insomnia

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I'm sure this has been done to death, but I'm suffering it right now. 1:30 a.m. and I have to be up at 6. Just can't go to sleep, and even took a sleeping pill. I swam today, but still feel quite tight (spasticity). Oh sorry, that's my other set of problems that have nothing to do with autism.

I always go to bed with the t.v. on, preferably with a dull show. This time unfortunately it was a pretty good show about Tutankhamun which did not bore me.

Hmmmmm, it's 2:30 here and I have to be up at 6.
Gonna be a long day for both of us ...
I took a nice, revitalizing epsom salts bath.
It's supposed to relax you.
Well, it gave me energy
and I'm sleepy at the same time.

I bid you good night or good morning ...

...

I have always had a unpredictable sleep pattern. Plus I can sleep well and be tired and yawning all day, or barely sleep and feel great, and vice versa.

how about long infomercials with the volume subdued? i cannot think of anything more dull.

my dad does the same on the weekends, and when i cannot take the tv's yelling anymore at 11 at night i go and tun it off with him out cold on the recliner. i don't know how he does it. maybe it's a middle age thing.

my worst bout of sleeplessness this year is indubitably the night before Time Warp II, where my LO and i planned to see each other after about a year of mutual absence. it was three otherworldly hours of tossing and turning, of checking my phone, moving to the living room couch and back to bed...and screaming.

she does have that grip. this happened every night before planning to see her. every one.

Well it was 3 pm at the earliest I finally conked out. I've decided I have to call in sick, I'm way too tired to drive, let alone work effectively.

Bummer, and I don't have many vacation hours left.

I could never figure out why the only time I could fall asleep easily without trying was when my favourite hockey team was playing. Sure, they are awful but I obviously like the sport. I am come to the conclusion that it was one of the few times I did not feel anxious.

Unfortunately it runs in the family (my mother has horrific insomnia: frequently laying awake until 6 or 7) but I have found doing someone I have done a million times before (like watch the Simpsons) with the TV set on a timer seems to do the trick most of the time.

YEah, you would think that 'doing someone a million' times before would be tiring!!

Sorry...just a moment of levity...

I don't think watching TV before you go to sleep is a great habit. Professionals wouldn't recommend but if it works for you.

I personally don't watch any TV in bed or an hour before I go to sleep. If you associate it with stimulating activities, you might find it more difficult to sleep.

Also screens that emit blue light can trick your brain into thinking that it's daytime. This includes LCD tablets, TVs, laptops and cellphones. Since I started turning off screens a few hours before bed, I've been getting to sleep a lot more easily. I still read before bed.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-h ... -dark-side

LOL! I needed to laugh...

GiantHockeyFan, it runs in my family as well. My mother & grandmother never slept much either, so I just accept that this is how I'm built.

Yes corroonb, I've heard that too. But in order to sleep in the same bed with my CPAP using spouse, it helps to have a little background noise. I used to get Dish TV and always enjoyed CSPAN for these purposes, but we decided to economize. Sure do miss those boring committee meetings!

Damn me and my almost semi-Dyslexia! Took me about four tries to understand what was so funny. I can literally read something ten times and still miss something like that but I digress.


I know my mother's is mostly due to medication but I do know my brother used to be up until 2-3am on school nights when we were teenagers. I have found that the 'expert' advice is absolutely useless other than the room darkening shades. Some days I toss and turn to get 5-6 hours other days I can go 12-16 hours without waking up once. It was suggested that caffeine was the culprit but I found it even harder to sleep without my evening Coke.

On a more positive note I usually cannot fall asleep in a foreign bed no matter how tired I am without anti-anxiety pills. I was away on an old military base for a week and fell asleep for 8-9 hours with no problem. What a pleasant surprise that was!

I get that too. I hate to read somethings because I always have to go back and re-read somethings. I lose track of the line I'm on or fill in the wrong words in my head.

But, you gotta admit, a good, fat fingered typo is just what the doc ordered on some days!!

That makes sense. Have you tried white noise? Just a radio not tuned to any station. Ear-plugs?

None of my family are good sleepers. Even with exercise and good sleep hygiene, I rarely sleep more than 6 hours. It can derail my day and it usually happens before stressful events.

or even something like rainymood, or similar atmospheric effects. i know those arenlt for everyone though.

i actually find it just as easy or even easier to sleep on nights where the wind is howling and branches swaying, compared to nights that are perfectly still. it sounds like the ocean waves are just outside my window, and i adore it.

So ... it turns out my insomnia was caused, not by excessive electronics before bed, certainly not by lack of exercise, but just by the fact that I forgot to take two doses of meds which include a muscle relaxant. I did notice I felt very tight, but didn't put 2 and 2 together.

Yes, I love that too. But my current home is well insulated including with respect to sound, and I love that as well. No neighbor issues... no sirens ... no paper-thin walls and drafty windows.

I have chronic insomnia; had it since I was very young, possibly all my life.

Some thing that help are:
- Don't eat anything 4 hours before going to bed, especially a lot. Maybe something light.
- Force yourself to get up Early, at a reasonable hours, so you're tired at a reasonable hour. Map it out by how many hours you're generally awake for and how many hours you generally sleep for.
- Don't do anything like exercising before bed. Maybe a walk, but not too a fast one.
- If you can't sleep, get out of bed and read a book. If you stay in your bed and not sleep, you're bed becoming associated with not sleeping, if you know what I mean.
- Think about what is bothering you (if anything) and write it down somewhere, before going to bed.
- Do some mindful breathing. A technique where you relax and focus on the present (such as your feet touching the floor).
I hope this helps.

~ Blossom.