Insomnia

[kenmbz]

I fall asleep easily while reading, but wake up multiple times and it takes me a looong time to go to sleep.
3-4am seems to be a pretty standard time for me to wake up no matter what time I go to sleep.
It's rare that I am sleeping when the alarm clock goes off.
I don't drink any coffee past 12 and does not seem to matter if I have a glass of wine or a drink with dinner.
Tried eating earlier etc. no change.

Not sure what to do, sometimes get leg pains, which does not help.

 

[5030]

Our pup tends to wake me up when he gets on the bed and 'makes room for himself' which is usually part of my pillow. Good cuddler and don't fart either.

 

[MossRoad]

About 8 years ago I got put on a night shift of 7pm to 3am. I'd get home at 3:20 and be in bed by 3:30. For some reason, I was almost always able to squeeze my eyes shut and tell myself to go to sleep. POOF! I was out until about 10:00am. That job ended 3 years later, and I've probably only had a couple dozen long night's sleep in the past 4.5 years. My wife is nice enough to let me sleep in on weekends if I'm out, but most times I'm up before 6:30am clock or no clock.

 

[5030]

One form of irritation for me is my renter next door. He has a Dodge diesel pickup with a straight pipe on it and when he comes by out front on the road, it wakes me up. Sounds like a big vacuum cleaner. I've nicknamed him 'Hoover'. I even call him that when I talk to him. I don't usually sleep that late as a rule but if I do, he always wakes me up.

 

[MossRoad]

We have two cats. The little guy will come to bed with me if it's after 1:00am and sleep all night. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he'll hop off the bed in front of me, walk me to the bathroom, then go have a snack from their food bowl down the hall. When I come out, he follows me back to bed and curls up by my chest. Sleeps all night.

The other cat, however, is nuts. She'll come on the bed and make little mrrp noises in your face for no apparent reason and walk all over us. If you try to pet her, she slinks away. You roll over and she's back in your ear. I'll throw a pillow at her and she'll leave for 2 minutes, then back again. Only way she'll leave is if a car goes by on the road and she sees the headlights. Then she runs to the living room and chases the reflections on the wall. Did I say she's nuts?

 

[MossRoad]

Kinda funny what wakes people up.

We live near two rail lines and an airport, but it's someone playing soft music somewhere outside that will wake me up, not the trains or jets.

 

[tradosaurus]

After another sleepless night, I woke up to this thread. How appropriate.

My father has a notoriously difficult time sleeping at night, and I'm afraid I've inherited it. For me, I think it's correlated with stress. I have NO problem falling asleep at night (usually out in 5 minutes). The problem is I wake up at night after 2-4 hours of sleep, and then have slept enough that I'm somewhat rested/awake and then it takes me 2-3 hours to fall back asleep. Usually the problem is I can't turn my brain off. I get thinking about things I need to do for work, etc. and it snowballs from there.

Counterintuitive to some of the other suggestions, I find watching a show actually help, as it distracts my mind enough to where my body starts to relax and I can get back to sleep.

Regardless the reason, it's no fun. I know that about once every 2-3 months, I'll get a solid 8 hours of sleep without waking up once at night. It's absolutely amazing how much better I feel after those nights of sleep.

 

[Oaktree]

Does anyone wake from sleep in the very early morning darkness to a profound quite?

Laying perfectly still, the only sound, almost inaudible, is your own breath?

Not in the summer. There's a flock of crows around here that start squawking loudly at first hint of light.

Could it be that I'm not the only person who can't stand the stuff?

Don't drink a lot of soda anymore, but Mt. Dew (and Moxie, which these days is unobtainium) are about it. Mostly water or tea.

 

[pmsmechanic]

The best thing I did for getting a good night's sleep was to install a cheep digital clock high up on the wall in the bedroom. If I wake up and think it's time to get up I can lift my head and see what time it is....... 1:30!! It's way to early to get up. Just think sleepy thoughts and go back to sleep. Works awesome for me.

 

[Cougsfan]

We have two cats. The little guy will come to bed with me if it's after 1:00am and sleep all night. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he'll hop off the bed in front of me, walk me to the bathroom, then go have a snack from their food bowl down the hall. When I come out, he follows me back to bed and curls up by my chest. Sleeps all night.

The other cat, however, is nuts. She'll come on the bed and make little mrrp noises in your face for no apparent reason and walk all over us. If you try to pet her, she slinks away. You roll over and she's back in your ear. I'll throw a pillow at her and she'll leave for 2 minutes, then back again. Only way she'll leave is if a car goes by on the road and she sees the headlights. Then she runs to the living room and chases the reflections on the wall. Did I say she's nuts?

Cats are indeed the weirdest animals. They do have different individual personalities, but do have one thing in common: their minds work in a totally different way than that of humans.

 

[Diggin It]

It's 3:45 am here. About the only thing I'm gonna hear - the trains way off to the West. Otherwise - dead silence.

Oos-ville in the news. Grocery store shooter out of Richland arrested on I-90 between Spokane and Sprague.

 

[Cougsfan]

Oosik didn't need to worry. The gunman couldn't have ever found his house, even by accident.

 

[MossRoad]

Cats are indeed the weirdest animals. They do have different individual personalities, but do have one thing in common: their minds work in a totally different way than that of humans.

You ever wake up for an unknown reason, look around, and the cat is sitting there looking at you?

You can be darn well sure that cat did something to you while you were sleeping, you just can't prove it.

 

[MossRoad]

Wake up to this...



Or this!



The 2nd one gives me insomnia.

 

[dodge man]

A little off topic but sort of related. Anybody who has read the Jack Reacher books knows that Reacher always knew what time it was. I used to be that way at night. I’d wake up and know what time it was, not to the nearest minute but close. Since I retired I’ve lost that ability.

 

[riptides]

A little off topic but sort of related. Anybody who has read the Jack Reacher books knows that Reacher always knew what time it was. I used to be that way at night. I’d wake up and know what time it was, not to the nearest minute but close. Since I retired I’ve lost that ability.

I think some people have the gift of time.

I can keep pretty close track of it, no matter where I am.

As far as sleep, never been able to get a few hours uninterrupted. And no matter the time, 3AM is the wake up. I think it is something in my DNA. Or a serious chemicals imbalance that science should be interested in.

And I don't use cats. LOL

 

[Cougsfan]

Way back when I was young, I had a friend taught me the use of what he called self hypnosis to go to sleep. First you would make sure you were comfortable. Then you would clear your mind of everything, This was the hardest thing to do. It takes practice. One technique that worked for me was to think of your mind as the sky and thoughts as clouds. As soon as a cloud, or thought, would appear, and then a little imaginary man, or the wind , or could even be a tractor , would push it away to make the sky clear again.

When the sky stayed clear, you tell each part of your body to go to sleep. You could also tell yourself what time you wanted to wake up. Then you would drift off to sleep and wake up at that precise time.

It took some practice but it was simply amazing how well it worked. I still do the making the clouds go away part sometimes, but the others are not needed anymore. Actually with retrospect, the realization that you can control what your mind chooses to think about was the most important aspect of this technique. It can be used elsewhere at any time. It is amazing how many people don't realize that choice is available. I sometimes suspect of what causes that ability to manage your thoughts is what some people call your spirit. It could be one of the things that differentiates us from an animal.

 

[oosik]

Cougsfan - even if the fellow found my driveway - the Honda he was driving would have never made it in to the house. Man -'O - Man. This is the year of MUD. I'll have plenty to do with the rear blade and LPGS when things dry out.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Way back when I was young, I had a friend taught me the use of what he called self hypnosis to go to sleep. First you would make sure you were comfortable. Then you would clear your mind of everything, This was the hardest thing to do. It takes practice. One technique that worked for me was to think of your mind as the sky and thoughts as clouds. As soon as a cloud, or thought, would appear, and then a little imaginary man, or the wind , or could even be a tractor , would push it away to make the sky clear again.

When the sky stayed clear, you tell each part of your body to go to sleep. You could also tell yourself what time you wanted to wake up. Then you would drift off to sleep and wake up at that precise time.

It took some practice but it was simply amazing how well it worked. I still do the making the clouds go away part sometimes, but the others are not needed anymore. Actually with retrospect, the realization that you can control what your mind chooses to think about was the most important aspect of this technique. It can be used elsewhere at any time. It is amazing how many people don't realize that choice is available. I sometimes suspect of what causes that ability to manage your thoughts is what some people call your spirit. It could be one of the things that differentiates us from an animal.

Control techniques, the good kind. I had problems with sleep for years until I was taught the same thing. After I choose what to think about and focus my mind on, I have had a lot less problems with not being able to get a good nights sleep.
I think half of it is believing that the technique works. And I will continue to believe that as it works for me.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, unfortunately, I have a radio in my head for a screensaver. If my brain goes idle, I almost immediately hear a song playing. It can be anything from the Rolling Stones to ABBA (blech!). No rhyme or reason as to what my brain picks, it's like a jukebox on shuffle play. And it's never the entire song, it's only one verse or refrain. Over and over. If I stop the song, I hear the tinnitus.

So, my choices for the evening are:
Think thoughts.
Successfully stop the thoughts, then....
Listen to the Bee Gees Stayin' Alive Stayin' Alive
AH AH AH AH Stayin' Alive....
Successfully stop the songs and.....
Listen to the ring if tinnitus.



It's a living hell.