Sleep Troubles?

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A lot of nights recently I have not slept at all, 0 hours a night. But that's not down to any disturbance.

I have trouble falling asleep, but I'm very precise about times. I always go to bed at 10 every night and wake up at 10 minutes to 6 (for good) every morning. I actually fall asleep at 11:30 (PM) to 1:30 (AM), sleep until 3:00 (AM). Then I wake up, stay awake for half an hour, and then fall back asleep. Then I get up again at 5 (still AM). I stay awake for anywhere between 15-30 minutes, then doze off until 5:50 (still AM). If given the oppertunity, I take a nap in the afternoon. I can sleep fine during the day - anywhere from 11 (PM) until 6 (PM) I'll fall asleep and stay asleep until someone physically wakes me. But at night I can't. I still perform fine with what I get. It takes about half an hour for me to fully wake up, and for that entire half an hour I'm liable to be grouchy, but after that I'm fine.
My mother has tried everything to get me to sleep normally. She passes random orders which I keep up for about a week, and then stop. This is what she has tried:
1. No computer half an hour before 10.
2. No computer for an hour before 10.
3. No TV and computer an hour before 10.
4. No reading, TV, and computer an hour before 10.
5. No soda an hour before 10.
6. Warm milk before 10.
7. No warm milk an hour before 10. Especially if it has chocolate.
8. Wake up earlier.
9. Go to bed earlier.
10. No music an hour before 10.
11. No music after 10.
12. No music at all.
13. Turn on a light.
14. Turn off all lights.
15. Play soothing, jazz music. (Which kept me up even longer because I hate listening to jazz music.)

I will say this though - energy drinks put me to sleep very quickly. They also make me forget who I am, where I'm at, who I'm with, ect. I don't use them.

I had ambien and stayed up all night an acted drunk a while.

Sometimes I just don't want to sleep. If I'm "not in mood" to sleep, then I can't.

but usually I don't care about my mood, or am not aware of it.

When I was single and had a very simple life, I used to be a great sleeper, unless there was something hugely stressful going on in my life, which happened 2 or 3 times. But I also got a lot more regular excersize then, which I think helps a lot.

After marrying my husband, I am a terrible sleeper, because our life is soooo hectic and we are under so much stress all the time. He has always been a terrible sleeper and has always had a very hectic life. He roams around in the middle of the night and wakes me and our baby up sometimes. Plus he can't make a decision to save his life, so everything is always temporary and totally chaotic.

In short, I think sleep is very positively affected by exercise and very negatively affected by chaos and stress.

I find that if things are going extreamley well in my Life, I'm able to sleep for up to 10 hours a night. If things don't seem to be going my way, I only get 4 hours of sleep. It also depends on what I need to do the next day, and what time I need to get up.

Lately Ive gone frome 5-6 hours a night to 3 or less a night. I havent gotten any rem sleep this week yet. Any one know how long you can go without rem sleep befor you go crazy?

Studies have indicated a large proportion of those on the autism spectrum do not produce enough melatonin (a sleep hormone).

I am now sleeping well on melatonin. My sleep-wake cycle occassionally gets totally messed up, in which case I use a strong sleep med for a few days to get it back into a reasonable sleep-wake time, then back onto using melatonin. I also take a low dose of amitryptiline (a tricyclic antidepressant) in the evening which helps me to relax enough to actually fall asleep.

I have a hard time going to sleep. I usually crash between 5-6am and sleep restlessly until 1pm. Then I'm groggy for the rest of the day until night time comes and I'm wide awake again. I possibly have sleep apea which could be why I have such a hard time sleeping.

I've had terrible trouble with insomnia since I was a child. Things that I've found help:
* Melatonin -- I take between 30 and 40 mg about an hour before bed.
* Valerian root -- similarly large dose. Also helps with anxiety.
* meditation -- helps me shut my mind off
* SAD light -- sit in front of it for up to an hour at the beginning of a wake cycle, to reset my remnants of an internal clock and to "burn off" any excess melatonin.
* "delta" music -- tracks engineered to induce delta waves. I don't need a soothing lullaby. I need something that has undertow and can pull me under. I use a netbook as an mp3 player and alarm clock and use tiny ear buds to listen. The head phones also help block out outside noises. When I was working, and had a work-issued smart phone, I used it as the mp3 player and alarm clock -- that also had the added benefit of making certain I heard the phone if anyone called me.

I don't think I've ever had trouble sleeping, and I'm immensely thankful for that. I conk right out in minutes and stay asleep all night, every night.

My problems with sleeping began when I was a toddler, and continue to plague me.

At night, I'm unable to get to sleep until I'm literally crashing, which is typically around 3 or 4am. During the day, even if I've gotten 7 hours of sleep, I will be super tired and could easily go to sleep then. At night, to get to sleep prior to crashing, I take melatonin and listen to the sound of crashing waves or have a fan blowing. If my room isn't exactly the right temperature, sleep isn't happening. I like the air around me to be cool, and then I wrap myself up in my blankets. If my room is too hot for me to use a blanket, my sleep will be restless.

Once I do fall asleep, however, I generally have no problem sleeping through the night. I used to be a very deep sleeper...I siren went off right outside my bedroom window when I was 6, and I slept through the whole thing. If I fall asleep at night, though, as soon as light enters my room, I'll be awake. To combat this, I have blackout curtains on my windows.

It seems that now, as when I was very young, that I'm unable to get to sleep because I can't stop thinking about all the things I'd rather be doing. When I was very little, I refused to sleep because I wanted to stay up and watch movies, which are my special interest.

Had trouble sleeping last night. I tried but just could not sleep no matter how I tried. This usually happens when I have to work a morning shift after a night shift. It totally messes up my sleep cycle. My brain never shut off.