mind is always active (sleep, Benadryl, Ambien, naturally)
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During the night i am unable to sleep since i am always thinking of various things in my head. How can i calm myself down so i can get a good night rest?
I would recommend "The Silva Method." It is very easy and basically consists of counting backwards - the net result is slowing the brain down to Alpha - the counting will give your busy mind something to do.
I've found that taking showers to candlelight helps me relax, but even after doing so my mind can still go off. Another thing is that the days when I don't exercise I'm way more likely to have an insomnia binge.
Even when I sleep my mind is still churning, lol...I noticed a couple mornings that the constant jukebox I have in my head is still running even while I'm asleep and dreaming, in the background of my dream there was still some song playing!
My mind seems to be the most active though at night when I should be sleeping so I'm considering taking advantage of that and setting my own schedule. I was thinking maybe some people are just naturally night people rather than insomniacs. Back in the tribal days it was probably beneficial to have a few people up at night to keep a look out for everyone else sleeping, so maybe it's more natural than we think.
For me, it's not that the noise in my head is louder at night. It's more that, the rest of the world is quieter at night, so I can hear the noise in my head a lot clearer. That noise is there 24/7 for me, it never stops, never gets louder or softer. All the subconscious thoughts everyone else has but no one else pays attention to or even notices.. Things like "okay, my heart is beating faster oh bladder full bus on the left red sign must be a stopsign kid with a ball across the street the number 4 nah nah nah nah hey heyyyy goodbye don't forget to pick up milk 4 more minutes til I have to leave for work hairbrush not stepping on the cat"
Those are the thoughts I have during the day, and I'm *aware* of them as if they were an actual dialogue my head is having with itself. The thoughts at night are less "active" since I don't have to worry about stepping on the cat, but the idea that I might be running low on milk is still there, or "it" will ask if I actually got some more during the day.
After living with this for around 40 years, with the "noise" getting faster and more consuming because life's experiences grow as you age, I finally started trying "sleeping remedies". Natural, meditation (what a joke), biofeedback, herbal teas, narcotics, alcohol, listening to music, listening to silence, new pajamas, no pajamas, benadryl.
It turns out, I have no problem getting tired. That's the good news. But I kind of knew that all along, because I'd be laying in bed at 3 in the morning miserable and crying because my own head wouldn't shut up long enough to get me to sleep, when I was physically and mentally exhausted.
Ambien was the only thing that's worked for me so far. And it works great for me. Only 15 minutes after the time I take one, I can lay down in bed and be asleep within a few more minutes. Plus it isn't making me -so- groggy, that I can't take one, and do the dishes, feed the cat, go to bed, and read a couple of pages in whatever book I'm reading and *then* go to sleep and be sleeping within a few minutes.
Unfortunately, Ambien isn't suitable for everyone and some people have some scary reactions with it. I've been lucky in that I have no side effects at all. I'm one of the few who take it long-term and damn the dependency issue. Of _course_ I'm dependent on it. I'm dependent on external chemicals to fall asleep, I knew that before I started taking it. That is *why* I'm taking it in the first place. Because my brain chemistry alone isn't enough to make my mind quiet when it's time to sleep. So I have Ambien to do it, and it does exactly that, and I'll take it indefinitely as long as the doctor is satisfied that I'm having no side effects.
My husband is like this. He is always thinking. He tells me he needs to learn how to turn his brain off at night.His sleeping habits aren't great.I am the opposite I can shut off my brain anytime but he tells me that's not good either because he feels he has to think for the both of us and it's unfair. His mind is always racing.
I would recommend "The Silva Method." It is very easy and basically consists of counting backwards - the net result is slowing the brain down to Alpha - the counting will give your busy mind something to do.
Interesting. I'd never heard of this but discovered it on my own. I do patterns, count forward and then one number down backwards. Forward but have to remember the number pattern being used. I complicate them by doing 100 20 10 90 40 30 80 60 70 50 18 8 98 38 28 etc. Simple enough that the 'thinging trac' running has to keep track of where it is. I find it very relaxing and a good form of meditation as the energy drains at first then builds when nearing the end. When I *say* zero, its wake up time and I feel not only calmer but more energetic.
But I always have thought running, and when writing a story will sit up and do a scene, in first draft, with rough setup. I'll even do a few versions. When I wake up its like the brain has followed them through and I can 'click' on the scene with all the variations that sleep proviced.
So long as thoughts are not obsessive and destructive, in which something which disrupts them is needed, it can be very useful. I've been known to 'put away' a problem on how to do something, (like rig the door where dogs can't get in but cats can) and just suddenly out of nowhere have the solution. It's like the mind has subprocessors which run behind our conscious visible life which work on long term questions.
I've found that taking showers to candlelight helps me relax, but even after doing so my mind can still go off. Another thing is that the days when I don't exercise I'm way more likely to have an insomnia binge.
Even when I sleep my mind is still churning, lol...I noticed a couple mornings that the constant jukebox I have in my head is still running even while I'm asleep and dreaming, in the background of my dream there was still some song playing!
My mind seems to be the most active though at night when I should be sleeping so I'm considering taking advantage of that and setting my own schedule. I was thinking maybe some people are just naturally night people rather than insomniacs. Back in the tribal days it was probably beneficial to have a few people up at night to keep a look out for everyone else sleeping, so maybe it's more natural than we think.
You sound a lot like me. Even when the speakers aren't cranked up, there is always music playing in my head. I think mom was like that since she always had music on. Maybe it shields all the 'thought lines' running in the brains version of 'background processing'.
Before I moved from to socal to small town america, I had horrible insomnia problems. The county people insisted on 9am appointments so since I couldn't sleep I wouldn't at all. Moving (and getting off meds which were all stimulants) I do my nocturnal thing. I take no sleep aids but sleep at least seven hours, but go to bed between 3am and dawn. I'm up by afternoon and that's plenty of time to do what you have to with the day people.
I agree, if your really a night person, its perfectly natural for the brain to wake up at night and be at its most productive. You can make a person be awake, but not functional. I saved all the mind numbing stuff like print charts for morning when I worked as a programmer. Couldn't stand to look at them when the brain was 'up'.
My husband is like this. He is always thinking. He tells me he needs to learn how to turn his brain off at night.His sleeping habits aren't great.I am the opposite I can shut off my brain anytime but he tells me that's not good either because he feels he has to think for the both of us and it's unfair. His mind is always racing.
For me, where thoughts never cease, and I can identify even while writing this the six other things going on, it comes as this sudden 'thunk'. It's like a voice says 'go to bed now'. It's not terribly unusual to get up with the lights still on and the laptop not closed. Brain says its time to rest and is going to sleep NOW.
I hear songs playing in my head all the time also. The only thing that has helped me is to not listen to music at all and after a while I don't here the "head music" much at all.
To slow my mind down, I think of something boring, usually what I will get the grocery store or organizing closets or the garage and since I find these things dull and I really don't like to think about them, I fall asleep. I have also heard that you should shut off all electronics (TV, computer, etc.) 30 minutes before you go to bed to unwind and I don't think many people do that but I seen it make a big difference with my son.
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