Current Events > Any tips on dealing with heavy insomnia?

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I've been having decently severe insomnia for over a month now. My average pattern has been to sleep for around 3 hours in a night (give or take an hour), then have a night of solid sleep (6-7 hours), and then another night of 3ish hours, with a few totally sleepless nights in there.

It's kinda ruining my life, because I feel like I'm too tired to do anything half the time.

There's not a defined reason for me not sleeping as far as I can tell. I just can't seem to turn my brain off at all, and I just kinda end up lying there not sleeping even if I'm tired. Then my mind starts to race and usually ends up landing on something that makes me anxious, and then I start tossing and turning.

I used to take melatonin several years ago, but I evidently built up a resistance to it, as it eventually stopped working. I'm not sure if it would work again now, but I'm not sure about it. Beyond that, most of the tips I see online are like "limit naps" and "sleep in a dark room", which...don't really help, since I'm already doing those.

I dunno if there are any easy fixes for insomnia, but if anyone has one, I'd love some help.
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I am going through a similar thing right now. How often do you exercise?

I've been on the prescribed stuff since 2011.
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whats your diet like?
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ApexEditor posted...

I am going through a similar thing right now. How often do you exercise?

I'm a bit bad about consistently exercising tbh. I try to work in blocks of it for 30ish minutes at a time a few times a week, but I often just forget or don't feel super up to it after work. So, a little bit, but not a ton.

Awesome posted...

whats your diet like?

Kind of just...mixed/average, I guess? It just kind of varies depending on the day, but I usually eat two meals per day, and I get a solid balance in. I eat a good deal of vegetables, at least once as a side with every meal with at least 2-3 salads per week. I don't eat much meat, not really for moral reasons or anything, but rather because I'm not huge on the tastes of most meats. I don't drink much soda, and I'm okay about drinking water (though I do go for juice sometimes just for the taste, so my drinking habits could be better). I almost never drink alcohol. I don't do drugs sans the occasional allergy pill if my allergies are really bad. I've taken Aspirin 2-3 times in the past decade or so, but it's an almost never there too.

Sorry if those responses are vague. I don't really follow a super specific plan on either. I do try to exercise regularly, but I'm really bad about following that consistently (especially lately, because the insomnia makes it really hard to feel up to doing much of anything after working).
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I'm in a similar situation TC. What I've been recommended was to have a ritual before sleep, so like I'll brush my teeth, wash my face, write, and do some stressless stuff for 10min on my phone. Idea is if you keep doing that, your body will identify the ritual as "sleepy time" and slow itself down.

Sleepy time tea may be beneficial to that ritual. Also being active during the day will exhaust you. Worst comes to worst, go see a doctor and get some Trazodone. Antidepressant that mainly helps you sleep, the other effects are p negligible.

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I am personally against being drugged to sleep, but if it works for you, powers to you.

ApexEditor posted...

I am personally against being drugged to sleep, but if it works for you, powers to you.

Ideally, I'd like to avoid it, but I'm not sure if there's a better option by now. It's just getting obnoxious by now, and it's been going on for a while.

I'm also kind of thinking that it may stem from my anxiety issues, sadly, so medication may be the only real immediate fix. I feel like this kind of started up around the time I started feeling really down about job hunting stuff, and it's still unresolved, so I'm sort of thinking that my mental health is a major factor there.
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see a doctor. could be a thyroid issue and a simple blood test will answer.
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Tear your eyes away from a screen, read a book, get cozy with a cup of sleepy time tea

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- Use a blue light filter on your PC and smarphone. I use f.lux for my PC and Twilight for my Android phone.
- Exercise regularly. I lift semi-regularly and it definitely helps me sleep.
- Get a lot of sunlight exposure.
- Don't use your bed for anything other than sleeping. When you use your bed for other activities too much, your brain dissociates this connection that lying in bed = sleeping.
- In desperate situations, you can perform a sleeping clock reset. What you do is just not sleep at all for one day. The next day, sleep at the time you want to adjust to. I did this once and I haven't had an episode of sleeping problems ever since.
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Benedryl
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dotsdfe posted...

There's not a defined reason for me not sleeping as far as I can tell. I just can't seem to turn my brain off at all, and I just kinda end up lying there not sleeping even if I'm tired. Then my mind starts to race and usually ends up landing on something that makes me anxious, and then I start tossing and turning.

Welcome to the party.

And ya, my ability to fall asleep is pretty bad.
But sleep is the key to happiness.

I'm not sure what your schedule is like, but if you can fall asleep, stay asleep.
I've actually taken a OCT sleeping pill midway through my sleep schedule.

Whatever it takes, prioritize your sleep regimen.

That aside, try low light reading. It will keep you up, if it's a page turner, but you won't be focusing on stupid shit in your life.
But also, it will flat out tire out your eyes. And even if it was time wasted, it wasn't because you are bettering yourself with whatever it is you a reading.
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Have you tried ASMR?
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Chug NyQuil
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Definitely reading and appreciating the responses here, but one did stand out a bit.

davidg4l posted...

- Use a blue light filter on your PC and smarphone. I use f.lux for my PC and Twilight for my Android phone.
- Exercise regularly. I lift semi-regularly and it definitely helps me sleep.
- Get a lot of sunlight exposure.
- Don't use your bed for anything other than sleeping. When you use your bed for other activities too much, your brain dissociates this connection that lying in bed = sleeping.
- In desperate situations, you can perform a sleeping clock reset. What you do is just not sleep at all for one day. The next day, sleep at the time you want to adjust to. I did this once and I haven't had an episode of sleeping problems ever since.

A few of those might help tbh. I have a bad tendency to chill in bed for an hour or two before actually sleeping and watching YouTube videos or browsing or whatever to just wind down. That might be kind of bad regarding the first and fourth points, though...? I could try cutting those and seeing if it helps, idk.
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CBD.
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lifting heavy weights helps me sleep better

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I use Trazodone. It keeps you asleep.
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I had a similar problem a while ago because of high dosage prednisone. What I found that helped me was white noise. I used a fan. I would just focus on the noise and eventually drift off to sleep.

Watch a bunch of CSPAN
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Try that orange neuro drink. Whatever is in there is stronger than regular melatonin.
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I feel like the most consistent responses involve exercise. I'll try to get more exercise and see if it helps. I've been kind of meaning to in general, but I'm bad about it, especially on days like today when I haven't slept at all.

I also might try doing the YouTube thing with the lights on & not in bed. I like having some time to catch up on YT channels and stuff, but I can see how it might not be great for sleep, so doing that might help a bit.

If those don't work, I guess I'll have to try a doctor or medication. I'd rather solve it without those if I can, but I may need to go down that route at some point, since spending roughly half of my days totally exhausted is a massive drag.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I really hope they help, because this insomnia thing is just getting to be too much.
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dotsdfe posted...

I really hope they help, because this insomnia thing is just getting to be too much.

damn. my grandfather had the insomnia. any noise easily would wake him and i would of gotten scolded by him when i was in my teen years. (verbal warning to keep the noise down) only during bedtime hours.
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I force myself to stay awake for an extended period of time, 3 or 4 days usually does it. Then I sleep just fine.
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