I used to have really bad insomnia. To me, it was a mixture of stress (a feeling of incompetence), monkey brain, and having troubles breathing. I got a work experience gig and that helped with my stress, I started meditating for my monkey brain, and bought a nasal spray for my breathing. I can sleep through the night unaided now My suggestion is for you to drill down what exactly is stopping you from sleeping. Get to the source.
Is it hard for you to go to sleep, or hard for you to stay asleep? I am unable to go to sleep, which is usually a side effect of anxiety (being unable to stay asleep is aligned with depression). I started taking Kava Root which you can get at a vitamin store, and it helped tremendously at first, but I found that I built up a tolerance pretty quickly. Melatonin gives me horrible hallucinations and nightmares, if I'm able to fall asleep enough to have them in the first place.
The cause for my inability to sleep is invariably thinking. I start to think about something depressing, and suddenly that's all I can do. To fix it, I read. It focuses me on something else, and sometimes even brings new perspectives to the negative thoughts.
Warm milk or weak tea. I also have a slightly weird little technique that also helps coming up with plot ideas. I'll tell anyone who is interested over PM.
Not sleeping is such a big problem for so many people, isn't it? I know quite a number of people who suffer from insommnia. (Thankfully I'm not one of them, at least not in a chronic sense.) I think @animenagai has the rights of it. Nail the cause, if you can, and tailor the remedy to it. It could be as simple as maybe you're drinking coffee/tea or eating a big meal too late in the day. If you're stewing about something, get up and sort it if you can, or if it's not that kind of thing, maybe try a St John's Wort remedy, such as Kalms tablets that will make small worries seem less important. These remedies are great for very occasional use. They work for me, if I know I'm stewing about something. About a half hour after taking Kalms, I'm suddenly ...calm. Either to go to sleep or to carry on with my day without excessive worry. If you're just lying awake thinking up plots or something, and you know you need to get to sleep, try sitting up and reading a book—one that's just interesting enough to keep you reading for a while, without being so exciting that you can't put it down. This often works for me. Or get up, go do something in the house ...but NOT on your computer, which apparently keeps you awake. In fact, in general, you should not do computers at all at night, if you have trouble sleeping. Apparently there is something about the light they emit that mimics daylight, and can trigger the wrong responses. If you're not an alcoholic, a simple half-glass of wine or a nip of some spirit can do the trick. Some people like soothing music. Of course if you're unwell or in pain, or have some truly horrific event hanging over your head, these simple remedies won't work very well. In that case ...well, I reckon maybe talk to your GP, if it goes on and on and starts affecting your daily life.
I get tons of exercise during the day. Wreybies is fit and "beach ready". Insomnia has been my bête noire since my early teen years. These days my cure is Xanax. No one wants to hear that - I know - but there it is.
Yup. Medications often have various end effects. Most over-the-counter sleep aids in America are diphenhydramine hcl, an antihistamine used for allergies, but which also causes drowsiness. The exact same active ingredient as in Benedryl™.
Still, that sounds awful. :/ Sorry to hear that, dude. And booze. Whisky and wa*king. Sounds like a night.
You can get xanax all over the deep web. But the truth is that, if you're awake because you're manic, there is absolutely nothing that will help you (except for getting back on your meds). I've brushed off enough ambien or lunesta to drop an elephant. Usually a nice relaxing cup of coffee is a good about 15 minutes before bed for me. But I'm co-morbid ADHD, so stimulants don't affect me the way they should.
Doctor just switched me to a new medicine called Olanzapine. It's only supposed to be taken at bed time because of how drowsy it makes you. We'll see about that.
Well there's your problem right there. Med change is going to fuck everything up. You'll have to learn what hungry and tired feel like all over again. I'm actually on olanzapine too, and it doesn't make me tired at all. If you're still having sleep problems it's probably not making you tired either.
