Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
I honestly don't give a damn if there's a valid reason why I can't sleep. I've about lost it mentally with my shit sleep. I don't know whether I hate the physical symptoms of how you feel after a poor nights sleep or just being completely aware of things in bed knowing I'm not sleeping. I just get overwhelmingly frustrated mentally thinking I'm not sleeping when I could be doing something else! I don't know, maybe I'm just a weirdo thinking time spent in bed should be sleeping or doing you know what. I just don't understand how to be happy about anything with my inconstant sleep. Should I pretend I'm not tired, fighting to even make it through every day, and that I have no consistency what soever when it comes to sleep?
But wow I'm so mother fucking tired of this! Jeeze if lifting weights, 5 minutes of pretty hard running, flexibility stretching and walking a little over a mile close to bed(the walking was meant to relax/get my mind off of things), all of which took around 4-5 hours isn't enough to assist with sleep then I don't know what is, how about adding in a triathalon( rolling eyes)? So in summary my day yesterday was basically literally working out, eating/cooking, studying/doing homework for over 5 hours, and fake sleeping for over 5 hours. I just feel my untill my sleep stabilizes, I'm never going to get consistently better at anything.
So what could be the culprit 1-Electronics? I use them lots during the day for school and I am guilty of hopping on facebook and such before bed, and I always watch tv before bed. 2-Stress? Well I don't think its excessive and i've worked really hard so I don't think i'm overly stressed. I get more stressed during the morning after a poor nights than from actual school. 3-Loneliness? I guess I hardly ever do stuff with friends anymore cause my best ones are all gone and everyone else including myself is busy and schedules. It's not like I'm alone at my house but I guess I only really ever leave the house to be with others like once a week. I've also never really had problems doing this so I doubt its the problem but I guess its a possibility. 4-Being wired from all the time spent doing school work and using electronics for entertainment? Probably the most likely so far. 5- Being worried that I'm telling myself k you have to get up at 7 and workout? Sounds stupid but maybe its pressure.
What I'm going to do? Probably get new ear plugs, refill my prescription( don't see why I cant fall asleep naturally but if i have to use it to get through this, so bed it), Just giving it time, particularly the sleeping routine such as walking, bathing, reading, etc. Find something to do during the night for when I wake up.
As for now its 7 A.M and I'm about to go back to bed so I have the energy to face the challenges of today. 5 bucks says I fall asleep and that I just wasn't meant to go to bed early and get up early.
But wow I'm so mother fucking tired of this! Jeeze if lifting weights, 5 minutes of pretty hard running, flexibility stretching and walking a little over a mile close to bed(the walking was meant to relax/get my mind off of things), all of which took around 4-5 hours isn't enough to assist with sleep then I don't know what is, how about adding in a triathalon( rolling eyes)? So in summary my day yesterday was basically literally working out, eating/cooking, studying/doing homework for over 5 hours, and fake sleeping for over 5 hours. I just feel my untill my sleep stabilizes, I'm never going to get consistently better at anything.
So what could be the culprit 1-Electronics? I use them lots during the day for school and I am guilty of hopping on facebook and such before bed, and I always watch tv before bed. 2-Stress? Well I don't think its excessive and i've worked really hard so I don't think i'm overly stressed. I get more stressed during the morning after a poor nights than from actual school. 3-Loneliness? I guess I hardly ever do stuff with friends anymore cause my best ones are all gone and everyone else including myself is busy and schedules. It's not like I'm alone at my house but I guess I only really ever leave the house to be with others like once a week. I've also never really had problems doing this so I doubt its the problem but I guess its a possibility. 4-Being wired from all the time spent doing school work and using electronics for entertainment? Probably the most likely so far. 5- Being worried that I'm telling myself k you have to get up at 7 and workout? Sounds stupid but maybe its pressure.
What I'm going to do? Probably get new ear plugs, refill my prescription( don't see why I cant fall asleep naturally but if i have to use it to get through this, so bed it), Just giving it time, particularly the sleeping routine such as walking, bathing, reading, etc. Find something to do during the night for when I wake up.
As for now its 7 A.M and I'm about to go back to bed so I have the energy to face the challenges of today. 5 bucks says I fall asleep and that I just wasn't meant to go to bed early and get up early.
Trying to remember what you've previously posted about the status of your mental and physical health ... I'll assume you have no untreated physical or psychiatric problems underlying your insomnia. If you do have either of those, or you don't know if you do, then you need to address that first of course.
Sounds to me like you've nailed a lot of this with your reasoning. These sound especially relevant to me:
1. Stress. If nothing else, about sleep. You can deal with this by understanding and releasing the negative thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes you have and hold about the idea of sleep. Many of those beliefs you probably hold are likely inaccurate and distorted. CBT methods are especially helpful, especially cognitive restructuring.
2. Loneliness. I think you will greatly benefit by expanding your social life. Suggest you look for ways to cultivate a positive social support network. You can't sit at home and expect this to just happen. You've got to get out there and circulate. That can be with existing friends, religious groups, clubs with like-minded individuals (is there an insomnia support group at your school?), and I would especially suggest intermural sports, which are often more social and less about competition. In particular, intermural co-ed volleyball is a great way to not only get some exercise and meet new people, but meet athletic girls!
3. Cool-down routine. You might consider changing your pre-bed routine if what you're doing is not working. Whatever you do, let it be truly relaxing so you can let stress go a little and begin transitioning to sleep.
When the choice is insomnia controls you or you control insomnia, that's an easy choice to make. Be determined and stay with it. And remember if you ever feel overwhelmed, there's no shame in getting professional help. It's there, and either free or low cost if you want it.
Then summer happened and I was back at it. I slept so well for those 6 or 7 months previously where I actually didn't even feel much if any different when I woke up for a month or two, so I continued getting up early. By the Second or third month is when it started really effecting me. Thats when I went back to the doc and got it refilled and for a while my sleep schedule was from 12 to 9 although I'm sure as you remember, I would complain about getting woke up from everyone else quite often. So even though things weren't going the best it was at least predictable but then out of the blue I started not being able to sleep at all. I've been so busy I haven't picked up this prescription for the last week or two even though I was haven't some trouble with it starting out of the blue.
I don't think I so much stress about not sleeping as I do about the lack of predictability. I'm taking 5 classes and besides the actual class times I have around 40 hours of homework each week. Basically what this means is that I have to utilize my time. I can't be sleeping from 10 to 7 one day and then not fall asleep then next night because then the work takes even longer to get done or days like today I go back to bed and sleep for several hours. Basically I've lost several hours which I could be doing homework. I really need to quit going back to bed but it just it so hard for me, when I don't sleep my alarm goes off and I can't help but thinking well looks like we won't be working out today. I just don't feel up for things when I'm tired.
It just frustrates the heck out of me because I never had this problem until like 15 or 16. My immediate reaction/ thoughts are it has something to do with puberty but I just don't understand how I could be that chemically different or whatsoever. Moreover I need to figure out the solution.
I think think this is going to be a pain and I don't know if I so much have insomnia as a slow sleep clock. but I think I'm just going to have to go to bed extremely late and get up early for a week or two, then go to bed 15 or so minutes earlier each night for a week or so and hopefully eventually i'll reach an adequate ammount of sleep.
My only questions for you guys is what time should I wake up at? Everyone in the house is on a different schedule and I seem to be extremely prone to waking up to it. People wake up at 6 or 6:20 most days of the week BUT every two weeks on monday they wake up at 5 A.M. So when should I wake up? 7? 6? or 5? What would be the best for me in the end?
1-Bipolar disorder
2-Aspbergers
3-Anxiety
4-Social Phobia/Confidence Issues
5-Depression
6-Body Problems
I don't think any of them are severe but I think I do have them to a degree. I'll go into a little more in depth about each.
1-Bipolar Disorder: I definitely seem to have my highs and lows. Usually things are either really good or bad. I don't know if its related or not but I have always been really hard on myself. For example, my dad no longer likes to go golfing with me because my negativity apperently rubbed off on him. I would get so mad every time I hit a bad shot. Honestly I just really never did anything for fun, I want to be the best at everything and am really hard on myself when I make mistakes.
2-Aspbergers: I'm definetly not autistic but I do feel I'm at a little bit of a disadvantage mentally. I actually got tested for this and I did a series of bizarre tests such as having to put shapes into slots blind folded and apperently I failed but the physicologist who did the tests on me was actually fired and they recalled us telling us that the results were actually incorrect. So I don't know what to think about that. One other symptom I have which has led me to believe I may have mild aspbergers is I'm extremely monotone. I never really believed or cared about it until I heard myself talking on a camera/video. When I first heard me on camera, it actually kind of dawned on me that that I did have to take speech class in elementary school. Also, My grades are actually good. But I've definately noticed that it seems to take me a longer time to get done with the same thing as someone else. I think my good grades are a byproduct of my supreme work ethic and the time I put into things.
3. Anxiety: This like my sleeping troubles seem have happened right around puberty. Besides stress/anxiety created from work and school, I did and still do have really bad social anxiety. I used to have no problem speaking in front of crowds. Then that magic number 14 or 15 happened. I think me hearing how monotone and stuff I was killed a lot of self confidence I had. I previously signed up for debate class and that was probably the most horrible year of my life. Considering she was a psychology teacher, I probably should have talked to her when she privately told me she thought I was excessively nervous and asked if anything was wrong. I am now a lot better than I was that year but I still feel really nervous when I have to say anything in front of groups of people.
4. Social Phobia-Pretty much number 3.
5. Depression-It seems more like a byproduct of poor sleep and not to common when i'm sleeping good. Still, I did admitt I might have bipolar disorder so there are a few times i'm really down.
6. I have severe scoliosis but from what I understand, I have it really good as far as pain/etc comes. I know its not an issue regarding sleeping. But I don't know what this would even be caused from either, but I have a history of getting colds and illnesses more frequently and severely than most people. I don't know if somehow this is related to my sleep but maybe some hormone or something of mine is really screwed up even though things like my blood work, etc were normal.
So I guess I do have a rough life. I have a serious back problem which most people have to resort to getting surgery, possibly aspbergers and all of these billions of other sometimes things.