How do i stop chronic insomnia?

Question

i've just turned 18 so technically i'm still young. Ever since i was little i couldn't sleep till 2 or 3 hours after i went to bed and as i grew older the hours just kept increasing. I've taken sleeping pills, cold&flu pills, anything to get me drowsy. I don't take them in large amounts. The 1st time i took them i took the average recommended dosage of two but my body didn't respond. I increased and my body still didn't respond. This is the same for anything cold&flu/sleeping/any other drug that gets normal people drowsy. Doctors recommend calm music or meditation, but those things jus don't work. I cut down on caffeine and sugar, exercises and all the other things they recommended but i still have difficulties falling asleep. Nowadays i'm up till morning. I have school and so I hardly get sleep. I want to sleep but during the day i'm not tired except in the morning. I don't know what's wrong with me. What else can i do to get some sleep?

....yea...uh... thanks for the advice on sex and alcohol but... i'm only 18...??? sooo.... yea..... i dun exactly wanna lose it trying to get some sleep...

Answer 1

red wine and lots of sex

Answer 2

When I had chronic insomnia, the best advice I had ever gotten was if within 15 to 30 minutes of going to bed I wasn't asleep, to get up out of bed and do something else for 15 or so minutes. Even on the worst nights, by at most the third time through this cycle, I would fall asleep. Also, don't hang out in your room, except for sleep and "relations"... seriously. If you condition your body to understand that when you are in your bedroom you are supposed to be sleeping, eventually it will work. Stick to it, and you should be okay ... and throw the medication away. Your body knows what it needs, and doesn't need supplements to help it through the night.

Answer 3

Insomnia – Beat it with Sleep
http://www.askaquery.com/question/Insomnia-%96-Beat-it-with-Sleep.html

Insomnia - Treatment
http://www.askaquery.com/question/Insomnia--%28dash%29--Treatment.html

10 Tips to Sleep Well
http://www.askaquery.com/question/10-Tips-to-Sleep-Well.html

Answer 4

Hope your not worrying about anything thats stopping you falling asleep at night, have you tried a hot bath and a glass of milk before you go to bed, a piece of amythist under the bed can help too strange as it may sound, go see the doctor and make him listen, ok you might only be 18 but you have a mouth, good luck

Answer 5

Hi...first things first, as previously mentioned, if you want to sleep naturally you really need to stop taking stuff to make you drowsy, they do you no favours and as well as confusing what you are feeling, and what they are making you feel, you risk becoming dependent on them if a certain variety has effect. Your main problem at the moment is that your body is "trained" to being awake at that time. So, and this is quite tricky to take in, but when you say "I don't know what's wrong with me." That tells me that you think there is actually something wrong with you that is causing insomnia, but insomnia is the problem in itself, and you can't beat it by attacking it with things(sleeping pills etc) because it's not something outside of yourself, it's you not sleeping, and being anxious about not being able to sleep causes more anxiety(When you feel wired up and angry not be able to drift off) So here's a couple of loose points.

1. Fitter people sleep better. They just do. They feel better too, and the lower your standard heart rate, the calmer you will be as your body operates more efficiently, your balance gets better for one thing. Don't exercise to be able to sleep, this causes tension, just exercise to exercise. set a goal. This may also monkey around with your hyperbolics curves, and create a good pattern for the rest of the day.

2. Stop thinking about "insomnia" as something "you have". Stop thinking about stopping it. Being able to sleep is not something you should work at, if you "try hard" to go to sleep..well..you see what I'm saying? It's a contradiction in terms. Don't carry this burden, set it down.

3. Things that make you drowsy such as cold/flu/sleeping pills will not do the job for you, your body has to give the OK. i.e. when I was a 90lb 15 year old they had to give me two shots of general anesthetic and I still manged to hit the dentist twice, I don't think I have any special immunity to anesthetic, but subconciously I was anxious so I was fighting it, so even if I conciously wanted to be sedated my sub-concious was having none of it. Thats how powerful the human body and mind is. You're shrugging them off because you doubt them, and the anxiety about not being able to sleep is neutralising them.

4. Anything that is causing you stress in your life of a bad nature, get rid of it or at least make some room away from it, as this has a negative mental and physical affect on you. Chose your enviroment as much as you can do.

Also, wine, sex, and anything else also count as dependencies asyou shouldn't need them to sleep, that includes "Hand Cocoa" too. 0.<

Answer 6

The mayo clinic has several suggestions under 'coping strategies'.

Its important to start a wind-down period an hour or so before going to bed. Turn the lights down low. I find taking a long warm bath before bedtime helps a lot, as well as listening to some soothing easy-listening music.

Answer 7

Random suggestions:
- Don't lie in bed if you're not sleepy. It solidifies in your head that the bed isn't the place you go to sleep, it's the place you go to have trouble going to sleep. What you want to do is stay somewhere else until you actually feel like falling asleep, then go to bed. Don't do anything in the bed except sleep. Don't lie there. If you're not tired, stay up and read, do whatever makes you feel sleepy. I recommend studying ;) Anyhow, don't watch TV in the bed, don't do anything in it. You've got to start associating it with actual sleep. So when you feel tired, if you don't think you're tired enough to go to sleep, stay away from bed. Lie on the couch, whatever, and if you fall asleep there, so you do. Only go to bed if you're sure you can go to sleep.
-Don't, I repeat don't, take sleeping pills. They only make you addicted, and then your insomnia is even worse. You seem to know this, but obviously, the more you take, the more you have to take, and it can be a terrible cycle. Instead, stay awake until you fall asleep.
-The only real way to get over insomnia is to stay awake until you fall asleep. If if takes you three days, it takes you three days. It might suck, but you have to let yourself fall asleep on your own, when you get tired enough to do it. Say you don't sleep tonight, so you're tired tomorrow. Lie on the couch and fall asleep. If you "can't" fall asleep, just stay up another night. Don't take pills or lie there thinking "I can't fall asleep". Clean your house, do whatever you can to tire yourself out. When you do go to sleep, you'll be exhausted. Make SURE you have eight-11 hours to sleep good. Skip class if you have to. After that, set a normal bedtime and keep it. Wake up at the same time every day. Never lie in bed for a long time... repeat this (wearing yourself out) every time you have trouble sleeping. Eventually, it'll regulate itself.

Answer 8

Sleep.

Answer 9

try MELATONIN, in the vitamin section or SIMPLY SLEEP made by tylenol (its tylenol pm without the tylenol). If that doesn't work, go to your doctor and get a sleeping pill.

Answer 10

You can talk to my ex for 10 minutes: always works for me

Answer 11

Best cure, have a drink every night , you will get a good sleep.. I do....