bedroom should only have a bed & bedding in it. Nothing else allowed there, don't want your bedroom to be at all "exciting".

Since Performance Sleep (must perform by having high sleep efficiency) is the favourite thing most promoted by so-called insomnia experts, that and keeping "sleep hygiene" (having a boring lonely bedroom), I don't think there is an actual cure for most of us.