Inability to rest, to nap. Anyone else?

This has been going on for about 9 months.
This total inability to rest, to relax, to nap (when seriously needed) is so aggravating.

I don't sleep well anyway. I get to sleep but always awaken way too early, unable to get back to sleep. This is not good, this sleep deficit.

A brief nap now and again would sure help. But noooooo.

Anyone else completely unable to nap?

PoorPrincess

I know what it's like to struggle with sleep. About a year after it started I asked my GP for a sleep study. It turned out I have sleep apnea and was only getting into the first 2 stages of sleep. There are several sleep disorders that interrupt your ability to get a restful sleep that can be diagnosed with a sleep study.

Now I sleep with a CPAP, but I still struggle and it's usually when I can't stop thinking or I have nightmares. My pdoc has me on sleep meds that help.

Do you find that your mind can't settle?

Yes that's it, my mind cannot settle.
Even after wrestling with it, getting up having hot milk, taking a couple generic benadryl ... and eventually it seems I have some calm if not quiet in my mind ... then some searing thought will burn through and send me upright in bed just when I felt I would be drifting off to sleep.

The sleep study might be wise, if I ever get established with Oregon Medicare advantage medical care plan. I'm thinking that it's most likely to be my neurotic mind. Arrghhh.

I go to sleep with the TV on (use the sleep timer) to help get my mind off those things that take up space in my mind.
Something else you can try is as you are laying comfortably focus on your breath. As you inhale think "so" and as you exhale think "hum". The So Hum meditation is a simple but powerful technique that uses the breath and the repetition of a mantra to quiet the mind and relax the body.
Good luck.

My sleep schedule has always been spotty (especially nowadays). I wake up, usually, within a hour of sleeping, and lay awake for around 20-30 minutes, give or take. I usually have strange thoughts that prevent me from sleeping, and when I do sleep, I wake up in panic (for no reason).

Try taking L-theanine (Theanine), it's an over-the-counter, herbal supplement that aids in relaxation. It's non addictive, and has never been seen to cause overdoses (some people take 1000mg a day). That is to say, don't start of with 1000mg, start low, talk with your doctor, and work from there.

I can NEVER nap, even if I didn't sleep at all the night before.

Once in awhile I can nap, but whether I nap or not I do not sleep well. It's been in cycles throughout my life. I am fighting it right now, in fact. I too use generic benadryl, double dose but it doesn't quiet the mind, does it? Sometimes doubling it up with meditation helps. last night I couldn't quiet it enough for meditation, I ended up turning the radio on, but softly and as I lay there I strained to hear the music, to understand the words. It worked, I intend to try it again tonight. In college my roommate gave me gin and squirt to get me to sleep when I had bouts of insomnia. It got me to sleep, but I'd wake up because i had to pee.

Sorry, TMI?

I have trouble sleeping myself and usually my body always wakes me up a 7:30 during school week and 2 pm on the weekends the only problem is my body wants to go to bed at 4am almost all the time and sometimes I randomly wake up in the middle of the night for no reason I know I have insomnia but don't know why even when I get eight hours of sleep I'm still so exhausted.

i have seep apnea and use c-pap machine. during my sleep study they found i had no rem sleep at all which is needed to refresh your mind and body. i also go through periods of no sleep at all, but then again i have days where i can't get out of bed all day even in the daytime. i've slept up to 16-17 hours in row, and wake up tired still.

Thanks one and all here, for your replies.
I appreciate it.
It's helpful somehow to know that others have this inability to nap, to rest.
It is exhausting, is it not? Sometimes I am just so fiercely tired that I could scream in frustration of not being able to rest.

I will give the L-theanine a try.

I seem to be having so many problems with lithium side effects, I've been rap online reading up on omega 3s 7:1 EPAHA, and lithium orotate. /dunno why it keeps inserting smiley instead of the capital d, in dha above. ]

Let's keep posted. Thanks again.

I have a lot of trouble napping as well. This is primarily related to my sleep apnea issues though.