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

My insomnia has just gotten stupid. Stupider. Normally, I can fall asleep by 4 or 5, but the last couples nights, 6 or 7 rolls around, and I'm still not sleep.

I've resorted to red wine, wheat bread, and playing reggae softly. I feel like a sh*t though for drugging myself to accomplish basic functions. So this is what chronic depression is like, eh? Don't sleep, don't make eye contact, and slowly lose weight. I'm used to the free-fall sort of depression that almost kills you until enough time, babysitting, and drugs sets you right again.

Oh, I do go on. *quaffs wine* I love the word quaff. So rp.

Nyssa, are you managing to get much exercise. I know it can be difficult if you can't easily get time alone, but it can make a huge difference to sleepability.

Hi potholer

Problem is, I have to force myself out of the house just to run errands that need doing. I dont know why..I hate being in this house, but it's so so hard to get me out of my bedroom. I have moments of high energy..wierdly high..but it burns out relly quickly. I should just force myself to be more productive with the moving stuff. Sorting stuff requires moving boxes, running up and down stairs, etc.

Ooo..red wine kicking in.

*sigh* Oh, don't i just KNOW this bloody syndrome, all too well!

I too use the "solution"; knowing full well it isn't a solution, but hell, nothing else works!!!

In my case, getting more exercise isn't an option, unless someone out there would like to provide me with a nice new pair of functioning legs!

Nyssa, hope it gets better soon. Once you move, it will almost certainly improve, moving in is usually much more positive than moving out..;& pretty exhausting too, especially for you with the kids!

Terri*off to get a refill*

When I start having trouble sleeping I try two things:

1) Walking up the stairs at the office - on a normal day I go up and down the five flights twice - sometimes it's three times. Some days I have meetings in another wing, up 6 flights. This normally helps to knock me out.

2) Stay up bloody late, until I'm dropping off in front of the tv. After a few nights that kicks my sleep back into cycle.

Failing both of those, it's an enormous orgasm before sleep. Never fails.

Hmm..out of those, I think I'd have to try option 1. I really couldn't stay up much later than I already am (though I suppose I could just stay up until bedtime the next day), and my orgasms (well, the self-inflicted ones, anyway) just aren't that exhausting. Sometimes, like last night, they just wake me up further.

Staying up til bedtime the next day is actually the best idea. If you didn't have little ones to look after I'd suggest it as a plan to be phased in over the course of a week or two. Go to bed at 6am on the first day and sleep for a long time, 8am on the next, 10am the next and so on, until you reach "Go" again.

This is because our bodies aren't actually adapted for a 24 hour day, but for one slightly longer. So by sleeping we reset them back to zero. Using the method above, when you get to a bed time you like you can probably stick to it. Its method recommended by sleep clinics for small babies who don't sleep at night but it works just as well for insomniac adults.

However, it's probably not worth doing if you are going to be shifting time zones soon.

Oh, Nyss, I am sorry to hear you are having such a problem! I hope someone here has a workable suggestion, all I can offer is sympathy, I am told hot milk works... but the idea makes me blench so I have never tried it. A bit of advice I've heard is *don't* lie awake in bed, but get up and read - not really feasible if you have children to look after...

I just wish I had my own place. I'm staying with my parents until I move, so I can't really go banging about the house like I normally would. Oh well. At least I know it's just a matter or time until a solution forces itself on me, namely, that the kids and James have to get up early for school and work, so Mommy/Wifey won't have much choice.

Well, you could use the opportunity to reset your circadian to BST...

Insomnia. I've beaten it in the past by reading Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'. It may be a classic, but there's something about the rhythm of Gibbon's prose that does me in after a chapter or so.

(Of course, the edition I have is quite heavy, so maybe it's just that it knocks me out when I drop it after a chapter or so.)

Ivan.

Try melatonin if it's available where you are. I know it is found here in Canada with great difficulty and sold in the US all over the place (including airports). It comes in animal or vegetable source forms and it's the best thing I've ever found for insomnia or jet lag. It's what your body produces from the pineal gland naturally before sleep and it makes me drowsy every time. One note, though. I've found that you should take it 12 hours before you want to wake up, even though it doesn't usually *kick in* until 3 or 4 hours later. Alcohol makes it not work, as well.

Take care.

Zoomer

Thanks. I tried melatonin once and it was a frigtening experience. I had wierd night terrors.

Can you believe it? The night before last I stayed up, thinking that having no sleep would make it easy to fall asleep at a good time. Well, lasr night 5 am rolls around, and I had to resort to again to conk out

You're going to have trouble sleeping at such a stressful time I should think wine n such can work for a night or two..but after that
it can just make it work. Ask the for something to give you just one decent night..n then you should be able to get out of the vicious circle a bit

Hmm. It seems we have more in common than I first thought. Except that I don't drink .
What are you doing during the day, Nyss? The only thing which can get me to sleep at night is if I've been active during the day.
I'm sure that Njan would also have helped drain your energy fairly well while he was there, and suddenly your body will have more energy than it's used to, so of course you're having trouble sleeping!

But as for the chronic depression, just distract yourself. That's the only thing that works for me too.
Oh, and try to remember to keep eating a decent amount of good food, even though you can't taste it.
Or at least... I find I can't taste anything when I'm suffering worse depression than usual. I assume it's the same for everyone?

I understand that depression is often simply a result of not sleeping properly. If you can avoid worrying about it and concentrate on whatever it takes to get good sleep patterns, it may well reduce or even disappear without any explicit effort.

Nyss, I failed to mention that I had nightmares with melatonin until my herbologist (?) recomended time-release. Works fine for me now without the terrors (probably due to the lower dose). I also have to recomend the vegetable source which seems to have a better effect for me as well.

Ah..thanks