Insomnia

[Gurm]

Well, there are two surefire ways to go to sleep. (I'm being serious now, I've dealt with insomnia for a couple months now!)

1. The unnatural way (but you WILL sleep):
- Go to CVS
- Buy sleeping pills
- Take sleeping pills
- Sleep

Drawbacks to this plan include the fact that these pills will make you feel nasty and sluggish all day after you wake up... especially if you have to take more than one.

2. The "natural" way.
- Go to CVS (again, woo!).
- Buy "Alluna: Sleep". This is an all-natural herbal concoction, it should be near the sleeping pills. A two-week supply is $10, yeah kinda pricey.
- Buy some herbal chamomile tea. Get Republic Chamomile Lemon if you can (although you have to double-bag that to get the full benefit).
- Go home, wait for bedtime (a REASONABLE bedtime).
- An hour before bedtime, take a dose (two tabs) of Alluna.
- A half-hour before bedtime, put on the hot water.
- 20 minutes before bedtime, brew the tea.
- 15 minutes before bedtime, begin drinking the tea.
- Go to bed.
- Sleep (you hope).

I know this sounds goofy, but I spent a couple weeks utterly sleepless, and have had lousy sleep since. Alluna has valerian root and hops, and rather than "making" you sleep (a la sleeping pills) it "lets" you sleep. It just relaxes you. 99% of the time, insomnia springs from tension of one kind or another.

Of course if your doctor has, due to your insomnia, prescribed Lorazepam/Ativan, well... there's always that.

- Gurm

[Dogbert]

Why don't you try meditating ?
If you 'fail' it'll be because your thoughts will drift somewhere. Whatever happens, at least you'll get some rest.

Also, try to eliminate all noises. If you can't, put on some music (if possible without lyrics, just music).

[DGhost]

Personally, Valarian root didn't do anything for me except force me to sleep ~7-8 hours. when i was taking it i could not wake up before then. it did absolutely nothing as far as helping me get to sleep.

And sugar is acctually a wonderful method of going to sleep. at least if you are like, 6-10 years old. the molecular bonds in glucose (iirc) are complex enough that it takes a lot of energy for your body to metabolize it. problem is i think that any adult would have to ingest a fairly large quantity of it for this to work.

and yes, insomnia sucks. its 5am here and i'm not asleep.

[Evildead666]

Valerian root is good, so is camomile.
Hot lemon tea with honey is also good, or a hot chocolate.
(I prefer the lemon and honey)

Donormil: supposedly homeopathic, but really does help. It makes it so that your brain has trouble concentrating, if you are reading, after about 15mins-30mins you won't be able to read a whole page without your mind drifting away.

As usual, the more u take, the less effect there is.....

Then there is also the illegal way to just toke on a spliff.
Most people who don't smoke at all are asleep in a few minutes.

[Technoid]

I can usualy fall asleep anywhere and within 5 min if I want to....

[The PIT]

Sleeping like a log here. Can't wake up in the morning.

[Technoid]

Originally posted by The PIT
Sleeping like a log here. Can't wake up in the morning.

Have the same problem

[Admiral]

Have no problem sleeping at home, except when I'm troubled by something.
If I change location it usually takes me one night of insomnia to accomodate.

Lizz, try not to use your PC or watch TV one hour before you go to sleep and when you do, try not to think at anything.
(the no thinking thing usually does it for me )

[Novdid]

I sleep away more than 50% of my life. It makes me wonder if I miss anything from time to time.

[ZokesPro]

Well Liz we have another thing in common. I usually get a few more hours than you though, but I know how it feels and it sucks.

[Dilitante1]

Originally posted by Admiral
Lizz, try not to use your PC or watch TV one hour before you go to sleep and when you do, try not to think at anything.
(the no thinking thing usually does it for me )

Actually studies have shown the brain is stimulated up to 4 hours after shutting down tv/PC

so it may help if you stay off an evening or 2 just to see if it makes a difference , and lay off the caffine as well

I ditto the tea suggestions as well.................good luck Liz

[Admiral]

Originally posted by Dilitante1
Actually studies have shown the brain is stimulated up to 4 hours after shutting down tv/PC

I didn't quite knew how much time (heard of 2 hours) , but knew it wasn't so good for sleeping.

[Brian R.]

Try a small dose of Benadryl and then lay down. Not an adult dose, but just a minimum dose for a child. May just be enough to take the edge off.

[Gurm]

Err...

Other suggestions:

- No food after 8PM.
- No carbonated beverages after dark.
- No caffeine after lunch.

Try that.

- Gurm

[ZokesPro]

If you don't fight it off then a shot of NyQuil will put you under, but if you prefer to get stoned than fight off the drowsiness and let yourself become inebriated.