Alternative to sleeping tablets

tandraig

I always says to myself - if i am still awake in 15 mins i will go clean the oven.....do that pile of ironing...............any other job i hate! works for me my oven still dirty ..........my ironing waiting for me ............seriously you need to calm your mind perhaps - my fave is imagining myself lying on carribean beach listening to surf - but whatever works for you. i think when you have probs the best way is to say - what can i do right now to solve that? if its nothing .......then tell yourself you will solve it in the morning! try it!

Gers

L.L wrote: »

I actually find the radio helps

My radio is set to Radio 5 Live - the most boring phone-in programme imaginable! The 'sleep'setting is 90 mins but I find that no more than 10 mins of drunken inane ramblings or that Richard Bacon (ensconced in Edinburgh just now so off the airwaves) wittering on about Twitter, does it for me, or the Daily Mail readers spouting right wing anti-everything, and off I go into the land of happy nods.

Radio 7 is good for laughs before the idiot rambling but now that Old Harry's Game is off air it's not quite so interesting. Haven't quite got into the groove of the goldfish watching their humans. I know this won't make sense unless you listen to BBC Radio 7 - sorry!

A mixture of lavender and radio is my ideal! Going off to use both in about 5 minutes.

FrugalFriend

I recently have used vapour rub at night. It was popular years ago and I've started to use it again. I sometimes find nasal blockage and congestion makes sleeping more difficult, so it does aid better sleep for me.

esmf73

A banana is a good snack before bed if you need to eat so I'm told - try that and warm milk.

dippydan

Thanks everyone, i've just started a new job as a PA and the lady is off so there's not a lot going on, I think because my brains not being tested i'm not wearing myself out, plus I had a bad foot injury about 3 months ago which has stopped me walking let alone going to the gym, i go swimming when I can to try and help the ligaments.

Lavender and a bath seems to be very popular (thanks everyone), i will try it, i've tried doing my house work when I get in to wear me out but to no avail last night I think i went to bed at 11pm and last time i remember looking at the clock it was 1:30 :-(

carriebradshaw

try listening to some soft music,something that is music only & no singing is best,keep the volume low and it should relax you & help you drift off to sleep. It worked for me when I lived alone.

pudding06

I have found a great solution to my insomnia. I was brought up taking a soft toy to bed with me to cuddle. Now i have a lovely beany Eeyore, about a foot high, soft and cuddly plush thing, who gets to sleep with me every night.
Ok so he cost me a tenner to buy initially but I generally sleep much better, and wake up in the morning still clutching him!!! much better than the sleeping tablets my doctor prescribed. He even gets to go on holidays with me:o

for those of you who also suffer from insomnia, and were brought up as I was, it may well be worth a try, if you can get over the inital embarrassment that is.(my OH is now used to sharing a bed with me and Eeyore)

Primrose

This natural remedy often works for me.

Lay flat on your back in bed. Stiffen every single muscle in your body from top to toe and hold for ten seconds. Then slowly relax them.
Repeat a second time.

I find this inevitably leads to me yawning, and then I never remember anything else until I wake up in the morning.

Ayeshalush

esmf73 wrote: »

A banana is a good snack before bed if you need to eat so I'm told - try that and warm milk.

I remember reading somewherethat a banana and a glass of warm milk help you sleep but I've never tried it so can't say whether it works or not.

juliapenguin

I'm a very poor sleeper so you have my sympathy.

The two things which work best for me are:

1. Radio 4 or Radio 7 using an earphone and the sleep timer on my radio so it goes off after a certain time. The key is that the programme has to be interesting enough to take my mind off not sleeping - the more I want to hear the end of the programme, the more likely I am to fall asleep!

2. Some sort of self-hypnosis CD - I've got a strange new NLP one about 'time' and that is working like magic at the moment - I honestly have no idea how it finishes as I'm always asleep long before that. I've also got a specific sleep one (a bloke with a Brummie accent) which is good too, although I feel under more pressure to fall asleep, IYKWIM.