I cant sleep. I think I have insomnia and I'm worried, I really need some sleep. Please please help me!?

Question

It's getting really out of hand. The other night, for example, I went to bed at midnight as its the summer holidays. I ended up getting to sleep at half past three, although normally its about two o'clock. I'm worried because it's coming up to school and I want to make a fresh start, and I'm getting to sleep at ridiculous times and waking up at ridiculous times! I think I have insomnia, its been going on for ages. Please please help!!

Answer 1

No caffeine after early afternoon; no alcohol before bed.

No exercise in the evening.

Try some benadryl for a night or two.

Get in the habit of going to bed at the same time each night and getting up the same time each morning.

Answer 2

I'm just like that, except worse- I'll get into bed at midnight and end up laying there for HOURS- I won't fall asleep until sunrise!  And once I DO fall asleep, I would constantly wake up like hourly.

I already have a psychiatrist and a psychologist, so I met with them and we concluded that for whatever reason, my body just never hits 'deep sleep' mode, which would explain why I never had dreams and sleep so light.  They ended up putting on a perscribed sleep medication and it works wonders- I fall asleep fast and stay asleep all night.  If you don't have a "quack", you may try talking to your family doctor.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The fact that you overthink these things expecially before you go to bed will make you stay up, my best suggestion is to flip your matress over or sleep on the other side, confort is the key and if your not confortable and constantly tossing and turning you wont sleep or you wont sleep long, also dont fal asleep to a tv but sleep toa radio with soothing music...

Answer 4

Try exercising during the day.

Drink more water.

Try some of the following herbs in a tea. Valarian, Passion Flower, Lavender and Kava Kava.

That knocks me out.  

Answer 5

Martha. a little exercise during the day should do the trick. No caffeine after lunch, & if this doesn't help try writing your thoughts in a journal before bedtime. This will at least get the thoughts out of your head that may be bothering you.Reading before bed sometimes helps too.

Answer 6

If you have trouble getting comfortable try stretching before you lay down to loosen up your muscles, that helps me alot, then once you lay down take deep controlled breaths focusing on each breath.  Everytime you exhale your muscles relax a little more which will help allow you to drift off into marvelous sleep.  If it is racing thoughts that keep you up, keep a pad of paper next to your bed and once you think of something write it down so it doesn't keep circling around in your brain.  If you are still thinking of things, try to control your thoughts by trying to think of what you want to dream about or focus on a word or picture in your mind.  Also aparently having milk or other dairy products will help.  I haven't tried it but if you are still having trouble, it is worth a try.  

Hope this helps =]

Answer 7

I first started having trouble sleeping when I was about 8. I am now 30 and I'm just finally figuring out how to sleep better. The only thing that has helped me is to not worry about not sleeping. That was my biggest problem, I used to worry that I wouldn't sleep, and of course all the worry would keep me up even longer. I also remember being 8 years old and thinking I was the only one not sleeping. That feeling made it worse too. So I just try not to dwell on it, and I learned when I worked at a Dr.s office that some patients sometimes can't sleep for DAYS at a time, my problem was nothing compared to them. For me knowing that I wasn't the only one with this problem helped too. Now it took me 21 years to learn this. Even now I still have some nights where I don't sleep well. It sucks, but if you put it into perspective and realize there are much worse things to be going through, the sleeping thing isn't so bad. Don't know if this'll work for you, but it's my experience with it.