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...
So I jinxed myself or something because I was sleeping for a week or so and was doing so well that my goal was to actually get me sleeping and waking up earlier. For around 6 days I was sleeping from around 2 A.M till about 10 P.M. On the 7th day I kind of broke my schedule and when to bed around 3:30 A.M. cause my family had a party. The next day I woke up about noon.
That day I was mostly on the computer or eating all day but then I eventually went to do some sprinting and agility exercises about 8 P.M ( I went this late cause I have to do these outside and it's SO hot and I also don't want to get sunburned). So then I get back from working out around 10, I stretched for about 30 mins, ate, and relaxed a little bit by reading and attempt to go to bed around 1 A.M. Honestly I felt dead tired and felt 100% ready to go to sleep but it took a while to fall asleep and my whole nights sleep was extremely shallow. I woke up a couple times throughout the night and my sleep was never deep(I don't even know how to explain the feeling but I definitely wasn't getting delta or REM sleep). When I got up around 9 or 9:30, I certainly wasn't happy about the poor nights sleep but I managed to function okay once a friend of mine came to visit.
We played some basketball from about Noon untill 1:30 and then we left and he left at 2. I think I just ate and kind of messed around untill 5 P.M. or so and then I attempted to take a 1 hour nap because I felt really tired. It was a crappy hour of sleep as the night before and dogs were barking which kept me 100% awake for a lot of it. I wasn't refreshed much if any, but I ate something, waited 2 hour and did those same sprint/agility drills again at 8. Pretty much the same scenerio as the night before: I get home at 10, stretch, and eat. By then it's 11 P.M. and then I take a hot bath for an hour. From 11 P.M. till 1 P.M. I read and attempt to go to sleep and long story short, it was even WORSE than the night before.
Shallow sleep and took even longer to sleep. I was awake even longer, woke up even more often and even got up at 4 A.M. and ate quite a bit. So it's 5 A.M, and my usual favorite time to sleep so I probably slept good till slightly after 9 A.M. right? WRONG! Slept just as bad, if not worse.
When I woke up today I was in a very bad mental state of mind. I felt so depressed and angry at the same time. I haven't slept this bad or felt this bad since a year or 2 when I first say my doctor about insomnia and he recommended reading the book No More Sleepless Nights and gave me an anxiety perscription pill(no longer on it). It was only 2 days but I feel god awful and it's not like I was sleeping great before.
A while ago there was a period of time where I was sleeping EXCELLENT for a solid month or 2 months. Then I had a bad night but didn't feel to bad. There's a HUGE difference between the way someone sleeping well feels on the day they wake up after a poor nights sleep. If you're sleeping mediocre at best and then have a HORRIBLE night then you don't "barely feel different" as most put it. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with myself if this continues. Unlike when I usually can't sleep, my mind wasn't even racing either night...I just lye awake in bed and eventually got the shallowest of shallow sleep.
Although I don't think these warrant pretty much no good sleep whatsoever either night, here are the only possibilities/explanations I could come up with.
1. Going off my habit that 1 party night(not sure why I didn't eventually fall asleep deeply though)
2. Exercising fairly close to bed (these were the first 2 nights doing those drills)
3. Being Tense(didn't feel tense when I went to bed but I woke up a few times with a tense neck/ back...Might just have been caused from not being able sleep)
4. Reading in bed. I've heard you aren't supposed to do anything but sex and sleep in your bed. I've always been able to get away with reading in the bed but maybe it's not working now.
5. Not enough sun exposure. It's hot and icky like mentioned before, so I have avoided the sun and virtually the only sun exposure I get is walking from the parking lot of places to my truck.
6. Being on the computer in bed (this only applies for last night)
7. Not enough sex? Lol pretty embarrassing to talk about on here but I've heard sex helps sleep and I'm single and only 19 so the only version of that comes from myself....Would doing this more help me sleep?
Sorry for the rant and longest post ever guys but I'm seriously not doing well at all and its only been 2 days! Let me know your thoughts/opinions or suggestions.
That day I was mostly on the computer or eating all day but then I eventually went to do some sprinting and agility exercises about 8 P.M ( I went this late cause I have to do these outside and it's SO hot and I also don't want to get sunburned). So then I get back from working out around 10, I stretched for about 30 mins, ate, and relaxed a little bit by reading and attempt to go to bed around 1 A.M. Honestly I felt dead tired and felt 100% ready to go to sleep but it took a while to fall asleep and my whole nights sleep was extremely shallow. I woke up a couple times throughout the night and my sleep was never deep(I don't even know how to explain the feeling but I definitely wasn't getting delta or REM sleep). When I got up around 9 or 9:30, I certainly wasn't happy about the poor nights sleep but I managed to function okay once a friend of mine came to visit.
We played some basketball from about Noon untill 1:30 and then we left and he left at 2. I think I just ate and kind of messed around untill 5 P.M. or so and then I attempted to take a 1 hour nap because I felt really tired. It was a crappy hour of sleep as the night before and dogs were barking which kept me 100% awake for a lot of it. I wasn't refreshed much if any, but I ate something, waited 2 hour and did those same sprint/agility drills again at 8. Pretty much the same scenerio as the night before: I get home at 10, stretch, and eat. By then it's 11 P.M. and then I take a hot bath for an hour. From 11 P.M. till 1 P.M. I read and attempt to go to sleep and long story short, it was even WORSE than the night before.
Shallow sleep and took even longer to sleep. I was awake even longer, woke up even more often and even got up at 4 A.M. and ate quite a bit. So it's 5 A.M, and my usual favorite time to sleep so I probably slept good till slightly after 9 A.M. right? WRONG! Slept just as bad, if not worse.
When I woke up today I was in a very bad mental state of mind. I felt so depressed and angry at the same time. I haven't slept this bad or felt this bad since a year or 2 when I first say my doctor about insomnia and he recommended reading the book No More Sleepless Nights and gave me an anxiety perscription pill(no longer on it). It was only 2 days but I feel god awful and it's not like I was sleeping great before.
A while ago there was a period of time where I was sleeping EXCELLENT for a solid month or 2 months. Then I had a bad night but didn't feel to bad. There's a HUGE difference between the way someone sleeping well feels on the day they wake up after a poor nights sleep. If you're sleeping mediocre at best and then have a HORRIBLE night then you don't "barely feel different" as most put it. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with myself if this continues. Unlike when I usually can't sleep, my mind wasn't even racing either night...I just lye awake in bed and eventually got the shallowest of shallow sleep.
Although I don't think these warrant pretty much no good sleep whatsoever either night, here are the only possibilities/explanations I could come up with.
1. Going off my habit that 1 party night(not sure why I didn't eventually fall asleep deeply though)
2. Exercising fairly close to bed (these were the first 2 nights doing those drills)
3. Being Tense(didn't feel tense when I went to bed but I woke up a few times with a tense neck/ back...Might just have been caused from not being able sleep)
4. Reading in bed. I've heard you aren't supposed to do anything but sex and sleep in your bed. I've always been able to get away with reading in the bed but maybe it's not working now.
5. Not enough sun exposure. It's hot and icky like mentioned before, so I have avoided the sun and virtually the only sun exposure I get is walking from the parking lot of places to my truck.
6. Being on the computer in bed (this only applies for last night)
7. Not enough sex? Lol pretty embarrassing to talk about on here but I've heard sex helps sleep and I'm single and only 19 so the only version of that comes from myself....Would doing this more help me sleep?
Sorry for the rant and longest post ever guys but I'm seriously not doing well at all and its only been 2 days! Let me know your thoughts/opinions or suggestions.
I don't believe most of the 7 reasons you list would explain your recent spell. You could try timing your exercise a little earlier outside (and get the benefit of sun exposure). Also....computer in bed would not be good (although I understand that happened only on one night).
You are exercising....so that is a major +. I haven't read any of your prior posts so I don't know your background. I would encourage you to continue your path looking into addressing/treating all possible conditions (e.g. depression). In my journey, I've come to recognize/admit that I have depression and that I likely have insulin resistance (high resting blood glucose). I have tried to hit my insomnia/lack of restful sleep from many different angles - started doing yoga about 2 months ago (do at least 5 days/week), started jogging about 30 mins/day, eat low-glycemic & organic & take many supplements (multi-vitamin, omega-3 fish oil, vitamin d3, biotin, super thysilin, cinnamon, etc). I've also cut alcohol out (wasn't a big drinker to begin with anyway). Things seem to be improving slowly over time.
Best wishes!
I kind of doubt that it's the exercising late. I used to jog from 8 to 9 in high school and had to go to bed at 10. Recently I have played basketball pick up games as late as 10 and even once up till midnight!
I did recently get fired from a job and that certainly increased my stress and I slept poorly those few nights but that was probably 2 weeks or slightly more and now I'm over it and like I said, I was sleeping okay for the week prior. The only thing I might be a little bit anxious about is trying to get rehired and waiting for the phone call for an interview. Other than that it's only little things like my sister smoking at our house that have irritated me.
Any suggestions on what to do if I can't sleep? Part of the frustration with insomnia isn't just how poor you feel but the mental frustration of not being able to fall asleep. I get so frustrated when I've been lying in bed and unable to sleep for several minutes. I feel like I'd rather be doing something and just not sleep that "fake sleeping" haha.
One thing that doesn't work is trying to force or will oneself to sleep. That usually takes us the other way and results in more of a state of worried wakefulness.
If/when that happens, then most experts suggest getting up and out of bed to break insomnia's hold. Do something relaxing in low light, and head back to bed when you feel drowsy.
Sleep is more of a letting go process. Sometimes it's OK to just accept rest for now and be confident you will naturally get the sleep you need.
On the food front, you may want to cut down on some of the dried fruits and add tree nuts/protein to the mix. If food is contributing to the problem, it does look like you are consuming mostly high-glycemic foods in the evening (at least in the one example you provided). Protein should be taken with a carb to help the body more slowly absorb/convert glucose (I think I'm writing this correctly but don't quote me on it). Take care.
When I couldn't sleep, I read my one book No More Sleepless Nights and came across the shallow sleep chapter. From what it sounds like, I may be sleeping normally getting REM and such sleep but my body is awake so I'm not getting the benefits of sleep. So I'm not sure if I have been sleeping normally but my body is awake inside like the book suggests, or if I'm to tense/whatever to actually get to a deeper sleep.
It's not my favorite Idea but I think I need to go to bed around 3 A.M. tonight and set my alarm clock for 11 A.m. I suspect my body has a slower clock system( To me 30 hours probably feels like 24) and then although it was only 1 night, I stayed up when it wanted, and not wanting to be tired I slept in a couple extra hours and now it wants to do that. I've always been absolutely dreadful at relaxing as well but I might work on some of those techniques.
If you guys don't know, I have a back so bad that I'm supposed to have surgery but for a variety of reasons, I'm not going to. I'm in pretty bad daily pain ( used to be horrible before I worked out so much) and now I have to get mad just to get over the pain. Once I put up with it for a while, I run on adrenaline and it usually goes away. Still, I've heard running on lots of adrenaline isn't good for sleep so I might just have to deal with it. I think this has made me really bad at relaxing as well which is what sleeps all about.
So we'll see how well I sleep going to bed later tonight. Today I'm tired but not nearly as bad as yesterday so I'll be fine.