I spend most of my time tired.  Right now I know I should be sleeping because I'll end up tired, but I'll probably not sleep for a few hours yet.  I'll do anything to avoid sleeping, or rather, trying to get to sleep.  Too much thinking is involved in that for my liking.  If I don't have a good bank of sleep built up by Wednesday I know that I'll be asleep at 11am on Thursday without fail, and that's halfway through one of my lectures.  I've missed being able to spend time with my girlfriend as well because I've been too tired to wake up and let her in the house, and we only get to see each other twice a week at most unless one of us is off sick or on holiday from work.

Part of my sleeping problems is that I have to get up at different times every day, and wait up every night for my girlfriend to finish work so I can say goodnight to her, but I've realised tonight that a big part of it is not wanting to face having nothing else to do but think.

Has anyone else had this problem, and have you been able to do anything to sort it out?  I'm not coping with life as well as I thought I was.

I have issues sleeping as well. Part of it is my internal "clock" being off, part is restlessness and avoiding nightmares, and the rest is sheer lack of time. Sleep is obnoxious but necessary IMO, though I don't get enough of it. My body compensates for me by shutting down if I go without enough sleep for a very long time, but depending on my stress level it could take a long time. Warm milk is supposed to help, or chamomile tea. Book reading is another thing, but that doesn't help me and I think any activity involving lights being on might not help. Speaking of light, you may want to cut any input of blue light from your vision, as blue light is said to decrease melatonin. Good luck, sorry to hear that you're having this problem.

I am very lucky and I sleep like a baby 

If I am feeling stressed out or depressed, I find that meditating while in bed helps me fall asleep better without having to think about whatever is getting me down. I usually just pick one word and keep repeating that over and over again in my head (usually a two syllable word and say one syllable on an intake of breath and the other on the exhale), or I count while picturing going down an escalator. I am usually asleep in no time.

Edit to add: I used to use over the counter sleep aids when I was first getting used to working 3rd shift. I think they work pretty well, and they're cheap. Just don't take them every night.

I have a lot of problems with sleep but it's because my biological clock is in reverse and I'm nocturnal. It's terrible because I love being out in the sunlight but it's exhausting for me to be awake during the day. It gets depressing being the only one awake at night, I miss out on spending time with people and going places. I do get tired at night but it's so hard to fall asleep. My mind just doesn't shut off at night like it does during the day if I let it. Even my appetite is more suppressed during the day.

I've tried to get myself into a more "normal" sleeping pattern by forcing myself to sleep around 11 pm so I can wake up around 7 am which I think is reasonable as that's a good 8 hours of sleep but if I'm not careful, I easily fall right back into my old sleep pattern. A few people have suggested taking sleep aids to help me sleep during the night but I don't want to be dependent on some medication not to mention how dangerous they can be if you aren't careful.

I try to be as active as I can during the day so that I'll be more tired in the evening then I actively try to shut my mind off to sleep at night (which almost sounds counter-intuitive but it works). Instead of thinking, I force myself to concentrate on a single thing so that I think as little as possible. Sometimes I'll play relaxing music and just focus on the sound of it, imagine an image and concentrate on it, or try counting from 1 to 100 then back down again and it helps me fall asleep more easily. If thinking is something you don't want to do, those types of things may help you.

currently I also have to wake up diffrent times each day which is rather annoying.
I dont have much sleeping problems anymore but I used to have alot of overthinking and nightmares.
I been much into dream analysing who helps me not to get nightmares and advice on how to sleep without bad dreams so that cured the most. I think if your overthinking everything either reading before falling asleep or medication could help.
in meditation its general about concentrate on not worry or thinking of anything, its pretty effective to be able to relax.

I have more troubles getting to sleep honestly. I start to think too much about myself and then afterwards I feel guilty thinking that I'm "selfish" even though I know it's not true, etc... I have not gone to a therapist, but I feel like I've started to feel better recently after resetting my schedule to where I start to get sleepy around 9 or 10. I can usually fall asleep quickly at around 11 or 12 now.

Count me in.

I used to be able to sleep like a baby, but the past few months have been crazy. I tend to stay awake for hours before I sleep. Its certainly stress related, and it sawks!

Yes and its been making me sooooo tired that I can't even function hardly.  Constipation has gotten worse too, so I have to do a vegetable oil enema tonight.  I also have a hard time eating when I'm tired other than before bed, so it makes me even more tired.

I used to have worse problems with sleep and have suffered from broken sleep for years.

However things have been made much easier by a US politician called Mitt Romney. Now all I have to do is watch a video clip of Mitt Romney speaking and I can usually get off to sleep within say ten minutes or so.

Yeah but I did before. Actually the packer helps me a LOT. But I had to go without it on occasion and then I have more trouble.

--Jay

I'm not keen on taking medication, and I can't stomach milk, even getting it on my hands disgusts me.  I'm going to look into seeing if I can do some sort of meditation, encase that's going to help.

Jay - I agree on the packer thing, it's weird.  I don't think I've spent a night without mine since I got it.

Quote from: AlexanderC on April 22, 2013, 06:47:37 PM

Jay - I agree on the packer thing, it's weird.  I don't think I've spent a night without mine since I got it.

Might seem strange, I guess. But it makes some sense. I feel like the feeling of having balls is something I feel that has been missing. I think of my bottom dysphoria as mild to moderate and not really severe, but the feeling I get it's somethings missing. With the packer I feel it against me and it feels right and peaceful.

Alex C have you tried Valerian? It's an herb and can be very soothing. A bit like warm milk without the taste/smell.

@Stella, haha.

--Jay

Quote from: aleon515 on April 22, 2013, 06:14:30 PM
Yeah but I did before. Actually the packer helps me a LOT. But I had to go without it on occasion and then I have more trouble.

--Jay

Same here. I've used socks for that on and off since I was a kid and it's helped a ton.

I'm always exhausted so I'll fall asleep whenever there's nothing to do and nothing is happening. As long as I can put something over my eyes to make it dark, it's all good. A few times I ended up really sick my clock would get screwed up and I'd try to use sleeping pills to set it right. Every time I take them I end up oversleeping by four hours or something crazy like that. I've missed classes and a dentist appointment while taking these, while I'm at least 45 minutes early for everything when I'm not drugged. They cause me more anxiety than it's worth.