What do you do when you can't sleep?

[user1477282676]

I'm in Oz...it's 4.30am here. I've been waking up at odd hours this week...v unusual for me and I don't know how to handle it at all!

I've been putting my laptop on and browsing for a bit then going back to sleep but of course, I'm waking up knackered!

I am suddenly starving! Do I get up and have something to eat? Put up with the feeling and try to go back? What's best?

I think of a country beginning with every letter of the alphabet, then a city, then a food. I never get to the end of food... I do let myself off the X's, though

This is my formula:
Fresh air during day
Clipper sleepy tea
Hot bath
Read ( not a screen)
Radio 3 or 4 or world service
In extremis half a nytol
If hungry, eat.
Change sheets regularly

I'm a radio 4 podcast fan. I only have to hear Paul Lewis, Melvin Bragg or Christine Walkden and I drift off as they're so soothing. End up listening again on Saturday as I actually want to catch the programmes.

And I often recount facts even though I can't remember them.

Yes to the World Service and Audiobooks. We have several which are guaranteed to send me off:
Tender is the Night , Scott Fitzgerald, never get beyond chapter 1, magically soporific. One day I'll find out how it continues;
The Odyssey, Homer;
The Wasteland , T S Eliot;
Tennyson collections.
All very snooze inducing.

Alternatively I count things: how many countries we have visited, how many ski resorts, how many hotels, I almost always lose count and have to start again, then - zzzzzzz

Another one for the BBC World Service. Or design houses in my head. And if all else fails, go to the spare room.

Another vote for audiobooks or radio 4 on the iplayer.

If I really can't sleep, I occasionally get up and do a couple of jobs around the house, such as unload the dishwasher, put a load of laundry on, or something like that.

I do a dance class and you if I can't sleep I run through a routine we do in my head. It seems to banish any other thoughts and it always seems to work

stick the ipod on & let my imagination run riot

Progressive muscle relaxation - a yoga teacher always used to finish the class with this technique and it always seems to work for me if I'm restless at night. That and going to the loo, having a sip of water, and straightening the sheets.
I like the idea of writing down thoughts. Reckon I'll try that one next time I have restless mind at night.

I usually listen to this white noise (sorry struggling with links today):

m.youtube.com/watch?v=GyUwg2fBg3k

and imagine I'm in a rainstorm somewhere warm and exotic.

I get too wound up counting/having to remember things.

try and take my mind of it by imagining dreams and stuff

turn on radio

read

return to the first

give up and have a cup of tea

cry

fall asleep 10 mins before the alarm goes off

Sorry to lower the tone but I have a wank. It normally does the trick.

Usually I just listen to quiet music or get up have a snack and go back to bed. I'm usually a good sleeper though, I get a good 6/7 hours a night.

Don't look at screens!!!!! It wakes the brain up, the light. My counsellor told me this. All screens off way before bedtime, gives the brain a chance to switch off and realise it's night time.

Any time from about 4:30 onwards, I get up and do some writing. (before 4:30 I tend to lie in bed until 4:30, and then get up and so some writing.) The morning hours are the most productive. Maybe give it a try: write down memories of your childhood, or write a story..

It's quite therapeutic, and it's satisfying to use the time in a productive way.

If you are using screens, could you install a programme like "flux" I have it on my laptop and it adjusts the brightness of the screen to the time of day, it takes a while to get used to, but is pretty good I find.

I also second clean sheets.

I listen to podcasts. The infinite monkey cage is good plus the guy who does they walk amongst us has a soothing voice. I can fall asleep now to almost any so Helen and Ollie answer me this and No such thing as a fish 😀

Next night when I go to start at the bit I last remember I find out I fell asleep 5 minutes in!!!

I go outside or open the window until I'm so cold I'm shivering. Then I get into bed and the relief and concentration on getting warm again seems to help me drift off. We live in Scotland though so it's cold outside 90% of the time.

I can't believe so many of you survive on so little sleep, it must be awful, I need at least 7 hours solid! That said if I wake up in the night then I will pretend I'm having a massage or back scratch and I usually fall to sleep. I know it's weird. I think I used to be a cat in a previous life as someone only has to touch my hair or play with it for a minute and I'm half way to land of nod.

If I wake in the night:

1. Consider immediate bodily needs and supply them: loo, snack, drink, asprin, rennie, lozenge, hot water bottle. Don't lie there wistfully thinking about it, the sooner I drag myself out and go straight back to bed the better. Try to sleep again
2. Get out of bed and make it properly. Change pyjamas, brush teeth...basically go through my night time routine to signal to my body it's bedtime and try sleeping again.
3. Sleep somewhere else, so make a bed on the sofa or, if there's no other option, I sleep in my bed the other way round (with my head where my feet usually are). Luckily I've never had to do this when sharing with my partner...I'm not sure how well it'd go down if she woke up next to a pair of feet.

The listing things in the order of the alphabet never works for me. I get strangely into it...

Masturbate
I think I got that male hormone that means I fall asleep pretty rapidly after an orgasm

Another ASMR fan here. GentleWhispering and WhispersUnicorn are my favourites. Their ASMR videos on YouTube are a godsend when I can't sleep.

Zou I love gentlewhispering. Also MissASMR is fab

watching shopping channels
listen to audio books
listen to traffic/train noise
the old counting sheep & concentrating on breathing