LPT Request: Falling Asleep
I’ve fairly extreme anxiousness that basically makes it troublesome to sleep. I’ve put in place routines, respiratory excerises, no electronics, and so on. in makes an attempt to have the ability to go to sleep. Melatonin is not any assist and I’ve even taken Gravol and Benadryl which did not do something both (they apparantly make some folks tremendous drowsy and/or go to sleep). I am do not stay in a rustic that provides out antipsycotics/depressants for this downside so does anybody have any suggestions? I am getting determined, it does not matter how drained I really feel, I get solely a pair hours of sleep at most and I am unable to take care of it for much longer.
Comments ( 16 )
I have been using [4 7 8 breathing](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/4-7-8-breathing/), and it has seemed to help a fair amount.
What do you watch/listen/read before bed? Do you have any unwind time at all? Find something that doesn’t trigger the anxieties, let those lull you to sleep
This is going to sound stupid, but look at some of the ASMR YouTube channels. A while back, I stumbled on a channel (Post 10) which is a guy cleaning stuck drainage ditches on the sides of the road. There’s something about his presentation and the material that’s incredibly satisfying, and it actually helped me relax & sleep at night. Just one example, there are more out there.
Play the song “Midnight Souls Still Remain” by M83.
Unisom gel caps work for me, if my mind is still too active I count backwards by 3’s from 300. White noise helps too, as stated elsewhere, a cheap box fan works well. Maybe try a weighted blanket, I heard that’s good for anxiety.
You should try discovering meditation. Once you get good at it, you can kind of switch yourself off.
I’ll second the write stories in your head suggestion, too, although I find this less weird when you’re into D&D.
I typically listen to music by like L.Dre and them and set a timer for it to turn off. I find that it helps my mind kinda wonder until I’m just asleep. But I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but it like puts my mind on one thing and then boom I’m asleep.
Podcast called Sleep with Me. It’s just done guy talking and he is so boring you will be out in 10 minutes.
Nature shows, especially those narrated by Sir David Attenborough. He’s a night time gem. I love this man.
I listen to sleep meditations, you can find them on YouTube or on some apps. Is your problem falling asleep and also staying asleep?
I imagine your mind is swinging between thought as you go to bed based on the severe anxiety.
-Read Getting Things Done by David Allen and begin to implement his systems.
-go outside for the morning sun and go outside for the evening sun. It will help with your circadian rhythm.
-strength train. It will help with multiple health issues and prevent multiple health issues.
-eat fewer inflammatory foods.
These actionable items should help.
this sounds weird, and it’s not a method to treat anxiety, but sometimes i find a comfortable position to lay in and basically try to lay still. what normally happens is when i finally ‘have’ to move, that’s basically when i fall asleep.
When my mind can’t stop thinking about work, I have a podcast that I play on my ipad that causes me to focus on that instead of on the thoughts invading my head. The specific thing is a podcast that is unique to my interests, but it is enough to engage my brain, but not interesting enough that I stay awake to listen to it. I discovered this about a year ago and it has really helped – I probably fall back asleep following this method 90% of the time.
I open the app and queue up a podcast before i go to sleep so I don’t have to do alot of screen navigation if I need to turn it on. The podcasts play in sequence so I won’t run out of content.
I also listen to white noise on my Alexa and also from an air purifier, but that doesn’t help me with the thoughts that I dwell on when I wake up at night.
You might have to experiment to see if you can find audio to engage your brain but that doesn’t keep you awake.
Good luck with this. Everything gets more complicated when you aren’t sleeping, but dwelling on not sleeping makes it worse.
Melatonin makes anxiety worse, just fyi. Get your electrolytes bumped up. Check d3 levels, and get on a highly concentrated fish oil
Put your right index and middle fingers on your left cheekbone, and left indexmiddle just under left collar bone where it joins the sternum. Five minutes, and pay attention to the sensation at your finger tips. Jin Shin Jytsu “stomach flow”.
Do some strenuous exercise during the day. Like play a sport, practice a martial art, go to a gym, etc.
If you can get yourself both mentally AND physically tired, you won’t be able to stay awake.
I listen to a radio at a low volume with a sleep timer. But I can’t listen to music, it has to be talking: a non-controversial talk show, or old time radio (like Sherlock Holmes), for example. If I hear music, my mind gets more active listening to the lyrics, so it has to be talking. I set the sleep timer for an hour and I’m asleep long before the radio goes off. If I happen to get up in the middle of the night, I just resent the timer and start again. Good luck with your health issues.