Fellow insomniacs?

Heyo, just kinda venting/rambling because where I'm at it's very early in the morning and I just woke up after 3 hours of sleep somehow feeling well-rested and cannot fall back asleep. I have a history of sleep problems, dating back to childhood but especially moreso in adult life upon getting a mental illness. Usually, I take prescription medication to help me fall and stay asleep + melatonin and other supplements but as evident by this post it does not always work. I think tonight's big issue is that I'm expecting an exciting package later today and the excitement from getting it kept me awake.

How do you function on little amounts of sleep (when it comes to get to that)? Do you struggle with sleep issues whatsoever? 

Nothing I can do more today than soldier through and face some sleep deprivation, but it is what it is. I've bore witness to worse. Stay healthy everyone. :)

My brain just doesn't work proper, i can't find solutions for stuff in work i normally just do on the fly.

It also needs some days until i recover.

2 hours ago, bioshockfan90 said:

Heyo, just kinda venting/rambling because where I'm at it's very early in the morning and I just woke up after 3 hours of sleep somehow feeling well-rested and cannot fall back asleep. I have a history of sleep problems, dating back to childhood but especially moreso in adult life upon getting a mental illness. Usually, I take prescription medication to help me fall and stay asleep + melatonin and other supplements but as evident by this post it does not always work. I think tonight's big issue is that I'm expecting an exciting package later today and the excitement from getting it kept me awake.

 

How do you function on little amounts of sleep (when it comes to get to that)? Do you struggle with sleep issues whatsoever? 

 

Nothing I can do more today than soldier through and face some sleep deprivation, but it is what it is. I've bore witness to worse. Stay healthy everyone. :)

Eyup. Amen brother. Just woke up after 5 hours of sleep exactly when you did. Probably something supernatural but that's just my psychotic family history and early marijuana usage talking.

16 minutes ago, act said:

Eyup. Amen brother. Just woke up after 5 hours of sleep exactly when you did. Probably something supernatural but that's just my psychotic family history and early marijuana usage talking.

Hey, I'm on the 5 hour boat now! Managed to somehow force myself back asleep.

re:pot usage - same boat as you, plus the psychotic family history. Got unlucky enough with my DNA to where if I try the stuff nowadays, my brain goes haywire. Ironically enough, the package I was excited for is some CBD gummies, but that's not psychoactive and I actually enjoy that as I do not get a 'high', just moreso a calming buzz.

Typically, theres a small window where your body can sleep as it should. The key is to recognize this and just go sleep. If you miss this window, your body will refuse to sleep at all other times and will go go go until it crashes. You dont need the full 8 hours, but you do need a workable schedule.

All professional insomniacs are secret morning people.

If I ever do get a bad night where I can't sleep (usually in summer :s) I just goof about on my PC until the sun rises then just watch TV all day. Weirdly works most of the time. :l

A normal "day" for me is anywhere from 24-60 hours these days. I can't remember the last time I was awake for less than a whole day.

I work with anywhere from 7 something to as little as 4 hours of sleep on average. 8 hour sleep is a myth AFAIC. I'll occasionally "lose" 2-3 hours of sleep, so say I should've gotten supposedly 8 or 7 and end up with 6 or 5, all due to sleep getting interrupted at some point and having trouble falling back in. Idk what I'd do without coffee tbh.

Jesus fuck, Mushy.

I had a rough period with anxiety and poor health a couple years back, and that fed into pretty chronic insomnia. Cutting out distractions/screen time, and settling into a routine with relaxing music/audiobooks at bedtime helped keep me from completely losing my mind. I didn't have to balance it with any chemical dependencies or prescriptions, so in hindsight it was pretty vanilla, but it made such a huge difference for me that I do want to pass it on to anyone struggling with something similar.

My sleep patterns have always been totally chaotic. Fortunately my schedule is also completely flexible, so it isn't really a problem for the most part. If I get just a few hours' sleep and feel OK, I don't give it any more thought. I just get on with what I want to do, and then when I feel tired I sleep or nap again for however long I need to.

If I try (or need) to force myself to sleep to a regular schedule, then I know it's just not going to work. I'll just lie awake for ages. Those times when I have to adhere to some sort of schedule, I try to plan ahead a bit, but it often doesn't work. Fortunately I know I can manage with very little sleep, and can go many hours without (there was a time when I would sleep every two nights). I never feel in danger of falling asleep at the wheel when driving long distances, though always try to plan journeys in a way that retains many options in terms of timing, route, breaks, etc. (preferring night and empty roads, especially ones where I know where the rest areas are).

If I had a regular job with fixed hours, I would certainly struggle, especially as my default is to be more or less nocturnal. As it is, I find my lack of any rigid body clock a useful thing, rather than a problem.

I feel bad for anyone who can't/don't get enough sleep. While I seem to be in basic good health, the tinnitus does keep me awake a lot. So does being "elderly". I'm not on any meds, don't do drugs or drink or smoke. Except the occasional cold capsule. The only thing the really is irritating is when I get woke up. It happens a lot around this apt building. Best help for me is my white noise machine. I wish all of you good luck, and hopeflly more sleep.

I forgot what a good night of sleep felt like after having kids, working a night shift and moving countries. But hey, I'm still functioning so there's that at least!

Edit:

I find that using an eye mask and ear plugs helps a huuuuuuge amount for me, personally

Wow, didn't expect this would generate so much discussion! Good to know I'm not the only one.

Getting some caffeine ready as we speak. I don't do coffee or tea out of preference, but I do like the Mio branded caffeine infused water flavor drops. 

@Widow Yes, white noise! I have a fan running most nights, except in the winter.

@Daytime Waitress unfortunately, some of us have conditions that lead to insomnia more than the problem itself (in my case, schizophrenia) that make sleep deprivation a hell of a lot worse for, say, me - than the average person. In my case, my auditory hallucinations flare up and I tend to get super paranoid.

@TheMagicMushroomMan Sorry to hear that bud. Life's a bitch and then you get high etc etc... at least we have a roof over our heads and food to eat.

5 hours ago, bioshockfan90 said:

Hey, I'm on the 5 hour boat now! Managed to somehow force myself back asleep.

 

re:pot usage - same boat as you, plus the psychotic family history. Got unlucky enough with my DNA to where if I try the stuff nowadays, my brain goes haywire. Ironically enough, the package I was excited for is some CBD gummies, but that's not psychoactive and I actually enjoy that as I do not get a 'high', just moreso a calming buzz.

Yeah. I'm a dumbass so I'm basically Syd Baretting my brain constantly doing the stuff - that, and other substances. This sounds really hauty - because it is - but I'd argue that equally for my insanity and mental breakdowns that I will confess a few people in this community alone have witnessed, I'm also a pretty... "spiritually advanced" person I'd say.

5 hours ago, Dreamskull said:

All professional insomniacs are secret morning people.

Can attest. When I am in a working schedule, I'm happy and my favourite time of day is the morning when I'm just waking up. Even when I'm doing 7-3 construction shifts that have me waking up before the sun rises.

I have experienced (thankfully) relatively short bursts of insomnia - all in the last 10 years, and always as a result of either trauma, or finally being out of said trauma, weirdly enough. Grateful that I have never had really long term (more than a few months,) insomnia.

Really wish everyone here rest, and peace. I know something of the anguish and grief that insomnia adds to an often already pretty shitty situation. Wish you all every blessing.

I don't know if I've ever experienced insomnia, but I have had an odd history with sleep. I've touched upon this before in a similar thread, but I sometimes experience odd, auditory hallucinations -- hearing bizarre sounds and even voices -- and find myself climbing out of bed, tearing my room apart as if I were looking for something before I'd snap out of it; clueless and wondering why I'm out of bed, and then climb back in. One time, I randomly woke up in a panic and flung myself out of bed as if I was trying to avoid an explosion. Luckily, I didn't hurt myself too badly, aside from a grazed knee thanks to my rug. Fortunately, these experiences have been far too infrequent to consider them a real cause for concern and I've just laughed them off. I used to have a terrible habit of drinking coffee at night sometimes, so I quit doing that -- for the most part, anyways -- to see if that was a contributing factor at all. One would think I'd be onto something there, but no, I've experience them regardless of any caffeine in my system.

Another funny phenomenon I've noticed is that when I know I HAVE to get up especially early, that's when my brain decides to race a mile a minute and not shut up, leaving me staring at the ceiling and occasionally glancing over at my alarm clock where hours will pass by in mere bloody seconds! My father experiences the same issue, so it ain't some kind of weird sleep-wizard at work doing this shit, it's just fucking genetics!

Recently, I tried a new experiment where I ditched my alarm clock. Despite being self-employed and doing all my work in the afternoon/early evening, I'd still been habitually using one up until this point. I don't know about the rest of you, but after so many years, I'd grown fed up with being startled awake each morning. I did a little research and found a fair few studies that suggest using an alarm clock is rather bad for your health, considering how rapidly it spikes up your blood pressure in a mere instance. Considering the fucking thing has routinely scared me into life each morning for the past 20 years, I figured it certainly hadn't been doing me any favours. I decided I was in the perfect position to try this experiment by eschewing the alarm clock and relying on my circadian rhythm instead. So, since February of this year, I've been waking up when my body decides it's ready. It didn't take long for my body-clock to naturally adapt and give me a "routine" of sorts. The results have been awesome. Firstly, I go to bed usually anywhere between 11:30pm and 1:00am, sometimes reading a book for an hour, and then wake up anywhere from 8:30am to 10:30am. If I've woken up any earlier than 8:00am, I just roll over and nod off again for a while. But the best part? I haven't woken up tired once since I got rid of the alarm clock. Not once! I had finally gotten to experience what it's like to be "well-rested" for the first time in my life, and now get to enjoy that feeling every single morning. I'll never be a "morning person", not really, but no longer waking up with that prickly feeling you get in your eyeballs all the time has been magical.

I know I'm in a somewhat privileged position that allows me to do this, but if you're indeed fortunate enough to be in a similar position, I highly recommend getting rid of your alarm clocks. Speaking of which, I'm late for bed having spent the time typing this up, so goodnight DW!

I've struggled with sleep since I was a kid, but made big improvements over the past few years. Things that have helped:

-no caffeine.
-no alcohol.
-intense exercise 5 days a week.
-good diet.
-consistent bedtime.
-dedicated decompression time before going to bed.

Oh, and earplugs!

26 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

I don't know about the rest of you, but after so many years, I'd grown fed up with being startled awake each morning. I did a little research and found a fair few studies that suggest using an alarm clock is rather bad for your health, considering how rapidly it spikes up your blood pressure in a mere instance. Considering the fucking thing has routinely scared me into life each morning for the past 20 years, I figured it certainly hadn't been doing me any favours.

I'll chirp in and say that you can get some great phone apps that can be helpful for those that can't ditch the alarm clock. I used to use one on my android phone called "Gentle Alarm" and it was great. It's an alarm that starts off inaudible and gets progressively louder in tiny increments over the course of 20 minutes or so.

I wouldn't call it insomnia, but I am a genuine night owl and have a disposition to staying up all night. Idk why but I just find that being my most productive time. I can no longer handle that lifestyle with two young kids, so I try my best to have consistent bed time and try to limit screentime in bed. Reading before bed is my best bet to put myself to sleep. 

Getting old is rough. 

I typically sleep a little shy of 7 hours a night---roughly 6 1/2 or so. I for sure wouldn't call myself an insomniac, but today for some reason I woke up after less than 5 hours and simply couldn't fall back asleep. When that happens, my general thinking is there's no point in waiting around, so I might as well use the extra awake time and start by working out as I usually do on weekdays.

For me, the problem is less about the alarm clock itself, and more what the alarm clock is returning me to.