Insomnia - what helps you?

[CorsicaDreaming]

I have really suffered from insomnia recently – going to sleep okay but then waking up again at about 2 am and often I'm not getting back to sleep till 4 am or later. Then I will be exhausted the next day.

I just wonder if anyone else suffers from this and has any good ideas to improve it? What works for you? Thanks in advance.

I struggle falling asleep when I go to bed- I can lie awake for hours. I find getting up, having some warm milk plus a biscuit can help, reading for 20 minutes until drowsy (after trying to drop off for an hour or so), I also came across this on youtube

It worked a little. I never have caffeinated drinks after lunch time.

I've had an issue perhaps similar to this.
Would be exhausted going to bed ( 10 - 11 pm ) . Sleep straight off. Wake up 2 - 3 am . Might get back to sleep 5:30 - 6 am or might not. So started the day totally wrecked.
I have rheumatoid arthritis.

Over a year messing around at GP level things were no better. Mentioned it to rheumotology when I was in for a routine check. After a couple of minutes of focused interview they knew what was going on and how also to sort it out :) .
Apparently in my case it was linked to RA related inflamation in the body and phases of sleep.

OP, have you ongoing medical issues ?

did you get different medication regime that sorted it out, BocaChica?

I've been waking ~245am & not back to sleep until ~5:20am. I'm used to disrupted sleep all my life but this has been so darn persistent for over a week without let up & I think I was extra tired today (maybe 4 hours sleep total). Very annoying !

I'm not on any meds. My body just doesn't let me sleep and in a variety of patterns.

I don't understand the hand patting exercise -- concentrating to keep my hands moving would keep me awake, wouldn't it? I know I was frowning trying to coordinate my breathing with the patting. Not relaxed.

@lljkk I did the tapping sitting in a chair just before going to bed. I found the whole thing quite relaxing but I’m not convinced it’s curing my insomnia. After a lifetime of insomnia, I’d be overjoyed if it was.

I have had several bouts of really terrible insomnia. At times so bad that I would go two full nights in a row with no sleep. This would be in the middle of lots of other nights of 3 or 4 broken hours. It was horrendous and it crept into every single aspect of my life. Relationships, health, work. You have my sympathy- I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

In the end, only medication worked for me. And prior to that I tried it all. Herbal remedies, various meditative and relaxation techniques, different diets and exercise regimes, bedtime routines and even hypnosis sessions.

I had sleeping tablets which of course helped me sleep but as soon as I stopped them, the insomnia was back.

In the end, a few months of 15mg Mirtazapine right before bed worked. I had to taper off it (and had a few rough nights when doing that) and I gained half a stone (which I lost quickly), but I haven’t had insomnia like that since. It won’t be the solution for everyone, and I think perhaps you aren’t quite there yet with the severity of it (and if you haven’t tried all those other things I have listed above), but it certainly worked for me.

Best of luck, OP. It is so hard

Thanks all for your posts 😊

@BocaChica and @lljkk - yes I'm exactly like that - go to sleep fairly quickly but then wake early hours of morning and cannot get back to sleep until 5ish. So when alarm goes off at 7am I feel rubbish. At mo have to go all way downstairs to go to loo in night, so by time I am back to bed I am really awake

I did a bit more searching online yesterday and came across this.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fall-asleep-fast-sleep-trick-military-b1912422.html

Tried it last night and it really worked - For me the "don't think" mantra helped a lot as it's all the thoughts whizzing around my head that then stops me dropping off again.

Also remembered I had bought some magnesium tablets so tried them again last night too...

I still woke up but just managed to get back to sleep. Phew 😴.
First good night in about a month!!

Sorry that earlier link now needs fixing

www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/fall-asleep-fast

[quote CorsicaDreaming]Sorry that earlier link now needs fixing

www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/fall-asleep-fast[/quote]
I'm going to try this tonight.