How do you all get to sleep at night?

[Lesley_Roberta]

Recently I was in a severe bout of extreme nervous breakdown (well that is the only way I can think of to describe it).

I managed to finally break lose of the effect simply by chanting to myself in my head, "I can always go get some hot chocolate'.

Everyone has their drug I suppose. But I found focusing on something that is all pluses and no negatives was the only thing that worked.

I have a lot of trouble 'letting go' of the day. I carry around a lot of expectations of the day which are rarely achieved.

Often I try to imagine a blank sheet of paper and I just home in on the blankness.

I sure wish the mind had an off button.

[angiejuly]

I'm sorry, but you are not entirely right with this. My insomnia is caused because my brain is over active. It fires at a constant rate almost as high as that of someone having a seizure. That's why I have insomnia. It's not due to my mind, body and spirit being out of alignment. It's due to biological factors.

I always get a reaction when I take away someones ability to blame outside the self. When you decide it is you in your thoughts, you will have control of you, and be the very you , you want to be. If you believe your insomnia is out of control biologically the way this universe works will create this problem for you.  and 777 means the Angels Applaud you and is my birthday.

[Pica Pica]

I used to have awful time sleeping in my late teens and early twenties. I would often not sleep for a couple of nights and once couldn't sleep at all for four days - leaving me a dreadful, wretched zombie. Nowadays I sleep fine and usually fall asleep within ten minutes and don't wake up until I need to.

The main difference between then and now is that all the things I was worried about actually happened, leaving me free from having to worry about them. Nowadays I worry very little.

The other change was one in my reading habits, I discovered new authors that I find relaxes me when I am tense and also, if I read them before bed, give me something to think about rather than a free-form jelly of thought. The best of these authors are; Samuel Johnson, Michel de Montaigne and Robert Burton but Bacon, Shakespeare and Goldsmith also do quite well.

What these authors have in common is that they are wise, humane and thought provoking with challenging writing styles/ They often use obscure latinate language and long flowing senses. The act of concentrating on what they are writing focusses my mind and dampens down all that brain 'noise'. Then I fall asleep thinking about what they have said, and that gives my brain something to do as I drift quickly off to sleep.

[Pica Pica]

and 777 means the Angels Applaud you and is my birthday.

My Birthday is 7/7 also. One of those few dates Americans can't get backwards.

However I think your claim to 'take away someones ability to blame outside the self' with only a few words to be pretty presumptuous.

That said, I completely agree with you that people are too quick to attribute their problems to some biological cause that can only be controlled by medication and have even written a novel looking at exactly that idea. (In that novel there is a disease that makes people kill themselves, but the disease doesn't actually exist, it is merely the knowledge of the disease that allows people to kill themselves without any feelings of guilt or responsibility. It's a comedy.)

Still, although I agree with that point, I don't agree with almost any of the big long 'light', 'love' and heart post. My tradition is one where reason and rationality are the guides to the more fulfilled life, that they are the tools that allow a person to see beyond their own self whereas the emotions are almost entirely self-centred.

[Felix]

It's ten til 4am where I live and my neighbors are still screaming their fool heads off next door. Too much drugs and fighting and thumpy music and omg I hope they get evicted soon. Can't sleep at night if there's no peace.

[Padma]

I've only once got to sleep before 5am in the last fortnight - and then I only slept for an hour, and was then awake until 6 am. My body clock is firmly in EST instead of GMT, dammit. I'm lucky I have lots of online friends in the US, or I'd get bored out of my mind, lying awake in the dark (I an only do so much reading).

[Anna++]

Getting away from computers or anything with a backlit screen an hour or two before bed helps since the backlights affect melatonin production (here's a link to slashdot).

I like to read a few chapters from a book right before going to bed.  I also sometimes play around with self-hypnosis techniques to help myself relax once I'm in bed.

[Lesley_Roberta]

It's ten til 4am where I live and my neighbors are still screaming their fool heads off next door. Too much drugs and fighting and thumpy music and omg I hope they get evicted soon. Can't sleep at night if there's no peace.

Neighbours, doncha just love them

I have a couple next to me, they are either having obvious loud sex (the headboard and the moaning give it away) or the boyfriend is trying his best to achieve a world record in overt belligerent yelling. When mentioning it to the landlord my question of course was, how is it even possible for the former to occur considering the latter. Well I mean, if I talked to my wife like that, well I wouldn't be getting any that's for sure. Then again, if I talked like that, I'd also be single too.

The neighbours below me, two women with quite a capacity to argue as well. And quite the fondness for loud music.
But I have made it clear to them, no amount of noise bothers me. The thing is, when I drop cutlery on the kitchen floor, I also tend to not worry about it. 'Oh that had to have sounded loud'. I have lived in the unit below me actually, I am aware of all the sounds this apartment can make hehe.

The thing is I have incredible snoring. I have been told I can keep people awake, just by sleeping myself Lucky for them I don't sleep a lot.

[Brooke777]

I always get a reaction when I take away someones ability to blame outside the self. When you decide it is you in your thoughts, you will have control of you, and be the very you , you want to be. If you believe your insomnia is out of control biologically the way this universe works will create this problem for you.  and 777 means the Angels Applaud you and is my birthday.

As one who has a vested interest in psychology, I do strongly believe that the majority of issues are caused by the mind. However, do not discount the fact that it is not always that case. I do have an actual physical reason to my insomnia. You can choose to not believe me all you want. It does not change the fact that I do have a physical, biological problem that causes me not to sleep. You did not take anything away from me. However, you seem to refuse to believe that you are not 100% correct. If , you have not studied my brain, you do not know what is actually causing my insomnia. If you are a well studied and respected neurologist, feel free to find a facility near me and perform some non invasive tests. Otherwise, do not believe you are correct with my situation.

[Arch]

I have a sleep phase disorder and have trouble keeping a "normal" daytime schedule. Whenever I need to start getting up earlier, I use a lightbox to reset my internal clock. It sort of works...but the sleeping pills help, too.

[Anna++]

I've also found that going to bed at roughly the same time every night helps, but I tend to wake up at roughly the same time in the morning even if I stay up really late.  I wonder if there is a good way to turn off my body clock's alarm on the weekends...?

[Brooke777]

I've also found that going to bed at roughly the same time every night helps, but I tend to wake up at roughly the same time in the morning even if I stay up really late.  I wonder if there is a good way to turn off my body clock's alarm on the weekends...?

Alcohol works wonders! 

[Jayne]

Most of my tricks aren't working right now as my depression keeps me up for days at a time.
In the past I would listen to Mike Oldfield - the songs of distant earth, it's the most relaxing music ever & I never used to hear the end of the cd as i'd be snoring away by then.
Give it a try, it may just work

[Brooke777]

Most of my tricks aren't working right now as my depression keeps me up for days at a time.
In the past I would listen to Mike Oldfield - the songs of distant earth, it's the most relaxing music ever & I never used to hear the end of the cd as i'd be snoring away by then.
Give it a try, it may just work

I really hope you are able to find something that works for you soon. Sleep deprivation can make depression so much worse (which I'm sure you are aware of). I have seen quite a few good tips in this thread, so hopefully some of them will work for you.

[Shang]

About two years ago I was using a sleep medication prescribed by my psychiatrist because I wasn't getting to sleep and then, when I finally fell asleep, I wasn't sleeping all night [a lingering effect of Zoloft which caused me to have a mental breakdown].  But I no longer have that and while I do experience insomnia, I use Valerian Root now [pill form].  I got a big bottle at Walgreens for ~$7 [including tax].  It works wonders for me though it smells horrendous. 

Otherwise, I try to exercise a bit during the day and occasionally I burn some soothing incense.

[Jayne]

I have a sleep phase disorder and have trouble keeping a "normal" daytime schedule. Whenever I need to start getting up earlier, I use a lightbox to reset my internal clock. It sort of works...but the sleeping pills help, too.

I've heard & read that not everyone is predisposed to "normal" sleep patterns, it's a throwback to when we were tribal/pack animals. In any group of pack animals some of the pack will be more awake at night than in the day, this is apparently so that there is always someone alert for danger from nighttime predators.
People who find it easier to be awake at night are merely the watchdogs or protectors for the pack.
I saw an article about it in a scientific magazine that we used to ship out to newsagents but can't be sure which one

[Anna++]

Otherwise, I try to exercise a bit during the day and occasionally I burn some soothing incense.

Oh, that's another thing.  I slept worse two years ago when I ate a lot of junk food and before I started exercising.  Cutting out junk food and getting in two 2-mile walks every day seems to have helped (and dropping a few extra pounds is unsurprisingly good for your self esteem, too).

[Arch]

I've heard & read that not everyone is predisposed to "normal" sleep patterns, it's a throwback to when we were tribal/pack animals. In any group of pack animals some of the pack will be more awake at night than in the day, this is apparently so that there is always someone alert for danger from nighttime predators.
People who find it easier to be awake at night are merely the watchdogs or protectors for the pack.

This is interesting. I thought perhaps I have a lot of ancestors who lived in northern climates where days and nights get all whacked out. My genetic theory might fit some of my other symptoms, such as winter depression and gluten intolerance. I don't know whether northern folks have a higher genetic predisposition to winter depression, but I have read that they have more gluten intolerance, probably because there was less cultivation and less of an opportunity to evolve the enzymes needed to tolerate wheat products.

I have trouble with carbohydrates generally, so I tend to avoid eating much of that type of food. Someday, I'll move to an all-reindeer diet.

I remember reading about a link between depression and sleep phase disorders, but I can't remember whether the researchers established a cause-effect relationship or just a link.

[Pica Pica]

  t. Our physicality is not real or we could point to the part of the anatomy that holds consciousness.

I believe I can eat anything I want and not gain weight. I believe I sleep fine. That  is how you work this universe.

I have removed a part of this post. I will not allow such triggers to be posted. CJ. (Wonder what I wrote?)

Well that's utter bollocks.

The universe is not a thing to be worked, it's a thing to be endured and enjoyed. As for the thing about no physicality, it's back to my pal Johnson.

After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- "I refute it thus."
Boswell: Life

[Elspeth]

I'd just like to echo those who've suggested various forms of meditation.  For me, a sort of modified version of the "dead man's pose" -- a routine of conscious muscle tension and relaxation, that concluded in visualizing my brain being sort of sliced and kneaded was my routine for many years.  I've become undisciplined about keeping a regular schedule lately, but trust that I should be able to rely on that technique again when I decide to address this more actively for myself.

The technique was one that worked during my Army enlistment, a period of my life when I had the least control over virtually all aspects of my environment and the distractions that could have led to sleep problems.