help needed for insomnia/hard to fall asleep

[dino]

I' ve been unable to get to sleep now since i went to bed 6 hours ago.its my 1st day back at work in about 4 hours but there is no way i will be going as i will be knackered and will probably fall asleep at somepoint during the day.

ive always had great difficulty sleeping since i was younger.today i knew i woud have to go to bed earlier because its my 1st day back at work(i work at a high school) and i knew i would have difficulty getting up earlier, so i used the search button on this forum for advice on how to get to sleep.

i played soccer for an hour at the local park.i made sure i had a snack 2 hours before i went into bed.i had warm milk and camomile tea.i also took sleeping tablets and 2 paracetomol which i hoped would send me on my way,and i also took my usual zma before going into bed.i havent had any caffeine either today.

i thought all of the above would send me to sleep but it didnt.I ve been tossing and turning for the last 6 hours.ive got a bad headache now because i cant get to sleep.my brain just won't switch itself off and let me go to sleep even though my body is very tired.i really dont know what else to do and i ve got to get up even earlier tomorrow morning.

im disappointed and upset that im not going to go into work 2moro,but there is no way i am going back to work on 3-4 hours sleep as i'd be unable to focus and will be feeling like **** throughout the day.im going to try to get to sleep when ive finished typing this out but only for about 5-6 hours,then hopefully i will be tired enough to get to sleep for tomorrow.

im sorry that this has been such a long message but i really could use some advice.i hate just lying in bed unable to get to sleep when im tired and my brain just wont shut down.

p.s i have also been to the doctor about this and he did give me suitable tablets but i have finished them now and cant really ask for any more.

any help would be great espcially if some people have had this problem has well.

[threenorns]

hi!!! me!!!

seriously: check the times of my posts. you'll find them pretty much every 2 to 4 hours around the clock. i have as many oz friends on my contact list as i do friends on this side of the pacific.

as a matter of course, i only sleep 3 or 4 hours a night, sometimes as little as 2, sometimes as much as 5 or even 6 if i'm really exhausted. every few weeks, i bottom out and sleep pretty much round the clock for two or three days, then it's back to business as usual.

one of the problems i have is my brain just. will. not. stop. it took me a long time to learn to just switch things off. it's a trick - meditation helped a lot. now, unless something's really bothering me, i fall asleep instantly and i wake up instantly - to me, it doesn't even feel like i went to sleep, just blinked extra long.

when your brain starts doing the hamster dance, you have to basically deliberately tell yourself "tomorrow. right now, i'm sleeping" and then clear your mind. don't try to force the intrusive thoughts out - just accept that they're there and then set them aside. concentrate on regulating your breathing - slowly in through the nose, then out through the mouth. mimic the breathing pattern of a sleeping person.

it takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you do, getting to sleep is no longer a problem.

[.V.]

Wow dino, looks like you have a real problem. I don't know your fitness level or diet. Have no idea about your medical history.

I used to have the same problem myself. Then when I went on the higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet - lost a lot of fat, built a bit of muscle it just went away.

I hope you find the answer to your problem, but it is kind of complicated - you need to find the root of it to fix it. Medical problems, too many carbs giving too much energy, overweight, too much caffiene? Find the root, and you find your answer. Wish I could be of some real help.

[threenorns]

oh yes: i also use a white noise generator called "atmosphere". you can use the free version, "atmosphere lite" if you can dig it up. i choose a soundscape featuring wolves, crackling fire, the ocean, night crickets and frogs, and so on.

[.V.]

No wonder you are up every 2-3 hours 3N. How could anyone sleep with all that racket.

[threenorns]

lol - i wake up at EVERY little noise, including the tick-a-tack of animal claws on the lino. the noise generator drowns taht out, as well the sound of traffic and so on.

[dino]

Hi 3norms, to be honest i look at a lot of posts on this website and it seems you're always the 1st to answer and have nearly been in every thread.i'm thinking you must been some discussfitness.com guru

I really dont know how you can get just 2-4 hours sleep sometimes and be ok,right now i feel and look terrible.im staying in today as i have to get up even earlier 2moro morning.

If it helps im a pretty fit person. i play football(soccer) 2-3 times a week though its usually just a friendly kickabout at the park.im 23 years old though im 24 on mon.i started properly training in march for different reasons.i was eating everything for about 3 months and put on a little bit of weight on my stomach and has even got little lovehandles.this is hard to believe as im naturally very skinny.


im still pretty small tho my friends/colleagues have made comments about me getting bigger,i still think im skinny but thats just my opinon.i have had a history of trouble getting to sleep.i think when i know i have to get up early i find it more difficult to get to sleep.i guess sometimes im just hyperactive.sometimes i can be so tired during the day but when i go to bed i just cant switch off,its so annoying.



yesterday i barely had any fat in my diet,ill list what i ate if it helps:

oats

sweetcorn

white rice

tuna

2xbannanas

2slices of wholemeal bread with peanut butter

turkey sandwich

runnerbeans

carrots

cod-but i took all the batter off

[threenorns]

lol - sleeping so little is different when you're forced into it (such as medical residents or truck drivers) than when it happens naturally. i'm not just on DF - i'm on a few other boards, as well, plus i do some of my work on the computer and internet and i chat on MSN and yahoo. i'm ADHD and i pretty much go with it.


regarding your size, we are our own worst critics - that's why it's important to take photos. to me, i look no different than i did back in march - but i can't argue with the photos.

about what you ate - that tells me *what* you ate, but how much of everything did you have?

[dino]

for breakfast i had a full bowl of oatmeal with semi-skimmed milk,followed by a whole corn on the cob(i love them) then a bannana.

for my lunch i had basmati rice mixed with tuna from the can.about 3 grams of fat max in that meal.

as a snack i had 2 bits of wholemeal bread with peanut butter.then for dinner i had fish with no skin and loads of vegetables,because i wasnt full after this meal a i had a slice of wholemeal bread with peanut butter.

then i went to the park to play soccer in the evening and had 2 slices of wholemeal bread with 2 turkey slices in the middle.then i had glass of warm milk along with camomile tea.i also took some sleeping tablets(not herbal ones),these gave me a headache so then i took paracetamol to get rid of the headache. these paracetamol contain caffeine 60mg,so maybe that was a mistake.

seeing as i was up for so long i got a bit hungry.i couldnt be bothered to go downstairs as i was so tired,so i had a protein bar.it has 12 grams of protein,24 grams of carbohydrate and 8 grams of fat.

i hope this information can assist you in advising me 3norms.2nite im not going to take any sleeping tablets and hopefully i may feel better going to sleep without a headache.

i ate all of the above foods and didnt leave a crumb apart from the skin on the fish i ate. i work with children who have adhd at my job working at a secondary school.

thanks again

[Silent]

take some pills like sinus allergies pills.the ones that make you sleepy and drowsy..i take them

[Italianang]

My uncle likes to use melatonin but its a grey area supplement in most areas, illegal here but he gets it from the US.
I am just throwing that out there though, I have never tried it and would research a ton first.
Linda