I can’t sleep at the moment, clearly, and kinda have a lot going on, both at home and at work. I tend to wake at 1am having gone to bed at 11pm and lie awake, mind racing. I’m getting more and more tired and as a result more and more irritable, which makes me cross with others and at myself, which in turn gives me more to think about.

Symptoms of stress?

I’m riding pretty much every day, and getting out with the dog for between 1 and 5 miles a day, so plenty of fresh air and exercise.

I’m just knackered, could pretty much drop on the spot during the day, but just can’t seem to sleep at night.

Sounds like it. Especially if short-term / situational. If its much more entrenched think about depression or anxiety?

Unless its overactive thyroid (feel hot, heart racing, shakes? If so get a blood test)

Sounds like you’re doing the right thinks to combat it. Try relaxation, distraction by other activities and main issue is sorting underlying issues you’ve alluded to.

Good luck
Mike

Mindfulness meditation?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLvU7ppM4vE[/video]

Is the monk going for a shower, why has he got a towel over his shoulder

Yep – meditation will help. (This comes from someone who hates hippy new age bull****)

The mind is a muscle and until you train it to do what you want it will control you. Think of it like a puppy that bounces around from one thing to another – once you train it it will calm down and do what you want. Meditation helps you to train your mind to focus on one thing and also calm the whole system down.

Once you can focus on one thing you’re mind won’t jump about as much – you’ll have more energy (from using less energy thinking too much) and have more focus and concentration from being able to control what you are doing.

The reason why you wake up is the body gets enough sleep and wakes because it thinks there is a threat (Think back to the fight or flight response and needing to be alert in times of threat) so your body sleeps only as much as it needs to before your mind wakes you to deal with the threat.

I’ve been doing it for a year now and it has changed everything for me. Love my sessions even if it is just 10mins a day has a massive effect.

Also, a mate is going through a nasty messy divorce and he was all over the place in the same way – constantly flitting from one subject / thought to another and memory like a sieve – he’s been meditating and is now a whole lot calmer than before.

This book is a great introduction

Learn to meditate on Amazon

If you want to learn more “The Power of Now” is an interesting read – although some of it is a bit out there but once you experience the benefits of meditation you can see the logic.

I can’t sleep at the moment, clearly, and kinda have a lot going on

Are you an American ?

Do you think youre American ? you may be drinking too much soda !

Yes when my life was more stressful meditation really worked

At the moment I’m using a poor substitute, a Kindle paper white so that whenever I wake up I can read straight away in bed without waking MRs Ampthill

I wouldn’t assume more exercise is always better. Particularly exercise later in the day

I’ve had a similar problem in the past. I would start getting upset and frustrated if I was awake for 2 hours or more, so I would get up and read, or watch something not too exciting on tv for an hour, like OU science programmes! The other thing I found was that I’d wake up with my heart pounding and feel too hot, and I would never get back to sleep until I’d cooled down. Another good reason for getting out of bed for a bit.

Can recommend an app called headspace, it’s a mindfulness tool, and very good. Alternatively a betablocker might help, see a gp though mate. Hope things get better soon.

easygirl – Member
Is the monk going for a shower, why has he got a towel over his shoulder

He’s a cool Frood who really knows where his towel is.