I've started to have trouble falling asleep since the seasons have changed and Spring is turning into Summer. It's getting hotter here in California. Any tips or advice on getting to and staying asleep?

[danielsaun]

That's my biggest problem. I have to either take sleeping pill/benzo or MMJ because without either I will sleep maybe 45 minutes if I am lucky and that's with little caffeine.

[Soul Quake]

Relaxing/meditative music, deep breathing.

[Mrs. Mania]

Dark + Quiet + Seroquel = 10 hours of deep sleep

[doyoutrustme]

hypnosis/meditation tracks. And sleeping pills if I need too. Which is 90% of the time.

[raspberrytorte]

Seroquel

[BlackSheep79]

Trazadone

[BipolaRNurse]

Dark, cool, white noise (fan), and Klonopin/Geodon/Zyprexa.

[Brophy]

Getting away from all my electronics for a bit. Just unplugging and reading a book helps me a ton.

[~Christina]

Nothing helps me. Life long Insomnia here. I am happy if I sleep at least 8 hours in a week.

[Crazy Hitch]

Seroquel XR Quietiapine (fast release) - the higher the dose, the longer I sleep.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Nothing helps much. You can see my med list in my signature. I am dividing my valium in half, half taken when I start to relax and half when I start to get sleepy. That sort of works.
I sleep under a 22# weighted blanket; that has made a huge difference overall in sleep, just not when I'm feeling really bad. But the difference in overall sleep since I got it 10 years ago and now is amazing.

I've tried every sleep hygiene thing there is and none of it works. Sometimes white noise helps but not usually.

The best way for me to sleep is to babysit my nieces. It means 4 hours of driving and 8 hours of taking care of a 4 year old and a 1 year old and it usually knocks me out better than most anything else. (I think it's mostly the driving).

Seroiously read about weighted blankets. THey are pricey but last seemingly a long time (mine was about $200 with free shipping (important with the weight) and is 10 years old and has been washed many times and is still in great shape.)

[Nammu]

Dark, cut the light noise from clocks, computers and TVs even when they are off they have lights.

Cool ideal is between 68-70F

Do nothing in bed except sleep, or read and sex!

Melatonin and Benadryl if your Pdoc oks it

No sugar or caffeine close to bedtime

Ask doc if there's a med you could use specific to sleep.

Relaxation excersise to stop the mind from dwelling on problems, start with toes, relaxed them, then tightn them then relax. Then move up your legs, trunk, hands, arms, neck and head. Repeat. Also try to concentrate on belly breathing. Do nothing but concentrate on the breathing. It may take time to block out other thoughts that pop up.

Keep on a schedule, go to bed the same time even if you're not sleepy, just do the exercises and don't think...I'm not sleeping, just concentrate on the breathing.

[THE16THDOCTOR]

Ambien. Otherwise I have a wall air conditioner and it's cold and loud. Somehow that sound is soothing. Like a white noise machine. I took seroquel but it made me too zombie like the next days. However it did work and others don't have that experience. I'm generally over sensitive to antipsychotics but I know it knocks the hell out of you for a long nights sleep and it's not addictive.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I take meds to help but also a fan on us a must for quietness!

Originally Posted by ~Christina

Nothing helps me. Life long Insomnia here. I am happy if I sleep at least 8 hours in a week.

Wow, I am so sorry. I can't imagine how that would be!

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

Nothing helps much. You can see my med list in my signature. I am dividing my valium in half, half taken when I start to relax and half when I start to get sleepy. That sort of works.
I sleep under a 22# weighted blanket; that has made a huge difference overall in sleep, just not when I'm feeling really bad. But the difference in overall sleep since I got it 10 years ago and now is amazing.

I've tried every sleep hygiene thing there is and none of it works. Sometimes white noise helps but not usually.

The best way for me to sleep is to babysit my nieces. It means 4 hours of driving and 8 hours of taking care of a 4 year old and a 1 year old and it usually knocks me out better than most anything else. (I think it's mostly the driving).

Seroiously read about weighted blankets. THey are pricey but last seemingly a long time (mine was about $200 with free shipping (important with the weight) and is 10 years old and has been washed many times and is still in great shape.)

Is it hot in the summer?

[Blue_Bird]

Relaxing sounds, comfortable temperature depending on the season, chamomile tea, my candle melter that smells nice, reading a little, relaxing music and if absolutely necessary Trazodone occasionaly

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Kind of and kind of not. The fabric I picked (Minkee dots because they are sensory happiness to me) is warm. You can do it with less warm fabrics. They still are warm but your body prefers the sensory stim over the heat and adusts. I may not stay fully covered with it in the summer (a lot of the time it just is over my abdomen to shoulders) but I do use it (and I sleep under several other blankets including down year-round---I really like weight). That's what we were taught in OT school and that's what has been true for me.

Last summer I had ankle reconstruction surgery and couldn't use it because kicking it would have been dangerous for I think 5 months and I missed it desperately. I have a smaller one that I take to the hospital or when I travel and I used it over my torso sometimes (and I was incredibly hot because I was in a huge cast for 2 1/2 months) just to try to get the feeling. I even liked the weight of the cast though to be honest although I was certainly ready to be out of the casts when the time was up.

Originally Posted by mrsjoggers

Is it hot in the summer?

[wiretwister]

cool room, fan to mask sound, no caffine, as little sugar as possible , and a very very dark room..... schedule...go out like a light,, of course up in 3 hours..but that's life...

[token451]

I usually try to go the natural route with Valerian Root or cherry juice, the tart thick stuff you have to mix with water that tastes awful. If all else fails, I turn on some Roseanne

[prettykitten]

Dark room, deep breathing, meditation, cool room, fan, lavender oil, trazadone, keeping a schedule, having a solid nightly routine....

My Mom falls asleep to the movie 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'. She puts it in the DVD player and she is deep asleep by the time they make it to the lighthouse in the beginning. To be fair, she loves the books and it was an accident that she "trained" herself to fall asleep to the movie.

[Blitter2014]

I try to have no caffeine at all, no sugar, and don't eat anywhere near bedtime. I need to have heavy blankets on the bed, which means sleeping with a leg out the bed sometimes to try and regulate the heat. Over summer I will have the ceiling fan on, I love the feeling of moving air. We have block out curtains in the bedroom so it is pitch black dark, and I use a relatively quiet ticking clock as white noise.

The Saphris helps. I will also use Valium if I am really wound up. My biggest problem is not so much the getting to sleep, but managing to go to sleep if I wake up during the night/ need to go to the toilet etc. If that happens, I find it easier to turn on the tv and try to snooze in the couch rather than laying in bed listening to the silence

trazadone and xanax

[Shadesofdark]

A fan for white noise, Rozerem and Xanax. Sweet dreams.