Insomnia

[GateKeeper]

There are many factors that could be involved, and it seems people have given some decent advice already.

If I were to give my 2 cents, it would be mostly adding up a healthy diet along with cardio. And before going to sleep, do massage of your feet and your hands with cream or Vaseline, and also massage of your head using oil.

It will take gradual time to slowly get the sleep back in the pattern, but dont give up!

Thanks Gatekeeper - I appreciate that!

[JosephineB]

Close your eyes and concentrate on a black velvet curtain. Your eyes may wander to the shinier part of the material but bring it back to the black again. My dad told me about this, I've used it many a time. Best wishes.

Thanks. ..

[Found Goat]

I love sleep to the point that for a period I practically worshipped Somnus. He was then one of my favorite gods and still is. My bedtime prayers were often said in his name and whenever I would awaken feeling restored I would give thanks to and praise this beautiful deity.

Sleep, it is known, is vitally important for one’s cognitive and psychomotor performance and all around mental and physical health. In our so-called 24-hour-society, sleep is senselessly devalued, especially by night owls, who are up past midnight doing something in their spare when they had all day to do whatever it is that’s so important or that can wait till morning during more godly hours to do.

About eight years ago, I suffered a three month bout of insomnia that took such a toll on me that looking back on it I wonder how I ever got through it and survived.

No amount of counting of sheeple allayed the chronic wakefulness.

I groggily took to the medical textbooks in search of some answers.

What I first learned was that there are three types of sleep disorders pertaining to insomnia:

1. Falling asleep.
2. Difficulty staying asleep.
3. Sleep of poor quality.

In my case, I’d suffered from number 1.

Not wanting to lose my job due to absenteeism related to the insomnia, I somehow would manage to make it into work the following day when I hadn’t even slept a wink, albeit feeling sluggish and with a headache.

It was very, very difficult but I was eventually able to overcome my insomnia via patience, determination, and willpower. I have never taken a restful night’s sleep for granted since.

According to my research, several things can cause or contribute to sleep loss. The obvious one is what is termed “poor sleep hygiene,” in reference to various forms of noise pollution.

To this day, if I am exhausted and feel like lying down for a post-prandial nap, I try as hard as I can to refrain from doing so. It’s often been the case with me that if I give into a snooze after supper, I will have trouble getting to sleep come bedtime.

When I sleep well, which is fairly often, I’m one who can still drink caffeine after supper without it affecting me in getting to sleep. In fact, there aren’t too many evenings that I go without my demitasse of espresso immediately following dessert. (Everybody’s different in this regard. I know people who can drink caffeinated coffee at 9 o’clock at night and have no problem getting to bed a few hours later.)

Still, it has been years since I’ve been able to sleep seven to nine hours without waking up at least once to urinate. Even when I don’t have much to drink before bedtime, nature stills beckons me from my slumber to tinkle.

My having experienced what it is like to be an insomniac has made me value, if not treasure, sleep more than most people who, unlike me, must not mind artificial lighting and being flatfooted. For me, the moonlight is a nightly godsend, a comforting and enchanting presence that cocoons me and the part of day when I feel most at home, cradled in Luna’s ethereal arms.

I just don’t understand those who, after spending sixteen hours awake in staid reality, continue to want to stay up instead of retiring to a cozy bed where dreamland awaits for the majority of slumberers. Are these night hawks mindless somnambulists? Zombies? They obviously have never suffered from this nightmarish sleep disorder else they would be kissing their pillows by 11 p.m. each and every night.

Sleep-deprivation can cause memory loss, depression, irritability, can increase the risk of heart disease and shorten one’s lifespan. It has also been a form of torture in some parts of the world.

I used to be a night owl in my younger days but now I look forward to sweet dreaming and nocturnal astral traveling. Every night that I can sleep tight is a good night. I love it whenever I sleep so deep I practically merge with the mattress and two become one. I love sleep but draw the line at narcolepsy.

Amen.

[lomax]

Or you can go the nature's way.
Have you tried flower remedies?They work like a charm and without side effects.
In the past years i was using bach's rescue remedy (very powerful) and i liked it so much,that i ordered enough for a whole year.

Maybe you can try this one?
http://www.bachflower.com/bach-rescue-sleep/

(And it's better to go for the drops and not the spray or the capsules).

Thanks lomax [I will look into that] and FG - for the info and "humor"

[linen53]

I'm going to try that Bach's. They have one that's called Rescue Sleep. I am going to try that one. Thanks lomax.

[Sarian]

I have no advice. Just reading since I have insomnia but I get it frequently. I have no problem falling asleep but I wake up within an hour or so and cannot go back to sleep.

That's tough... Sarian..