How do you sleep?

[Whytewulf]

Has anyone tried any of the perscription or over the counter sleep meds? I have been sleeping like crap lately.. Can't shut my mind down... Just curious if anyone has had luck with this stuff?

I also think I bought too pillowie a bed.. but thats $1000 I am not getting back.. :)

[Naila]

Insomnia FTW!

I know what you mean. I sleep for crap most of the time. A lot of time, in order to just get to sleep, I'll take 1 sleeping pill (usual dose is 2).

for me, it's because of stress and such. My mind just won't shut down and if I didn't help it along, I'd be going to sleep about 2am and waking up about 6am. That makes for a very tired and cranky Naila.

and even though I don't take my own advice, if you're not sleeping well for a long period of time, talk to your dr and see what they have to say.

[Ciarin]

valerian root is quite helpful for sleep and it's not crappy like sleeping pills. No lag when you wake up, no impaired motor skills (you can still drive a car), no habit forming.

It takes a month of steady use before it works though.

[Takara]

Melatonin supplements are good as well. Melatonin is a hormone made by a part of the brain called the pineal gland. Melatonin may help our bodies know when it's time to go to sleep and when it's time to wake up. Melatonin supplements (in pill form) can be taken. There are two types of melatonin that may be used in these pills: natural and synthetic (man-made). Natural melatonin is made from the pineal gland of animals.

I highly suggest the synthetic version, as the natrual versions can be sketchy.

[Whytewulf]

But the Butterfly is so pretty for Lunesta? :)

I used to be worn out form work and working out, so I have started changing my routine a bit, which has thrown me off, plus the new job and crap.. Also I am reading this book that isn't helping.. Too many names to remember.

This is a funny example... Saturday night.. I watched "Catch me if you can" a pretty tame movie.. But jimmy crickets.. I kept thinking of the things he did wrong.. making a dollar.. making a dollar.. making a dollar.. UGH!!! silly mind.. trix are for kids.. i got things to do!

I will look into those 2 things.. thanks Takara and Ciarin.. Maybe I should just get a dog.. :) Then I can have an excuse for being awake.

[Serresrelic]

I take Melatonin whenever I suffer insomnia and it works fantastic. Since it's a chemical your body already creates, there aren't any side effects, and it never leaves me feeling groggy in the morning. Plus, you don't need a prescription for it and can buy it in the health food section or pharmacy of just about any grocery store.

[Ciarin]

I take Melatonin whenever I suffer insomnia and it works fantastic. Since it's a chemical your body already creates, there aren't any side effects, and it never leaves me feeling groggy in the morning. Plus, you don't need a prescription for it and can buy it in the health food section or pharmacy of just about any grocery store.

hehe, exact same for valerian root.

[Fyrie]

Prescription sleeping pills aren't super great since they tend to leave you feeling groggy when you wake up and you don't really seem to get good quality sleep with them - at least that was my experience with them.

I was always told the best things to do were to try to work on "better sleep hygene" which amounted to keeping a regular routine, cutting out all caffeine after a certain time, taking a walk before bed, lowering the temperature in your bedroom, in you can't sleep don't just lay in bed, get up do something for a short period then try to get to sleep, rinse and repeat until you achieve some success.

There's also some other items that aren't sleep aids but that will make you drowsy enough to help a little with getting to sleep, but the best example of that I can think of would be Nyquil - I was once reading a book and talking on the phone and that stuff put me to sleep! Also. what used to be prescription strength benadryl here is available under the same ingredient and dosage under the name "Sleep eze" and it's available OTC.

[Mutton]

I've never tried them. I've been doing the glass of wine or glass of warm rum to kill the brain so I can sleep. The pills would probably just make things worse.

[Whytewulf]

Well, I drank some wine, took some roots, and perscription pills, sucked down a turkey, washed them all down with some warm milk.. It worked.. I fell asleep while typing this.............


....


Ok ok.. that was stupid.. I just wanted to say thanks for the opinions. Lets see what happens this week.

[Korkskrew]

I have lot's of trouble sleeping because I can't shut my goddamn head up.

Always wondering about the big questions. Like, if the universe is expanding, doesn't that mean it will eventully become endothermic and wipe out existence as we know it? And what is outside the universe. What if we looked at the universe as a chick does the inside of an egg, and one day, we broke free only to find that we are nothing more than an insignifigant atom on the fignernail of a being in an even bigger universe.

Now try sleeping O_O

[Satrah]

This is going to sound terribly silly...

In my mind, I tell myself a story. (To better put it, I imagine myself a story.) I put tons of detail imagery into it...and well...after a while it works.

Also depend on sleepiness and if I have someone playing on the computer nearby. Usually takes ten to twenty minutes. Sometimes 30 to an hour depending on how hard it is for me to get to sleep. (And how many trips to the bathroom I might have to make due to warm choco.)

[Kallysti]

You're not being silly, Satrah... I do that too, almost every night. Sometimes it's part of the stories I'm writing, sometimes it's just nonsensical whimsy stuff that relaxes me.

Barring that, a nice glass of wine helps too :)

[Darth Lorax]

I have a problem with changing my state of consciousness. I don’t like to go to sleep and I don’t like to wake up. I think it might be because I’m nocturnal. I like to stay up late and I can take a nap in the middle of the day without any problem. My bouts of insomnia are self-perpetuating; the longer I can’t sleep the angrier I get about not being able to sleep and therefore the harder it is to sleep. Then in the morning I have the hardest time waking up. I don’t want to take sleeping pills but I have tried Melatonin and it seems to help somewhat. I wish I was one of those people who can go with a few hours of sleep each night and don’t seem any worse for it.

[Dannalyn]

I have had trouble sleeping for years. Like Darth I am more nocturnal in nature, mostly due to my work schedule. I on the other hand do take sleeping pills on occasion. Sometimes they take 10 minutes other times longer. I don't get groggy but then when I take them I have to be able to guarantee at least 8 hours committed to sleeping otherwise I will be nasty and cranky and groggy when I wake up.

The problem with prescription pills is that most docs don't like to hand them out because they are VERY habit forming.

[Coffee]

I just sleep about 5 or 6 hours, so when it comes time to sleep again I generally have little trouble falling asleep.

[Whytewulf]

I actually slept ok last night, thank goodness. Though I had the wierdest freaking dream. I also had a kick arse workout earlier that evening. I think a lot of folks on here have hard ot shut down brains. We are all thinkers. Sometimes that is good, but sometimes it can drive ya nutz. It would be nice to be simple sometimes.

[Strikesfirmly]

Is taking the valerian root or synthetic melatonin an all day thing or only a few hours before you want to sleep?

I am a very bad insomniac, always have been, but also one of those people who needs more like 10 hours instead of 8 to feel refreshed. Six or four hours was murderous when I lived that lifestyle.

[Serresrelic]

The Melatonin I got, you take about 20 minutes before you want to go to sleep.

[Ciarin]

With valerian root, 450mg pills once per day before bed will suffice, but you must do it for a few weeks before it has any noticeable affect.

[Keaolien]

I sleep 2-4 hours a night, so as with Coffee, it doesnt take me long to fall asleep. Now, I sleep that little due to working so much, both at the store and at home, but again, my own choice. I WANTED the position, and i WANT my own store. So sleeping is a thing of the past....

[Dilorenzo]

I had a lotta trouble getting to sleep for a long time, but I didnt really notice it til I got over here. My wife puts her head on the pillow and Z's start floating. I picked up some sleeping pills, and yeah, they make my body tired- but not my mind.
Now I drink tea. Green tea. It really helps me shut down and relax.

[Kallysti]

Aye, I did try pills once. Well, the melatonin anyway... and like Dilorenzo there, I do feel it, I can feel my body wanting to drift but my mind rebels. I can't explain it any other way. It's like it goes: "Pills, eh? Yeah, sister, try again!" So I have to use tricks to calm my mind (a la the story stuff, that's been the best bet). Tea is a good idea too, except with me I'd have to get up to use the bathroom half a dozen times if I had any before bed, lol. So if pills don't do the trick (and NyQuil has the same effect on me) try to focus on calming your mind somehow. I know it sounds kinda fruity and new age but it works :P

[Whytewulf]

I think I have a found a solution. It is from ACME:

"Can't sleep, try our ACME BeddieByeTime Sleep Hammer. One hit and your out like a light. No problems with addiction, no wait time, no need for water."

<may cause some minor headaches, irratation, swelling, bloating or loss of appetite>

[Insomniac]

Hibiscus tea does it for me. The stuff is bitter as hell, though.

[DeadThorn]

Hm...Well, I take Ambien. Perscription, mind you.

But I sleep kinda weird. On my side with a pillow on both sides of my face...Kinda like a head sandwhich. I can't sleep any other way.

Its weird...

[Swarfy]

i can't seem to get to sleep no matter WHAT i do... it's like i gotta let my mind "talk" it's self out... otherwise, i've tried the perscription meds, i've tried sleeping pills, and EVERYTHING you can imagine.. the only thing i have foudn that will put me to sleep is drinking... but, we're not gonna go there..

[wiccalight]

I dont sleep much, three or four hours does me just fine. after work I sometimes take a one or two hour nap but I am so use to little sleep that i have gone over 24 hours without sleep. while I was growing up I lived on a farm and that ment little sleep, then I joined the navy and while I was only in there for a few months ther was very little sleep during that time , and after that I went to collage and who sleeps then?

So in short I have accully conditioned my body to function fully on little to no sleep for very long periods of time. something that does help is I try to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every night. What this does is reduce the stress on the body and that makes it easier to fall asleep.

[Insomniac]

Oooh...I took Ambien for six months...that stuff can be fun. Of course, my doctor at the time was trying to kill me. He had me taking it with Zoloft, which I found out later is a big no-no. If I didn't go to sleep right away after taking them, I would stay up all night hallucinating. My sister had this picture of Marlon Brando on the wall, and it would talk to me. Seriously. I had many conversations with Marlon Brando. I did know I was hallucinating, though. Good times...yeah...good times....