Tips for beating the insomnia bug

I thought that we could set up a thread to share ideas on how to beat insomnia. Little tricks that work, or things that keep you sane and vaguely functioning for when the insomnia really is too much to beat.

Maybe if people find this useful, we could ask to get it made into a sticky?

I have a list from my T that I religiously follow whenever insomnia comes to visit, and I do find it helpful (even if it doesn't always cure it 100%). I will dig it up later today and post here.

In the meantime, please do share!

My tip is that I don't think about it anymore........I have had sleep studies, taken sleeping tablets, practice sleep hygiene, meditation, exercise, hot baths, valerian and had sleep analysed to the point of stupidity.......I just don't sleep!!!

I can't beat it, so join it........I just keep going until I fall over......

(Maybe not the right advice but its the only thing that works for me. Maybe thats why my health is so bad!!)

I take trazodone for insomnia, and that works a lot of the time, but I also find that using a SAD lamp (10,000 lux) in the morning helps too. When I use it regularly, I feel "fresher" in the morning/afternoon, so that by evening I'm more tired. It takes out the "nap factor", a pit that I fall into regularly...mmm, afternoon naps are so nice, especially when you haven't slept in awhile, but they're bad! (at least for me, anyway...they just perpetuate the cycle!!)

1. Watch TV in the dark
2. Take some Benadryl (full dose)

I've found binaural beats to be really useful. I've never found a medication that has worked, or any special practice or habit that can help me sleep, but I find listening to binaural beats is actually quite effective.

I tend to listen to music on my ipod.. and wake up with it still in my hand and the battery be dead.. er

I have these on my ipod! ... I haven't listened to it in ... forever! DH swiped my ear buds and I haven't replaced them. Maybe it's time I do so! Thanks for reminding me!

Hey, thanks for the suggestion of drum beats. I will look em up. In the meantime, I watch Patty Duke and Mr. Ed in the wee hours when I am awake. haha

It's kind of an unusual and uncommon method, but it really does work. You're the first person I've "met" so far who even knows what I'm talking about.

Do a search for "BrainWave Generator" on Google. You'll find a program by that name that generates binaural beats. There are a couple presets designed to help you sleep in that program. Good luck.

I've had really bad insomnia (bipolar 1) & despite taking a bunch of sedating meds that still wouldn't knock me out even though I was taking high dosages--I finally got relief when my therapist started doing EMDR treatment on me. By the 3rd session I was so exhausted that I was sleeping non-stop & it scared me. Would I ever wake up? I had been sleeping only 2-3 hrs. a night for about 2 yrs. (& not doing well--had one overdose episode & was basically in a mixed episode the whole time).

Since then my sleep has been regulated & I have gotten off all the sedating meds & cut the dosages of some of the other meds.

I do know, at least for me, insomnia is not something to to ignore. My doc says if I go 3 nights without 6 hrs. or sleep I need to call her so she can get me on some meds to knock me out as when I don't sleep my thinking is not rational.

Plus there are physical consequences: Overweight, high blood pressure & cholesterol, anxiety, depression, etc. All of which I have & many more.

Watching TV in the dark does work for me most of the time but it is usually already in the wee hours of the morning when it does happen. Ambien (not the generic brand) works for me whenever I can get a prescription for it.