I’m losing my mind man. I mmresly trying but I just can’t. I got to bed for 7-8 hours and always get 5-6 hours of sleep. I just want tot fucking sleep and I want to blow my fuckinghm brains out my fucking head
Exhausting myself with exercise seems to have been the only non-drug solution. I also noticed that, because have constant trouble falling asleep, I worry about it a lot which prevents me from falling asleep. On the rare occasion I forget to worry about it I fall asleep quite alrite. But it's like asking someone not to think of a pink elephant, idk how to control that. Honestly, in the past week or so I've started listening to those asmr vids in bed and they've been helping a bit, the secret i think is to find the sounds you like. Doesn't have to be asmr, sounds of rain are great too, or even white noise, youtube is full of them. This nifty website lets you set up all kinds of things, it's like an equalizer for rain sounds.
No, I think you are right, if you are feeling tired and still can't fall asleep exercise might not be the answer. One other thing I tried is skipping a night and then I'd fall asleep immediately, but that's super unhealthy and sounds like you have some other issue anyway. Honestly, if you can afford it, do a sleep study. A friend of mine did, he's an even worse sleeper than I, and they found some circadian rhythm misalignment.. He started meditating on the app called Headspace, and says it helps, but you really gotta do that regularly.
How come meditation is nearly impossible for you?
A lot of people have a misconception that meditating requires you to completely clear your mind, which isn’t really true. In my experience the approach is to try the best you can to not engage deeply with passing thoughts, and just recognize you’re having them and move on.
I’m not flexible enough to lotus sit comfortably, so I just do it in a chair I can sit upright in.
Semi-relevant, I find if I don't stay sitting up when meditating, I'm liable to drift off.
I've been carefully regulating my caffeine usage and that has helped a lot. Only 1 cup of a coffee a day and it has to be before 3, only lower-caffeine teas after that, and no caffeine after 6. Other than that it's helpful to find something which calms your mind to get some sleep, figure out how long it takes of that to get to to sleep, and schedule all your pre-sleep needs when deciding when to go to bed. also just dont look at a clock after you decide to go to bed, it will only make your more anxious about lost sleep, preventing sleep.
I have similar sleep issues. I'll list what has helped.
- A weighted blanket is essential for me. The faint body pressure mollifies my anxiety.
- Foam ear plugs to mute most of the world + sleep music to fill in the rest. I like ambient, postrock, and smooth jazz for this.
- A hot shower and mouth hygiene routine prepares my body for sleep. It forgets the day. Make sure to floss and use a tongue scraper.
- Yoga and body weight exercises similarly prepare my body for sleep. Do what works for you; yin yoga + squats, lunges, and planks work for me.
- Finally, smoke some weed. Buried the lede but if you want to drift into dreamland this is the way. I use a vape battery with sativa strain cartridges.
Yoga and body weight exercises similarly prepare my body for sleep. Do what works for you; yin yoga + squats, lunges, and planks work for me.
I think the science says that anything beyond stretching is bad for either sleep or muscle recovery.
Do them earlier then? Being active at some point in the day really helps for me.
And if weed's not an option, lavender and chamomile tea (especially after popping about ~3 mcg of melatonin) will usually do the trick. Add in some damiana to the tea, and your dreams will be almost as fucked up as if you had done weed or edibles.
it works wonders for me, more energy and better sleep. even 15-20 minutes a few times a week
No joke, ever since I got a dog and have been walking 2-3 miles a day I've been sleeping like a baby.
Sleep hygiene?
Go to sleep at the same time each night and stop using screens an hour before then. Read a paper book or something instead.
this is part of the reason early mornings sucks so much for night owls. I am not going to get the work done during the day, and I can't sleep then because it's bright and people want my attention and there's things going on. Much of the night is set aside so I can work, and you want me to be up in the morning for class? oh no, now I can't focus and the homework takes longer!
Here's a collection of some sleep hygiene tips. One or two of these might be enough or all of them if need be
Your body naturally cools down at night, try stripping a few layer before going to bed.
I agree almost completely, but I would recommend picking an audiobook that's not exactly boring, but that you have already read. It can't be so much of a favorite book that you are wide awake and appreciating the fuck out of the prose the whole time, but you should enjoy the book, and you should absolutely know what happens next already. The comfortable feeling of listening to character descriptions of characters you already know and following along with a plot where you know what happens next can really help. It really needs to be something that you already know though, because even a fairly bad book can throw in a sudden plot twist or something that suddenly makes you pay attention and wakes you up.
There are sleep podcasts designed for this. They have very little plot action and mostly describe someone going about their day.
Speaking only for myself, that sounds a bit like the old idea of counting sheep or something like that. I doubt I could lose myself in something like that enough to drift off to sleep like I can with a book that I enjoy but already know.
Yeah, fair enough. I don't use them but my partner has met some success. They are at least a little more involved than counting sheep lol.
It's great that they exist. It is worth trying, and obviously if it works you should just keep doing this because you found a solution. If this type of content doesn't help though, I think it is still worth trying a familiar story that you enjoy. There is a bit of a difference I think. A story can be really action packed and still help you sleep if you know it. I can find myself losing any sense of time and drifting between different points in the story in my mind. I'll be thinking about how calm and nice a character is, how funny they are in my favorite interactions and how cool it will be when I find out that they were actually the killer all along at the same time. And if the story is familiar none of those actual moments will actually wake me up, because I know that they are coming and I'm already kind of thinking about them beforehand if that makes any sense.
Deep breath in through the nose
Hold for as long as comfortable
Slowly release (like, make a little slit in your lips to exhale so that you puff out your cheeks)
Do this until you're asleep or at least not actively thinking
Do you feel like shit when you wake up? I think that can train you to not want to sleep
It can also be indicative of a sleep disorder. This was basically how I figured out I had sleep apnea. Well, that, and seeing my O2 level drop into the 80s every time they took me off oxygen while I was recovering from a surgery.
Oof, sorry to hear that. Yeah, it's no fun. If you can get a sleep study and get on CPAP therapy, do it ASAP -- no amount of sleep aids will help you if you're literally suffocating on your own soft palate when you sleep.
If you want to verify before going to a sleep doc, you can get a cheap saturated O2 monitor on Amazon or something -- there are even some that have Bluetooth/smartphone connectivity and a recording feature so you can plot a graph of your blood oxygen levels throughout the night. If you see huge drops <90-92, and you know that you snore, that's a big damn red flag, and not the kind that we like around here. Good luck, and if you live in the US, I'm sorry; there isn't a DIY homebrew frontier medicine solution for this one, unless you can get your hands on a grey market CPAP/BiPAP machine for cheap. I know some places will sell without a prescription/insurance if you buy what are technically unassembled parts, but yeah... Then you have to program the damn thing with no diagnostic data to use as a starting point.
Sorry this turned into a "tell me you hacked your CPAP machine without saying you hacked a CPAP machine" post. lol
If you snore, then the snoring is definitely why you feel like shit. You will feel way the fuck better with a cpap machine. Needs a prescription.
It puts a slight pressure into your airways and prevents them from collapsing and causing snoring. Bad snoring is sleep apnea and you just choke yourself out as you sleep.
If you have allergies but not enough money to just buy a machine, then it might not be the best. The insurance company forces you to use or lose it, and if you have a runny nose and inflamed sinuses you cant wear it, because you cant properly sniffle, it's horrible, makes you gag. Impossible to keep in compliance even though you need it on good days.
Completely comfortable without allergies. No issues.
But if you don't have allergies, or you get them occasionally and have a thousand bucks, you can get a CPAP machine. A sleep study might also cost a grand if your insurance doenst cover it.
You will feel noticeably better, and if you go to sleep without the machine, about 1-2 mornings later you will notice how bad it feels to not have it.
Everything does, I'd say avoid those brands, you're gonna die earlier from lack of sleep than you would from cancer. Idk if a deviated septum could look like sleep apnea and it's not really that, but a sleep specialist doctor would know
Interesting, do you nap upright at all, or in some other position? That could be why
Bingo. 99 percent chance it's sleep apnea. Most people get sleep apnea more when they're laying on their back.
I waited way too long to get a sleep study and a CPAP. I simply do not feel like shit anymore. Not groggy, less headaches, more energy and focus
what pills? get diphenhydramine it's the strongest OTC sleep med if you haven't tried it
The two that have worked for me are CBD and kava kava. CBD gummies are easy so I mainly stick with that, but I do sometimes drink kava which tastes like literal dirt, but is quite relaxing. Neither makes me feel groggy the next day like melatonin does.
Square breathing is another thing that really helps me relax and fall asleep.
is there any way you could do hobbies outside. Probably not but I'm just spitballing here
yeah, same here. I really only have privacy and space to myself in my bedroom.
if you get melatonin try and find the stuff that has L-Theanine and Magnesium, they help promote muscle relaxation and de-stress. I've used just only Melatonin and it doesn't work as well as the supplements with the other ones in them.
