• This topic has 18 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by julzm.
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  • insomnia – getting out of the cycle
  • jools182
    Free Member

    I keep waking up at daft o’clock, usually 4 or 5am, alarm is set for 7
    I spend the 2 or 3 hours hoping to get back to sleep, which usually happens at about 10 to 7

    I’m not sure if anything is waking me up, but I’m getting really ratty and stressed with feeling tired all the time

    I’m wondering how to break the cycle

    Go to bed later?

    Get up when I wake up?

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    Leave any internet device in another room! I know if I wake up I automatically reach for my phone and I think the bright light coupled with the interactivity of surfing the web wakes the brain up a bit. Also have you tried litening to some speech radio or an audio book or something, I have good results getting off to sleep with a bit of discworld audio book.

    andycs
    Full Member

    Suffered with insomnia for 20 odd years, same kind of thing as op. Tried everything, figured I would just have to live with it. Then I had a course of hypnotherapy. Not cured exactly, however I now sleep better and when I do wake I find it much easier to get back to sleep. Things to try, don’t go to bed unless you are tired, have a bath or shower before bed to help you relax, no tv or electronic devices in bedroom, bed is for sleep or sex!!

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    huckleberryfatt
    Free Member
    RaveyDavey
    Free Member

    No caffeine after 3 o clock. Turn tv laptop ipad etc off at least half hour before bed. If it doesn’t work then just get up. Its not bad to start the day early. Do some exercise have a decent breakfast. Maybe you are a morning person but don’t realise it.

    tomd
    Free Member

    I get something very similar from time to time. Getting off to sleep but waking up at 4am or so and not getting a proper sleep. Just had a bout of it for last couple of weeks that has now passed.

    For me, it’s usually not one specific thing. It’s usually one or a combination of:

    – Increases / decreases in the amount of exercise
    – Gradual creep upwards of caffeine consumption
    – As above, but with alcohol
    – Too much sugar / crappy food
    – Using laptop / phone before bed rather than unwinding

    I just have to start sorting the above, or in the case of exercise let my body adjust by resting / doing more. It normally takes a few days or a week.

    DezB
    Free Member

    The myth of the eight hour sleep

    This may be so, but it doesn’t help the OP.
    I get the same waking up at stupid o’clock thing and YOU KNOW YOU HAVEN’T HAD ENOUGH SLEEP. The next day you are tired, you’re eyes are dark and you can’t concentrate. So saying “you’ve had enough sleep really” is crap.
    Couple of things I do – either get up and watch TV for half an hour with a glass of milk, or put my iPod on at a low volume with relaxing, ambient music. Helps me drift in and out of sleep.
    There are deep breathing exercises you can do too, but I always forget them as my brain is busy worrying about other stuff!

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    I found having kids cured my insomnia pretty well.

    Flop into bed most nights about half ten and sleep like the dead till I get woken at 6am (or 5, or 4)

    But yes, I have suffered it. Things that help me: absolutely no caffeine after 3ish (not just coffee but tea and coke as well), no distractions in the bedroom (no tv, no phone), blackout blinds and a dark bedroom free from blinky lights, proper neck-support pillow thing, but the most important of all routine, routine, routine.

    DezB
    Free Member

    From the BBC

    I get up and watch Korean dramas on TV – I don’t speak Korean but they are subtitled. It’s quiet and I can watch them for two or three hours undisturbed. I’ve watched more than 70 series now.

    The Korean people have really strong morals. Unlike on American TV, there is very little violence and adultery, the actors are great and they’ve got great singers too.

    I might try that! 😆

    rene59
    Free Member

    I’m wondering how to break the cycle

    Go to bed later?

    Get up when I wake up?

    Confess your sins?

    noltae
    Free Member

    Love making – not to be confused with sex ..

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    But what if the OP is married?

    hunterst
    Free Member

    But what if the OP is married?

    Then its a hand shandy and a jazz woodbine 😀

    vickypea
    Free Member

    Mindfulness is supposed to be good for insomnia. I’ve had insomnia on and off for years. Doing the mindfulness-style breathing exercises help me, but I also now have a mindfulness CD that I’m going to try out.

    jota180
    Free Member

    I’ve suffered most of the last 30 years
    I go to sleep almost instantly I hit the pillows but wake anywhere between 2 and 5 and struggle to get back off as my mind instantly starts working flat out.
    Most people wake up and they’re groggy/sleepy for a little while, I wake fully alert and thinking.

    If the OP is like this, I have a few tricks/methods that sometimes help me and may have already been mentioned.

    First off, try not to let it bother you – easier said than done but try.

    If you don’t go back off within a few minutes, get up have a drink, read some light fiction for half an hour and then try again.

    Try to make sure you’ve cleared all the things that need doing before you go to bed, this is quite a big one for me, my ‘to do’ list is often the cause of my inability to switch off.

    Worth repeating, don’t let it bother you, accept it for now.

    DezB
    Free Member

    Another one – if there’s thoughts about work/relationship/other stresses keeping the brain going, get up and write them down.

    Alphabet
    Full Member

    I usually wake anywhere between 3am and 5am. After a couple of days of this I get an early night which helps to catch up. I’m lucky that I can usually fall asleep quickly. It’s the staying asleep that’s my problem.

    don’t let it bother you, accept it for now.

    This +1.

    yunki
    Free Member

    I always suffered with insomnia.. until I had kids

    Now I am totally narcoleptic

    julzm
    Free Member

    Ive had problems with getting to sleep and then waking up around 3am since I was a kid. However when I’m on holiday I sleep like a log. So I came to the conclusion that it was my mind patterns being too active especially when I’m working.
    Few things I’ve learned to empty my mind (a form of mindfulness)
    – mentally bat away any negative stuff in your mind, force your mind to think only of positive stuff
    – concentrate on breathing, one long deep breath in thru the nose and out thru the mouth. Try to sustain for as long as possible.
    – think of the colours of the rainbow. Start with red and keep thinking red until you can actually see red in your mind before moving on. Other thoughts will keep trying to burst in but force yourself to keep thinking about red. Once you see it move through the other colours. If colours don’t work for you pick something something equally mundane. The piu t is to empty your mind of stuff that will keep you awake.
    – no white light when you are trying to sleep, so don’t look at your phone or similar to see what time it is, don’t turn in the light or the tv as it wakes up the brain.

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