Any cures for insomnia? I have tried relaxation, visualisation, counting backwards from 9999 in sixes… but can I fall asleep? Can I hell. The only thing that works is a fist-ful of herbal sleeping pills – but I have to take about 3x the recommended dose for them to work.

It’s as if my brain goes into overdrive – what do I have to do this week, what will be in my inbox, what did I forget to do last week, have I got an 8am telecon I forgot about – …. and I cannot for the life of me get to sleep.

Come Monday morning I’m knackered and bleary eyed and it’s not a good start to the week.

It is standard work induced stress insomnia. Try to get some kind of routine that works.

I check my emails Sunday early evening to make sure there is nothing screamingly urgent and then go for a bath with a car magazine and a couple of beers for about an hour. During that time most of the questions/worries I have surface and are kind of addressed while relaxing in the bath.

Helps me.

same here, i’m a bad sleeper normally, weekends my body wakes me up around 5:30am anyway so i should have no worried about waking up for wok on monday… but every single sunday night i get about 3 hours sleep as i’m constantly waking up and cant settle my mind at all

would try sleeping pills or herbal ones but worried about missing my alarm so wont let myself even try.

Had a similar problem for years. Head is full of stuff it knows it has to do in the morning, so won’t switch off the night before. The more important the work or early the rise, the less chance of sleep there is.

I find a bloody good workout, leaving me physically tired is far more effective than relaxation techniques, music, pills or drink.

This works for me, I’m useless at getting to sleep – my mind is always too active, 2 of these would knock out a horse and my GP has confirmed they’re non-addictive and harmless providing you check all the usual exclusions etc in the label. Though my warning would be to take them only if you don’t have to drive and approx 9pm for waking at 7ish, as once you’ve taken them you really do have to wait for them to be flushed out of your system before you can wake up properly!

Probably best to find a non-medicinal solution if you can though.

Ah, the fear! Oft induced on a Sunday before returning to work. If you can’t get to sleep on a Sunday (or any other day for that matter) because your mind is whirring with things to do etc… try writing them down before you turn in. Saves you mulling it over in your noggin. I’ve taken to putting things down in a “things-to-do” item in my Outlook calendar that I can then update and drag from day to day.

Wife used to have this, only thing that sorted her out was an audiobook on her ipod. The more boring is was the better.

+1 for writing yourself a list.

I’m surprised no one has suggested having lots of sex :o)

I suffer with this.

I’ve found that keeping a notebook or a notebook app on the phone nearby to scribble down things I remember in the night, or as I’m dropping off allows me to clear my mind and stop worrying.

anjs – Member

Wife used to have this, only thing that sorted her out was an audiobook on her ipod. The more boring is was the better.

+1 on this. I’ve got The Universe in a Nutshell on mine 🙂 I actually find it very interesting, but the chap who reads it has such a relaxing voice, I can’t help but drift off after a few mins.

It also has the added bonus of being able to randomly spout off snippets of info about telescopes which see back to the big bang, quantum oddities which occur on the horizons of black holes and the General Theory of Relativity 🙂

Christ I haven’t felt like that since I was at school and woke up remembering all the homework I forgot to do!

To add to the list thing….

Set aside time last thing on Friday to list all the things you’ve not achieved in the week and to start to prioritise the following week.

Saves sitting down on Sunday running through everything in your mind. Just look at your list and know that you’re as organised as you can be for the week ahead.

I get this too.
Most frustrating. Seems to happen more frequently to coincide when I’m flying somewhere early the next day. (I guess I am stressing subconsciously about missing the flight)

I normally end up watching Discovery channel

I’ve heard writing lists is good, personally I take the approach to problems of having two options, if I can control something, I control it. If I can’t do anything, why worry?
Write the lists, know what you have done, what you have to do and stop worrying.

In my experience its an ongoing/recurring cycle, which gets to the point that you’re so focused on trying to get to sleep you just can’t. Not sure how I eventually got out of it, but still have the occasional night where I cant get to sleep. These nights are usually when I have gone to bed much later than I had planned, say about 3am and I know I need to get up at 6am. I then just lie in bed so worried about the fact I need to get to sleep, that I just can’t!

+1 for exercise, but dont do it too late in the evening. Also, try not to nap in the day/evening when you get back home from work (not sure if you do this)

I’m surprised no one has suggested having lots of sex :o)

Give this one a try, works for me. I don’t know the OPs gender but perhaps it only works for men? I don’t know if it works for women as I’m already asleep;o)

Sort out your life first, then sleep will happen.

For me, if I can’t sleep I give up, get up and read, watch TV, play playstation or something. Absolutely no point in lying in bed stressing about the consequences of not sleeping. You’ll only be tired and even more stressed, might as well do something fun.

I used a Paul Mackenna cd (put it on my phone as an MP3). I can help you sleep I think it is called.

Works for me. Doesn’t work for my wife. Worth a try (cheap on amazon anyway), but not a guaranteed solution for sure.

Joe

Can’t understand the need to check work e-mails at a weekend or evening. My wife used to do this on a regular basis, and it placed an incredible strain on her and on our marriage, as she’d become too wound up over various messages and events planned for the next day. Home based e-mail a bad idea IMHO.

She’s been prescribed sleepers by GP as currently depressed, but too anxious that she’d develop a dependency to use them, plus she doesn’t want to experience a hangover effect the following day.