What should I do if I can't fall asleep?

Answer 1

Boy have I had some sleepless nights!
Here are some things the doctor said to try before he would put me on meds, and the combination of them improved my sleep so that I never had to get the meds:

Don't watch t.v. or work on the computer for twenty to thirty minutes before bedtime. The flickering light interferes with your sleep pattern

Turn your clock so that you can not see the dial. It felt weird for a few nights, because I was accustomed to looking at it repeatedly during the night, but I got used to it. Also, any light, even the red light from an alarm clock's numbers can interfere with your sleep.

Avoid eating for thirty minutes before you go to sleep and don't eat spicy or heavy food for dinner. This one was hard, but it really made a difference! Oh, and if you do drink alcoholic beverages avoid them for an hour before bedtime.

If you are overweight, start eating healthier and exercise. Sleep apnea (when you snore because you are not breathing right) robs you of much needed rest and is much worse in overweight people. As I have lost weight, my sleep apnea has all but disappeared.

Remove anything work related from the bedroom. Your bedroom should be used for sleeping and intimacy and nothing else. If you work in bed you will have problems sleeping because you keep thinking of what still needs to be done. If you are a student and can not remove your study materials, perhaps you can drape a blanket over them before bed. It sounds silly, but it would symbolically be putting them to bed for the night.

Good luck!

Answer 2

As a person who has trouble sleeping, I can tell you that there a millions of little things to do. A lot of it has to do with your going to sleep process. Do you do it the same thing every night?

Contrary to common belief, having the TV on does not help. Scientifically or just logically, having noise, energy, light all bouncing on your brain is not going to help.

Contemplate how much caffeine you consume in a day. Sometimes you don't have to change your intake, but rather schedule your last caffeinated beverage for before a certain time.

Check the way your room is set up. Do you feel more tired in a certain position? What about covers? Do you need to have 10 quilts on you to fall asleep or do you need to feel light?

Sometimes its habits getting ready for bed: do you sleep better when you shower before bed? Do you sleep better with an empty stomach? With brushed teeth? After you stretch? If you are calm for a long period of time?

If you're like me (which most people my age are) you don't have a regular schedule. Often times you have to fall asleep right when you have it planned and get up right when you have it planned, otherwise you will not get enough sleep. I know that I sleep better, in the pitch black, with 10 quilts, shorts, brushed teeth, glass of water, and on my side.

Focus on your routine. That helps the best. The drink a warm milk, take sleeping pills, whack yourself over the head effort are just quick fixes. Your sleep schedule just like everything else in your body has to be programmed
.

Answer 3

There are a few things that work for me:

Drink a glass of warm milk. I know it sounds kind of gross, but it really does make you sleepy. Something about the natural hormones in the milk. And it's comforting :)

Take a hot shower with some lavender soap or oil. The lavender will relax you and the temperature drop your body undergoes once you leave the warm shower is a natural signal for your brain that it's time for bed.

Make sure you are in a very dark, quiet and cool room. No distractions for you!

Finally, if you can't sleep get out of your bed! It sounds counterintuitive, but staying in bed when you aren't sleepy trains your brain to stay awake while in bed, making it more difficult in the future to get to sleep.

I hope this helps. Sweet dreams!

Answer 4

when i can't sleep (which happens several times a week) i watch tv. watching a show i like takes my mind off of things that are bothering me and calms me down. i fall asleep easily in front of the tv, and food network is my channel of choice.

Answer 5

Stay up till you can't stay awake anymore eventually you will fall asleep.

Answer 6

Eventually everyone does. What I do to my kids is let them sleep with classical music and the progress seems to be working. They go to sleep on time, get to school on time, and they are calm and never tired. Study shows that if you sleep with classical music on you are more likely to become calm, sleep faster, and become somewhat smarter. I don't know if it will effect you but just give it a try (it won't hurt you.)

Answer 7

There is no easy way to learn this, but it is reccomended in virtually every religion -- the 'silent' prayer; meditation : "It's NOT what you think", etc.. Stop thinking .... shut off the internal dialogue and let what comes from silence come to YOU. It is worth whatever effort you make, Because what comes is Always useful to YOU. It is good to be curious about what is in silence.

Answer 8

You can read a book. If you hate reading, then you can write about what your dream is, and all the beautiful things happen to you. Or you can turn off all the light, very quite, and think in mind "sleeping, sleeping, sleeping,....." It might help!

Answer 9

you fall asleep by knocking your self out lol

Answer 10

Maybe try looking this up on Yahoo answers before asking it?

This is the 600th repeat of this bloody question.