When you can't sleep...

[Jack]

...and you have nothing important to do the next day (or the next few days)...what do you do?

[chrisoff]

I'd play video games. Or read a book.

Should probably do that even when I've got something important to do because trying to get to sleep when I can't sleep never seems to work. If I'm going to be exhausted and grumpy the next day I may as well enjoy myself during the night.



If my girlfriend can't sleep she usually kicks me until I stop snoring...

[brewerpaul]

I read. If I read sitting up in a chair, I can go for hours. However, lying down in bed and reading relaxes me and I usually start to "wave the book" as my wife puts it and I'm soon ready to drift off. Once I realize I've gone back and re-read the same paragraph about 6 times,I'm done.

[Jack]

What do you read?

[Innocent Bystander]

Push-ups. If I really want to sleep and have trouble, push-ups usually do it. Twenty, or as near twenty as I can manage. It gets me out of breath and relaxes the tension in my shoulders. When I hop back into bed, I'm asleep before my breathing gets back to normal.

Time was I used to go for a walk. That's good too. And often I just read. Something light and amusing. The Collected Stories of Saki would be good. I expect you would like them, Jack.

[djm]

Reading is good. I also know that lying on my left side helps me fall asleep faster when I get woken up in the middle of the night for whatever reason (traffic, drunken neighbours, etc.).

djm

[dwest]

I've had insomnia since I was sixteen, a year and a bit ago, I use progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) to get to sleep most nights. I'm usually asleep shortly after I start my breathing. I try never to read in bed, except Darwin's "The Origin of Species" which comes with the usual drug warning label about not operating heavy equipment etc. I occasionally try to read some of the dissertations of various family members....

[Flyingcursor]

That's a good question. Reading for me. I'll try the pushups though.

[Thomaston]

I usually end up here!

[dubhlinn]

I usually end up here!

I know.
I've often seen you here at silly hours.
Apart from the refuge of the Chiff I tend to get out of bed and read something heavy and complicated..that often works.

Slan,
D.

[mutepointe]

I listen to AM talk radio while I sleep everynight. I use ear buds. It's like a white noise to me. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I have something to do that doesn't involve getting out of bed. I usually listen to "Coast to Coast" because it's usually about psychics, aliens, and stuff like that. I fall right back to sleep.

Music isn't enough to keep me entertained. If I'm not entertained, I'll get out of bed, watch TV, make a snack, and do all kinds of stuff and get my sleep cycle out of whack.

[mamakash]

If you can teach yourself to meditate you will alleviate that problem. Here's where I started . . .

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Me ... 536&sr=1-1

Even if you lie awake meditating, you'll find you will derive some rest. Most likely, you will fall asleep.

[izzarina]

Well, if I can't sleep, it's usually because of one of three reasons. One, I have a sick child in which case, I know I'm not going to get any sleep that night (this was the scenario last night). Two, I'm too cold (another very common scenario)...here, I get another blanket or sometimes even the heating pad (yes, I really am that cold), and after about a half an hour or so, I'm warm enough to get to sleep. Or, three, I have too much on my mind...this one happens far too often, and I still can't figure out what to do about it. I do listen to music via the iPod when my mind is too full, or sometimes, if it's really bad, I come here. But I've found that surfing the 'net doesn't help too much in the "trying to get to sleep" department. In the end, reading or listening to music is what I end up with. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Or, I just think for hours on end while laying in bed trying not to think

[peeplj]

Sometimes if I can't sleep, I read. There are certain favorite books that can capture my imagination and distract my mind out of its ruts even if I'm worried about something: LoTR, Harry Potter, the Will Stanton books, some of the early Stephen King stuff.

Other things worth trying are a snack--I can't sleep at all if I'm hungry--or adjusting the thermostat if I'm hot or cold.

I know it's counterintuitive--much of me probably is! --but sometimes a Coke (Coke Zero these days) or even a hot cup of coffee will put me to sleep. If I'm so tired that I can't sleep, then usually hot coffee will send me right off to dreamland. Go figure.

There are a few nights when, because of my skin, I simply cannot sleep no matter what. If I have any phenergan-based cough syrup in the house, a half dose of that will put me out even when my skin is bad, but it has a heavy price, as I will wake the next day with a horrible hangover and feel like I'm dying for most of the day.

--James

[emmline]

I know it's counterintuitive--much of me probably is! --but sometimes a Coke (Coke Zero these days) or even a hot cup of coffee will put me to sleep. If I'm so tired that I can't sleep, then usually hot coffee will send me right off to dreamland. Go figure.

Sometimes I'd try a hit of coffee to keep me awake in a pharmacology class I had right after lunch. But if I'd had coffee in the morning, the
result, inevitably, was that the afternoon coffee would knock me out. I don't get it either.