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For the past few months I have a lot of insomnia and a lot of trouble sleeping and it's bothering the crap out of me. I tried taking melatonin, to help me sleep. It worked well, but the problem with that was, is that I would feel so tired the next days.
Even if I slept like a baby, I would feel incredibly tired and fatigued during the days because of it... And that was only taking half the recommended dosage. So I tried taking less than half, but couldn't sleep. I needed at least half to actually put me to sleep, rather than just feeling really tired, but not being able to be put to sleep.
I want to be able to train my body to go to sleep, regardless of mood. I have been having insomnia cause I have been going through a lot of depression and anxiety, but my body has this thing where it could only sleep if it's feeling emotionally good.
For example, two weeks ago, I went out with this woman and spent the night with her, and I had such a good time, that I fell asleep no problem after. But that was more like a one night thing, and now it's back to feeling not good emotionally, and back to insomnia.
Is it possible to train my body to go to sleep, whether it is happy or sad, regardless of mood?
Getting good sleep is a very frustrating problem, and some people (like me) find it a life long problem.
Note that anxiety, depression and insomnia go together like a banana, vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup! Being you have all three it may be time to seek help from a healthcare professional.
My experience with melatonin is that it worked for 3-4 weeks, I didn't have the daytime problems you had, but it just quit working. Be wary about escalating to over the counter sleeping aids, or worse, prescription drugs. They can cause the problem they intend to cure. You body will adjust to long term use until you can't sleep without whatever drug, and your insomnia is just as bad as it was without the drug.
Sounds like you found one solution. Just get laid every night!
There are many things you can do to get better sleep, Google is your friend, but here are a few:
1. Maintain a routine, go to sleep and wake up the same time every day including weekends.
2. Quit drinking coffee or other stimulating beverages early in the day. Definitely by noon. (Note caffeine has a half life of 4 hours. 12 hours later 1/8 of the original dose will still be in your blood srream.)
3. Avoid TV and computer usage in the later evening, the light emitted by these devices affects your brain rhythm.
4. Avoid over-consumption of alcohol or food, get lots of exercise (but not right before bedtime, unless it's horizontal!)
5. Wind down as the evening gets late, as I said turn off the TV or computer. Do relaxing things, not stressful things.
There's a start for you. I'm sure other topic responses will add to my suggestion list.
I have problems with insomnia as well. Lovehound has a lot of good suggestions. I would also suggest looking into magnesium for relaxation and sleep. I've found that melatonin worked for a little bit, but after that it did nothing for me. There are many different types of magnesium and their degree of bioavailiability. The magnesium oxide that is in multivitamins is next to useless IMO. I use magnesium glycinate because more of the magnesium gets into your system and there is less likelihood of having loose bowels as there is with other types of magnesium. For the depression, you can try supplementing with Vitamin D and Omega 3s. Hope that this helps.
Getting good sleep is a very frustrating problem, and some people (like me) find it a life long problem.
Note that anxiety, depression and insomnia go together like a banana, vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup! Being you have all three it may be time to seek help from a healthcare professional.
My experience with melatonin is that it worked for 3-4 weeks, I didn't have the daytime problems you had, but it just quit working. Be wary about escalating to over the counter sleeping aids, or worse, prescription drugs. They can cause the problem they intend to cure. You body will adjust to long term use until you can't sleep without whatever drug, and your insomnia is just as bad as it was without the drug.
Sounds like you found one solution. Just get laid every night!
There are many things you can do to get better sleep, Google is your friend, but here are a few:
1. Maintain a routine, go to sleep and wake up the same time every day including weekends.
2. Quit drinking coffee or other stimulating beverages early in the day. Definitely by noon. (Note caffeine has a half life of 4 hours. 12 hours later 1/8 of the original dose will still be in your blood srream.)
3. Avoid TV and computer usage in the later evening, the light emitted by these devices affects your brain rhythm.
4. Avoid over-consumption of alcohol or food, get lots of exercise (but not right before bedtime, unless it's horizontal!)
5. Wind down as the evening gets late, as I said turn off the TV or computer. Do relaxing things, not stressful things.
There's a start for you. I'm sure other topic responses will add to my suggestion list.
I would be very, very careful with the melatonin, and would go to the Dr. to have a insomnia medication prescribed if this is chronic. I worked shift work years ago, and took melatonin, and it made my insomnia permanent! I practice healthy habits otherwise...exercise a lot, eat a healthy diet, routine, no alcohol, etc...everything everyone says! Still, my circadian rhythm is permanently messed up due to something that was supposed to be healthy and natural! I was told by my doctor, after a sleep study, that it looks like taking the melatonin has left me with a permanent sleep disorder in his professional opinion, along with the shift work.
Just a comment about prescription meds used as sleep aids, Ambien for example. Prescribing information for physicians states that Ambien is not intended to be prescribed for more than 4-6 weeks. There is a good reason for that. (1) More than 6 weeks leads to patient addiction. (2) As I alluded to above, your body adjusts to the drug, and each additional day it becomes less effective until after perhaps several weeks your body can become almost 100% acclimatized to being dosed every night, and the drug ends up barely better than a placebo. Increasing the dosage merely puts off paying the negative consequences.
As far as I am aware, ALL tranquilizers, anti-anxiety and any other drugs behave in an identical way, their main differences being half-life, dosage, but even at maximum dose they ALL become addictive, and they ALL lose their effectiveness upon continued use. They also probably all have physician recommendations to not be prescribed for long periods of time. (Think about the demise of Michael Jackson, an object lesson on how chasing insomnia can have tragic consequences. Thank God few of us have enough money to influence a physician into violating professional ethics and ignoring professional integrity.)
One additional thing that does seem to improve my ability to fall asleep: aspirin! I take two 325mg tablets every night before bed. I have such a high tolerance to aspirin that I suffer zero side effects, but many report stomach upset even upon smaller doses. Note that it is commonly accepted that daily baby doses of aspirin is good for heart health, stroke prevention and other beneficial effects. Note also that no other NSAID (that I am aware of) has this protective effect. And please note, aspirin is the only NSAID that can be safely mixed with alcohol. All other NSAIDs I'm aware of carry a warning: "not to be taken with alcohol."
First, you might want to check if there're underlying medical issues such as hyperthyroid could cause insomnia.
Take Omega fish oils to help reduce depression, as well as Vitamin Bs for stress and anxiety.
Listen to sleep binaurals music before bedtime is another good way to relax your mind.
Drink camomile tea helps in calming.
Watch a boring movie, under normal circumstances your eyes will get heavier and heavier til eventually closed.
Yes and physical activities, move your body until you're physically dead tired you'll sleep like a log.
Okay thanks, those all sound like good methods. Actually I quit my job yesterday (long story why), and I slept like a baby for hours and hours, that night, all the way, late into the next day. I feel very refreshed now, than I had in a long time. So the job, definitely had something to do with it, I think. Not sure if it was the best idea to quit it, but at least I am not feeling so depressed and anxious and was able to sleep in all day.
For the past few months I have a lot of insomnia and a lot of trouble sleeping and it's bothering the crap out of me. I tried taking melatonin, to help me sleep. It worked well, but the problem with that was, is that I would feel so tired the next days.
Even if I slept like a baby, I would feel incredibly tired and fatigued during the days because of it... And that was only taking half the recommended dosage. So I tried taking less than half, but couldn't sleep. I needed at least half to actually put me to sleep, rather than just feeling really tired, but not being able to be put to sleep.
I want to be able to train my body to go to sleep, regardless of mood. I have been having insomnia cause I have been going through a lot of depression and anxiety, but my body has this thing where it could only sleep if it's feeling emotionally good.
For example, two weeks ago, I went out with this woman and spent the night with her, and I had such a good time, that I fell asleep no problem after. But that was more like a one night thing, and now it's back to feeling not good emotionally, and back to insomnia.
Is it possible to train my body to go to sleep, whether it is happy or sad, regardless of mood?
Same problems as you and sleep aid does the same thing to me. Sleep like a baby and wake up in a fog next morning and takes till noon to wear off. Then i am falling asleep driving mid afternoon. Sex and a sleepover cuddled up with someone special and i sleep all night no meds no problem. Like someone else said....sleepovers every night!
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Being you have all three it may be time to seek help from a healthcare professional.
