What helps you sleep?

JoolzS

If you don't actually need to sleep - i.e. you don't have to get up for work or get children off to school - then try not to worry about it. If you do need to sleep for outside reasons then please ignore everything else I say in this post.

I have absolutely no real "sleep pattern" and I used to lie in bed at night worrying about not sleeping even though I didn't really need to sleep. I no longer do this. I sleep when I am sleepy and stay awake when I'm awake. I'm fortunate that my DH understands my depression/anxiety/social disorders and is now completely unfazed if he phones me from work at 6 p.m. and I tell him I've just woken up. He is also as completely unfazed if he phones me at 6 p.m. and I tell him I've been up since 6 a.m. and have completely re-arranged all the furniture in our flat!

Since I stopped worrying about my sleep I have slept far better when I do sleep. I may not sleep "normally" but I do get enough sleep to feel rested (most of the time). I do still sometimes feel guilty when I sleep all day, and virtuous when I wake up early in the morning but I think that is a holdover from when I was a teenager and my mum would tell me that I was "wasting the best of the day" when I slept in late.

I have noticed during the past couple of years that I sleep better in daylight than I do when it's dark - I think that is due to the "anxiety" part of my brain. My brain simply makes me feel safer during the day so it's obviously safer to sleep then and stay awake when it's dark and scary!

Julie

Sublime_2

What helped me in the end, was a couple of glasses of red, on top of my usual herbal remedies. Worked a treat. :beer:

Penny-Pincher!!

Sublime wrote: »

on top of my usual herbal remedies. Worked a treat. :beer:

:rotfl:

furndire

My son & dil bought me a lumie clock (the expensive one, with the hypnosis type bit on it) for my 60th birthday, and it worked a treat. So much so that while we are away travelling at the moment, (couldn't bring it with me) I sort of go through the tape in my mind, and drop off to sleep really quickly. At the begining, you make up your mind how long you want to sleep for, and envisage getting up full of energy and ready to go. Even that works.
They also have a sunrise & sunset setting on them - used to have simple one a few years ago, and those settings worked as well.
Perhaps someone knows if there is a dvd/cd or even mp3/ipod download without the clock setting? as its something I would buy to travel with
I agree re having the room as dark as possible

System

I have prescribed sleeping tablets but i hate taking them as they tend to knock me out for the next 12 hours, and leave a horrible taste in my mouth.

My current tactic is just lying there, as i'm sure i once read you get as much rest doing that as you do sleeping, eventually i nod off (or give up and end up doing karaoke till the stupid hours).

Indie_Kid

Exercise is meant to help with sleeping. I also find that hunger and thirst make getting to sleep difficult.

snoopy89

a good woman makes me sleep, trouble is i am awake most nights woundering where to find one.