Can't sleep

Doc Holliday

Recommendations on falling asleep? Over the last few nights I've not been able to fall asleep, staying up later and later watching tv. I guess my lengthy afternoon nap a few days ago is what set this in motion but now I have to get up early (6-7 .m.) in a few days and I'm a bit worried.

Never used to be this hard in my younger days.

What do you do? Go for a run,? Nyquil?

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Thanks.

rossfingal

"DH"
Make a nice glass of warm milk.
Turn on the TV -
Sit in a comfy chair -
Put your feet on a foot-stool -
Make sure what you've got on TV is something you find very, boring -
Sip the milk - savor it -
Stay away from any drinks in the afternoon/after dinner that have caffiene -
Coffee, Tea, Pop .....
When you "hit-the-hay" -
Don't let your mind focus on any of your problems - real or imagined -
Focus on the boring stuff, you've been watching on TV.
It's worked for me!(Sometimes!?!)

Run - maybe
Try to stay away from the "Nyquil"!

knotquiteawake

I usually don't have trouble falling asleep as much as I have trouble staying asleep.
A friend turned me onto a root extract called "Valerian Root". Check your local health food store, they will probably have it. For me it seems to help me fall asleep even fast and more importantly stay asleep through the night. There is no "sleep inertia" like I would have from sleeping drugs either.

Also, try the Yogi Brand Bedtime Tea. Its very relaxing (and also has valerian root extract in it). I can tell a big difference between nights when I take the time for tea and when I skip it.

BShow

exercise. tire yourself out earlier in the day. If you do it before bed, you'll be all worked up and it'll be tough to fall asleep.

ddawg16

Just read some of the posts here.....that will put anyone to sleep....

Actually....as you get older....you need less sleep....on average, I get about 6 hours now.....

Go to bed when you feel tired....make yourself get up at the new time....pretty soon your body will fall in sync

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creeper

6-7 in the morning?? The day is already in full swing by that time..sheesh..

Like everybody says..No nyquil..say no to drugs that can't be grown in a pot..lol. ..

No caffeine late in the day. No afternoon nap unless there are unusal circumstances. ..you can figure out what they may be..lol

lots of excerise. Thats probably where your problem lies since the burn. OR you are actually a lazy bum who only says he works out. In which case you need to work out

Read a book about Ford Trucks. The lethargy will transfer through the book into you.

Leave your blackberry alarm in the kitchen so you are forced to get up and shut it off. Unless you are like my daughter whose alarm sound's like a ship's foghorn. Even with the phone on her night table she doesn't hear it.

The only cure for her is to actually try to snoop into the texts and she will wake up immediately

Try to stop thinking about me so much.

creeper

Here Doc,

Yet another reason why Canada is so awesome

http://money.ca.msn.com/savings-debt...aise-your-kids

Doc Holliday

I finally closed my eyes and snoozed off at around 3 in the morning this morning BUT I received a phone call at around 7:30 this morning. Been awake ever since, even went for a few mile jog this morning. If I can make it to this evening I think I'll be good for an early to bed, early to rise tomorrow.

One single nap in the midle of the mafternoon and all heck breaks loose. Age sucks.

And yes creeper, I think of you all the time, it keeps me happily wide awake all night. When I finally do go to sleep there you are all over again, in my dreams.

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Thanks.

JackDidley

Two asprin and two benadryl. Or, two beers. Dont combine.
Disclaimer:
Not a doctor. Didnt even stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

Fix'n it

i take "equate" sleep aid pills. some nights i don't need any. some nights i take 1/2 of one, other nights i take a full one. bottle recommendation is 2 pills. screw that natural crap = i don't have the time for it. pop a pill, and all is good.

yeah, getting old sucks. i used to get run over by trucks, and get up and walk away painless.
now, different parts of my body hurt, and i didn't even do anything. Ibuprofen works well for me.

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Missouri Bound

What used to work for me...and I say used to because I no longer need it is a form of self hypnotism.

You lay on your back with your legs together and arms and hands at your side pressing against your legs (hips if your arms are short). You then stay still and focus on your breathing...long deep slow breaths. Continue the effort to press your arms against your legs..not very hard but just enough to notice. Part of the hypnotism is to imagine your breath as a cloud as you inhale and exhale. Within 10-15 minutes your arms will begin to relax. By then your whole body will relax. As long as you are awake focus on your breathing, and the cloud you inhale and exhale.

This is what I did before Zanax. (LOL)

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Doc Holliday

This is just not working out in my favor. I got up pretty early yesterday after going to bed late that same morning, stayed awake all day (no afternoon nap!), went to bed last night and fell asleep instantly at around 11:15 p.m., woke up this morning well before my alarm clock at 5, took off for work (install a complete hvac system) and wouldn't you know it the customer calls me at 5:45 a.m. (about 30 minutes ago) as I'm about 20 miles from my house and 20 to his and reschedules? Good grief.

I guess I can sleep for a few days now.

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beenthere

Don't sleep in. get up the same time every morning. Your body and mind will become accustom to a routine, and make it easier to go to sleep, and wake up.

JackDidley

I know it soesnt help Doc, but Im sleeping much better. Got the brace off.

sdsester

Doc,

I hope this is resolving for you. Through my life I was troubled with sleeping at times. Sometimes it was my fault thinking I could live on airplanes and keep waking up in any timezone coherent and often two or three with major differences in the same week.

Now, while I have sleep medication if I need it, I realize when I cannot sleep it is usually for a reason that escapes me. I am at a point in my life where it is not so much and so often about worry over things troubling me. Sometimes, days or even a week or two later I will realize I was just processing and organizing very positive thoughts. RAther than fight it all, I hope to do look some with insomnia did and invent something like the Xerox machine when I do drift back to sleep.

I think most important is to realize if you face a health or safety hazard in not sleeping. It is tradition but new Docs up for days are no safer than truck drivers thinking they can drive forever without a rest. Sleep deprivation can scramble the most sane of minds and if you work around machinery or even drive a piece of it from point a to point b, make you dangerous.

Worst thing to do from my experience is fight sleeplessness and toss and turn insisting you can count enough sheep to stop fretting or your mind racing. When you cannot sleep get up and do something else and in a different space then your bedroom and not with the goal of the activity making you sleepy.

Of course be mindful of the substances, legal and perhaps suspect, you put into your systems and when. And know their half-life.

Hydrocordone/Ibuprofen tablets are a necessity for me to tolerate wound care once per week. I do not like them. It is a big deal to get a lesser strength hydrocordone only tablet because the drug class changes instantly when it is freestanding. Anyhow, it works reasonably well for pain but 12-18 hours later my eyelids want to join to encourage loud snoring sounds for a couple hours.

Caffeine, at least as experienced in a nice cup of coffee or even espresso, late at night puts me out like a light. Maybe it is the warm milk in it or something.

Alcohol, of course, is very disruptive to sleep patterns. I cannot do the stuff of my coming of age in San Francisco anymore smoked in bible paper, baked in brownies, or blended in spaghetti sauce. It conflicts with other scripted meds. Was never a coke person but new a few people I had to peel from the wall and get help when they were up for 83 days straight and down to 40 pounds.

Finally doc, if something is troubling you, we as a culture have finally progressed where we take mental illness a bit more seriously and we have detached some stigma from it. Anxiety driven chronic clinical depression almost had me claiming my own life but I found the courage to seek help and it has worked out pretty well so far. With therapy and a nice mix of meds, I don't often think about kissing the nose headlight of a highspeed train anymore.

Of course DSM-V, the diagnostic manual for mental illness, is extremely controversial and promises to be like 65 volumes, each 900 pages long.

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