How do you sleep at night when you lots on your mind?

[claw4]

I havent been able to sleep for the last 3 nights, not getting to sleep until about 4am, then up again at 7am.

I have a lot on my mind and i just cant switch off.

Ive tried hot bath, warm drinks, some relaxation techs i use on ds, not doing anything too stimulating before bed etc, etc but its not working. I have ordered myself a book to read at bedtime to see if this helps.

So what do you do to help you sleep when you have a lot going on?

Well I'm a long term insomniac and the reason I've been up two hours now. For me I get up, read, MN, watch TV, even iron and then go back to bed later when I'm feeling more tired.Most of the time I don't go back to bed tbh so have learned to enjoy the peace and quiet instead.

I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble sleeping. I go through phases of insomnia, especially when things are churning in my mind, and this works (at times) for me:

Open the windows in the bedroom (even when it's mid-winter)
When feeling chilly, climb under the covers.
As I warm up, a sense of relaxation and drowsiness settles upon me.
Listen to talk radio (nothing too stimulating) or relaxing music.
Drift offf (hopefully)

HTH .

I use a hypnobirthing technique.

It sounds a bit woo for me but basically take long deeper breaths, in through nose and out through mouth. When breathing in, imagine golden light full of oxygen coming in and bathing various parts of your body, when breathing out imagine it your breath a darker colour taking away negative thoughts/stress etc.

I get up.

I didnt used to and just lay there getting more and more stressed.

Now I get up, watch TV, MN - if its something really bothering my I write it down. I do a pros and cons list of actions I could take and leave it for me to look over in the morning.

Sounds a bit daft but it seems to work for me.

I have made lots of pretty major decicions wrt ds1 and therapies etc this way and its worked out really well for him!

Insanity, well i managed 2 hours of sleep last night and i feel like i have a hangover!

ice I always have to sleep with the windows open and no radiators on in the bedroom, even if its snowing! Havent tried listening to music, will give that a go.

Star that is very similar to relax tech's i mentioned that i do with ds and i have been trying on myself. I even found a bottle of left over Vallergan that a paed prescribed for ds years ago and i considered taking a swig of that, but it was out of date!

Badvoc i will that give that a go too.

Thanks guys.

I know how you feel claw, haven't had much sleep last few weeks. Feel shattered but can't go to sleep til about 2 then tossing and turning. Didn't help last night that neighbours had massive row and were screaming til 5, when the police turned up...

Oh that hasn't helped much has it?! Sorry claw, will try some the suggestions here too.

Hi Starfish, Oh joy, just what you need!

Its this whole statementing process isnt it and added to this i have just found out i now have some kind of growth of my womb and at the moment they are not sure what it is. Back to the hospital next week for more tests. I regard my being 'ill' as a major inconvience and something i could do without right now!

Dont worry about suggestions, if you having trouble sleeping too, you might find some of other suggestions helpful too

Oh claw, really sorry to hear that :(

No wonder you are having trouble sleeping. You don't deserve this on top. Please let me know how get on. Sending lots of positive thoughts

Starfish, thanks, im sure it will amount to nothing. But of course its got me thinking the worse when im trying to bloody sleep! I cant afford to be sick or ill right now!

Sorry you are.going through this claw,

I tend to self medicate with piriton if things get really bad.

Maybe i should get some proper drugs but it seems to work.

Drugs too

I take a couple of Kalms at tea time, and a couple more at about 8:30/9pm and that usually does the trick for me. Worth a try?

Ooh yes liquid piriton knocks me out too!

I was tempted to take the vallergan and i would have, if it had not been out of date. I tried melatonin before i gave it to ds, didnt seem to work on me, although it knocked him out!

Thanks guys liquid piriton and Kalms, will give them a try.

Very reluctant to go to my GP especially to do with anything stress related as im sure it could be used against me at some point.

@ leonie

Damn i threw it out this morning, might have to have a rummage through the bin! You are a bad influence Leonie

I find if I watch re-runs of QI it sends me to sleep, I think it's the kind of relaxed good humouredness of them...

I will admit to having resorted to cocodamol a couple times over the past couple of weeks. Although in my defence I have been in a lot of pain with horrible restless legs as well.

When I was much younger, working long hours in a really stressful job and had insomnia for prolonged periods of time I used to take NightNurse on the odd night, just so I had at least some sleep that week.

I had terrible insomnia at the end of my pregnancy with dd and ended up sitting up all night watching re-runs of Red Dwarf.

Have you tried Rescue Remedy. That's my next plan. Ds has the pastilles when he is really stressed and can't settle and they seem to work for me if I'm building up to a stressful event, but I thought I'd try the tincture and sip it in some water throughout the evening. (Thank you madwoman for that suggestion. )

Leonie, I didn't realise that about propanolol. That makes sense. I was prescribed it, but stopped taking because I didn't like how it made me feel and was too restless to sleep.

I actually got to sleep by about 1am last night and feel much better for it!

Ds and I watched his favourite chinese film with subtitles, a bit like reading a book! and it was pouring with rain, i had the windows open and laying listening to the rain was very therapeutic.

But i will stock up on some 'remedies' just in case. Thanks everyone.