Zzzz....

December 17, 2004 9:27 PM

Sleep tips? Ambien doesn't work, melatonin levels fine. Individual in question has a mind that constantly thinks about stuff.
posted by Mossy to Health & Fitness (24 answers total)

This might not be a quick fix, but you can try meditating. Quiet, ambient music. Deep breathing, in through the nose for a slow four-count and out through the mouth for a five count. Deep breaths, trying to use your stomach muscles to breathe- not your chest. Focus on the breathing. There are plenty of good tutorials on teh internets. I meditate regularly, and it helps me.

Make sure the temperature in the room is comfortable.

Try a piece of cake or some cookies- anything with sugar, along with a glass of milk. (There's something in milk that aids sleeping, I can't remember whether it's tryptophan or what, but the sugar helps to either liberate it or allow your body to utilize it better.)

Read. something fluff, nothing too serious.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:51 PM on December 17, 2004

Back-breaking labor. Or in modern times, a good regular workout.

Or brain stapling.
posted by weston at 10:14 PM on December 17, 2004

Or, get in bed with a boring textbook. Works for me even when my mind's all over - the choice between studying (work) and avoidance (sleep) makes me choose sleep, rather than seeing sleep itself as the task (i.e. the work to be avoided).

Also, make sure you're not hungry. Doesn't help to have your body telling you to go hunt when you're trying to sleep.
posted by lorrer at 10:15 PM on December 17, 2004

Strangely, I do happen to eat cookies close to bedtime. Hmm... now I have an excuse.

I second what weston said. I swim sometimes up to nine times a week (yes, there are only seven days in a week, and with the LORD'S DAY off, you can do the math). Basically I can sleep anywhere and at any time. It's beautiful.

Speaking of which... zzz...
posted by Kleptophoria! at 10:23 PM on December 17, 2004

Meditation is a good tip, so is milk..not so sure about the sugar. Every conversation I've had regarding insomnia, it eventually comes up that the sufferer partakes of some sort of substance: caffeine, alcohol, other stimulants, etc. Cut those out and it can help.

Don't do anything stimulating an hour before bed. Personally I go to bed each night by killing the light and reading with a small yellow (the color is important) led. Usually nod off after a couple of pages.
posted by Manjusri at 10:24 PM on December 17, 2004

This is sometimes a problem for me, too: my mind won't stop thinking, and it prevents me from sleeping. It has become less of a problem since I've made it a point to get more exercise more regularly.

The other thing I do is literally read until I cannot keep my eyes open anymore. The subject of the book itself doesn't matter, so long as I am in bed, leaning back comfortably, and able to take off my glasses and turn off the light within about four seconds of putting the book down: I don't give my brain the chance to start thinkin' again. It works very well.

The other trick is to close your eyes and think about relaxing each one of your muscles from head to toe: head, neck, shoulders, arms, etc. Really focus on relaxing each part of your body. It's sort of like counting sheep, I guess, but with the added benefit of actual muscle relaxation, which also leads to sleepiness.
posted by Dr. Wu at 10:25 PM on December 17, 2004

I always found music to be good, but it had to be fairly soft, and very well known to me.

As an added bonus, I had a couple of occasions where I woke into a semi lucid state during a particularly beautiful piece of music, and entered (for the duration of the song) a state of music inspired euphoria. Hard to describe other than saying it was like a non sexual full body orgasm. Yay music and hypnagogic states!
posted by tomble at 10:47 PM on December 17, 2004

Listen to old time radio. In my experience there are lots of shows that are interesting enough to listen to, but not riveting enough to keep me awake to the end.
posted by Galvatron at 10:52 PM on December 17, 2004

For me insomnia comes when I mentally go through things I have to do or think about and I can't let them go. I discovered that getting up and writing a list ensures that I can relax and go to sleep. So while it's annoying to get out of bed to march to my desk and write a note for an insignicant thing, I'm grateful that it's not worse. If your friend is constantly obsessing about the little things, maybe that would help.
posted by hindmost at 11:07 PM on December 17, 2004

I enjoy a hot shower as a way to quiet the mind before sleep. Dimming the lights a few hours before going to bed helps ensure that I'll be drowsy by the time I want to sleep. Much as I hate to admit it, the standard medical advice made a big difference in ending my insomnia problems (regular exercise, get up at the same time every day, don't eat or work out too late at night, and create a calming bedtime routine for yourself). And, if all else fails, an orgasm usually sends me off to dreamland.
posted by rhiannon at 12:30 AM on December 18, 2004

Firstly, the common sense stuff of exercise, good diet, a regular sleep schedule, and no coffee after five all applies. And no alcohol or Tylenol PM - that leads to icky-yucky sleep.

Gnarly, circuitous, beautiful prose. Arthur Machen's translation of The Heptameron - which is wildly old-fashioned and woolly and relaxing - does wonders. Thackeray can be similar. And while not recommended for all brains, Lovecraft and Ligotti lull me to sleep in a satisfactory fashion. Knotty prose that requires some unpacking, but is pleasant to experience, can be a good way to cap off a day.

On the nonfiction side, boring textbooks can make me a little agitated, so pick a good but tiring topic - say, Henri Bergson - and try that. Educational and soporific.

Also recommended: chamomile tea and orgasms.

Don't listen to music - I like listening to music, but that's a recreational sort of sleep. If you're having problems, I think that might backfire. And definitely no TV or computer usage. Even the hum of the eMac keeps me up.

Try meditation. And make sure your bedroom is at the appropriate light level (either pitch black or with just a peep of a night light).

So there you have it.

In summary: meditate in blackness, then jerk off in silence to H. P. Lovecraft.
posted by Sticherbeast at 1:32 AM on December 18, 2004

Listen to something in a language which sounds sort of familiar but which you don't understand (for me, French). It is enough to keep my brain listening to it, but not enough to keep me awake. Alternatively, I just have the radio on with rolling news. Or I put on an audio book (where I have already read the actual book and know it quite well). Again, enough to turn the mind to listening to it and stop all that other buzz going on, but not enough to stop me dropping off.

I know all the wisdom is not to have this stuff on in bed, but I sleep fine with it.
posted by AnnaRat at 2:14 AM on December 18, 2004

What a coincidence. I'm here with my cup of camomile tea after waking up at 5:30 a.m. and lying there thrashing out an old personal problem that I can't seem to resolve. I have learned that getting up, having a cup of tea and surfing for 20 minutes means I can go back to bed and to sleep, rather than lying there wakefully for hours if I don't get up.
So in sum: metafilter and camomile.
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:42 AM on December 18, 2004

> For me insomnia comes when I mentally go through things I have to do or
> think about and I can't let them go.

I third (or is it fourth now?) meditation. The very vivid expression for I can't stop thinking about stuff is "monkey mind." The standard hyper-multitasking-under-pressure life a lot of us have to lead in the daytime is really superior practice in monkey-mind and can't-let-go.

The very first thing meditation gives you is counter-practice in settling down the monkey mind and letting go the obsessive trains of thoughts, thoughts and more thoughts. (Be it noted that a principal difficulty persons who meditate face is going to sleep.)
posted by jfuller at 5:37 AM on December 18, 2004

I concentrate on breathing evenly when I can't get to sleep. I suppose it is meditative in a way. Breathing relaxes me and I fall asleep almost immediately, no matter how busy my mind is.
posted by cass at 6:01 AM on December 18, 2004

You need healthy, natural sleep. Chew valerian root and get some more exercise.
posted by sexymofo at 7:38 AM on December 18, 2004 [1 favorite]

As a lot of people have already mentioned, exercise, a nice healthy dinner (I would hesitate to recommend eating after 9pm), read a textbook in bed, take a shower, glass of red wine, and my most favourite... sex.

It works. Add all of those up, not only will you sleep like a baby, you'll be in good shape, good health, smarter, and a lot more satisfied. ;)
posted by purephase at 9:09 AM on December 18, 2004

Actually, yeah, I agree with all the people who mentioned orgasms/sex. It works best if you have a partner, because you get a bit of exercise in there as well. But if you are an insomniac with no one to hump, you should just wank.

And I know all about that musical non-sexual orgasm. I thought I was the only one.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 9:45 AM on December 18, 2004

It's also a type of meditation (and this is going to sound really pretentiously stupid) but I count very slowly, backwards from 300, in French. The numbers take much longer to "say" in French ("two hundred four twenties ten and nine" for 299), which means I've never gotten down under a hundred or so, and it's just interesting enough to keep my mind busy without keeping me too emotionally involved.

I once read that any sort of mantra during meditation -- whether it's just counting to ten over and over, or repeating a phrase -- is more a less a way to keep your monkey mind busy and involved elsewhere while your body is doing the important work of listening to itself. Think of it as giving the three-year-old part of yourself a coloring book and some cheerios so it stays out of your hair while you fall asleep.
posted by occhiblu at 10:03 AM on December 18, 2004

If you've read my other posts about psych stuff, it should be clear that I am not a big fan of psychotropics. That said, I do think that sometimes people with mild OCD (or not so mild) but who have more of the obsessive than the complusive side of it, can have trouble sleeping for that reason. I think all the suggestions here are very good, but I also know of at least one drug that turned around the life of one of my obsessive patients. Feel free to email me through my profile for the info, sorry but I do not have the name of the med at home.
posted by OmieWise at 10:20 AM on December 18, 2004

Mirtazapine, perhaps the smallest, 15mg, tablets work well for people I know.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:32 PM on December 18, 2004

Sigur Ros, their music will knock you right out... maybe some Godspeed You Black Emperor...
posted by jackofsaxons at 12:55 PM on December 18, 2004

I have a similar inability to get to sleep (and stay sleeping).

Either lots and lots of alcohol, or I close my eyes and follow the afterimages (you know, it's not completely dark, there're faint colour impressions that dance around? ghostimages?) as they swirl around. Sometimes when it's not working right away, I'll try to change or control the impressions.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 2:07 PM on December 18, 2004

talk radio works best for me, i've never really understood why, but it does. except when art bell starts talking about ghosts... then i listen to baseball, or whatever.

also, i too tend to sleep better when i've had a real period of exercise during the previous day. nevertheless, i still use the radio. i use a small ear bud so i don't disturb my wife; it falls out when i fall asleep.
posted by RockyChrysler at 7:07 PM on December 18, 2004