h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No, not that all night cafe/bar in Glasgow! My current state of mind

Maybe it's all the sleeping I've been doing this week down to this bloody cold, but I've had enough of WoW for one day/night and cannot wind down to go to sleep. I migh just do my usual insomnia trick of staying away with gallons of coffee or hit my head really hard off the wall and knock myself out.

It's also funny how I seem to be at my most creative when I'm not able to sleep; does anyone else get like that?

yes

Yes, i get creative, with my mind running at a million miles per hour, during bouts of insomnia..

Trouble is, just like the ideas I have whilst , in the cold light of day, most of them seem unobtainable, and unfeasable to say the least

I just get annoyed that I've made the effort to go to bed when I'd much rather be doing something else (how things have changed ) and I'll still be tired in the morning.

I aiways come up with my best food ideas in the early hours or when drunk...hmm..Salted Doritos and chocolate fondue

EV likened me to Father Dougal, saying I wasn't even trying to get to sleep whilst saying I wasn't sleepy. But I knew it would be a waste of time to go to bed - and it was, because I didn't sleep at all

I've had insomnia for the past six weeks or so. It's resulted in a few odd ideas and very odd dreams when I have managed to get some sleep.

I've been trying different ways to get to sleep, but haven't had any good results. Sleeping tablets are rubbish, the ones I got smelt of cat treats and were as big as a shoe. Drinking results in trying to climb out of the window at 4am shouting "I belong with you!" to the moon. Playstation games make you stay up even longer, then wander off to the computer at dawn to log onto amazon and buy more games.

I haven't tried a mallet yet, as soon as I find someone willing to knock me out, I'll give it a go.

I have regular bouts of insomnia, have had for years. I recently got recommended Valerian drops (herbal thing), which certainly helps. Stinks of cheesey feet and tastes just as gross, but worth the pain for a decent nights sleep.

Years ago I took these herbal tablets but for the life of me cannot remember what they're called

You should try being a high profile Liberal Democrat over the last few days. not a cure for insomnai just a cause. I reckon I've had 7 hours sleep in total since Thursday night.

Cripes.

One of the guys at work is a member of the Labour Party. He'll be loving the fact Charles has resigned come Monday. Personally, I say good on him for being honest - a rarity in politics!

Hey I'm honest... Honestly..Would I lie to you?

Does a nice hot bath with some relaxing oils not help?
It takes me ages to go to sleep at the mo..and I babble nonsense going under

Speaking of Insomnia, I accidentally did an 'all-nighter' on 1st jan. I was up writing and forgot to go to sleep

Creativity and insomnia... yea, there's probably a link there.

I just had a short bout of insomnia but it was directly related to a short bout of depression. I saw it coming, been through it enough to know the signs. My seratonin level dropped through the floor and my critical mind went into overtime. The only difference this time was that it was focused on a couple of friends whom I had perceived to have shown me a great deal of (imagined) disrespect. Usually this critical mind of mine focuses on myself with regret and self loathing but this time I had external targets for my hyperactive negativity. I analysed everything they did, said and more importantly what they didn't do or say. Ah, it's ugly. But for three solid nights I don't think I got more than an hour of sleep. Constantly going over every aspect of a situation that wasn't nearly as serious and all encompassing as my mind had made it to be.

Luckily I was self aware enough to get out of it. At least I got out of focusing on others and got back on myself with some very valid things to regret and loath myself for this time.

I've dealt with these episodes most of my life and I still learn something new each time. Luckily they are less frequent and of shorter duration than normal as I get older.

Anyway, back to the point. Through many years this I've learned a few things about insomnia.

Most important is if you are not sleepy, do not go to bed and try to force yourself to sleep. You risk associating your bed with sleeplessness and that can be hard to stop.

If you have a regular daily routine (job, school) then you need to try to work with that. If you find that you are only getting X number of hours of sleep a night, then stay awake and busy until that many hours before you need to get up anyway. Keep that schedule for about 5 days. Don't change the schedule for the weekend. You should find yourself to be very exhausted. Then you start going to sleep one hour earlier for about 5 days. Just keep adding another hour of sleep as it gets easier until you get a schedule that works. This can be a tough method but in the long term it works well for chronic insomnia.

Personally I have a hard time not resetting my circadian rythm every weekend so for the early part of every week I wake up about as cheerful as a vampire with a paper route.

Valerian root, camomille teas and other herbal remedies can be helpful for many people. Relaxation and self hypnosis techniques also are very helpful.

I have recently seen adverts here in the states for a new prescription sleeping aid that specifically claims to treat insomnia by quieting your thoughts. That's not exactly how they word it but thats what they seem to be saying. I'm interested in any new sleep aids that don't just sedate you. I can't remember the name of it now though.

Anyway, I hope some of this can be helpful to you.

I was insomniac once... the food was nice but the locals were rather rude.

I'll get me coat.

Round about the time I was diagnosed with depression a few years back my sleeping pattern was all to pot then so I can certainly sympathise with a lot you said, CZ. I was at uni at the time and as the timetable was (predictably) all over the place I found it extremely hard to keep a good routine. My flatmate working the weirdest shift pattern ever didn't help either, bless her!

For as long as I can remember I have had trouble with sleeplessness. I think the problem is that I am just not a daytime person. You may well laugh (you naughty bunch!) but I once read an article that talked about two groups of people - larks and owls. The larks are the people who can get up at 5.30 every morning, be fresh as a daisy, put in a full day's work and go to bed at a reasonable hour. The owls (me) don't start to function properly until about 11.30 am, prefer to go to bed in the wee small hours and function just as well given the later start. I have to admit that when I worked backshift and finished at 11 pm, I didn't go to bed until sunrise sometimes - and I felt so much better for it...

Im a definate owl. Isn't there also a theory about which you are being related to the time of day (or night) you were born?

That's a point - I was born at night...

I'm sure I read it somewhere ages ago.. I was born about 7 pm and always seem to liven up a bit then.