suffering from a bit of insomnia at present. cant sleep for more than 2 hours through the night.
i am off work, so not doing much through the daytime to burn much energy.
i dont feel ill with not sleeping, just a bit frustrated and tetchy.
i am dropping off in the daytime for a hour or so.

how long before it becomes a problem? is it worth a visit to the doctors to see if he can give me something to help me sleep.

is it worth a visit to the doctors to see if he can give me something to help me sleep.

Its worth it if the situation persists but if its only been a matter of days or weeks I’d try and wait it out or try other approaches. The medication they can give you is more like an off-switch than a sleep. Its better than not sleeping for months on end but its not as good as a sleep.

If you’re off work its possible a shift in sleeping patterns is the problem. Its well worth being quite regimented with the time you get up (more than the time you go to bed) Get up at the same time each day whether its the weekend or a weekday, whether you went to bed early or late, whether you slept well or not.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trfHP5LHVNY&t=[/video]

Have a read through this, it contains lots of practical advice, some of which you may find obvious but some will be useful also:

http://www.cpft.nhs.uk/Downloads/misc_downloads/Coping_with_sleep_difficulties.PDF

I went through a bout of this Ton at the beginning of the year. I was advised* to not fight it and let it take its course. I stayed to stay up read, watch movies until 3am and be up for work at 6 after a short “nap”.

That worked for me. I eventually “wanted’ to go t bed earlier and earlier and several months later my sleep patterns were back to normal.

Not sure if that helps but good luck with getting over it.

*by a sufferer not a doctor,

Remember sleep isn’t a single state – you go through cycles of different stages from REM (dreaming sleep) to deep sleep. Those cycles are generally 90 minutes to 2 hours or so long, so waking up after 2 hours may mean you’ve actually had some deep sleep but then woken up. Your mind then starts spinning because you’ve noticed that you’re awake again and that builds stress which stops you getting back to sleep.

I got into that cycle a few years agao and managed to start accepting that I was just waking at a natural point in my sleep cycle, not worrying about that and then allowing nature to take its course. I’d use a few mental tricks to steer my mind off the usual stress patterns (mindfulness or just counting backwards from a large number). I’m still getting periods where I wake several times a night and feel I’ve not slept, but generally do my best not to be concerned about it now and it usually passes after a few nights.

Of course at my age there’s always at least one loo trip as well, so I can go for a pre-emptive wee if I wake up too. Better than not waking up for it…

thanks fellas. i will see how i go.

i have just woken up, i must have dropped off in my chair after writing the op.

i will try and relax more and see how i go.

I find it bloody annoying to be honest. Over the last couple of years I’ve suffered broken nights sleep at least 3-4 times a week, drop off fine about 10-1030 then wake about 3’ish.. get angry, turn the tv on and watch Overhauling on Quest, then drop off when Matt Hayes Fishing comes on then wake about 0800… that’s a pretty robust routine right there. The days I don’t wake during the night are fine, I just wake about 6’ish.
It’s a good job I work from home regularly otherwise I’d be stuffed.

I’m early 50’s, drink a whiskey a couple of times a week, one beer a week, fit and healthy and eat healthy too.. works been off and on and underlying stressful over the last year…

But phases like this come and go, over a month I’d say it’s about 50/50 broken/non broken sleep patterns..

Casing point, last night I dropped off at 1100, woke at 2 (that’s unusual time) brain spinning so sat at laptop and updated some documents, read for about 1/2hr, dropped off and woke at 0830.. Good job I’m off today..

If I wake, and I’m home, I do drop off about 3’ish in the afternoon unless I’m working. I do just generally work through the tired phase in the afternoon and hope the following nights sleep catches up.. invariably it does.

I’m not too sure what it is, but I think it’s a combination of age, bit of work and boredom 😐

Edit: I have tried those sleeping pills from the chemist, both herbal and non herbal.. not the sort from the doctors, just the over the counter tablets.. sometimes they’ve worked, sometimes not. It’s not really the dropping off to sleep bit that gets me, but the mid night waking..

Over the last couple of years I’ve suffered broken nights sleep at least 3-4 times a week, drop off fine about 10-1030 then wake about 3’ish.. get angry, turn the tv on and watch Overhauling on Quest, then drop off when Matt Hayes Fishing comes on then wake about 0800…

That 2-sleep thing is very common. In fact, it used to be the norm. My advice would just be to go to bed later. I’m rarely in bed before 1am but I sleep straight through.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

Hard to say how long it’ll last for. I had insomnia where I probably averaged 5 hours sleep a night for just under 2 years. It’s been better for 12 months or so and I still have sub-4 hour nights, but I’m probably averaging about 7 now, down from 8/9 before. Waking up in the night/too early rather than falling asleep was the problem for me.

Going to the doctors can help. The stuff they give you works, whereas the over the counter stuff doesn’t (for me). That said, some of the give you works well, whereas some of it makes you feel like a zombie the next day. Think I tried 4 different tablets. They took me off the one that worked best as it was messing with my heart. 😯

Otherwise, most of the stuff you read on the subject appears to be utter balls to me, but I guess it depends why you’re not sleeping. I found the key was to try not to think about anything interesting after about 8 p.m. or my brain just wouldn’t slow down and I’d wake up with it going flat out thinking about something dumb. Getting up and going for a 2 a.m. walk used to sort that out.

Now I can tell if I’m going to have a bad night and if I wake up I can tell if I’m going back to sleep or not. If not I don’t even try, I just go downstairs and watch some crap TV (screens have zero effect on my sleeping) until I fall asleep.

On the bright side, only two more sleeps til Christmas.

Prompted by neil the wheel … don’t get stressed about it. Getting frustrated and angry the next day happens when you’re tired. I used to get frustrated and angry that I was frustrated and angry. Just go with it.

I probably averaged 5 hours sleep a night for just under 2 years.

25 years in my case. I’m happy to accept that some of us just need less sleep and don’t try to “fix” it.

I go through phases of it. I’d like to write more but on my phone on my lunch break so will just try and think of the key points I use for myself:

Deffo worth going to bed and getting up at the same time wherever possible

If you end up getting no sleep at all and then have to go to work the next day…it’s not that bad. Sure, it’s not great but I’ve done it a few times and you get through it easy enough. So don’t let it worry you if it happens.

Personally I take the view that even if you just lie in the dark awake, doing nothing you are still getting some rest.

Having said the above if you find you’re lying in bed mentally wrestling with yourself 20mins in another room reading a book before heading back to bed should help no end

Count backwards from 100

And again.

Bedrooms are for sleeping or hopefully having sex, don’t do anything else in there except those things.

I have had success with taking st johns wort, in the evening to help me sleep. I think it depends on what is causing the problem, with me it always seems to be thoughts racing round my head (including “why can’t I get to **** sleep”) I think that is the scenario where st johns wort can help.

Possibly made up. But i think vitamin d helps with sleep.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8JEm4d6Wu4[/video]

Hi Ton, I suffer from poor sleep due to working shifts. The Doc’s gave me an old type of anti allergy tablet that caused drowsiness but didn’t send me to sleep. It also made me feel terrible during the day.
I now take one of these in the evening (used to treat jet lag) and I have found them great https://www.iherb.com/pr/Solgar-Melatonin-5-mg-120-Nuggets/22415?ccode=GB&currcode=GBP&langcode=en-US&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgs7RBRDoARIsANOo-HinYVpsjon3towpOLx85ZUQJRObOTkEWM3b634KofPqCA9t433FzA4aAjMuEALw_wcB

On the bright side, only two more sleeps til Christmas.

😆

I had a bout of this a few years ago. Turned out I was low on vitamin d and was prescribes some high strength ones initially but it did the trick.

I had to give up sugar and any food that contains it along with caffeine, most processed food and keep alcohol to a minimum due to acute illness. On top of that I adjusted my diet to remove most complex carbohydrates. After years of insomnia (most of my adult life), I suddenly started sleeping like a log!

That’s just from boredom.

Ha ha good point believe me it wasn’t through choice!

I think I got this from Prof Richard Wiseman. When struggling to sleep, don’t think about trying to fall asleep (and the associated anxiety of thinking about not currently being asleep). Rather, think about trying to stay awake. Removes the focus of not being asleep while thinking about something specific occupies the mind to similar, necessary, levels as counting sheep. That, and listening to audiobooks