Tips on falling asleep?

rusvik

rusvik

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Jan 21, 2011
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I'm having a lot of difficulty keeping normal sleep patterns recently. I suppose it's not uncommon if you don't absolutely have to get up in the morning, but it's just escalated a bit. I often simply can't sleep at night, because of a combination of sleeping way too long the night before and having too much going on in mind. Can't seem to find peace.

Then once I've been in my bed for two hours without falling asleep or so and it's late, I sometimes give up sleeping and just continue into the next day and then crash in the afternoon for some hours, which just keep perpetuating the circle. Then add a few nights out until morning a few nights a week and it's getting to a point where it's effecting my productivity since I do still need to work and make up for the lost hours in ungodly hours around midnight.

I haven't tried any drugs or anything. Tried some anti-histamine but didn't make me sleepy. Tried meditation/relax music on youtube which helped somewhat to calm my mind. Working out in the evening also seems to help, but I've been to tired and hungover recently to workout much like I should.

Any advice?
 


Half an hour - hour long walk before sleep, and also if you leave your computer on at night make sure it's not in the same room you sleep in.
 
learn to meditate. I used to suffer from horrendous sleep maintenance insomnia (where i'd wake after 3 hours and not be able to sleep again), and it cured it permanently.
 
amateursurgeon said:
learn to meditate. I used to suffer from horrendous sleep maintenance insomnia (where i'd wake after 3 hours and not be able to sleep again), and it cured it permanently.
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Ok, I also suffer from this. Can you recommend any courses or such?
 
It's a behaviour issue usually. So here's what you do.

1. Stay awake for as long as it takes to get tired.
2. Set an alarm to 9am or whatever your ideal waking up time is (even if you'll go to sleep at 5am).
3. Wake up even if it sucks
4. Next day you'll probably be tired and want to take a nap through the day - resist it.
5. When the time comes to sleep you'll be begging for it

IMO it's pretty easily fixable if you can stick to not sleeping through the day and waking up at a fixed hour no matter what. By doing this you'll naturally instantly fall asleep at night since your body will need it.
 
I'm in the same boat. I'm lucky if I can sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time. And once I wake up, I cannot fall back asleep to save my life.

My sleep pattern is all messed up. I usually fall asleep around 7am but then I wake up again around 10am. Then I nap around 4pm and sleep until 7pm. It's all messed up.

Sometimes I can reset my sleep patterns to go to bed around 10-11pm, but then I wake up at like 2 or 3am. I wish I could sleep more than a few hours at a time.
 
Clear your head. I had this problem for a while. Would just constantly think about shit for hours and get mad at it because I couldn't fall asleep and then wouldn't be able to sleep because I would be mad since I would have to get up in a few hours. After a while, I started working on my sleep anger issues - started to just lay and relax, if I can't fall asleep, fuck it. Just take it as a relaxation, lay, relax, think about something nice, like the stupid chick you met a few days ago or something. Take it as a normal thing that just happens. It helped. Then I started to clear my head before going to bed. Not sure if it's meditation or not, but just think about nothing completely. Focus on your breathing at start or something. Or watch your mind from inside - look what the next thought coming is and stop it before it develops. Those types of things. I now fall asleep in less then 1 minute most of the time. I also used to sleep for 12-14 hours a day, now I get 4-7, except for the weekends and I am fine.
 
MyOwnDemon said:
I'm in the same boat. I'm lucky if I can sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time. And once I wake up, I cannot fall back asleep to save my life.

My sleep pattern is all messed up. I usually fall asleep around 7am but then I wake up again around 10am. Then I nap around 4pm and sleep until 7pm. It's all messed up.

Sometimes I can reset my sleep patterns to go to bed around 10-11pm, but then I wake up at like 2 or 3am. I wish I could sleep more than a few hours at a time.
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i-know-that-feel-bro_o_513528.jpg
 
Melatonin helps, plus stop staring at a computer screen for at least two hours before bed. If you must use a computer, use f.lux.

Computer use stops your body from producing melatonin that it normally would.
http://stereopsis.com/flux/
 
1. Workout like a boss.
2. Crank one off before bed.
3. Have a couple nightcaps, not enough to be hammered but enough to be buzzed.

I find this the ultimate trifecta, and the only real cure for "I can't shut my brain off syndrome." Outside of that try not to think of any projects or complex problems within an hour of going to sleep. Watch some relaxing TV.

Someone else mentioned waking up at a set time no matter what, and that does work some times, but you could also just workout like a boss instead.
 
i (used to) know the feel bro.

my sleep hygene got horrible, unquiet mind in bed, waking up every few hours, taking hours to fall asleep. ended up hitting the wall. here's what i did to fix it:

- everyone is different but there is a normal schedule you'll fall into in a perfect world. me, i need around 8-9 hours of sleep to feel good. some people are cool with 6, some with 8. first off you need to figure out what need and what schedule works for you. search for 'circadian rhythm' - the night owl or early bird stereotypes are real, and if you're fighting your own internal clock you'll lose.

- no idea what your diet is. if it's shitty, especially late at night, you're in trouble. some days i'd be tired but poor food choices in the afternoon/evening prevented sleep.

- pitch black room. no lights. no laptop leds. no alarm clocks that are always on. no cell phones. you're in a cave.

- meditate. learning to accept your thoughts as just thoughts prevents you from being attached to them.

- productivity goals in the day. it became impossible to lay in bed thinking about work when i knew i met my goals for the day, week, month and would meet them again tomorrow.

- make a nighttime routine where you decompress from work. i write down what i'll do tomorrow, any cool thoughts for my business, etc and trust myself to take action tomorrow.

- going from laptop right to bed = taking hours to fall asleep.

- do you lift? going 100% at the gym really helped. half assing during the day = half assed sleep.

- i had to drastically reduce drinking beer.

- i never had luck with the zeo sleep analyzer, started using it too late, but it can help.

- and lastly, like you said, your daytime schedule is all fucked up and inconsistant. this makes you stressed, which makes you want to overwork, which puts pressure on you to perform better, which keeps you up. repeat. start carving out a strict schedule for yourself and i bet that will correct 50%+ of your sleep problems.

the only drug that has helped me sleep is melatonin. 5-htp and valerian work for some people, never had much luck with me.
 
I used to have problems falling asleep when I was a fat lazy fuck who sat in front of the computer all day and did not participate in physical activity.

I started going to the gym 4 times a week and doing cardio on my off days and now I can sleep like a baby, close my eyes and I'm in dreamland.

tl;dr stop being a fat lazy fuck and you can sleep
 
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