Insomnia Help
August 8, 2004 11:08 AM Subscribe
I have insomnia. Help! [MI]
I've *never* had problems sleeping but the last couple of weeks, I started having problems and it's getting worse and worse. I go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00 and lie there until 1 or 2 in the morning then wake up at 6:00 and can't go back to sleep. Even though I'm so bone tired, I can't see straight. Sometimes I take a Tylenol PM or a Valium, and just lie there and lie there. I have earplugs, a good pillow, a comfortable bed, it's dark, quiet, I don't have things going through my head, I'm not worried about anything. I JUST CAN'T SLEEP AND ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY!! I work full time and have a baby and I HAVE TO GET MY SLEEP. Now I can't even nap, either, and I used to be able to nap like a cat.
What can I do about this? I would rather not rely on drugs. Is it all in my head?
I've *never* had problems sleeping but the last couple of weeks, I started having problems and it's getting worse and worse. I go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00 and lie there until 1 or 2 in the morning then wake up at 6:00 and can't go back to sleep. Even though I'm so bone tired, I can't see straight. Sometimes I take a Tylenol PM or a Valium, and just lie there and lie there. I have earplugs, a good pillow, a comfortable bed, it's dark, quiet, I don't have things going through my head, I'm not worried about anything. I JUST CAN'T SLEEP AND ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY!! I work full time and have a baby and I HAVE TO GET MY SLEEP. Now I can't even nap, either, and I used to be able to nap like a cat.
What can I do about this? I would rather not rely on drugs. Is it all in my head?
When this happens to me (about once a week), I have one simple technique to fall back upon: I use the mantra of "sleep"- breath in without thinking ANYTHING, and then think ONLY "sleep" to myself as I breath out. The key is to clear my mind of ALL thoughts, save sleep. For me, I can't sleep because my brain's still wired and doing this slows it down and I always fall asleep within 5-10 minutes tops by using the mantra.
Many people will suggest seeing a doctor (not a bad idea), but I've always been a fan of figuring out stuff on my own. Good luck!
posted by jmd82 at 11:27 AM on August 8, 2004
Many people will suggest seeing a doctor (not a bad idea), but I've always been a fan of figuring out stuff on my own. Good luck!
posted by jmd82 at 11:27 AM on August 8, 2004
I'm occasionally insomniac. I try and deal with it with one or more of the following:
- reducing caffeine+sugar intake/avoiding caffeine in the afternoon
- hot baths before bed time
- reading for half an hour or so
- no tv
- occasionally, melatonin just before bed (I'll break the tabs/caps in half and take a half dose, which seems to work better)
- a massage appointment
- having a nice relaxing music CD in a small player (not too much bass) next to the bed, and listening to the *same* CD each night. If I find a CD that works, my brain kind of hooks into it and I can be off quite quickly.
Good luck!
posted by carter at 11:40 AM on August 8, 2004
- reducing caffeine+sugar intake/avoiding caffeine in the afternoon
- hot baths before bed time
- reading for half an hour or so
- no tv
- occasionally, melatonin just before bed (I'll break the tabs/caps in half and take a half dose, which seems to work better)
- a massage appointment
- having a nice relaxing music CD in a small player (not too much bass) next to the bed, and listening to the *same* CD each night. If I find a CD that works, my brain kind of hooks into it and I can be off quite quickly.
Good luck!
posted by carter at 11:40 AM on August 8, 2004
are you eating loads of sugary foods to stay awake during the day? i find that keeps me awake for hours (as does drinking coffee in the afternoon/evening).
posted by andrew cooke at 11:40 AM on August 8, 2004
posted by andrew cooke at 11:40 AM on August 8, 2004
Oh, one other thing: If I can't fall asleep for a length of period, I find flipping on the laptop for 5 or 10 minutes causes me to fall asleep ASAP when I return to bed, though I (nor the other people I know who do this) couldn't tell you why.
posted by jmd82 at 11:58 AM on August 8, 2004
posted by jmd82 at 11:58 AM on August 8, 2004
Make your bedroom your sleeping room. Do nothing else in your bedroom but sleep.
Start keeping a diary of your sleeping patterns.
No bright light 30 minutes to 1 hour before bed. (Bright light activates a center in your brain that keeps you awake.)
It's also fairly common to just get in a bad cycle. You can't sleep one night, so the next night you worry that you can't sleep, and that keeps you awake thinking about it, and so on. You start feeling pressure to fall alseep, etc.
For some people, music or some noise helps. I listen to Car Talk or This American Life, and it helps me doze off. Gives my brain something to think about, so I don't tell myself to go to sleep, I just naturally do it.
Relaxation tapes/CDs.
Or, the simple version: start counting backwards from 100 in your head. When you eventually realize that your mind has wandered off somewhere else, go back to 100 and start again.
posted by gramcracker at 12:22 PM on August 8, 2004
Start keeping a diary of your sleeping patterns.
No bright light 30 minutes to 1 hour before bed. (Bright light activates a center in your brain that keeps you awake.)
It's also fairly common to just get in a bad cycle. You can't sleep one night, so the next night you worry that you can't sleep, and that keeps you awake thinking about it, and so on. You start feeling pressure to fall alseep, etc.
For some people, music or some noise helps. I listen to Car Talk or This American Life, and it helps me doze off. Gives my brain something to think about, so I don't tell myself to go to sleep, I just naturally do it.
Relaxation tapes/CDs.
Or, the simple version: start counting backwards from 100 in your head. When you eventually realize that your mind has wandered off somewhere else, go back to 100 and start again.
posted by gramcracker at 12:22 PM on August 8, 2004
Warm some milk in a pan over gentle heat, then stir in sugar and cocoa powder until you have a nice hot chocolate. Drink it right before you go to bed.
Gentle heat is really important. It's easy to burn the milk.
Then, when you lie down, imagine you're standing at the base of a big, tall waterfall, watching it plunge down into a pool. The roar of the water envelopes you, as does the cool mist rising from the pool below. You try a few times to track the falling water with your eye, and for brief moments are able to see the flow as a column of individual water droplets, each in free fall, but then the whole scene fast-forwards again and becomes a raging torrent you can't track at all. You play this eye-trick game a few times until your lids become heavy. You close them for minute and feel cool mist against your warm, tired eyelids for the first time.
Open your eyes, and watch the patterns of bubbles swirling in the pool below. The falls force air deep underwater where they strike the pool, and some bubbles don't rise until they're well downstream, practically over another waterfall just down from where you're standing. You take a few steps down stream to look over the edge of the next waterfall, and find a never-ending staircase of them descending into a shifting depth of impenetrable mists.
You look back up at the first water fall and wonder... You play the eye-trick game a few more times. You scan the eddy currents in the pool for patterns. So many swirling spirals. Each one is a galaxy of microscopic waterborne life, blinking into existence at the base of the falls, swirling itself unspun in seconds and dissipating into the pool. From big bang to heat death, again and again, in seconds. Here and there a tiny fish might swim through the center of one like a sun gone nova, displacing entire living systems.
The mist chills you suddenly and you zip up your warm parka. You sit down on a flat, mossy rock nearby and recommence watching the water falling. You close your eyes and listen to the roaring. It isn't quite completely uniform. It rises drops in volume, it articulates a gurgling sentence fragment here and there. There are several levels to it. Water against rock. Water shearing into drops as it falls through air. Water against water at the bottom. There are times it almost seems, for an instant, as if it's going to stop. But what is it saying?
posted by scarabic at 12:24 PM on August 8, 2004 [2 favorites]
Gentle heat is really important. It's easy to burn the milk.
Then, when you lie down, imagine you're standing at the base of a big, tall waterfall, watching it plunge down into a pool. The roar of the water envelopes you, as does the cool mist rising from the pool below. You try a few times to track the falling water with your eye, and for brief moments are able to see the flow as a column of individual water droplets, each in free fall, but then the whole scene fast-forwards again and becomes a raging torrent you can't track at all. You play this eye-trick game a few times until your lids become heavy. You close them for minute and feel cool mist against your warm, tired eyelids for the first time.
Open your eyes, and watch the patterns of bubbles swirling in the pool below. The falls force air deep underwater where they strike the pool, and some bubbles don't rise until they're well downstream, practically over another waterfall just down from where you're standing. You take a few steps down stream to look over the edge of the next waterfall, and find a never-ending staircase of them descending into a shifting depth of impenetrable mists.
You look back up at the first water fall and wonder... You play the eye-trick game a few more times. You scan the eddy currents in the pool for patterns. So many swirling spirals. Each one is a galaxy of microscopic waterborne life, blinking into existence at the base of the falls, swirling itself unspun in seconds and dissipating into the pool. From big bang to heat death, again and again, in seconds. Here and there a tiny fish might swim through the center of one like a sun gone nova, displacing entire living systems.
The mist chills you suddenly and you zip up your warm parka. You sit down on a flat, mossy rock nearby and recommence watching the water falling. You close your eyes and listen to the roaring. It isn't quite completely uniform. It rises drops in volume, it articulates a gurgling sentence fragment here and there. There are several levels to it. Water against rock. Water shearing into drops as it falls through air. Water against water at the bottom. There are times it almost seems, for an instant, as if it's going to stop. But what is it saying?
posted by scarabic at 12:24 PM on August 8, 2004 [2 favorites]
Here's a slightly off-the-wall technique: find the hardest crossword puzzle book you can (I use the NYT Sunday collections, and one compiled of their all-time toughest crosswords). Work over a little bit of it as you go to bed, then choose one or two clues to try to figure out after you've turned off the light... I usually lay there for about five or ten minutes thinking "hmm: 'kind of measure'... eight letters... first letter, 'R'...", and - b l o t - suddenly it's morning.
posted by taz at 1:36 PM on August 8, 2004
posted by taz at 1:36 PM on August 8, 2004
There are some great suggestions above to which I would add: Some people have a change in some pattern they are not consciously aware of for the most part. Prior to the onset of insomnia, have you changed your daily routine or has some problem personal or work related difficulty presented? Any change (addition/subtraction) of any medications you may take? Sometimes working backwards through what has been occurring in my life helps me to understand things better.
Exercise? Some people have difficulties settling down after having exercised more than usual or later in the evening. I know that when I ski (water) particularly harder than the norm, even though I am dead on my feet, achieving sleep is difficult. Mimicing the activity while sleeping doesn't help either, but that's another story.
On a side note: Has chamomile tea gone out of vogue for this problem?
posted by sillygit at 2:12 PM on August 8, 2004
Exercise? Some people have difficulties settling down after having exercised more than usual or later in the evening. I know that when I ski (water) particularly harder than the norm, even though I am dead on my feet, achieving sleep is difficult. Mimicing the activity while sleeping doesn't help either, but that's another story.
On a side note: Has chamomile tea gone out of vogue for this problem?
posted by sillygit at 2:12 PM on August 8, 2004
Thing that helps me the most with this is actually spending a weekend doing something physically demanding. If you've got a nearby mountain, take a Saturday and hike up a couple of thousand feet and then hike down (and follow basic rules: let people know where you're going, take lots of water, take someone with you if at all possible, etc). If not, do a lot of walking or biking inside of a day or two.
I can be bone tired from my desk job or from doing things around the house, and still not really have worn my body in a way that will make it sleep. But letting the local terrain kick my butt almost invariably gets me right back on track.
posted by weston at 2:22 PM on August 8, 2004
I can be bone tired from my desk job or from doing things around the house, and still not really have worn my body in a way that will make it sleep. But letting the local terrain kick my butt almost invariably gets me right back on track.
posted by weston at 2:22 PM on August 8, 2004
Get drunk, steaming roaring drunk. I know a whole lot about sleep disorders, I've had one my whole life. And while lots of things are "good" at getting people to sleep, while only one is guaranteed. And that's lots of drink. Howay man, get pished!
PS: You should only have to do this once to break the insomnia cycle. I'm not advocating this instead of good sleep hygiene or as a daily remedy, just for a situation like yours.
night night.
posted by bonaldi at 2:49 PM on August 8, 2004
PS: You should only have to do this once to break the insomnia cycle. I'm not advocating this instead of good sleep hygiene or as a daily remedy, just for a situation like yours.
night night.
posted by bonaldi at 2:49 PM on August 8, 2004
My personal methods for getting to sleep ...
1. I imagine I'm on a bike ride through the dutch countryside. I'll imagine that I see something, and go over and investigate that thing. I'll then allow that investigation to prompt a new thing to investigate, etc, etc. The more surreal the imagined thing the better. If I see a flower, and maybe an upside down house, then I'll go and have a look around the upside down house. (I sort of see it as delving further into a dreamlike state). If I start thinking about anything concrete and real life related, , I'll go back to the bike and start again. This never fails to put me to sleep.
2. Have a wank. Not sure if this is appropriate for you, given the family life and all, but you know.
posted by seanyboy at 2:57 PM on August 8, 2004
1. I imagine I'm on a bike ride through the dutch countryside. I'll imagine that I see something, and go over and investigate that thing. I'll then allow that investigation to prompt a new thing to investigate, etc, etc. The more surreal the imagined thing the better. If I see a flower, and maybe an upside down house, then I'll go and have a look around the upside down house. (I sort of see it as delving further into a dreamlike state). If I start thinking about anything concrete and real life related, , I'll go back to the bike and start again. This never fails to put me to sleep.
2. Have a wank. Not sure if this is appropriate for you, given the family life and all, but you know.
posted by seanyboy at 2:57 PM on August 8, 2004
Chamomile tea and wanking, seconded.
Make sure you have warm feet. Socks in bed if necessary.
Also: don't lie in bed and fret if it's been an hour. Get up, and sit in another, dark room for 10 or 15 minutes. Then go back to bed. Odds are you will fall asleep quickly.
I would rather not rely on drugs. Sure, but two or three nights to get back in the sleep groove isn't relying on them.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:12 PM on August 8, 2004
Make sure you have warm feet. Socks in bed if necessary.
Also: don't lie in bed and fret if it's been an hour. Get up, and sit in another, dark room for 10 or 15 minutes. Then go back to bed. Odds are you will fall asleep quickly.
I would rather not rely on drugs. Sure, but two or three nights to get back in the sleep groove isn't relying on them.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:12 PM on August 8, 2004
I third the wanking. It's about the only thing besides strong drink to cut through my own insomnia. I don't know if it works that way for women or people with a family and/or a sex life.
posted by stet at 3:20 PM on August 8, 2004
posted by stet at 3:20 PM on August 8, 2004
The only thing that's ever helped me is regular, vigorous exercise (done early in the day.)
Insomnia can be a symptom of depression. If that's the cause, it'd be worth treating the cause and not just the symptom. (If that has nothing to do with it in your case, never mind.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 3:26 PM on August 8, 2004
Insomnia can be a symptom of depression. If that's the cause, it'd be worth treating the cause and not just the symptom. (If that has nothing to do with it in your case, never mind.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 3:26 PM on August 8, 2004
What happens sometimes is you get too tired to sleep. Then you get into a vicious cycle involving adrenaline...it happens to bipolars a lot but I doubt it is exclusive to us.
Check with your doctor. What concerns me for you is that you haven't had these problems before. Something is up and you need to know what it is.
posted by konolia at 4:34 PM on August 8, 2004
Check with your doctor. What concerns me for you is that you haven't had these problems before. Something is up and you need to know what it is.
posted by konolia at 4:34 PM on August 8, 2004
I have some 20 page papers I've written on absurdly dull topics, reading them will cure your insomnia in a few pages.
posted by Grod at 5:11 PM on August 8, 2004
posted by Grod at 5:11 PM on August 8, 2004
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions.
I don't drink caffeine at all, I'm diabetic so I don't eat sugar. I don't watch TV at night, I generally read after putting my daughter to bed. Usually moving to sleep in the guest room helps, but not last night. Sex...yeah...ok...my husband PAID you guys to say that, huh? :) I will try the bath and hot milk tonight. I don't know what melatonin is. Is it over the counter or prescription? Does it make you zonked in the mornings?
I was on Effexor over a year ago (for anxiety) but stopped when I got pregnant. That was 17 months ago. I was thinking of going back on it because now Lucy is weaned (even though I feel pretty anxiety free these days) and now I'm also considering that maybe that will help me with this. Even though nothing is racing through my head like it used to be when I used to stay awake all night making lists in my head and worrying about unimportant shit like the grass dying in the back yard (thus...the need for Effexor.)
I think there's something to it that I've got it in my head now. I go to sleep thinking "Here we go. I'm not going to sleep." But I SWEAR, my brain is EMPTY when I'm lying there. It's weird. I'm not worrying or really thinking about anything.
posted by aacheson at 6:41 PM on August 8, 2004
I don't drink caffeine at all, I'm diabetic so I don't eat sugar. I don't watch TV at night, I generally read after putting my daughter to bed. Usually moving to sleep in the guest room helps, but not last night. Sex...yeah...ok...my husband PAID you guys to say that, huh? :) I will try the bath and hot milk tonight. I don't know what melatonin is. Is it over the counter or prescription? Does it make you zonked in the mornings?
I was on Effexor over a year ago (for anxiety) but stopped when I got pregnant. That was 17 months ago. I was thinking of going back on it because now Lucy is weaned (even though I feel pretty anxiety free these days) and now I'm also considering that maybe that will help me with this. Even though nothing is racing through my head like it used to be when I used to stay awake all night making lists in my head and worrying about unimportant shit like the grass dying in the back yard (thus...the need for Effexor.)
I think there's something to it that I've got it in my head now. I go to sleep thinking "Here we go. I'm not going to sleep." But I SWEAR, my brain is EMPTY when I'm lying there. It's weird. I'm not worrying or really thinking about anything.
posted by aacheson at 6:41 PM on August 8, 2004
regular, vigorous... wanking? with booze and an X-rated crossword puzzle?
Effexor has some interesting and possible permanent side-effects. You may wish to research it a bit before you leap back on that particular bandwagon.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:44 PM on August 8, 2004
Effexor has some interesting and possible permanent side-effects. You may wish to research it a bit before you leap back on that particular bandwagon.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:44 PM on August 8, 2004
Response by poster: regular, vigorous... wanking? with booze and an X-rated crossword puzzle?
Come on....I have to go to work tomorrow!!
FFF-more info on Effexor??? I'll research it, but I like to hear things first hand, too.
posted by aacheson at 6:52 PM on August 8, 2004
Come on....I have to go to work tomorrow!!
FFF-more info on Effexor??? I'll research it, but I like to hear things first hand, too.
posted by aacheson at 6:52 PM on August 8, 2004
Effexor is particularly nasty - not for what happens when you're on it, but what happens when you try to withdraw. You get nightmares that rival the best horror movies ever made. "effexor withdrawl" gets 93,000 hits. Read the first few links to get an idea of what you're in for. (But since you were already on it once, YMMV.) Paxil is a good alternative.
Take Tylenol PM, but always do it three hours before you want to go to sleep. If you want to get to bed by 11, take two pills at 8.
The drinking yourself into a stupor thing works if you don't get hangovers. Otherwise, you'll be all fucked up the next day. It also doesn't give you the REM sleep you need.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:11 PM on August 8, 2004
Take Tylenol PM, but always do it three hours before you want to go to sleep. If you want to get to bed by 11, take two pills at 8.
The drinking yourself into a stupor thing works if you don't get hangovers. Otherwise, you'll be all fucked up the next day. It also doesn't give you the REM sleep you need.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:11 PM on August 8, 2004
One thing I'm surprised no one's mentioned is hormones. Some women's hormones can take up to a year to get back to normal after a pregnancy, even after weaning. A side affect of that is insomnia. I've been pregnant twice (lost both, but still) and couldn't sleep worth a shit for months afterwards until my body chemistry returned to normal. My mom mentioned the same thing after the birth of my little sister.
A few things that helped a little : a cool room, absolutely no caffeine, and exercise early in the day, preferrably cardio. A cooler room helps to stay asleep once you fall asleep, since body temperature tends to rise a bit once you fall into a deeper sleep.
It's probably a good idea to see your ob-gyn or family doctor. Sleep deprivation is a nasty thing.
posted by littlegirlblue at 7:27 PM on August 8, 2004
A few things that helped a little : a cool room, absolutely no caffeine, and exercise early in the day, preferrably cardio. A cooler room helps to stay asleep once you fall asleep, since body temperature tends to rise a bit once you fall into a deeper sleep.
It's probably a good idea to see your ob-gyn or family doctor. Sleep deprivation is a nasty thing.
posted by littlegirlblue at 7:27 PM on August 8, 2004
as far as prescription sleep aids go, Sonata is good. Works fast, and it seems to let you fall asleep fast while not keeping you zonked -- if you have to wake up, you won't be out of it (well, any more than you're usually out of it when suddenly awakened.) I use it sparingly, but it's a godsend.
posted by Vidiot at 7:57 PM on August 8, 2004
posted by Vidiot at 7:57 PM on August 8, 2004
Melatonin (e.g. - google is your friend ...) is the body's 'natural sleep regulator.' I think the idea is that your natural melatonin levels vary over 24 hour cycles, but can get whacked out of sync by stress, etc; and you can take it to restore the natural rhythm. I've used it to counter jet-lag, stress, and caffeine burnouts. I would not want to have to take it to get a good night's sleep on a regular basis though. The only effects I sometimes get are feeling slightly groggy on waking - as in I've woken up before I was due to - but it soon passes.
It's over the counter; at the pharmacy counter in a lot of stores, or from health food places. I make no recommendations re. dosage; IANADoctor, etc.; I do g=find personally that lower than recommended doses work for me; so if you're interested, I'd do some research.
posted by carter at 9:36 PM on August 8, 2004
It's over the counter; at the pharmacy counter in a lot of stores, or from health food places. I make no recommendations re. dosage; IANADoctor, etc.; I do g=find personally that lower than recommended doses work for me; so if you're interested, I'd do some research.
posted by carter at 9:36 PM on August 8, 2004
I am not saying this is your issue, I just want to share my experience with insomnia.
The one time that I had a bad case of it, I had tried everything. So I ended up at the psychs office since I had a history of depression.
One of the things he said to me that sticks with me to this day is this: "The bed is a very powerful place. It is symbolic of many things in your life. Your home, your family, security." He then asked me if I shared my bed with anyone and what my relationship was like with that person.
Long story short, I was having insomnia because I didn't want to be in bed with that person even though my conscious mind hadn't allowed me to know it at the time. My subconscious did know it, and was keeping me awake to avoid it.
I would also ask if anything has changed as far as your sleeping arrangements. Did your child sleep in the bed with you, but now does not?
Just a few other things to think about.
posted by jopreacher at 10:14 PM on August 8, 2004
The one time that I had a bad case of it, I had tried everything. So I ended up at the psychs office since I had a history of depression.
One of the things he said to me that sticks with me to this day is this: "The bed is a very powerful place. It is symbolic of many things in your life. Your home, your family, security." He then asked me if I shared my bed with anyone and what my relationship was like with that person.
Long story short, I was having insomnia because I didn't want to be in bed with that person even though my conscious mind hadn't allowed me to know it at the time. My subconscious did know it, and was keeping me awake to avoid it.
I would also ask if anything has changed as far as your sleeping arrangements. Did your child sleep in the bed with you, but now does not?
Just a few other things to think about.
posted by jopreacher at 10:14 PM on August 8, 2004
carter: A split half-dose of melatonine might work better because the pills are coated and you get a more concentrated dose when you cut it. Is it bevelled for cutting?
posted by abcde at 11:17 PM on August 8, 2004
posted by abcde at 11:17 PM on August 8, 2004
If the wanking involves me, I'm all for it, and I appreciate all the recommendations!
(hi honey)
posted by msacheson at 11:33 PM on August 8, 2004
(hi honey)
posted by msacheson at 11:33 PM on August 8, 2004
I will vouch for both x-word puzzles (Hi Taz!) and wanking as sleep aids. Not necessarily both in the same night :)
posted by Lynsey at 12:44 AM on August 9, 2004
posted by Lynsey at 12:44 AM on August 9, 2004
Hmmm. Does wanking mean the same thing in the US? Because what we've been suggesting is a solo activity. Although orgasm should provide enough oxytocin no matter what the source.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:39 AM on August 9, 2004
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:39 AM on August 9, 2004
I use melatonin, but I have to be very careful with it, for two reasons: I tend towards vivid nightmares, and melatonin makes them even more vivid and disturbing; also, it takes about 12 hours to clear my body, so if I take it less than 12 hours before I plan to wake up, I'm risking a "hangover" of sorts, feeling groggy, disoriented and half-asleep, until that 12 hour mark has passed.
posted by Tholian at 3:19 AM on August 9, 2004
posted by Tholian at 3:19 AM on August 9, 2004
msacheson can still be involved in the wankery: he holds the crossword puzzle where she can see it while wanking. That's what love is all about. (Hi, Lynsey!)
posted by taz at 3:27 AM on August 9, 2004
posted by taz at 3:27 AM on August 9, 2004
Saw this in the OM yesterday:
Q Dear Barefoot, I can't be the only chronic insomniac despairing of the unilateral 'expert' advice that all I need to do is have a regular bedtime routine including a warm bath, a milky drink (I am lactose intolerant) and scattering drops of lavender oil on my pillow, or going to bed in wet socks. Can the Tao do any better?
Thanks, ZZZ-desperate
A There are two interrelated aspects to deal with here - calming the adrenalin and calming the mind, both of which can be achieved effectively through regular daily practice of meditation (for at least 90 days or until tangible, reliable results can be properly achieved) - for there is no quick solution, unless you have remarkable levels of yogic-like command over body and mind, which the insomnia indicates you evidently haven't yet accessed. So be willing to give this advice three months before judging the results: go to a school of meditation and learn how to still both the mind and adrenals through concentrating on the breath and watching, rather than indulging in getting lost in, your thoughts, as if watching clouds passing through the sky of your mind. Zen might well be the best school to look into as you seem the pragmatic type. Sound sound?
posted by Blue Stone at 6:43 AM on August 9, 2004
Q Dear Barefoot, I can't be the only chronic insomniac despairing of the unilateral 'expert' advice that all I need to do is have a regular bedtime routine including a warm bath, a milky drink (I am lactose intolerant) and scattering drops of lavender oil on my pillow, or going to bed in wet socks. Can the Tao do any better?
Thanks, ZZZ-desperate
A There are two interrelated aspects to deal with here - calming the adrenalin and calming the mind, both of which can be achieved effectively through regular daily practice of meditation (for at least 90 days or until tangible, reliable results can be properly achieved) - for there is no quick solution, unless you have remarkable levels of yogic-like command over body and mind, which the insomnia indicates you evidently haven't yet accessed. So be willing to give this advice three months before judging the results: go to a school of meditation and learn how to still both the mind and adrenals through concentrating on the breath and watching, rather than indulging in getting lost in, your thoughts, as if watching clouds passing through the sky of your mind. Zen might well be the best school to look into as you seem the pragmatic type. Sound sound?
posted by Blue Stone at 6:43 AM on August 9, 2004
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions, y'all. I tried this last night and it seemed to help:
Took two tylenol PM at 8:00, read to my daughter & put her to sleep. Made myself a big old cup of Chamomlie tea, sat in the baby's nursery in the dark, rocking in the glider chair, listening to her nighttime lullaby CD with my eyes closed and in my PJ's. When I felt sufficiently tired, I got into bed. I acually went to sleep fairly soon but woke up about an hour later and couldn't go back to sleep for a while. But I tried the "breathe in and out and think "sleep" while breathing out' that was suggested above and it worked. So I got about 6 hours of sleep last night, which is two more than I've gotten in the past week. So thank you for all your suggestions-I used a mix of a bunch of them.
(Blue Stone, I'd love to meditate and I'm sure it would help, but being a full time worker, a wife, and a mom, I just don't have the time to meditate, nor take 3 months until I sleep again! :) )
Littlegirlblue, I hadn't thought about the hormones angle. You're probably right that that might have something to do with it too. Being pregnant has brought me a whole new respect for those powerful chemicals!!! They can do the wackiest things. And on a more personal note, I'm very sorry to hear about your miscarriages.
posted by aacheson at 10:11 AM on August 9, 2004
Took two tylenol PM at 8:00, read to my daughter & put her to sleep. Made myself a big old cup of Chamomlie tea, sat in the baby's nursery in the dark, rocking in the glider chair, listening to her nighttime lullaby CD with my eyes closed and in my PJ's. When I felt sufficiently tired, I got into bed. I acually went to sleep fairly soon but woke up about an hour later and couldn't go back to sleep for a while. But I tried the "breathe in and out and think "sleep" while breathing out' that was suggested above and it worked. So I got about 6 hours of sleep last night, which is two more than I've gotten in the past week. So thank you for all your suggestions-I used a mix of a bunch of them.
(Blue Stone, I'd love to meditate and I'm sure it would help, but being a full time worker, a wife, and a mom, I just don't have the time to meditate, nor take 3 months until I sleep again! :) )
Littlegirlblue, I hadn't thought about the hormones angle. You're probably right that that might have something to do with it too. Being pregnant has brought me a whole new respect for those powerful chemicals!!! They can do the wackiest things. And on a more personal note, I'm very sorry to hear about your miscarriages.
posted by aacheson at 10:11 AM on August 9, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:21 AM on August 8, 2004