Thread: Am i starting to get insomniac?

Guys, this is really worrying me, i am in holidays and a few days ago, i took a day off LD to stay woke up
all the night. well i went to bed about 7am and slept until 17 PM, and all my problems started here.
now i can't even sleep at midnight, i may be tired but can't sleep i don't know why.
so i just turn on my pc and go to sleep around 4am, this is really annoying, i can't even
do my WBTB technique anymore if this continues. I never had problems sleeping before. I don't want to start taking pills and stuff
i read about it on the internet, people said drinking a warm
milk would help sleep, but i had no success
what do you guys recommend?

Maybe it was such an abrupt change in your sleeping schedule that caused it? But hey man I wouldnt worry about it anyway. Maybe the problem is you're thinking about not sleeping when you try to go to sleep and on top of that you dont think youll fall asleep and in turn this causes over thinking and that may be what is keeping you awake. Your overthinking about whether you'll fall asleep or not might be doing that in other words. Next time you go to sleep try and relax and not think about whether youll fall asleep or not. I hope I understood you right.

You aren't an insomniac unless this is recurrent problem. I have difficulty getting to sleep every night, if I'm not up for more than 18 to 24 hours I can't even think about falling asleep. By the way, I am not saying I am one. On the contrary, I am not an insomniac, so that might give you a better idea of how little sleep you get if you have insomnia.

Sleep patterns don't stabilize within such a short amount of time. Give it at least 2 weeks before assessing your troubles with sleep (this assuming you're following a strict sleeping schedule, or if you're at least adjusting gradually to wake up at your "normal" times).

Originally Posted by Iriba

Guys, this is really worrying me, i am in holidays and a few days ago, i took a day off LD to stay woke up
all the night. well i went to bed about 7am and slept until 17 PM, and all my problems started here.
now i can't even sleep at midnight, i may be tired but can't sleep i don't know why.
so i just turn on my pc and go to sleep around 4am, this is really annoying, i can't even
do my WBTB technique anymore if this continues. I never had problems sleeping before. I don't want to start taking pills and stuff
i read about it on the internet, people said drinking a warm
milk would help sleep, but i had no success
what do you guys recommend?

I think I waited two-three months before seeing my doctor. During that time I really only got about 3 nights of sleep. I would suggest giving it a few more days. My problem was stress, but I didn't realize it at the time. The doctor prescribed Trazadone to help me sleep when I told him how long I went without sleep. He diagnosed me with insomnia. I'm feeling better since I ended my worker's comp case which was creating my stress.

You probably don't have anything to worry about. Perhaps wait a little longer and see if it gets worse and then see your doctor.

When I use the term insomnia to describe what I had, I was up 24/7 reading and watching movies since my eyes wouldn't close after a few hours. Thankfully it's not as bad now.

Keep positive. Only see your doctor if you absolutely have to.

Well, now i can only sleep around 4am, i feel i am forcing myself when i try to sleep at midnight
guys, won't this get worse if i keep going to bed this late?
Will my sleep schedule ever be back?

Maybe, maybe not. Do you exercise at all? Do you have any kind of structure to your day (like a job, school, etc.)? Those things force me to be on somewhat of a schedule, but I still wind up being unable to sleep at times. Do you feel tired and like you need sleep all the time? In my case I can stay up over 24 to 36 hours without even feeling tired or like I've been up that long, then I get like 10 hours of sleep. This isn't a problem for me though, I just wind up being awake that long.

That's the problem
I'm a lazy guy who doesn't do anything to his life
and also i don't feel any tiredness when the night comes.

Guys i still have this problem
but i'm feeling a difference now.
This is, when i go to bed around 4-5am i just close my eyes
and don't think about anything, i know that my alarm clock will not
play, also my mind is very tired at that time.

around midnight whenever i try to WBTB, i know that my alarm clock
will play, and my mind keeps wandering around with stupid feelings
questions and worries...

In other words, i need to adapt 4-5am sleep to the midnight one sleep
because my sleep technique in 4-5am is different than midnight one.
i sleep so much easier and relaxed, while at midnight i can't stop move my body
if i feel a pinch or a itch

Anyone got ideas on how i can figure out this?

this is going on for 5 days, jesus christ...


I am thinking to make myself really tired like
sleeping at 4-5am at wake up like at 9am
so my mind will be so tired at midnight
but not sure if this will work

I do not generally have issues getting to sleep at bedtime, my issue is getting middle of the night insomnia during WBTB mostly. My sleep was "broken" a few times over the last year, especially when I started doing a lot of WILD attempts, and not being able to get back to sleep at the 5-6 hour waking especially after recalling and recording dreams.

The #1 lesson I've learned: do not *try* to sleep -- simply relax deeper and deeper and deeper and continually let go of mental and physical tension and nature will take over. Being able to let go of thoughts is key, and takes discipline. Meditation is practice for this and can help immensely. Counting breaths is great as well when you feel you need more structure to avoid the thoughts. Exercise and good nutrition also helps.

There are lots of great "how to sleep" resources on the internet, google will find them easily. One of the more helpful hints is keeping the bed for sleeping: if you're awake, alert, do not lie in bed tossing and turning: get up. This almost always makes me really tired within an hour or two in extreme cases and can usually then get back to sleep.

When all else fails or when I feel really mentally active and I *need* to get to sleep, I pop a few mg of melatonin and it's lights out within about 40 minutes, every time. Even 1mg is enough for drowsiness.

It's critical to learn to ignore distractions, and not to get upset by them: traffic noise, family members, etc., just acknowledge quietly the stimulus and let it go. This avoids a vicious cycle of anxiety and stimulation keeping you awake.

Stop drinking caffine, if you are. And also try watching, "Sleep Whisperers" on youtube. Its people who try to help you get to sleep by taking slowly. And try to slow your mind down, you can

If you never exercise, theen I suggest that you start doing it - something that you find fun enough to come back to (I highly recommend Laser Tag, that's fun as hell and motivates you to constantly be on the move - it might be).
Physical exercise is kind of like a cure-all, and has great positive effects on pretty much everything.

Also, it sounds like you have got used to going to bed very late, so it's totally normal if you have problems falling asleep several hours earlier.
One method you could try is to decide to get up at a certain reasonably early time every morning, no matter when you fall asleep.
This will of course make you feel very tired the first couple mornings, but that will also make it much easier for you to fall asleep the next night.
Sure, it sucks to feel very tired in the mornings, but personally I think it's much better to endure that feeling for a few days than to wake up way after noon.